Once the darlings of New York City, the Mets had completely collapsed during the late 1970s. Their home park, Shea Stadium, had come to be known as "Grant's Tomb," which reflected the complete disdain of the man running the team, the quality of the players on the field and the total lack of fan support. However, new ownership took over in 1980, and under the direction of General Manager Frank Cashen the team started to rebuild. Buoyed by back-to-back Rookies of the Year, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, the team rose to second in 1984, and then followed that in 1985 with a 98-win season. Unfortunately, that was only good for second place in the NL East.

The team was poised to dominate in 1986 and, boy, did they. They rolled to the NL East Pennant, piling up 108 wins and finishing 21.5 games ahead of second-place Philadelphia. In the National League Championship Series against Houston, they won two gut-wrenching, extra-inning games, including a 16-inning marathon in the clinching game six.

In the Fall Classic against Boston the team lost the first two games at home, but then staged a miraculous climb to the championship. They took two of the three games at Fenway Park, and then won an improbable Game 6 in New York, rallying for three runs with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning to secure a 6-5 victory. In the seventh and decisive game, the Mets rallied from a 3-0 deficit to post an 8-5 victory and win their second world championship.