(Having finished my 2005 - 2021 draft retrospective series at the end of 2021, and with Max Scherzer and Starling Marte and others here to absolutely bring us back into the World Series, I thought I'd slightly update and republish another retrospective this week.
One (republished in late January) addressed the exploits of one Rocky Swoboda in 1969. This one is about the strong headwinds that the awesome Mets faced in 1986, especially a fierce gale named Mike Scott. Enjoy.)
Back in 1986, the Mets, hands down, had the best team in baseball.
Which, being the best, never guarantees you a World Series win.
Just ask the 1969 Orioles about that. They found the journey a little too Rocky.
Some guy named David (a/k/a the Mets) slayed their Goliath.
Some guy named David (a/k/a the Mets) slayed their Goliath.
Anyway, in 1986, the Mets had to play the Houston Astros and face killer Astros pitching.
A guy named Nolan Ryan - maybe you heard of him. He made his Mets debut in 1966, and 21 years later, was a Houston pitching legend still going extremely strong. So strong, in fact, that he went 7 more killer seasons after 1986.
Let's continue. Lefty Bob Knepper had been tough on them. He had 41 career regular season outings against the Mets, with a 2.94 ERA, including 6 shutouts. T..O..U..G..H.
And then, there was the Beast of 1986:
Cy Young Mike Scott.
Mike was a so-so pitcher during his tenure with the Mets. 14-27, 4.54 ERA, a bad record...but partially the result of incredibly weak Mets hitting at the time, Jake deGrom just reminded me. He should know from weak hitter support, right?
And astoundingly, considering Scott's 1986 season to come, just 151 Ks in 365 innings (4.6 per 9 IP) through 1982.
In 1986, Scott started off the season kind of like Zack Wheeler, circa early 2019, in his first 7 starts:
45 IP, 43 Ks, 20 earned runs, ERA slightly north of 4.00. Same old Scott. But...
Then the next 31 incredible starts came:
230 IP, 263 Ks, 1.88 ERA.
306 Ks over the entire season.
And he was even tougher down the stretch:
In his last 14 regular season starts, in 8 of them he had 10 or more Ks: 10 Ks twice, 11 twice, 12 once, 13 twice, and 14 once.
The 14 starts also included 3 shutouts, one of them a no hitter, and in FIVE of the 14 starts, he allowed 3 hits or less.
The 14 starts also included 3 shutouts, one of them a no hitter, and in FIVE of the 14 starts, he allowed 3 hits or less.
BEAST.
BUT IT GOT WORSE...
In playoff game # 1 against the 108-win Mets, he threw a complete game shutout and fanned 14.
In game 4, he threw a another complete game, a one run, 3 hit win.
Simply....a righty Koufax.
And the Mets were slated to face him in game 7, if there was a game 7.
That caused dread in Mets' fans hearts, because this fireballing, split fingering BEAST was making the very best team, the 1986 Mets, look feeble.
Of course, most of us know what happened in game 6. Bobby Knepper had the Mets shut out through 8, and the Mets trailed 3-0 heading to the 9th.
The Shadow of Scott the Beast loomed ever larger.
But the amazing, highly resilient 1986 Mets squad came miraculously alive, tied it at 3 with 3 runs in the 9th, and then won several innings later in one of the greatest baseball games ever played.
They figured out how to beat Mike Scott.
Simple.
Never let him pitch that game 7.
NOPE!
GO HOME, BEAST!
The Beast remained in its cage. The Mets were safe.
It, of course. also took an amazing World Series win over the Red Sox to not allow this to be the crowning moment of the Mets' World Series run. An incredible playoff round, and an incredibly thrilling World Series, overcoming many obstacles in eluding the "Son of a Beast", Roger Clemens.
1986 was some treat for Mets fans. So was 1969. Miracle years.
We need to have another great treat, having gone 35 years since that World Series without winning it all again.
All I can say is...GREAT SCOTT!!
We have TWO Beasts now, ourselves.
deGrom, and now Max.
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