With the Mets struggling in the shortened 2020 season, now may be a good time to look back some happier times for the guys from Flushing.

In 1986, it was clear very early in the season that the Mets were the team to beat in the National League East, and perhaps in all of baseball. The Mets roared out of the gate, and had a record of 59-25 at the All Star break. They were beating teams and literally beating them up, and it was a matter of time until they clinched a post season spot.

When the calendar turned to September, the Mets were 87-43, and the anticipation of their first entry into playoff baseball since 1973 was building. When the Mets went to Philadelphia to take on the second place Phillies on September 12th, they needed to win one game of the series to make it official.

I made the trip to Philadelphia, ready for the coronation. After all, the Mets basically won at will all season, so this would be no different, right? Well, it was different. The Mets lost the Friday night game by the score of 6-3, as Dwight Gooden was roughed up early and the Mets could not come back.

The Saturday night game started out well, on a Lenny Dykstra leadoff home run. The Mets held a lead of 3-0 until the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Phillies scored twice. The Mets added a run in the sixth, but Roger McDowell was ineffective in relief of Bob Ojeda, and the Mets fell 6-5. The Mets took Sunday off, losing 6-0.

Being there for three games, waiting for the one win that would put the team over top and not getting it was like going to a Broadway show to see your favorite actor, only to find at the last minute that the understudy would perform that day. The Mets were then off to St.Louis, and I went home disappointed. The Mets came back to Shea on September 17th, having clinched a tie for the division, needing just one win or a Phillies’ loss to pop the champagne.

I had to go to the game, right? I wasn’t going to be denied this amazin’ moment. Gooden was on the mound against the Cubs with a chance to deliver the division title once again. The Mets scored twice in the bottom of the third, with Dave Magadan (Keith Hernandez did not start due to illness) and Darryl Strawberry getting the RBIs. Magadan added another RBI single in the fifth, and Strawberry added another one of his own in the bottom of the seventh. The Mets were up 4-0, and Shea was ready to implode (22 years before it actually did).

Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run home run off Gooden in the eighth, but Doc would give the Cubs nothing else. The Cubs got the tying runs on base in the ninth. Gooden kept them off the board, and the game ended on a ground out from Wally Backman to Hernandez, who entered the game to be part of the magical moment.

It was finally official. The Mets had completed step one of their quest for a championship, one they’d later win, albeit barely and with fans requiring a fair amount of Davey Johnson‘s Tums. The fans stormed the field on September 17th, ripping up grass and taking in the moment. GM Frank Cashen did not deem that an appropriate way to celebrate, and made his feelings known. There was talk that the Mets might have to forfeit the next game if the field could not be made playable. It was, and the game went on.

Hang with the Mets, folks. They don’t win often, but when they do, it’s all worth it. I can speak from experience.