Ranking the 10 best individual pitching seasons in Mets history

6. Dwight Gooden - 1984

Dwight Gooden delivered one of, if not the most electric rookie season in baseball history. The 19-year old came to the big city and took it over.

Growing up in the 2000's, I never saw Gooden pitch. I know how big of a deal it is whenever Jacob deGrom takes the mound. I know how fun it was to celebrate "Harvey Day." From everything I've read and heard, whenever Dwight Gooden took the mound it was an even bigger deal.

In his rookie season, Gooden was unhittable. he went 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA in 31 starts. He struck out an absurd 276 batters in 218 innings pitched. He struck out 31.4% of the batters he faced. In an era where strikeouts were not as easy to accumulate as it is today, that's awfully impressive. He allowed just seven home runs all season and 6.6 H/9.

Gooden was dominant for most of the season but he was at his best when the Mets needed him most, in September. He went at least eight innings in all five of his starts that month. He threw back to back shutouts, striking out 11 and 16 batters in those starts respectively. He followed those shutouts by allowing one run in eight innings, striking out 16 batters.

The Mets missed the playoffs but came close because of how dominant Gooden was down the stretch especially.