1988 New York Mets season explained

New York Mets
Season:	1988
Misc:	National League East Champions
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Shea Stadium
City:	New York
Owners:	Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, Jr.
General Managers:	Frank Cashen
Managers:	Davey Johnson
Television:	WWOR-TV/SportsChannel New York (Ralph Kiner, Steve Zabriskie, Tim McCarver, Fran Healy, Rusty Staub)
Radio:	WFAN (Bob Murphy, Gary Thorne, Charlie Slowes) WJIT (Spanish) (Juan Alicea, Billy Berroa)
Record:	100–60 (.625)

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.

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

Offseason

December 11, 1987: Jesse Orosco was traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Mets to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers sent Jack Savage to the Mets, and the Oakland Athletics sent Kevin Tapani and Wally Whitehurst to the Mets. The Dodgers sent Bob Welch and Matt Young to the Athletics, and the Athletics sent Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell to the Dodgers.^[1]
December 11, 1987: Rafael Santana and Victor Garcia (minors) were traded by the Mets to the New York Yankees for Darren Reed, Phil Lombardi, and Steve Frey.^[2]
March 26, 1988: Randy Milligan and Scott Henion (minors) were traded by the Mets to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Mackey Sasser and Tim Drummond.^[3]

Regular season

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

Notable transactions

August 4, 1988: Tom McCarthy and Steve Springer were traded by the Mets to the Chicago White Sox for Mike Maksudian and Vince Harris (minors).^[4]
August 22, 1988: Héctor Ramírez was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.^[5]

Roster

1988 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Game log

Regular season

|- style="background:#cfc;"| 1 || April 4 || 3:25pm EDT || @ Expos || W 10–6 || || || || || 55,413 || 1–0 || W1 |||- style="background:#fcc;"| 2 || April 6 || 7:35pm EDT || @ Expos || L 1–5 || || || || || 11,112 || 1–1 || L1 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 3 || April 7 || 7:35pm EDT || @ Expos || W 8–5 || || || || || 10,193 || 2–1 || W1 |||- style="background:#fcc;"| 4 || April 8 || 7:35pm EDT || @ Phillies || L 1–5 || || || || || 21,921 || 2–2 || L1 |||- style="background:#fcc;"| 5 || April 9 || 3:20pm EDT || @ Phillies || L 3–9 || || || || || 30,994 || 2–3 || L2 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 6 || April 10 || 1:35pm EDT || @ Phillies || W 4–3 || || || || || 51,781 || 3–3 || W1 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 7 || April 12 || 1:35pm EDT || Expos || W 3–0 || || || || || 48,719 || 4–3 || W2 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 8 || April 14 || 1:40pm EDT || Expos || W 1–0 || || || || || 19,612 || 5–3 || W3 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 9 || April 15 || 7:35pm EDT || Cardinals || W 3–0 || || || || || 33,094 || 6–3 || W4 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 10 || April 16 || 1:30pm EDT || Cardinals || W 6–4 || || || || || 40,582 || 7–3 || W5 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 11 || April 17 || 1:35pm EDT || Cardinals || W 3–2 || || || || || 48,760 || 8–3 || W6 |||- style="background:#fcc;"| 12 || April 18 || 7:50pm EDT || Phillies || L 7–10 || || || || || 14,931 || 8–4 || L1 |||- style="background:#fcc;"| 13 || April 19 || 7:37pm EDT || Phillies || L 2–10 || || || || || 24,555 || 8–5 || L2 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 14 || April 20 || 7:41pm EDT || Phillies || W 6–2 || || || || || 27,714 || 9–5 || W1 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 15 || April 22 || 8:35pm EDT || @ Cardinals || W 4–0 || || || || || 47,207 || 10–5 || W2 |||- style="background:#cfc;"| 16 || April 23 || 8:05pm EDT || @ Cardinals || W 12–9 || || || || || 45,110 || 11–5 || W3 |||- style="background:#fcc;"| 17 || April 24 || 2:15pm EDT || @ Cardinals || L 4–5 || || || || || 41,617 || 11–6 || L1 |||-|-|-|-|-|-|-|- style="text-align:center;"| Legend: = Win = Loss = Postponement
Bold = Mets team member

Postseason Game log

|-|- style="text-align:center;"| Legend: = Win = Loss = Postponement
Bold = Mets team member

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	130	455	110	.242	11	46
1B	95	348	96	.276	11	55
2B	99	294	89	.303	0	17
3B	148	495	114	.230	24	68
SS	149	406	87	.214	9	37
LF	147	552	159	.288	27	99
CF	126	429	116	.270	8	33
RF	153	543	146	.269	39	101

Other batters

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

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
112	378	112	.296	8	41
112	314	87	.277	1	35
90	273	64	.234	4	31
60	123	35	.285	1	17
68	116	17	.147	0	12
29	109	35	.321	6	17
50	91	21	.231	0	11
40	70	15	.214	1	5
7	9	5	.556	1	1

Starting pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
34	248.1	18	9	3.19	175
34	240.2	17	9	3.25	161
35	231.1	20	3	2.22	213
29	190.1	10	13	2.88	133
31	187.0	12	10	3.03	189

Other pitchers

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

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

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
55	7	3	26	1.72	69
62	5	5	16	2.63	46
52	7	2	3	2.54	51
19	0	1	0	3.78	14
14	1	0	1	4.09	7
12	1	1	0	1.89	14
10	1	0	0	4.50	8
1	0	0	0	0.00	1

NLCS

See main article: 1988 National League Championship Series.

Game 1

October 4: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	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

October 5: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	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: NYM - Keith Hernandez (1); LA - None.

Game 3

October 8: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	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

October 9: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

align=left width=28%	Team	width=4%	1	width=4%	2	width=4%	3	width=4%	4	width=4%	5	width=4%	6	width=4%	7	width=4%	8	width=4%	9	width=4%	10	width=4%	11	width=4%	12	width=4%	R	width=4%	H	width=4%	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: LA - Mike Scioscia (1), Kirk Gibson (1); NYM - Darryl Strawberry (1), Kevin McReynolds (1)

Game 5

October 10: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	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: LA - Kirk Gibson (2); NYM - Lenny Dykstra (1)

Game 6

October 11: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	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: NYM - Kevin McReynolds (2); LA - None.

Game 7

October 12: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	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

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

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

References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/o/oroscje01.shtml Jesse Orosco
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/santara01.shtml Rafael Santana
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/millira01.shtml Randy Milligan
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maksumi01.shtml Mike Maksudian
https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ramirhe01.shtml Héctor Ramírez
Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 47, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

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