# 1989 New York Mets season

The 1989 New York Mets season was the 28th regular season for the Mets. They went 87–75 and finished second in the National League East, six games behind the first place Chicago Cubs. The Mets did not make the postseason for the first time since 1987. They were managed by Davey Johnson. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

## Offseason

* December 11, 1988: José Martínez was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.
* February 20, 1989: Don Aase was signed as a free agent by the Mets.
* March 2, 1989: Darryl Strawberry threw a punch at Keith Hernandez during team picture day. The two shouted at each other and were restrained by teammates until Strawberry left the area.
* March 30, 1989: Mike Maksudian was released by the Mets.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Chicago Cubs | 93 | 69 | .574 | — | 48‍–‍33 | 45‍–‍36 |
| New York Mets | 87 | 75 | .537 | 6 | 51‍–‍30 | 36‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 86 | 76 | .531 | 7 | 46‍–‍35 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Montreal Expos | 81 | 81 | .500 | 12 | 44‍–‍37 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 74 | 88 | .457 | 19 | 39‍–‍42 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 67 | 95 | .414 | 26 | 38‍–‍42 | 29‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1989 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 6–10 | 6–6 | 2–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 3–9 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | — | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 11–7 |
| Cincinnati | 10–8 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 8–4 |
| Houston | 10–8 | 7–5 | 10–8 | — | 10–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 7–5 |
| Los Angeles | 10–6 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 8–10 | — | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 3–9 |
| Montreal | 6–6 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 5–7 | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 5–13 |
| New York | 10–2 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 12–6 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 10–8 |
| Philadelphia | 4–8 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 6–12 | — | 10–8 | 2–10 | 4–8 | 7–11 |
| Pittsburgh | 8–4 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | — | 3–9 | 5–7 | 13–5 |
| San Diego | 11–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 9–3 | — | 8–10 | 2–10 |
| San Francisco | 12–6 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 10–8 | — | 7–5 |
| St. Louis | 9–3 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 10–2 | 5–7 | — |

### Opening Day starters

* Gary Carter
* Kevin Elster
* Dwight Gooden
* Keith Hernandez
* Gregg Jefferies
* Howard Johnson
* Kevin McReynolds
* Darryl Strawberry
* Mookie Wilson

### Notable transactions

* June 9, 1989: Lou Thornton was signed as a free agent by the Mets.
* June 18, 1989: Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell and a player to be named later were traded by the Mets to the Philadelphia Phillies for Juan Samuel. The Mets completed the deal by sending Tom Edens to the Phillies on July 27.
* July 31, 1989: Mookie Wilson was traded by the Mets to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Jeff Musselman and Mike Brady (minors).
* July 31, 1989: Rick Aguilera, David West, Kevin Tapani, Tim Drummond and a player to be named later were traded by the Mets to the Minnesota Twins for Frank Viola. The Mets completed the deal by sending Jack Savage to the Twins on October 16.

## Game log
### Regular season

1989 regular season game log: 87-75 (Home: 51–30; Away: 36-45) :
April: 12-10
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ StreakGB :
May: 13-14
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ StreakGB :
June: 15-11
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ StreakGB :
July: 13-15
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ StreakGB
–July 111989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim :
August: 19-10
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ StreakGB :
September: 14-15
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ StreakGB :
October: 1-0
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ StreakGB :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Mets team member :

## 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 | Barry Lyons | 79 | 235 | 58 | .247 | 3 | 27 |
| 1B | Dave Magadan | 127 | 374 | 107 | .286 | 4 | 41 |
| 2B | Gregg Jefferies | 141 | 508 | 131 | .258 | 12 | 56 |
| 3B | Howard Johnson | 153 | 571 | 164 | .287 | 36 | 101 |
| SS | Kevin Elster | 151 | 458 | 106 | .231 | 10 | 55 |
| LF | Kevin McReynolds | 148 | 545 | 148 | .272 | 22 | 85 |
| CF | Juan Samuel | 86 | 333 | 76 | .228 | 3 | 28 |
| RF | Darryl Strawberry | 134 | 476 | 107 | .225 | 29 | 77 |

#### 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 |
| Mookie Wilson | 80 | 249 | 51 | .205 | 3 | 18 |
| Tim Teufel | 83 | 219 | 56 | .256 | 2 | 15 |
| Keith Hernandez | 75 | 215 | 50 | .233 | 4 | 19 |
| Mackey Sasser | 72 | 182 | 53 | .291 | 1 | 22 |
| Lenny Dykstra | 56 | 159 | 43 | .270 | 3 | 13 |
| Gary Carter | 50 | 153 | 28 | .183 | 2 | 15 |
| Keith Miller | 57 | 143 | 33 | .231 | 1 | 7 |
| Mark Carreon | 68 | 133 | 41 | .308 | 6 | 16 |
| Lee Mazzilli | 48 | 60 | 11 | .183 | 2 | 7 |
| Phil Lombardi | 18 | 48 | 11 | .229 | 1 | 3 |
| Lou Thornton | 13 | 13 | 4 | .308 | 0 | 1 |
| Jeff McKnight | 6 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom O'Malley | 9 | 11 | 6 | .545 | 0 | 8 |
| Craig Shipley | 4 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 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 |
| David Cone | 34 | 219.2 | 14 | 8 | 3.52 | 190 |
| Sid Fernandez | 35 | 219.1 | 14 | 5 | 2.83 | 198 |
| Ron Darling | 33 | 217.1 | 14 | 14 | 3.52 | 153 |
| Bob Ojeda | 31 | 192.0 | 13 | 11 | 3.47 | 95 |
| Dwight Gooden | 19 | 118.1 | 9 | 4 | 2.89 | 101 |
| Frank Viola | 12 | 85.1 | 5 | 5 | 3.38 | 73 |

#### 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 |
| David West | 11 | 24.1 | 0 | 2 | 7.40 | 19 |
| Blaine Beatty | 2 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Randy Myers | 65 | 7 | 4 | 24 | 2.35 | 88 |
| Don Aase | 49 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3.94 | 34 |
| Rick Aguilera | 36 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 2.34 | 80 |
| Jeff Innis | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.18 | 16 |
| Roger McDowell | 25 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3.31 | 15 |
| Jeff Musselman | 20 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3.08 | 11 |
| Terry Leach | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.22 | 2 |
| Julio Machado | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.27 | 14 |
| Wally Whitehurst | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 9 |
| Kevin Tapani | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.68 | 2 |
| John Mitchell | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.00 | 4 |
| Manny Hernández | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

* Gary Carter, Catcher, Roberto Clemente Award

## Farm system

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