With the Mets beating the Marlins last night, the Mets have just the third 8-1 start in their 56 year history.  Judging from the other two times the Mets did this, this team could very well be flirting with 100 wins this year.

The last time the Mets started a season 8-1 was 2006 when the Mets won 97 games.  That team annihilated the National League en route to a disappointing end to the season as Adam Wainwright struck out Carlos Beltran.

The other time the Mets started the season 8-1 was in 1985 when the Mets won 98 games.  Much like the 2006 season, that Mets team saw their chances of winning a World Series get vanquished by the Cardinals.  That year, the season effectively ended as Gary Carter flew out to right against Jeff Lahti.

Unlike 2006, this was not in the NLCS.  In case you are curious, this didn’t happen in the NLDS either. It couldn’t have because the 98 win Mets team did not make the postseason.  Baffling, right?

Nowadays, it’s relatively unheard of 90+ win teams missing the postseason.  Since the introduction of the second Wild Card, no 90 win team has ever missed the postseason.  Since the introduction of the Wild Card, the only 95+ team to miss the postseason was the 1999 Reds, and they missed the postseason because Al Leiter pitched a complete game two hit shutout in the play-in game.

Other than that, if you win 90 games, you are a sure bet to make it to the posteason.  Unfortunately, the Wild Card was not present during the greatest stretch in Mets history.

From 1984 to 1990, the Mets AVERAGED 95 wins, and they won 100 games twice.  In each of those seasons, they finished second or better in their division.  However, under the old two divisional format, there were no Wild Cards.  As a result, the Mets only went to the postseason in the two years they won 100 games – 1986 and 1988.

If the rules were re-calibrated and the current divisional format, the 1980s Mets very well could have been a dynasty; the dynasty everyone thought they would be in 1986.  Part of the reason why is that team would have been in the postseason every year:

With three divisions and two Wild Card, those 80s Mets would have had a run similar to those 90s Braves.  Instead, they missed the postseason in five of those seven seasons.

Sure, we probably don’t see Keith Hernandez telling Jesse Orosco to not throw another fastball, and we don’t see Mookie Wilson hit a grounder between Bill Buckner‘s legs.  In lieu of this, there would have been other incredible moments, and who knows?  Maybe the Mets win multiple World Series with the Darryl Strawberry–Dwight Gooden core.

We’ll never know because they never got that chance.  However, these Mets, who have made the postseason two out of the last three years, may get their chance.  They’re going to need to take advantage of whatever challenge comes their wasy.