Are the 88′ Mets the Best Staff Ever?
By Mike Silva ~ December 28th, 2009. Filed under: Mets History.
I was perusing some of my favorite sites yesterday when I came across a post by Steve Lombardi of Was Watching. He was talking about the possibility the Yankees will have 5 pitchers with 130+ strikeouts in the same season. It got me to thinking about historic pitching staffs and what’s the best all time one through five staff.
While I was doing my research I came across this post by Tom Hannon over at The Baseball Page from earlier this year. What Hannon did was put together his top 9 pitching staffs of all time, including some near misses:
1.98’ Braves
2.71’ Orioles
3.86’ Mets
4.93’ Braves
5.66’ Dodgers
6.54’ Giants
7.54 ‘Indians
8.27’ Yankees
9.64’ White Sox
His near misses include:
88’ Mets
03’ A’s
02’ A’s
29’ A’s
54’ Braves
72’ A’s
You can read his explanation for his decisions at the site for yourself, but after going through each staff the best one through five might very well be the 1988 Mets.
I am not saying they have the best five pitchers, but rather the best balance across the entire rotation. How many teams in history can say they lost their fifth starter, which those Mets did when Rick Aguilera went down, and replaced him with a twenty game winner in David Cone? Arguably this Mets team was better than their 86′ counterparts, but age and injuries to Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez put a hurt on the offense. The Mets played .500 ball that year across half the season and picked it up later on. If not for that mediocre stretch you could have witnessed three twenty game winners, and an exponentially better record out of Sid Fernandez and Bobby Ojeda.
The other teams on the list had starters that individually produced better seasons, but Hannon’s top three teams didn’t have the depth of the 88’ Mets. The 98’ Braves had a very hittable Kevin Millwood, 71’ Orioles didn’t have a fifth starter, and Rick Aguilera wasn’t anything special for the 86’ Mets.
The 88’ Mets had a great combination of power and finesse pitchers, they logged innings, missed bats, and didn’t give up many runs. Consider this: the best NL staff in 2009 (Dodgers) gave up a half a run more a game than the 88’ Mets, who had a team ERA under three. The ultimate goal for any team is to throw out a high quality starter every game. The 1988 Mets might be the only team to be able to say they did that and that is why I believe they have the best one through five in baseball history.
December 28th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Mike, I think you are right on with this assessment.
If you look at the Mets starters in 1988 — Gooden Darling, Cone, Ojeda and Fernandez — and tiered them like we do today — i.e.e, Ace – #1, #2, etc. then I have a slightly different wrinkle on how I believe most would tier the 1988 staff.
The 1988 Gooden was a very, very good pitcher but had regressed considerale from the dominant Doctor he was in 1984 & 1985 …. his velocity fell off in 1986 and his early 1987 drug problems took their toll.
If I had to select an ace from the 1988 staff, it would be David Cone hands down. In fact, I still cringe when I think that Davey Johnson started Gooden in Game 1 of the NLCS — it should have been Cone off his 20-3 record …. I contend that the entire series would have been different if Cone was designatd the #1 and Gooden or Ojeda were #2.
Anyway, here is how I would slot the 1988 staffe:
#1 (Ace) – David Cone
#2: Dwight Gooden
#3: Bobby Ojeda
#4: Ron Darling
#5: Sid Fernandez
December 28th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
The 1969 Mets pitching staff wasn’t too shabby either.
Tom Seaver
Jerry Koosman
Gary Gentry
Nolan Ryan
Don Cardwell
December 29th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Ron
You are right about Doc. When looking back at the #’s he had already started to decline in 88′ – we just didn’t know it yet.
He still pitched well in the playoffs and outdueled Hershiser in Game 1 and would have gotten the win in Game 4 if Davey pulled him. I asked Gary Carter about this a couple of months ago, and he smiled, wouldn’t give an answer to whether Doc should have been taken out, and finally said “I wasn’t the manager”.
Personally I would have started Doc in Game 7 – nothing against Darling- but why not go with your ace? Darling didn’t pitch well in Game 3.
What a frustrating series and one which kept them from a second title. I think if they win a second title that eighties team looks different. Perhaps they don’t make the same panic moves as well.