Memorable Extra

The 1986 Mets are as famous for their excellence as they are notorious for their brashness. The Davey Johnson-managed team cruised to 108 wins and won a classic World Series in seven games against the Red Sox. The 1988 Mets were just as dominant as the ’86 squad during the regular season, but what that successor lacked was a satisfying denouement to its season. That lack of resolution is why the 1988 team is overlooked today as one of the most complete teams of the expansion era.

Baseball is a game of inches, a tacit acknowledgement of its inherent randomness. Yet, some aspects of baseball forecasting tend to be mostly true over time. That’s why in dynasty leagues, I like to take an “outside view” to tap into some of this near universality when it comes to projecting prospects and young major leaguers. Thanks for reading Memorable Extra! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. What is an outside view?

For a young baseball fan in the late 1980s, life was good. But we had no idea what we were missing. Thanks for reading Memorable Extra! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. My summer vacations were spent watching MLB games on cable television—one of TBS, WGN or WWOR always had something—collecting cards and reading books about the history of the game.