In a baseball scoreboards feature, we recall what was possibly the most amazing match ever played. Baseball may just be one of the few sports in which individual effort is as equally important, if not more than, the team effort. This is a sport where individuals make up the team, and there might just be an “I” in “team”. I say this because; a great deal depends on the player currently in the spotlight such as the pitcher, the batter or the fielder/catcher. If they fumble and miss, then the entire team misses out. In short, it is the players who make the game a legend.

This phenomenon was proven when the New York Mets went head to head with the Houston Astros in 1986. Here is a recap of the games, to show exactly why it was the best baseball match ever.

The Houston Astros pitcher, Mike Scott, who gave the Astros a 1-0 win in the first game, amazingly struck out 14 Mets.

The baseball scoreboards showed that the Mets evened the series by taking the second game with a score of 5-1.

The third game was played in New York, where the Astros gained a quick and early lead of 4-0. But, the Mets quickly recovered on the back of Darryl Strawberry’s triple home run, and Lenny Dykstra’s double homer at the death of the ninth innings.

Mike Scott again spurred the Astros to a 3-1 win in the fourth game.

The fifth game gets hot as Dwight Gooden and Nolan Ryan try to outsmart each other for 9 straight innings. But the Mets win the game 2-1 when Gary Carter hits a base hit, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead in the series.

For the 6th game, which is the greatest game ever played, the series shifts back to Houston. With Mike Scott’s brilliant performances, the Mets are adamant on ending the series in the 6th game, and not letting it go on into the 7th. But, game 6 started in favor of the Astros’s, when they score 3 quick runs in the initial innings. The Mets are then outplayed by Bob Knepper for 8 innings with only 3 hits, thus trailing 3-0. The Mets manage to tie the game 3-3 in the 9th. The game then goes on for 4 more innings. In the 14th, the Mets take a 4-3 lead, but Jesse Orosco hits a homer and ties the game again. By the 16th innings the Mets take the score to a 7-4 lead over the Astros and put themselves in a position where it seems clear that they will win. But the Astros soon score two runs, giving the Mets the sweats. It all fell down to Jesse Orosco who in his 3rd innings could tie the game, but Met’s Kevin Bass striked out Jesse Orosco and, finally, the series was won by the New York Mets.

This was a cat and mouse game, pumped up with adrenaline. It went on for a mind boggling 4 hours and 42 minutes, and was an amazing end to an unforgettable series.

For more information, go to: en.wikipedia.org