As we announced on Wednesday, MMO partnered with Out of the Park Baseball to bring you a 16-team Mets Madness competition that will be simulated over the next few months. The managers of the teams are comprised of MMO writers and editors, one MMO commenter (Mike Lloyd), and we’re currently doing a giveaway on Twitter for the final manager spot (the 2015 team).

Each round will be best-of-seven. We will post only a series recap of the first round and then will be more detailed in our posting as we get deeper into the competition. We will also be giving folks access to 10% off coupons for downloading the game and giving away codes to download the game for free.

1976 Mets

The 1976 Mets didn’t make the playoffs, but their dominant pitching staff did everything possible to keep the team in the race. The staff posted an NL-best 2.94 ERA and boasted three top-10 Cy Young finishers – Jerry Koosman (second), Tom Seaver (eighth), and Jon Matlack (10th). Skip Lockwood recorded 19 saves out of the bullpen with a 2.67 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 94 1/3 innings. Bob Apodaca (2.81) and Ken Sanders (2.87) also posted sub-3.00 ERAs, and no hurler on the team who threw more than 20 innings had an ERA north of 4.00.

Offensively, though, the ’76 team ranked just seventh in the NL in runs scored, averaging 3.8 runs per game. Dave Kingman led the team with 37 homers, with only John Milner (15) and Ed Kranepool (10) hitting more than five. Milner (.807), Kingman (.793), and Kranepool (.754) were also the only players with an OPS above .750.

1986 Mets

Dominant. Cool. Crazy. Winners. There are multiple adjectives one could use to describe the 1986 Mets.

No matter how you want to describe them, the 1986 Mets were one of the best World Series-winning teams ever. The Mets finished with the highest team OPS+ in the National League (106) in 1986, led by veterans Gary Carter (115 OPS+) and Keith  Hernandez (140 OPS+), and rounded out by the youthful Darryl Strawberry (139 OPS+), Lenny Dykstra (129 OPS+), and Kevin Mitchell (124 OPS+).

Behind their great offense was the best rotation in baseball that year. The Mets finished with the best ERA and ERA+ in the majors, with Dwight Gooden (2.84), Ron Darling (2.81), and Bob Ojeda (2.57) all finishing with ERAs under 3. Their bullpen was also a plus in 1986, led by Roger McDowell (3.02) and Jesse Orosco (2.33), who split the closer role that season and both finished with 20 plus saves.

Who do you think will win this matchup?