Subway World Series Game 6: 1986 Mets vs. the 1998 Yankees

The good folks at WhatIfSports, who run SimLeague Baseball and Hardball Dynasty, have created a best-of-seven scenario for us- a Subway World Series, if you will - between the 1986 Mets and the 1998 Yankees. And we're featuring the entire series at Subway Squawkers.  Here's a look back  at Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, Game 4, and Game 5.

So far, the 1998 Yankees have looked like the team to beat in our Subway World Series matchup. After all, they were up three games to one at one point, although they did lose Game 5. So what will they do in Game 6, the matchup delayed by the excitement of the 2010 Yankees-Red Sox Opening Day series?

Dwight Gooden faces off against David Cone in the battle of future no-hitter pitchers. The first two innings are a pitchers' duel, but the Mets, led by Ray Knight and Lenny Dykstra, mount a third-inning rally to put the Mets up, 2-0 against the Yankees. The Yanks answer that with a run of their own at the bottom of that inning.

The score stays 2-1 until the fifth inning, when the Yankees' Bernie Williams drives in Chuck Knoblauch with a single to tie the game. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Bomber star Tino Martinez breaks the 2-2 stalemate with "a solo homer to LCF that barely clears the wall," according to WhatIfSports.

David Cone leaves the game for the Yankees after the sixth with a 3-2 lead, leaving the game to the Yankee bullpen. Three innings left - will the Mets mount a comeback against Graeme Lloyd, Mike Stanton, and Mariano Rivera? The answer is no.

In the ninth inning, the Mets do mount a rally against Mo, with Wally Backman at second, Darryl Strawberry at first, and only one out, but Kevin Mitchell grounds into a double play to end the game, and cause bedlam in the Bronx.

As John Sterling would say, "Ballgame over, World Series over, Yankees win. THEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN!

Check out the box score and game summary. Many thanks to WhatIfSports for running this matchup for us!

WhatIfSports Subway World Series Game 4: Ojeda vs. El Duque

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 1986 Mets and the 1998 Yankees. And we're featuring the entire series at Subway Squawkers.  Here's a look back  at Game 1, Game 2, and Game 3.


We're up to Game 4 of our Subway World Series, with a pitching matchup between Bob Ojeda and Orlando Hernandez. Paul O'Neill puts the Yankees on the boards in the fourth inning with a solo home run. But Gary Carter strikes back later that inning, driving in Keith Hernandez with a double.

The Mets go ahead, 2-1, in the sixth, thanks to a Darryl Strawberry homer. Gary Carter drives in another run  in the seventh to make the score 3-1 Mets.  But the Yankees tie the score in the eighth, thanks to a Bernie Williams two-run homer.

At the top of  the ninth, Doug Sisk enters the game for the Mets, only to to hit Scott Brosius with a pitch, and then give up a single to Homer Bush. Then Randy Niemann comes into the game for the Mets in relief of Sisk. He strikes out Chuck Knoblauch, but gives up run-scoring singles to Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Paul O'Neill to make the game 6-3.


Rick Anderson comes in in relief of Niemann, strikes out Tino Martinez, then gives up a run-scoring single to Jorge Posada before getting Chad Curtis to pop out and end the inning.

With the score 7-3 Yankees, Keith Hernandez drives in a run in the bottom of the ninth to make the score 7-4. But Mariano Rivera comes into the game and shuts down the Mets' offense, and the Yankees win.

Here's the box score and detailed description of Game 4.
 
The Bombers are now up three games to one in the series. Will they be able to close the Mets out  in five games? Come back tomorrow to see!

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!