After a momentary lapse the year before, the New York Mets were again the National League's best team. Powered by the outfield combo of Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds, the Mets won 100 games. But they never reached the World Series; the Dodgers, led by MVP Kirk Gibson, upset the Mets, then defeated the Athletics to win the championship.

         Gibson and Strawberry were both left-handed hitters, and both were potent power/speed combinations. Gibson had his glory days earlier in the decade with the Tigers, and led them to a World Series in 1984. This year was Gibson's first with the Dodgers; he was 31 years old. It was probably his best season; afterwards he was hobbled by injuries, and was never again a great player.
        Strawberry was only 26 years old, and had already hammered 186 career home runs. He was the most fearsome power hitter in the league, and was also a good base stealer. He was the best player on a great Mets team that won the World Series in 1986. But the Straw Man had only two good seasons left; he began to have some serious back problems, which he might have overcome had he not also had some serious drug problems. Strawberry made several comeback attempts late in his career, but finally retired in 1999 with 335 home runs.
        I think Gibson and Strawberry were evenly matched this season. Gibson's RBI total was low for an MVP, but so was Strawberry's batting average. Strawberry had more power, and produced a few more runs. Gibson was a much better base stealer; he was caught only four times, while Strawberry was caught 14 times. Strawberry could easily be the MVP, but I can't come up with a good reason to reverse the decision of the voters.

        Though he didn't win the MVP Award this season, Mets fans were awfully pleased with their big star, Darryl Strawberry. The Rookie of the Year five years earlier, he was an enormously talented player, but was also a centre of controversy; he was criticized by his teammates for his too-frequent tardiness, or for sitting out important games with ailments. He shot back with his own critcisms, and sometimes mused about his wish to be traded. He had personal problems at home.
        Strawberry was only 26 years old, and had already hammered 186 career home runs. He was the most fearsome power hitter in the league, and was also a good base stealer. He was the best player on a great Mets team that won the World Series in 1986. And now, the final puzzle seemed to have fallen into place: Strawberry had established himself as a team leader and far more mature individual. The team was winning, he was having an MVP season, plus he had reconciled with his wife. Good times lay ahead.
        A year later, it had all gone wrong. The Mets didn't win, while Strawberry hit just .225. He walked out of training camp, quarreled with his manager and teammates, was named in a paternity suit, and was arrested for assaulting his wife with a deadly weapon (the charges were dropped, though she later filed for separation). After the season, he checked into an alcoholism treatment centre.
        It took an amazingly long time for his alcohol abuse to hit the media. Even more amazing, it would take four more years for his drug abuse problems to come to light. Strawberry returned to the Mets in the spring of 1990, claiming that his problems were behind him. He delivered another monster, MVP-calibre season, and was again praised for his newfound maturity and team leadership. He was sometimes compared to Reggie Jackson, the "straw who stirred the drink" in New York, a man who whose talent for hitting clutch home runs matched his enormous celebrity status.
        But his days as a Met were over; after the season, Strawberry returned home to California, signing as a free agent with the Dodgers. That same winter, he became a born-again Christian. He showed up to camp with high expectations, then did what nobody expected — he faded into irrelevence. His three years in Los Angeles were plagued by a back injury, and were then quickly ended when he checked himself into rehab to battle a cocaine addiction.
        Darryl Strawberry played for 17 years. He hit 335 lifetime home runs, most of them in his first nine seasons. After leaving the Dodgers, he was convicted for tax evasion. His career really should have ended in 1994, after he violated baseball's substance abuse policy, but he fell under the protective wing of George Steinbrenner, and somehow managed to play parts of five seasons with the Yankees. He crushed three home runs for the Bombers in the 1996 ALDS, and 24 homers during the regular season for the great 1998 club. But that season was ended early when he was forced to undergo surgery for colon cancer.
        Strawberry was once the greatest sporting celebrity in the nation's largest media market, and the downward spiral of his life has kept him in the news. He has failed other drug tests, spent more time in prison, had a second surgery for cancer. Though hardly a model citizen, he has, to his credit, remained active with the Without Walls International Church. Whether or not he can break the cycle of relapse-punishment-rehab remains to be seen. And while it is easy to feel frustrated and disappointed in Darryl as a person, why anyone would want to punish him is something I have never understood.

        McReynolds was third in the MVP vote. He had a perfect season as a base stealer, successful on all of his 21 attempts. Otherwise, he had a low on-base percentage, and not a great deal of power. I think both Will Clark deserves to rank ahead of McReynolds. Clark was the league's most complete offensive player, leading the league in runs produced. I'll give him a slight edge.
        The best shortstops were veteran Ozzie Smith and rising star Barry Larkin. Smith had one of his best years at the plate, and was the top base-stealer in the league. He was also the league's top defensive player. He could be a top MVP candidate, but his team was among the worst in the league, and Larkin had similar numbers.
        This was Larkin's first big season. the talented and injury-prone infielder was able to stay healthy this season, and led the Reds to the third best record in the league.