On August 25, 1985, Dwight Gooden of The New York Mets defeated the San Diego Padres by a 9-3 score at Shea Stadium to record his 20th win of the season. “Doctor K” would go on to post a 24-4 record for the 1985 season with a sparkling 1.53 ERA, He struck out 268 batters that year in 276 2/3 innings pitched. His ERA+ was a gaudy 229, and these numbers combined to earn Gooden the National League’s Cy Young award.
The 1985 season was Gooden’s best, coming off his rookie season of 1984 when he put up a 17-9 record, led the league in strikeouts with 276, and won the National League’s Rookie of the Year award. Gooden also led the league in strikeouts in 1985, and had 16 complete games, which was the most in the National League.
For fans who watched Gooden in 1985, it was absolutely must-see television. Matt Harvey‘s 2013 season and Jacob deGrom‘s 2018, 2019, and 2021 seasons were close, but no pitcher electrified the fanbase as Gooden did in 1984 and 1985. He was dominant, with a high-90s fastball and a roundhouse curve that would freeze hitters.
Gooden’s Mets career covered 11 seasons, over which he posted a 157-85 record. The Doctor never again reached the heights of his 1984 and 1985 campaigns, and was suspended for drug use at the beginning of the 1987 season. His 1986 season was very good, with a 17-6 record, however, his strikeouts were down to 200 in 250 innings pitched, and his WHIP climbed to 1.108 (an excellent number but above his previous seasons). His ERA+ in 1986 dropped to 126, while his ERA increased to 2.84. Gooden’s 1987-1991 seasons remained solid, if not spectacular. His last three years with the Mets, 1992-1994, Gooden’s record was below.500 in each season.
Back to the game on August 25, 1985, the Mets jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on run-scoring hits by Darryl Strawberry (two RBIs) and Howard Johnson. The Padres answered with two runs in the top of the third inning. Strawberry belted a home run in the fifth inning, putting New York ahead 4-2. In the top of the sixth, a Terry Kennedy groundout scored Steve Garvey, cutting the Mets’ lead to 4-3.
The Orange and Blue took over from there, plating four runs in the bottom of the seventh. George Foster drove in two with a single, Rusty Staub added an RBI single, and Roger McDowell, who had replaced Gooden on the mound, doubled in a run. The Mets held an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth, when Strawberry completed his fine day with another RBI, this time on a single.
The 1985 Mets won 98 games, finishing second to the St. Louis Cardinals and missing the playoffs. The Mets went into St. Louis trailing by three games for a three-game series with six total games left to play. The Mets won the first two, but could not complete the sweep, and went home for their final three games, two games off the division lead. The Cardinals would clinch on the second-to-last day.
The Mets would use the 1985 near-miss as fuel for the following season, when they dominated the National League, and persevered through the postseason to bring the franchise’s second championship to Flushing.
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