to Veterans Stadium for the weekend hoping to see the Mets clinch, and necessary because they were swept in a three-game series in Chicago preceding this series and did not want to see a visiting team's division-title celebration at Veterans Stadium. Had the Mets won one of the three games, it would have been the first time that a division title was won at Veterans Stadium. During the series, Mets fans at Veterans Stadium became unruly and damaged seats in the upper deck. One Mets fan was arrested after striking at two Philadelphia police officers. The club scored a season-high 19 runs in a 19–1 throttling of the Chicago Cubs at the Vet on June 23. Hall-of-Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt won the NL MVP for the third and final time in his career with a league-high 37 home runs with 119 RBI and a .290 average. The Phillies distant second-place finish made Schmidt the first major-league MVP to have played on a team that finished at least 20 games out of first place. Season standings Record vs. opponents Notable transactions April 19, 1986: Tom Gorman was signed as a free agent by the Phillies. May 9, 1986: Dave Stewart was released by the Phillies. June 2, 1986: Chuck Knoblauch was drafted by the Phillies in the 18th round of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. June 24, 1986: Steve Carlton was released by the Phillies. July 24, 1986: Tom Foley and Lary Sorensen were traded by the Phillies to the Montreal Expos for Dan Schatzeder and Skeeter Barnes. 1986 Game Log |- style="background:#fbb" | 1 || April 7 || @ Reds || 4–7 || Mario Soto (1–0) || Steve Carlton (0–1) || Ron Robinson (1) || 54,960 || 0–1 |- style="background:#bfb" | 2 || April 9 || @ Reds || 5–3 (11) || Steve Bedrosian (1–0) || Ted Power (0–1) || None || 11,411 || 1–1 |- style="background:#fbb" | 3 || April 11 || Mets || 7–9 || Bob Ojeda (1–0) || Kevin Gross (0–1) || Jesse Orosco (1) || 36,190 || 1–2 |- style="background:#bfb" | 4 || April 12 || Mets || 9–8 (14) || Charles Hudson (1–0) || Randy Niemann (0–1) || None || 22,737 || 2–2 |- style="background:#bfb" | 5 || April 13 || Mets || 4–2 || Shane Rawley (1–0) || Rick Aguilera (0–1) || None || 27,691 || 3–2 |-