I turned on the game last night to find Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez not in the broadcast booth but in the game and wearing those old racing stripe uniforms.  Being the sharp individual that I am it took only a few minutes for me to realize that the game I was watching was a Mets classic and that Hernandez and Darling weren’t suddenly thrust into field duty. 

In fact, SNY’s version of “Rain Out Theatre” (remember that from channel 9) was the game from 1988 when the Mets clinched the division title against the Phillies at Shea Stadium.  1988 was the year all Mets fans want to forget but it certainly was successful as far as a regular season goes.  The Mets won 100 games that year but failed to advance to the World Series when destiny turned on one Mike Scioscia home run in game four.  The home run he hit to right field off of Dwight Gooden tied the game then the Dodgers went on to win tying the series at two games each.  Had the Mets won that game (which they should have),  they would have had a commanding three games to one lead heading into game five at Shea Stadium the next day.  But it was not meant to be.  The Mets lost to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in seven games. 

While I was watching the classic game last night, (yes I would rather watch a Mets classic then a live Yankee game) I started thinking about just how good those Mets teams of the eighties were and what a shame that in seven seasons from 1984 through 1990 they only won one World Series.  In fact, they were only in one World Series.  What if things were different back then, for example suppose there was at least one wild card then.  If that were the case, the Mets would have made the playoffs six of seven years from ’84 through ‘90.  In the years the Mets did not win the division, they had the second best record in the league (better than the Western division winner) except for two seasons, 1984 and 1989.  Remember back then there was no central division.  In other words, out of the seven years, the Mets won the division twice. In three of the other five seasons, the Mets had a better record than the Western Division winner and did not make the post season.  In 1984 the Mets record was third best in the league behind the two division winners and in ’89 they had the fourth best record.

Here are the standings for those years when looking at the top three teams in the league. (not including the two seasons the Mets won the division or 1989 when they held the fourth best record)

Here’s another “what if” scenario. Suppose back in the 80’s the league was split into three divisions as it is today?  Let’s assume the teams would have been set up in the same divisions per what was decided in 1993, the year before the Central division was created.  The Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the St. Louis Cardinals would have been moved to the Central and the Mets would have remained in the East.  Ironically these are the three teams that beat out the Mets for first place in five of the seven years. The result: if the three division format were adopted 10 years earlier, the Mets would have won the NL East for seven consecutive years.  It’s not as good as the Braves 14 year run but it wouldn’t have been bad either.

Anyway, it is what it is and it was what it was.  And really such speculation is just that, whose to say what would have really happened if those changes were in place back then.  It’s just kind of fun to think about what could have been on a rainy night when the game was postponed.  

Extra Innings:  The Mets magic number did not change because both the Phillies and Mets were rained out. But the Marlins lost so their number is down to 10 to be eliminated. 

The Mets were rained out for the fourth time last night, all at Shea Stadium.  Let’s chip in another 250 million and put a retractable roof on the new park.