Best duos in New York Mets history
In Major League Baseball, it takes more than one skilled player to field a championship contender. It takes talent all over the field at a variety of positions, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. While having a star pitcher and a star hitter at the same time is no guarantee of success, it does put your team in a position to have the type of season that fans will talk about for generations.
While it's not quite the same as the NBA, where one standout duo can take a team from the cellar to playoff contention, it's not uncommon for an outstanding season from a pitcher and position player duo to add 20 wins or more, according to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement player metric. The number is designed to illustrate the difference between a star player and the type of player that would be considered "replacement level"—that is, one who could be easily signed as a midseason free agent or called up from the minor leagues.
The following is a list of the top pitcher/position player duos in New York Mets history. Using wins above replacement, Stacker compiled a list of the seasons in franchise history that had a pitcher and hitter with the most combined value. Note that, for the purpose of capturing and examining the game's "modern era", only seasons after 1969 were used for this list.
#10. 1990 New York Mets
- Darryl Strawberry: 6.3 WAR (#9 position player in 1990)
- Frank Viola: 6.4 WAR (#4 pitcher in 1990)
- Total: 12.7 WAR
#9. 2019 New York Mets
- Pete Alonso: 5.5 WAR (#17 position player in 2019)
- Jacob deGrom: 7.2 WAR (#4 pitcher in 2019)
- Total: 12.7 WAR
#8. 2012 New York Mets
- David Wright: 7.1 WAR (#7 position player in 2012)
- R.A. Dickey: 5.7 WAR (#6 pitcher in 2012)
- Total: 12.8 WAR
#7. 2008 New York Mets
- Carlos Beltran: 7 WAR (#6 position player in 2008)
- Johan Santana: 7.1 WAR (#2 pitcher in 2008)
- Total: 14.1 WAR
#6. 2018 New York Mets
- Brandon Nimmo: 4.6 WAR (#26 position player in 2018)
- Jacob deGrom: 9.5 WAR (#2 pitcher in 2018)
- Total: 14.1 WAR
#5. 1969 New York Mets
- Cleon Jones: 7 WAR (#10 position player in 1969)
- Tom Seaver: 7.2 WAR (#7 pitcher in 1969)
- Total: 14.2 WAR
#4. 1998 New York Mets
- John Olerud: 7.6 WAR (#3 position player in 1998)
- Al Leiter: 6.7 WAR (#6 pitcher in 1998)
- Total: 14.3 WAR
#3. 1973 New York Mets
- Wayne Garrett: 4.3 WAR (#38 position player in 1973)
- Tom Seaver: 10.6 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1973)
- Total: 14.9 WAR
#2. 1971 New York Mets
- Cleon Jones: 4.8 WAR (#29 position player in 1971)
- Tom Seaver: 10.2 WAR (#2 pitcher in 1971)
- Total: 15 WAR
#1. 1985 New York Mets
- Gary Carter: 6.9 WAR (#7 position player in 1985)
- Dwight Gooden: 12.2 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1985)
- Total: 19.1 WAR
