# 1986: when New York had everything

> Forty years on, the 1986 sports calendar in New York still looks like a run no city should get.
- Title: 1986: when New York had everything · New York Post | Shortify
- Summary: Forty years on, the 1986 sports calendar in New York still looks like a run no city should get. You rarely notice a golden run while you're living in it, and…
- Keywords: new york sports, 1986, mets, rangers, nostalgia, news, entertainment, York, everything, New York Post
- Source: New York Post — https://nypost.com/2026/09/12/sports/new-yorks-football-teams-both-had-it-good-40-years-ago
- Published: 2026-09-12T20:19:17+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: new york sports, 1986, mets, rangers, nostalgia, news, entertainment
## We had no idea
Looking back at 1986, nobody in New York understood how rare the year was. Every sport in the city was handing fans something worth watching.

> In retrospect, we probably didn't realize just how good we had it 40 years ago.
## The Mets took the city
The '86 Mets won 116 games and rode all the way to the Canyon of Heroes, with some of those wins arriving in flat-out crazy fashion.

> the '86 Mets won 116 games all the way to the Canyon of Heroes
## Mattingly raked anyway
The Yankees faded in September chasing Boston, but Don Mattingly hit .352 with 238 hits, 86 of them for extra bases, in a season that should have won a second straight MVP.
## Rangers hijacked the spring
A middling 36-38-6 team turned into a playoff problem, pushing to the conference finals before the equally hot Canadiens ended it.

> hijacked the spring clear away from the Mets
## The Islanders' last swings
Out on the island, the core four of Trottier, Bossy, Potvin and Smith were still taking proud cuts at the end of their run.
## Hoops had a pulse too
St. John's won 30 games and grabbed a No. 1 NCAA seed for the second year running, the Nets made the playoffs, and a young Patrick Ewing was proving the hype right.
## Key takeaway

You rarely notice a golden run while you're living in it, and New York had one in 1986.