Mets Madness Semifinals Preview: 1988 Mets vs. 2006 Mets

MMO’s partnership with Out of the Park Baseball (OOTP) continues as our 16-team Mets Madness bracket is now down to the final four. The first matchup is between the 1998 Mets and the (shocking) 2022 Mets. (Check out that preview here.)

Here, we’ll preview the other semifinal matchup: the 1988 Mets (led by Dilip Sridhar) versus the 2006 Mets (led by myself).

If you have not taken advantage already, we are giving folks access to 10% off coupons for downloading the game as well as giving away codes to download the game for free.

Mets Madness Bracket.

1988 Mets

On paper, the 1988 Mets looked like a supercharged version of the 1986 World Series winners, with Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Howard Johnson and others seemingly entering their prime. They’d also traded for David Cone recently, giving the team a litany of aces. But we know what played out in real life: a drama-filled 1987 team spilled over to injuries across the offense in the 1988 season, then a heartbreaking seven-game loss in the 1988 NLCS to the Dodgers, who eventually won the World Series.

But Mets Madness doesn’t happen in real life!

In this series, the healthy and high-powered offense, still led by Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Johnson, and Strawberry packs a heavy punch. Gooden, Cone, and Bob Ojeda, Ron Darling, and Sid Fernandez also made up the best rotation in baseball in 1988. A staunch matchup for one of the best Mets teams of the 21st century.

2006 Mets

The 2006 team is driven by their offense, specifically David Wright, Carlos Beltrán and Carlos Delgado. Those three pack a punch equal to the ’88 team’s core. José Reyes, Cliff Floyd, and others solidly round out the lineup, too. It may not be one-to-one, but the offensive matchup here feels likea bit of a wash.

Where the ’06 team will have to over perform is in their starting rotation. This team’s starters are OLD. Pedro Martinez (34), Tom Glavine (40), and Orlando Hernández (40) are the headliners here, John Maine rounding out the playoff starters. Steve Trachsel will come out of the bullpen, which (again, on paper) is staunch. Billy Wagner, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, and Chad Bradford manned a bullpen that ended up with the best ERA in the National League in 2006.