The New York Mets whupped the rest of the league, winning 108 games during the season. They then had a whole bunch of trouble beating the Astros in the League Championships, then had even more trouble before they finally defeated the Red Sox in the World Series. They had a great pitching staff, led by young phenom Dwight Gooden.
        The Astros did not have the stars that the Mets had, and their success was something of a surprise. But they also had a great pitching staff, led by the sensational Mike Scott.

         Mike Scott began his career with the Mets in 1979. His first six seasons were very unsuccessful, and he was dealt to the Astros. He had a breakthrough season in 1985, winning 18 games for Houston, and this year was even better. Scott's surprising success was the result of his mastery of a new pitch, the split-fingered fastball (he was accused of throwing some illegal stuff as well, but was never caught). It was a dream season for Scott; not only was he the best pitcher in the league, he clinched the division title with a no-hitter!
        In the playoffs, the Astros were big underdogs against the Mets. But Scott threw a shutout in Game One, and was equally dominating in Game Four. Game Six went sixteen innings; the Mets eventually won both the game and the series, and it was a good thing, because they were scared silly of facing Scott in Game Seven. Scott was 31 this year; he had three more fine seasons for Houston before age and a sore arm unded his career.
        The Mets had a pretty good power pitcher of their own in Dwight Gooden. Doc wasn't quite as dominant as he had been the year before, but he was still very good. By year's end, Gooden was 21 years old, and already had a career record of 58-19. Gooden was complemented by change-up master Bobby Ojeda. Ojeda was another late-bloomer; a soft-tossing lefty, he had struggled for six seasons with the Red Sox in Fenway Park before he finally got a chance with the Mets. He had a great season. Ojeda hurt his arm a year later, and bounced up and down for several seasons. His career ended years later after he survived a horrific boating accident that killed two of his teammates.
        The two 20-win pitchers this year were Mike Krukow and Fernando Valenzuela. Krukow was 34, and had been a very mediocre pitcher until now. This was by far his best season to date, and he never pitched well again. This was also the last great season in Valenzuela's career; he was only 25, and had already won 99 games in his career. But Fernando was worked too hard and hurt his arm, and spent the rest of his career as a survivor. Valenzuela was the last pitcher of the century to throw 20 complete games in a season.