1987
From The Met Wiki
In 1987, the Mets followed up their World Championship season with a 92-70 won-lost record. The team ended up with a second-place finish in the National League Eastern Division. It was their fourth straight year in which they had a winning percentage above the .500 mark.
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April
The Mets began defense of their crown with eleven wins in twenty April games. In the season opener at Shea Stadium on April 7, the team posted a 3-2 victory over the Pirates. They swept a three-game series in Philadelphia the next week to bring their record to 6-2. The Mets lost their next four games, but then recorded three consecutive wins. The team ended the month with an 11-3 triumph over the Expos at Shea and one game in back of the division-leading Cardinals.
May
May was not too merry for the Mets. The team had a 13-14 won-lost record for the month. It began with a 7-6 victory over the Expos on Tim Teufel’s home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Mets then dropped nine of their next eleven games. They won five of nine on a home stand between May 15 and May 24 and swept a three-game series at San Francisco from May 25 to May 27. At San Diego, they won two of three games to end the month. The team stood fourth in the East, five and one-half games behind front-running St. Louis.
June
In June, the Mets welcomed back Dwight Gooden after their ace pitcher had missed the first two months of the season. Gooden was the winning pitcher in his first ’87 game in the Mets’ 5-1 victory over the Pirates at Shea on June 5. The Mets went 5-5 on a road trip to Chicago, Pittsburgh and Montreal between June 8 and June 18. They won five of six at Shea against the Phillies and Cubs from June 19 to June 25. The Mets closed the month with a 5-1 victory over the Cardinals at Shea on June 30 as Gooden chalked up his fifth win. The team had a .571 winning percentage (16-12) for June and moved into a second-place tie with the Expos in the division.
July
The Mets won 16 of 27 games in July. On the first day of the month, they recorded a 9-6 win over the Cardinals to conclude a home stand. To begin a road trip one day later, the Mets had a 5-0 win at Cincinnati on a two-hitter by Terry Leach. The team swept a doubleheader with 6-2 and 5-1 wins at Atlanta on July 7. After a three-game sweep at Houston that led to the All-Star Break, Gooden pitched a shutout for a 9-0 victory over the Reds on July 16 in the Mets’ first game after the mid-summer classic in Oakland. They recorded 5-2 and 7-4 wins over the Astros to sweep a twinbill at Shea on July 24. The Mets won all three games of a series at St. Louis from July 28 to July 30. The team ended the month at 56-46 and third in the N. L. East behind the Cardinals and Expos.
August
The Mets played over the .600 mark in August. They had 18 wins and a percentage of .621 for the month. The team recorded victories in each of their first seven August games. At Shea on August 11, Leach won his tenth straight in a 6-2 Mets triumph over the Expos. The Mets set a team record for runs in a game with a 23-10 triumph at Chicago on August 16. They won five of nine on an ensuing home stand and two of three at San Francisco. The Mets closed the month with a 6-5 win in 10 innings at San Diego on August 31. The team stood alone in second place, five and one-half games behind St. Louis.
September/October
Over the final five weeks of the season, the Mets won 18 games. However, they came up short in their quest for a repeat title. In September, the team won six of its first eight games to cut the Cardinals’ division lead to a game and a half. A pair of ensuing losses to the Redbirds at Shea dropped the Mets to three and one-half back. On September 13 at Shea, the Mets recorded a 4-2 victory over the Cards to begin a four-game winning streak. They went 5-6 between September 17 and September 27. The Mets lost twice in a three-game series at Philadelphia between September 28 and September 30. A Cardinals victory on October 1 eliminated the team from the divisional race. The Mets ended the season with an 11-6 win over the Cards at St. Louis on October 4.
Award Winners
- Keith Hernandez won a National League Gold Glove Award
