1998 New York Mets
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Shea Stadium
City	New York
Record	88–74 (.543)
Divisional place	2nd
Owners	Nelson Doubleday Jr., Fred Wilpon
General managers	Steve Phillips
Managers	Bobby Valentine
Television	WWOR-TV/ Fox Sports New York ( Ralph Kiner, Tim McCarver, Fran Healy, Howie Rose, Gary Thorne)
Radio	WFAN ( Bob Murphy, Gary Cohen, Ed Coleman) WADO (spanish) (Juan Alicea, Billy Berroa)
←  1997 Seasons 1999 →

The 1998 New York Mets season was the 37th regular season for the Mets. Like the previous season, they finished the season with a record of 88–74. Despite placing second in the National League East, the Mets fell one game short of playoff contention following a catastrophic collapse during the final week of the season. They were managed by Bobby Valentine. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

Offseason

• November 24, 1997: John Olerud was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets. ^[1]
• December 18, 1997: Dennis Cook was acquired from the Florida Marlins in exchange for Fletcher Bates and Scott Comer. ^[2]
• February 6, 1998: Al Leiter and Ralph Milliard were acquired from the Florida Marlins in exchange for A. J. Burnett, Jesus Sanchez, and Robert Stratton. ^[3]

Regular season

Despite their collapse toward the end of the season, the 1998 season was notable for the Mets due in large part to the acquisition of All-Star catcher Mike Piazza. The Mets were in need of a catcher due to an injury suffered by their own star catcher Todd Hundley, and took advantage of both Piazza's disagreement over a new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the ongoing salary dumping by the defending World Series champion Florida Marlins; unable to negotiate a deal, the Dodgers traded Piazza to the Marlins, who turned around several days later and dealt Piazza to the Mets for outfield prospect Preston Wilson, among others. Piazza contributed a .348 average with 23 home runs and 76 RBI during his time with the Mets and once again was voted to the National League All-Star team. Hundley, meanwhile, attempted to make a move to left field when he rejoined the team, but it did not work. His tenure with the Mets ended when he was traded to the Dodgers after the season.

John Olerud was again the hitting star for the Mets. He recorded a .354 average, the second best in all of baseball behind Larry Walker, and once again led the team with 93 RBI, to go with his 22 home runs. On the pitching side, another Marlins castoff made his presence felt as Al Leiter had his career best marks as a starter. Leiter won a career high seventeen games and added a 2.47 ERA. Rick Reed continued his career renaissance by adding sixteen wins of his own.

Opening Day starters

• Edgardo Alfonzo
• Carlos Baerga
• Bernard Gilkey
• Butch Huskey
• Bobby Jones
• Brian McRae
• John Olerud
• Rey Ordóñez
• Tim Spehr ^[4]

The Mets played an unforgettable opening day game at Shea Stadium on March 31 against their division rival Philadelphia Phillies. Both of them were involved in the longest scoreless opening day game in the National League and the longest one in MLB since 1926 when the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 1–0 in 15 innings. ^{[5] [6] [7]} The Mets won the game 1–0 in 14 innings when backup catcher Alberto Castillo delivered a full-count, two-out, pinch-hit single to right with the bases loaded off Philadelphia closer Ricky Bottalico. ^[6] This was the first regular season baseball game played in New York in March. ^[8]

Notable transactions

• May 10, 1998: Steve Decker was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets. ^[9]
• May 22, 1998: Mike Piazza was traded by the Florida Marlins to the New York Mets for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz (minors).
• June 16, 1998: Rich Becker was selected off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles from the New York Mets. ^[10]
• July 3, 1998: Josías Manzanillo was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets. ^[11]
• July 31, 1998: Tony Phillips was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the New York Mets for Leo Estrella. ^[12]
• July 31, 1998: Bill Pulsipher was traded by the New York Mets to the Milwaukee Brewers for Mike Kinkade. ^[13]

Season standings

v t e NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	106	56	0.654	—	56–25	50–31
New York Mets	88	74	0.543	18	47–34	41–40
Philadelphia Phillies	75	87	0.463	31	40–41	35–46
Montreal Expos	65	97	0.401	41	39–42	26–55
Florida Marlins	54	108	0.333	52	31–50	23–58

