1988 New York Mets season

Summary

The 1988 New York Mets season was the 27th regular season for the Mets. They went 100–60 and finished first in the National League East. They were managed by Davey Johnson. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

1988 New York Mets
National League East Champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkShea Stadium
CityNew York
OwnersFred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, Jr.
General managersFrank Cashen
ManagersDavey Johnson
TelevisionWWOR-TV/SportsChannel New York
(Ralph Kiner, Steve Zabriskie, Tim McCarver, Fran Healy, Rusty Staub)
RadioWFAN
(Bob Murphy, Gary Thorne, Charlie Slowes)
WJIT (Spanish)
(Juan Alicea, Billy Berroa)
← 1987 Seasons 1989 →

The Mets would go on to lose to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS in seven games.

Offseason edit

Regular season edit

  • August 9: The Mets participated in the first official night game at Wrigley Field, which the Cubs won, 6–4.

Season standings edit

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Mets 100 60 0.625 56–24 44–36
Pittsburgh Pirates 85 75 0.531 15 43–38 42–37
Montreal Expos 81 81 0.500 20 43–38 38–43
Chicago Cubs 77 85 0.475 24 39–42 38–43
St. Louis Cardinals 76 86 0.469 25 41–40 35–46
Philadelphia Phillies 65 96 0.404 35½ 38–42 27–54

Record vs. opponents edit


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 5–7 5–13 5–13 4–14 4–8 4–8 6–6 5–5 8–10 5–13 3–9
Chicago 7–5 6–6 7–5 4–8–1 9–9 9–9 8–10 7–11 8–4 5–7 7–11
Cincinnati 13–5 6–6 9–9 7–11 5–7 4–7 9–3 7–5 10–8 11–7 6–6
Houston 13–5 5–7 9–9 9–9 6–6 5–7 8–4 8–4 6–12 7–11 6–6
Los Angeles 14–4 8–4–1 11–7 9–9 8–4 1–10 11–1 6–6 7–11 12–6 7–5
Montreal 8–4 9–9 7–5 6–6 4–8 6–12 9–9–1 8–10 4–8 7–5 13–5
New York 8–4 9–9 7–4 7–5 10–1 12–6 10–8 12–6 7–5 4–8 14–4
Philadelphia 6-6 10–8 3–9 4–8 1–11 9–9–1 8–10 7–11 4–7 7–5 6–12
Pittsburgh 5–5 11–7 5–7 4–8 6–6 10–8 6–12 11–7 8–4 8–4 11–7
San Diego 10–8 4–8 8–10 12–6 11–7 8–4 5–7 7–4 4–8 8–10 6–6
San Francisco 13–5 7–5 7–11 11–7 6–12 5–7 8–4 5–7 4–8 10–8 7–5
St. Louis 9–3 11–7 6–6 6–6 5–7 5–13 4–14 12–6 7–11 6–6 5–7


Notable transactions edit

Roster edit

1988 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log edit

Regular season edit

1988 regular season game log: 100–60 (Home: 56–24; Away: 44–36)
April: 15–6 (Home: 6–2; Away: 9–4)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
GB
1 April 4 3:25 pm EDT @ Expos W 10–6 55,413 1–0 W1
2 April 6 7:35 pm EDT @ Expos L 1–5 11,112 1–1 L1
3 April 7 7:35 pm EDT @ Expos W 8–5 10,193 2–1 W1
4 April 8 7:35 pm EDT @ Phillies L 1–5 21,921 2–2 L1
5 April 9 3:20 pm EDT @ Phillies L 3–9 30,994 2–3 L2
6 April 10 1:35 pm EDT @ Phillies W 4–3 51,781 3–3 W1
7 April 12 1:35 pm EDT Expos W 3–0 48,719 4–3 W2
8 April 14 1:40 pm EDT Expos W 1–0 19,612 5–3 W3
9 April 15 7:35 pm EDT Cardinals W 3–0 (6) 33,094 6–3 W4
10 April 16 1:30 pm EDT Cardinals W 6–4 40,582 7–3 W5
11 April 17 1:35 pm EDT Cardinals W 3–2 48,760 8–3 W6
12 April 18 7:50 pm EDT Phillies L 7–10 14,931 8–4 L1
13 April 19 7:37 pm EDT Phillies L 2–10 24,555 8–5 L2
14 April 20 7:41 pm EDT Phillies W 6–2 27,714 9–5 W1
15 April 22 8:35 pm EDT @ Cardinals W 4–0 47,207 10–5 W2
16 April 23 8:05 pm EDT @ Cardinals W 12–9 45,110 11–5 W3
17 April 24 2:15 pm EDT @ Cardinals L 4–5 41,617 11–6 L1
May: 19–9 (Home: 9–5; Away: 10–4)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
GB
June: 15–13 (Home: 11–4; Away: 4–9)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
GB
July: 14–12 (Home: 9–5; Away: 5–7)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
GB
August: 15–14 (Home: 7–7; Away: 8–7)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
GB
September: 20–6 (Home: 12–1; Away: 8–5)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
GB
October: 2–0 (Home: 2–0; Away: 0–0)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
GB
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Mets team member

Postseason Game log edit

1988 Postseason game log: 3–4 (Home: 1–2; Away: 2–2)
NL Championship Series: vs. New York Mets 3–4 (Home: 1–2; Away: 2–2)
# Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/
Streak
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Mets team member

