The Mets went to Boston for Game 3 of the 1986 World Series with their backs firmly against the wall after their lackluster play in New York. Manager Davey Johnson's response: give his players a day off.

The 1986 Mets won 108 regular-season games. But their fairy tale came with no shortage of rough edges, in a city that still had a sense of darkness and danger to it.

As spring training in 1986 began, Mets manager Davey Johnson predicted to reporters that his team was going to dominate the National League. To this day, Johnson shrugs when asked about his brashness.

To really understand the fairy tale that was the 1986 Mets, you have to go back - back before Mookie dribbled that ground ball towards first base, and way before the club put together one of the most dominating seasons in baseball history that would end in such unbelievable, unforgettable fashion. You have to go back nearly a decade, to the infamous blackout of the summer of 1977 - rock bottom for the city of New York, and the ballclub that played in Queens.