Record vs. opponents

1998 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Team	AZ	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LA	MIL	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Arizona	—	1–8	5–7	4–5	6–6	6–2	4–5	4–8	6–3	2–7	4–5	2–7	6–3	3–9	5–7	2–7	5–8
Atlanta	8–1	—	3–6	7–2	5–3	7–5	4–5	8–1	7–2	6–6	9–3	8–4	7–2	5–4	7–2	6–3	9–7
Chicago	7–5	6–3	—	6–5	7–2	7–2	4–7	4–5	6–6	7–2	4–5	3–6	8–3	5–4	7–3	4–7	5–8
Cincinnati	5–4	2–7	5–6	—	4–5	9–0	3–8	5–4	6–5	8–1	3–6	4–5	5–7	1–11	2–7	8–3	7-6
Colorado	6–6	3–5	2–7	5–4	—	6–3	6–5	6–6	4–7	7–2	3–6	5–4	5–4	5–7	7–5	3–6	4–8
Florida	2–6	5–7	2–7	0–9	3–6	—	3–6	4–5	0–9	5–7	5–7	6–6	3–6	4–5	0–9	4–5	8–8
Houston	5–4	5–4	7–4	8–3	5–6	6-3	—	3–6	9–2	7–2	5–4	7–2	9–2	5–4	6–3	5–7	10–4
Los Angeles	8–4	1–8	5–4	4–5	6–6	5–4	6–3	—	5–4	5–4	3–5	5–4	7–5	5–7	6–6	4–5	8–5
Milwaukee	3–6	2–7	6–6	5–6	7–4	9–0	2–9	4–5	—	6–3	1–8	4–5	6–5	3–6	5–4	3–8	8–6
Montreal	7–2	6–6	2–7	1–8	2–7	7–5	2–7	4–5	3–6	—	8–4	5–7	2–7	4–4	3–6	3–6	6–10
New York	5–4	3–9	5–4	6–3	6–3	7–5	4–5	5–3	8–1	4–8	—	8–4	4–5	4–5	4–5	6–3	9–7
Philadelphia	7-2	4–8	6–3	5–4	4–5	6–6	2–7	4–5	5–4	7–5	4–8	—	8–1	1–8	2–6	3–6	7–9
Pittsburgh	3–6	2–7	3–8	7–5	4–5	6–3	2–9	5–7	5–6	7–2	5–4	1–8	—	5–4	2–7	6–5	6–7
San Diego	9–3	4–5	4–5	11–1	7–5	5–4	4–5	7–5	6–3	4–4	5–4	8–1	4–5	—	8–4	6–3	6–7
San Francisco	7–5	2–7	3–7	7–2	5–7	9–0	3–6	6–6	4–5	6–3	5–4	6–2	7–2	4–8	—	7–5	8–5
St. Louis	7–2	3–6	7–4	3–8	6–3	5-4	7–5	5–4	8–3	6–3	3–6	6–3	5–6	3–6	5–7	—	4–9

Roster

1998 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers 43 Rigo Beltrán 46 Willie Blair 46 Brian Bohanon 49 Brad Clontz 27 Dennis Cook 31,45 John Franco 43 John Hudek 28 Bobby Jones 22 Al Leiter 36 Greg McMichael 38 Dave Mlicki 16 Hideo Nomo 21 Bill Pulsipher 35 Rick Reed 40 Armando Reynoso 51 Mel Rojas 36,38 Jeff Tam 99 Turk Wendell 21,29 Masato Yoshii		Catchers 30 Alberto Castillo 12 Jorge Fábregas 31 Mike Piazza  7 Todd Pratt 33 Tim Spehr 39 Rick Wilkins Infielders 13 Edgardo Alfonzo  8 Carlos Baerga 15 Matt Franco 12 Shawn Gilbert 18 Todd Haney 33 Mike Kinkade 17 Luis López 26 Ralph Milliard  5 John Olerud 10 Rey Ordóñez 18 Craig Paquette 19 Jim Tatum		Outfielders 39 Benny Agbayani 23 Jermaine Allensworth  6 Rich Becker 23 Bernard Gilkey 19 Lenny Harris  9 Todd Hundley 42 Butch Huskey 11 Wayne Kirby 56 Brian McRae 25 Jay Payton  6 Tony Phillips 11 Preston Wilson		Manager  2 Bobby Valentine Coaches 34 Bob Apodaca (pitching) 20 Bruce Benedict (bench) 52 Randy Niemann (bullpen) 53 Tom Robson (hitting)  4 Cookie Rojas (third base)  1 Mookie Wilson (first base)

