Monday, March 29, 2010

World Subway Series: What if the 1986 Mets faced off against the 1998 Yankees?

Who would win if the two most legendary New York teams of the last 25 years - the 1986 Mets and the 1998 Yankees - faced off in a seven-game series? And what role would Darryl Strawberry, who played on both teams, have in the series?

I would hope that his appearance wouldn't end with him quitting out of nowhere, the way his tenure on "Celebrity Apprentice" ended last night. Strawberry shocked and dismayed most of his fans watching the show by offering himself to be fired, even though he hadn't done anything worth being fired over.

Ostensibly, his move was to save project manager Michael Johnson from getting the heave-ho, but then Darryl admitted to Trump that he was "tired" and just wanted to go home. Oh, Darryl, how could you? You look like a quitter, even though you technically got "fired"!

I wish we could do a What If over if Straw had stayed on "Celebrity Apprentice" - I don't think he would have won, but he would have lasted longer than that icky governor!

But we can do a What If over how Strawberry's 1986 Mets would have done against the 1998 Yankees. The good folks at WhatIfSports, who run SimLeague Baseball and Hardball Dynasty have run a best-of-seven scenario for us- a Subway World Series, if you will - between the two teams. And each day this week, we'll feature one of the games here at Subway Squawkers.

In Game 1, the pitching matchup features Ron Darling over Andy Pettitte. And Strawberry hits a two-run homer to help lead the 1986 Mets to victory over the 1998 Yankees (he didn't play in the Yankees' lineup that night, though.) The '86 Mets beat the '98 Yankees in Game 1, 11-6. Read the box score and game summary here. And come back every day this week to Subway Squawkers to see how this WhatIfSports series ends!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

1 comment:

Uncle Mike said...

In my March 8 blog entry, I showed my theory as to how the 2009 Yankees would have beaten the 1986 Mets in 6 games. If it was the 1998 Yankees, forget it. Here's the pitching matchups -- the ones that were actually used in the World Series in question:

Game 1: Ron Darling vs. David Wells. Darling-Game 1 '86 pitched better than Wells-Game 1 '98, but recall that the Yankees teed off on the San Diego bullpen. Can't you just see Tino Martinez taking Doug Sisk or Rick Aguilera into the upper deck for that grand slam? Well, maybe not if the game is played at Shea, then it goes to the subway ramp. Yankees 8, Mets 6.

Game 2: Dwight Gooden vs. Orlando Hernandez. Doctor K did not have a good game. El Duque did. Yankees 6, Mets 3.

Game 3: Bob Ojeda vs. David Cone. Coney didn't have his best stuff, but then, Jesse Orosco was not Trevor Hoffman, and Hoffman couldn't even stop Scott Brosius. Yankees 5, Mets 4.

Game 4: Ron Darling vs. Andy Pettitte. I can see Davey Johnson, who got embarrassed as Oriole manager in the '96 ALCS by the Yankees, starting Sid Fernandez instead. Yeah, that'll work. Yankees 2, Mets 1. Yankees sweep.

Met fans thought their 1986 team was the greatest team ever. In 1998, we saw the greatest team ever, and it was the Yankees. The '86 Mets could touch them, maybe, but not beat them.

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