Thursday, October 25, 2012

The '86 Mets were really good.

Today is the 26th anniversary of the greatest day in Mets history so I decided to take a quick look at the roster for that team and where they stacked up using WAR. WAR was neither invented nor calculated in the 1980's so you not be familiar with these rankings for this team. The 1980's were like the statistical wild west, pitchers wins still reigned supreme and Keith Hernandez once lead the league in gwRBI.

Name
WAR
Keith Hernandez
5.9
Lenny Dykstra
4.6
Gary Carter
3.9
Darryl Strawberry
3.5
Wally Backman
3.2
Mookie Wilson
3
Kevin Mitchell
2.8
Ray Knight
2.8
Howard Johnson
1.4


Look at this, they have eight guys with a WAR over two (almost at three). The level of consistency here is just fantastic, having your seven and eight hitters be three WAR guys is such a huge benefit that very few current teams have had. For some comparison the 2012 Mets had one player with a WAR that would have fit in here (Wright at 7.8) with the next closer player being Ruben Tejada with a 2.1. Scott Hairston, a bench player, had a WAR of exactly two while every other player came in under that mark. The 1986 Mets were an offensive powerhouse from lead off through the eighth spot. Let's take a quick look at the pitchers:

Name
WAR
Dwight Gooden
4.8
Bob Ojeda
4.2
Sid Fernandez
4
Ron Darling
3.4
Rick Aguilera
1.6


Again the name of the game here is consistent goodness. 4.8 is not going to lead the league in WAR for pitchers but it is very good, the more important thing is that the next three guys are also excellent pitchers. These were consistent guy capable of going out every night and pitching effective, quality starts.

This was just a magical team. Mets fans may deal with a lot of pain and heartbreak but through it all there is always 1986, a moment of true greatness which no number of disappointing seasons can take away. There is always this:

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