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	Mike Piazza	109	394	137	.348	23	76
1B	John Olerud	160	557	197	.354	22	93
2B	Carlos Baerga	147	511	136	.266	7	53
SS	Rey Ordóñez	153	505	124	.246	1	42
3B	Edgardo Alfonso	144	557	155	.278	17	78
LF	Bernard Gilkey	82	264	60	.227	4	28
CF	Brian McRae	159	552	146	.264	21	79
RF	Butch Huskey	113	369	93	.252	13	59

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
Luis López	117	266	67	.252	2	22
Tony Phillips	52	188	42	.223	3	14
Lenny Harris	75	168	39	.232	6	17
Matt Franco	103	161	44	.273	1	13
Todd Hundley	53	124	20	.161	3	12
Rich Becker	49	100	19	.190	3	10
Alberto Castillo	38	83	17	.205	2	7
Todd Pratt	41	69	19	.275	2	18
Jermaine Allensworth	34	54	11	.204	2	4
Tim Spehr	21	51	7	.137	0	3
Jim Tatum	35	50	9	.180	2	13
Jorge Fábregas	20	32	6	.188	1	5
Wayne Kirby	26	31	6	.194	0	0
Jay Payton	15	22	7	.218	0	0
Preston Wilson	8	20	6	.300	0	2
Craig Paquette	7	19	5	.263	0	0
Rick Wilkins	5	15	2	.133	0	1
Benny Agbayani	11	15	2	.133	0	0
Todd Haney	3	3	0	.000	0	0
Shawn Gilbert	3	3	0	.000	0	0
Mike Kinkade	3	2	0	.000	0	0
Ralph Milliard	10	1	0	.000	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
Rick Reed	31	212.1	16	11	3.48	153
Bobby Jones	30	195.1	9	9	4.05	115
Al Leiter	28	193.0	17	6	2.47	174
Masato Yoshii	29	171.2	6	8	3.93	117
Hideo Nomo	17	89.2	4	5	4.82	94
Armando Reynoso	11	68.1	7	3	3.82	40
Dave Mlicki	10	57.0	1	4	5.68	39

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
Brian Bohanon	25	54.1	2	4	3.15	39
Willie Blair	11	28.2	1	1	3.14	21

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
John Franco	61	0	8	38	3.62	59
Dennis Cook	73	8	4	1	2.38	79
Turk Wendell	66	5	1	4	2.93	58
Greg McMichael	52	5	3	1	4.02	44
Mel Rojas	50	5	2	2	6.05	41
John Hudek	28	1	4	0	4.00	28
Bill Pulsipher	15	0	0	0	6.91	13
Jeff Tam	15	1	1	0	6.23	8
Rigo Beltrán	7	0	0	0	3.38	5
Brad Clontz	2	0	0	0	9.00	2

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Norfolk Tides	International League	Rick Dempsey
AA	Binghamton Mets	Eastern League	John Gibbons
A	St. Lucie Mets	Florida State League	Howie Freiling
A	Capital City Bombers	South Atlantic League	Doug Davis
A-Short Season	Pittsfield Mets	New York–Penn League	Roger LaFrançois
Rookie	Kingsport Mets	Appalachian League	Tim Foli
Rookie	GCL Mets	Gulf Coast League	John Stephenson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Lucie, Capital City ^[14]

References

External links

• 1998 New York Mets at Baseball Reference
• 1998 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com