Throughout the history of the New York Mets, elite pitching defined the franchise. With aces like Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Jacob deGrom, the team enjoyed plenty of spectacular performances on the mound. But out of all the dominant seasons in Mets’ history, which one was the best?

We asked this question to our followers on the Metsmerized’s Twitter account last week. Was Seaver’s 1969, Gooden’s 1985, or deGrom’s 2018 the best season? Given that each of these pitchers won Cy Young Awards in overpowering fashion, the results were close.

As outstanding as Seaver and deGrom were, it’s hard to argue against the 44 percent of fans that selected Gooden’s 1985 season. At the age of 20-years-old, Gooden led the league in ERA (1.53), strikeouts (268) and wins (24). Not only was he the best pitcher in the league in 1985, but his dominant campaign ranks among the best seasons in MLB history.

Gooden’s 229 ERA+ is the 12th best mark of all time. The only pitchers in the last one hundred years to post better single-season marks are Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, and Bob Gibson – all first ballot Hall of Famers.

But deGrom doesn’t rank too far behind. DeGrom was also historically great in 2018, finishing with the 20th best ERA+ plus of all-time (218). DeGrom led the league with a 1.70 ERA and 1.98 FIP, while also striking out 11.2 batters per nine innings.

  1. Gooden 1985: 229 ERA+
  2.  DeGrom 2018: 218 ERA+
  3.  Seaver 1969: 165 ERA+
  4. Koosman 1976: 121 ERA+

While deGrom’s ERA+ is close to Gooden’s, there is still a key factor that separates them. Given that the two pitchers played in different eras, Gooden pitched deeper into games. Gooden fired 276.2 innings with 16 complete games, while deGrom finished with 217 innings and one complete game.

While this shouldn’t take anything away from deGrom’s dominance, it does highlight Gooden’s greatness.He could pitch all nine innings while still performing at an all-time great level. This made Gooden an incredibly valuable player. According to Baseball Reference, he finished with 12.2 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in 1985, which is the highest total for any pitcher in the past one hundred years.

This remarkable statistic should cement Gooden’s 1985 season as the best in team history, but this discussion can’t end without analyzing Seaver’s best years. As the most valuable player in team history, Seaver pitched multiple great seasons that can be considered.

Seaver went 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA in 1969, but that isn’t his best statistical year. In 1971, Seaver led the league with a 1.76 ERA and 1.93 FIP. These numbers are identical to deGrom’s 2018 season, but again, the major difference is Seaver that pitched deeper into games. Seaver fired 21 complete games and tossed 286.1 innings, producing a WAR of 10.2.

Seaver also posted a slightly higher WAR in 1973 (10.6). Seaver led the league again in ERA (2.08) and FIP (2.57) that season. So, when we break it down by single-season pitching WAR, here is how they stack up.

  1. Gooden 1985: 12.2 WAR
  2. Seaver 1973: 10.6 WAR
  3. DeGrom 2018: 9.9 WAR
  4. Koosman 1976: 5.0 WAR

The only season that doesn’t stack up to the others in the poll is Koosman’s 1976 season. While Koosman was very good that year with 21 wins and a 2.76 ERA, his overall numbers don’t compare to the other three aces. But could we find another season that compares better to the elite trio of Seaver, Gooden, or deGrom?

The pitcher with the next highest single-season WAR is Jon Matlack. While he posted only a 13-15 record in 1974, Matlack recorded 9.1 WAR with a 2.41 ERA. He also led the league with a 2.42 FIP and threw 14 complete games with seven shutouts.

After Matlack, Johan Santana follows with a 7.1 WAR in 2008, as he led the league with a 2.53 ERA over 234 innings. Pedro Martinez finished right behind Santana with 7.0 WAR in 2005. Both Santana and Martinez had better seasons for other organizations, but they still pitched at an elite level during their first seasons in Queens.

There’s many other seasons that could be discussed like David Cone’s 1988 campaign (145 ERA+), or R.A. Dickey’s Cy Young Season (139 ERA+), but Gooden’s amazing 1985 cannot be matched. We might not ever witness another season so dominant from a pitcher again. Pitchers today just don’t go deep enough into games to match what Gooden achieved in 1985. And the fact that Gooden produced such a historically great season at 20-years-old, when most other players his age were either in college or the minors, makes it all the more spectacular.