Ron Darling: 'Very Disappointing' 80s Mets Teams Didn't Win More World Series Titles
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Ron Darling believes the New York Mets should've been a dynasty in the 1980s.
Speaking to Mike Francesa on Wednesday, the former Mets pitcher and current analyst said that it was "very disappointing" not being in more World Series.
"We should've been one of those teams that right now we're speaking about that was one of the great teams of all-time in baseball," Darling said. "Instead, we talk about that team as a team that had one great year."
He continued, "Am I disappointed in that? I think everybody on that [1986] team is disappointed … but not being in more World Series in very disappointing."
The Mets won the World Series in 1986, but the two previous years they finished second, despite winning 90 games in 1984 and 98 games in 1985. They also finished second in 1987 despite winning 92 games, and lost in the NLCS in seven games to the eventual World Series champions Los Angeles Dodgers.
Darling, who was on Francesa promoting his new book "Game 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in the Biggest Game of My Life," recently made headlines for writing about how that team used amphetamines like candy.
"You'd see guys toward the end of a game, maybe getting ready for their final at bat, double-back into the locker room to chug a beer to 're-kick the bean' so they could step to the plate completely wired and focused and dialed in. They had it down to a science, with precision timing. They'd do that thing where you poke a hole in the can so the beer would flow shotgun-style," Darling wrote, according to an excerpt that appeared in The Wall Street Journal.
The excerpt continued, "They'd time it so that they were due to hit third or fourth that inning, and in their minds that rush of beer would kind of jump-start the amphetamines and get back to how they were feeling early on in the game—pumped, jacked, good to go."
Darling also talked to Francesa about what to expect from the Mets this season, how good this young rotation can be, and more about the legendary '86 Mets team. Listen to the entire interview below.
