The Mets faced the Boston Red Sox in the 1986 World Series.
The Red Sox played Game 1 of the World Series at Shea Stadium, and pitcher Bruce Hurst silenced the Mets’ offense, pitching eight innings and allowing only four hits. Ron Darling started for the Mets and matched Hurst, allowing only an unearned run on an infield error. The final score was Boston 1, New York 0.
Game Two was expected to be a classic pitcher’s duel between Dwight Gooden and Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, but it wasn’t. After two scoreless innings, the Red Sox got to Gooden and scored three runs, but the Mets came back with two of their own. In the top of the fourth, Dave Henderson hit a solo shot to give Boston a 4–2 lead. In the top of the fifth, Dwight Evans hit a two-run blast, and the Red Sox had a comfortable 6–2 lead.
After giving up two hits in the bottom of the fifth, Roger Clemens was pulled for Steve Crawford. Gary Carter drove in one run to cut the deficit to 6–3. Manager Davey Johnson removed Gooden in the sixth for Rick Aguilera, which didn’t help, as the Red Sox added two more runs. Boston added one more run in the ninth and cruised to a 9–3 victory.
Down two games to zero and headed to Boston for the next three games, the Mets’ chances didn’t look promising. But the Mets had been a comeback team all season and today would be no different. Lenny Dykstra got things started in Game 3 with a solo home run. Gary Carter and Danny Heep drove in three more runs, and Boston was down 4–0 before they knew what hit them.
The Sox scored one run off Mets starter Bob Ojeda in the third inning, and Boston starter Oil Can Boyd held the Mets scoreless for the next five innings. Gary Carter drove in two more runs in the 7th inning, and Ray Knight drove in another in the 8th. The final score was New York 7, Boston 1.
Photo courtesy ESPN
Ron Darling, who pitched well in the Game 1 loss, started Game 4 for the Mets and threw seven scoreless innings. Gary Carter got the Mets on the board first with a two-run shot over the Green Monster in the 4th inning. Strawberry doubled and was driven in by Ray Knight. In the top of the seventh, Lenny Dykstra hit a two-run homer to give the Mets a commanding 5–0 lead. Carter added a solo home run in the 8th inning to extend the lead. In the bottom of the 8th, the Sox scored two runs but failed to add any in the 9th, and the Mets won 6–2.
With the series now tied two games apiece, the Mets felt good about winning Game 5 with Dwight Gooden on the mound. But after giving up three runs and receiving no run support from the Mets’ bats, Davey Johnson pulled Gooden in the fifth inning. Reliever Sid Fernandez allowed another run, making it 4–0. Red Sox starter Bruce Hurst did not allow a run until Tim Teufel hit a solo home run in the eighth inning. Mookie Wilson drove in a run in the ninth, but it was too little, too late, as the Red Sox won 4–2.
In Game 6, Bob Ojeda started for the Mets, while Roger Clemens got the nod for the Red Sox. The game had barely begun when a fan parachuted onto the field wearing a flag that read “Go Mets!” The Sox scored one run in the first and another in the second, but Ojeda allowed no more for the next four innings.
The Mets tied the game in the 5th, but the Sox retook the lead in the top of the seventh, scoring a run off reliever Roger McDowell. In the top of the eighth, with the bases loaded, the Red Sox had a chance to extend their lead, but Jesse Orosco came in to get the final out.
With Clemens out of the game, the Mets felt better about their chances to at least tie, and they did.
With the bases loaded and one out, Gary Carter hit a sacrifice fly to tie it 3–3. Strawberry was up next, and the Mets had a good chance to take the lead, but Strawberry flew out to end the inning. Rick Aguilera shut the Red Sox out in the top of the ninth, and the Mets had one last chance before the game went into extra innings. With a runner on second and no outs, the Mets’ next three batters failed to get a hit.
The Sox’ first batter, Dave Henderson, silenced the Shea Stadium faithful with a home run. Boston added an insurance run to take a 5–3 lead. In the bottom of the tenth, the Mets’ first two batters went down quietly.
What happened next is one of the most memorable sequences in baseball history
For a moment, the words “Congratulations Boston Red Sox, 1986 World Champions” appeared on the scoreboard. Then Gary Carter came up and drove in a run to keep the Mets alive. Kevin Mitchell advanced Carter to second with a single. Ray Knight came up next and fell behind 0-and-2. One more strike and the scoreboard would again show that “Congratulations” sign, and this time it would have been accurate.
“Would have been” can be an awfully presumptuous phrase, and that’s what it turned out to be. Knight singled, Carter scored, and Mitchell bolted to third.
Next up for the Mets was Mookie Wilson, who signaled to Mitchell to race home after a wild pitch got past the catcher. Knight advanced to second, and the never-say-die Mets tied the game 5–5.
On the tenth pitch, Wilson grounded to first, and the game would go into the 11th inning. But that didn’t happen. The ball went through first baseman Bill Buckner’s legs, and Knight scored, giving the Mets an improbable 6–5 victory.
Game 7 was postponed for one day due to rain. The next day Ron Darling, who had pitched brilliantly in his other two starts, was roughed up early. Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman hit back-to-back home runs off Darling in the top of the second, and Wade Boggs drove in another run to give Boston a 3–0 lead.
Bruce Hurst, already voted MVP of the series if the Red Sox had held on to win Game 6, held the Mets to just one hit through three innings. Davey Johnson pulled Darling in the fourth inning and brought in Sid Fernandez. With a runner on second, El Sid got the final out. Hurst continued to shut down the Mets batters, and after five full innings the Sox still led 3–0.
Thankfully for the Mets batters, Fernandez was shutting down the Red Sox, who had not scored since the second inning. In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets’ bats finally came alive. With the bases loaded, Keith Hernandez drove in two runs, and Gary Carter drove in one.
Roger McDowell came in to relieve Fernandez in the top of the 7th and retired from the Red Sox in order. With Hurst out of the game, Ray Knight stepped up and hit a solo home run to give the Mets their first lead of the game. Then Rafael Santana drove in Lenny Dykstra to extend the lead, and Hernandez drove in Santana to make it 6–3.
But the Red Sox rallied in the top of the 8th to close the gap to 6–5. With a runner on second and no outs, Jesse Orosco came in to relieve McDowell, and he retired the next three batters.
Darryl Strawberry led off the bottom of the 8th inning with a solo home run, giving the Mets a little breathing room. Pitcher Jesse Orosco faked a bunt and hit it away, driving in another run.
Orosco pitched the final inning, and he retired the Red Sox in order. For the second time in their 25-year history, the New York Mets were World Champions!
As for awards, Ray Knight was voted World Series MVP. He batted .391, drove in five runs, and hit one home run. Many years later, ESPN named the 1986 World Series the fourth greatest series of all time.
The Mets would not win another National League Pennant until 2000. In 2015, they won their fifth Pennant, but they have not won the World Series Trophy since the glorious 1986 season.