Player stats edit

Batting edit

Starters by position edit

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Gary Carter 130 455 110 .242 11 46
1B Keith Hernandez 95 348 96 .276 11 55
2B Wally Backman 99 294 89 .303 0 17
3B Howard Johnson 148 495 114 .230 24 68
SS Kevin Elster 149 406 87 .214 9 37
LF Kevin McReynolds 147 552 159 .288 27 99
CF Len Dykstra 126 429 116 .270 8 33
RF Darryl Strawberry 153 543 146 .269 39 101

Other batters edit

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Mookie Wilson 112 378 112 .296 8 41
Dave Magadan 112 314 87 .277 1 35
Tim Teufel 90 273 64 .234 4 31
Mackey Sasser 60 123 35 .285 1 17
Lee Mazzilli 68 116 17 .147 0 12
Gregg Jeffries 29 109 35 .321 6 17
Barry Lyons 50 91 21 .231 0 11
Keith Miller 40 70 15 .214 1 5
Mark Carreon 7 9 5 .556 1 1

Starting pitchers edit

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dwight Gooden 34 248.1 18 9 3.19 175
Ron Darling 34 240.2 17 9 3.25 161
David Cone 35 231.1 20 3 2.22 213
Bob Ojeda 29 190.1 10 13 2.88 133
Sid Fernandez 31 187.0 12 10 3.03 189

Other pitchers edit

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Rick Aguilera 11 24.2 0 4 6.93 16
David West 2 6.0 1 0 3.00 3

Relief pitchers edit

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Randy Myers 55 7 3 26 1.72 69
Roger McDowell 62 5 5 16 2.63 46
Terry Leach 52 7 2 3 2.54 51
Gene Walter 19 0 1 0 3.78 14
Bob McClure 14 1 0 1 4.09 7
Jeff Innis 12 1 1 0 1.89 14
Edwin Núñez 10 1 0 0 4.50 8
John Mitchell 1 0 0 0 0.00 1

NLCS edit

Game 1 edit

October 4: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 8 1
Los Angeles 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 4 0
WP: Randy Myers (1–0)  LP: Jay Howell (0–1)
HR: NYM – None.; LA – None.

Game 2 edit

October 5: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 6 0
Los Angeles 1 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 X 6 7 0
WP: Tim Belcher (1–0)  LP: David Cone (0–1)  SV: Alejandro Peña (1)
HR: NYMKeith Hernandez (1); LA – None.

Game 3 edit

October 8: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 7 2
New York 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 5 X 8 9 2
WP: Randy Myers (2–0)  LP: Alejandro Peña (0–1)
HR: LA – None.; NYM – None.

Game 4 edit

October 9: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
Los Angeles 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 5 7 1
New York 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 10 2
WP: Alejandro Peña (1–1)  LP: Roger McDowell (0–1)   SV: Orel Hershiser (1)
HR: LAMike Scioscia (1), Kirk Gibson (1); NYMDarryl Strawberry (1), Kevin McReynolds (1)

Game 5 edit

October 10: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 1 7 12 0
New York 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 4 9 1
WP: Tim Belcher (2–0)  LP: Sid Fernandez (0–1)  SV: Brian Holton (1)
HR: LAKirk Gibson (2); NYMLenny Dykstra (1)

Game 6 edit

October 11: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 11 0
Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 2
WP: David Cone (1–1)  LP: Tim Leary (0–1)
HR: NYMKevin McReynolds (2); LA – None.

Game 7 edit

October 12: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2
Los Angeles 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 6 10 0
WP: Orel Hershiser (1–0)  LP: Ron Darling (0–1)
HR: NYM – None.; LA – None.

Awards and honors edit

  • Keith Hernandez, Gold Glove Award
  • Keith Hernandez, Major League record, most Gold Gloves by a first baseman (it was also his 11th consecutive Gold Glove)[6]
  • Kevin McReynolds – Player of the Month, September 1988
  • Gary Carter – 300 career home runs, and set record for career putouts for a catcher

1988 MLB All-Star Game

  • Gary Carter
  • David Cone
  • Dwight Gooden
  • Darryl Strawberry

Team leaders edit

  • Games – Darryl Strawberry (153)
  • At-bats – Kevin McReynolds (552)
  • Home runs – Darryl Strawberry (39)
  • Runs batted in – Darryl Strawberry (101)
  • Batting average – Wally Backman (.303)
  • Hits – Kevin McReynolds (159)
  • Doubles – Kevin McReynolds (30)
  • Triples – Mookie Wilson (5)
  • Walks – Howard Johnson (86)
  • Stolen bases – Len Dykstra (30)
  • Wins – David Cone (20)

Farm system edit

Level Team League Manager
AAA Tidewater Tides International League Mike Cubbage
AA Jackson Mets Texas League Tucker Ashford
A St. Lucie Mets Florida State League Clint Hurdle
A Columbia Mets South Atlantic League Butch Hobson
A-Short Season Little Falls Mets New York–Penn League Bill Stein
Rookie Kingsport Mets Appalachian League Bobby Floyd
Rookie GCL Mets Gulf Coast League John Tamargo

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Lucie, Kingsport[7]

References edit

  1. ^ Jesse Orosco at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Rafael Santana at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Randy Milligan at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Mike Maksudian at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Héctor Ramírez at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 47, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  7. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links edit

  • 1988 New York Mets at Baseball Almanac
  • 1988 New York Mets at Baseball Reference
  • 1988 New York Mets schedule and stats at MLB.com
  • The 1988 New York Mets at Retrosheet