# 1990 New York Mets season

The 1990 New York Mets season was the 29th regular season for the Mets. They went 91–71 and finished second in the National League East, four games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. The Mets were managed by Davey Johnson and Bud Harrelson. They played home games at Shea Stadium. Despite not making the postseason for the second consecutive year, they would have their last winning season until 1997.

## Offseason

* November 14, 1989: Gary Carter was released by the Mets.
* December 5, 1989: John Mitchell and Joaquin Contreras (minors) were traded by the Mets to the Baltimore Orioles for Keith Hughes and Cesar Mejia (minors).
* December 6, 1989: Randy Myers and Kip Gross were traded by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds for John Franco and Don Brown (minors).
* December 20, 1989: Juan Samuel was traded by the Mets to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Alejandro Peña and Mike Marshall.
* March 26, 1990: D. J. Dozier was signed by the Mets as an amateur free agent.

## Regular season

* Darryl Strawberry became the first player in Mets history to have three seasons with 100+ RBIs.
* During the season, Frank Viola became the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Mets in the 20th century.

### Opening Day starters

* Kevin Elster
* Dwight Gooden
* Gregg Jefferies
* Howard Johnson
* Barry Lyons
* Mike Marshall
* Kevin McReynolds
* Keith Miller
* Darryl Strawberry

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 49‍–‍32 | 46‍–‍35 |
| New York Mets | 91 | 71 | .562 | 4 | 52‍–‍29 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Montreal Expos | 85 | 77 | .525 | 10 | 47‍–‍34 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Chicago Cubs | 77 | 85 | .475 | 18 | 39‍–‍42 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 77 | 85 | .475 | 18 | 41‍–‍40 | 36‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 70 | 92 | .432 | 25 | 34‍–‍47 | 36‍–‍45 |

### Record vs. opponents

1990 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 6–6 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 7–5 |
| Chicago | 6–6 | — | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 4–14 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 8–10 |
| Cincinnati | 10–8 | 8–4 | — | 11–7 | 9–9 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 9–3 |
| Houston | 13–5 | 6–6 | 7–11 | — | 9–9 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 4–14 | 10–8 | 6–6 |
| Los Angeles | 12–6 | 9–3 | 9–9 | 9–9 | — | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 7–5 |
| Montreal | 6–6 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — | 8–10 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 11–7 |
| New York | 8–4 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | — | 10–8 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 12–6 |
| Philadelphia | 7-5 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 | — | 6–12 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 10–8 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–5 | 14–4 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 12–6 | — | 10–2 | 8–4 | 10–8 |
| San Diego | 10–8 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 14–4 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 2–10 | — | 7–11 | 3–9 |
| San Francisco | 13–5 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 11–7 | — | 9–3 |
| St. Louis | 5–7 | 10–8 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–3 | 3–9 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 4, 1990: Jeromy Burnitz was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round of the 1990 Major League Baseball Draft.
* June 19, 1990: Mario Díaz was traded by the Seattle Mariners to the New York Mets for Brian Givens.
* August 30, 1990: Archie Corbin was traded by the Mets to the Kansas City Royals for Pat Tabler.
* August 31, 1990: Julio Machado and Kevin Brown were traded by the Mets to the Milwaukee Brewers for Charlie O'Brien and Kevin Carmody (minors).
* September 10, 1990: Nick Davis (minors) and Steve LaRose (minors) were traded by the Mets to the Houston Astros for Dan Schatzeder.

## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg | HR | RBI |
| C | Mackey Sasser | 100 | 270 | 83 | .307 | 6 | 41 |
| 1B | Dave Magadan | 144 | 451 | 148 | .328 | 6 | 72 |
| 2B | Gregg Jefferies | 153 | 604 | 171 | .283 | 15 | 68 |
| SS | Kevin Elster | 92 | 314 | 65 | .207 | 9 | 45 |
| 3B | Howard Johnson | 154 | 590 | 144 | .244 | 23 | 90 |
| LF | Kevin McReynolds | 147 | 521 | 140 | .269 | 24 | 82 |
| CF | Daryl Boston | 115 | 366 | 100 | .273 | 12 | 45 |
| RF | Darryl Strawberry | 152 | 542 | 150 | .277 | 37 | 108 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Keith Miller | 88 | 233 | 60 | .258 | 1 | 12 |
| Mark Carreon | 82 | 188 | 47 | .250 | 10 | 26 |
| Tim Teufel | 80 | 175 | 43 | .246 | 10 | 24 |
| Mike Marshall | 53 | 163 | 39 | .239 | 6 | 27 |
| Tom O'Malley | 82 | 121 | 27 | .223 | 3 | 14 |
| Tom Herr | 27 | 100 | 25 | .250 | 1 | 10 |
| Orlando Mercado | 42 | 90 | 19 | .211 | 3 | 7 |
| Barry Lyons | 24 | 80 | 19 | .238 | 2 | 7 |
| Charlie O'Brien | 28 | 68 | 11 | .162 | 0 | 9 |
| Todd Hundley | 36 | 67 | 14 | .209 | 0 | 2 |
| Pat Tabler | 17 | 43 | 12 | .279 | 1 | 10 |
| Darren Reed | 26 | 39 | 8 | .205 | 1 | 2 |
| Kelvin Torve | 20 | 38 | 11 | .289 | 0 | 2 |
| Mario Díaz | 16 | 22 | 3 | .136 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Baez | 5 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Jelic | 4 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 1 | 1 |
| Alex Treviño | 9 | 10 | 3 | .300 | 0 | 2 |
| Keith Hughes | 8 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Chuck Carr | 4 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Liddell | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Thornton | 3 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Frank Viola | 35 | 249.2 | 20 | 12 | 2.67 | 182 |
| Dwight Gooden | 34 | 232.2 | 19 | 7 | 3.83 | 223 |
| David Cone | 31 | 211.2 | 14 | 10 | 3.23 | 233 |
| Sid Fernandez | 30 | 179.2 | 9 | 14 | 3.46 | 181 |
| Julio Valera | 3 | 13.0 | 1 | 1 | 6.92 | 4 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Ron Darling | 33 | 126.0 | 7 | 9 | 4.50 | 99 |
| Bob Ojeda | 38 | 118.0 | 7 | 6 | 3.66 | 62 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| John Franco | 55 | 5 | 3 | 33 | 2.53 | 56 |
| Alejandro Peña | 52 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3.20 | 76 |
| Wally Whitehurst | 38 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.29 | 46 |
| Jeff Musselman | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5.63 | 14 |
| Julio Machado | 27 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3.15 | 27 |
| Jeff Innis | 18 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2.39 | 12 |
| Dan Schatzeder | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Kevin Brown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tidewater Tides | International League | Steve Swisher |
| AA | Jackson Mets | Texas League | Clint Hurdle |
| A | St. Lucie Mets | Florida State League | Tim Blackwell |
| A | Columbia Mets | South Atlantic League | Bill Stein |
| A-Short Season | Pittsfield Mets | New York–Penn League | Jim Eschen |
| Rookie | Kingsport Mets | Appalachian League | Jim Thrift |
| Rookie | GCL Mets | Gulf Coast League | John Tamargo |