How 1989 actually went.
The Mets remained good but no longer looked overwhelming. Howard Johnson delivered a 30–30 season with 36 home runs and 41 steals, Strawberry stayed dangerous, and Cone continued missing bats. The larger roster was changing as age, injuries, and contract tension pulled apart pieces of the championship core.
The front office made one of its worst trades in June, sending Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell to Philadelphia for Juan Samuel. The move weakened center field and removed a trusted reliever without solving the offense. Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez were near the end of their Mets careers, and the clubhouse identity of 1986 was disappearing.
An 87–75 finish left the Mets second but well behind Chicago. The record was not a collapse; the feeling was. A team once expected to control the division now looked caught between its old stars and whatever came next. HoJo’s brilliant year gave fans something to celebrate, while the trade and aging roster warned that the window was closing faster than management understood.
HoJo was spectacular, but the Dykstra trade made the shrinking championship window impossible to ignore.