Dykstra continued to play in a platoon with Wilson. In the 1988 NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he continued his postseason success by hitting .429 in a losing effort. But the Mets traded him to the Phillies on June 18, 1989 with pitcher Roger McDowell and minor-leaguer Tom Edens for second baseman Juan Samuel. Teammate Keith Hernandez later characterized Dykstra, in his book "Pure Baseball," as being "on the wild and crazy side", which he cites as one of the reasons the Mets chose to trade him and the Phillies chose to acquire him.