Flushing Rivals: Mets' Marquee Matchups on the Hill # 1: The Franchise vs Lefty

There was a time—before pitch counts, bullpen days, and opener strategies—when a great pitching duel was the purest form of baseball drama. When fans would grab the schedule, scan for Seaver, Koosman, or Matlack, and circle the date a Mets ace would face off against one of the game’s best. You didn’t just go to a game—you went to see a matchup. From Seaver vs. Carlton to Doc vs. Knepper, Cone vs. Drabek, or deGrom vs. Scherzer, these were more than games—they were events. They were stories told in fastballs and sliders, and they helped define eras of Mets baseball.

Over the years, Mets fans have been blessed with a remarkable lineage of aces: Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, Gooden, Cone, Leiter, Dickey, Harvey, and deGrom. In this series, Flushing Rivals: Mets' Marquee Matchups on the Hill, we look back at the classic duels that made fans hold their breath from the first pitch to the last out.

Before the K Corner, before Harvey Day, there was a simpler time when Shea Stadium would buzz with a different kind of electricity. It was the late 1960s and 1970s, and if you had a ticket and saw Tom Seaver’s name on the scoreboard, you were watching greatness take the mound. But what made those days even more unforgettable was when Seaver's opposition was the equally formidable Steve Carlton. When these two titans squared off, it wasn't just a game—it was a battle of philosophies, mechanics, and will.

Before we dive into the box scores and brushbacks, it’s worth pausing to appreciate the two heavyweight arms at the heart of this duel.

Tom Seaver wasn’t just a pitcher — he was The Franchise. The man who made Mets fans proud to own a scorecard. With that signature drop-and-drive delivery, knee grazing the dirt like he was proposing to the strike zone, Seaver brought dignity and dominance to a team still wiping the seltzer off its face from the ’62 circus. Rookie of the Year in ’67. World Champion in ’69. Three-time Cy Young winner. A workhorse with surgeon’s precision and bulldog tenacity. Tom Terrific didn’t just pitch, he painted masterpieces.

Steve Carlton, on the other hand, was the kind of lefty that could haunt your dreams. That slider? Pure witchcraft. That stare? Meant business. He wasn’t chatty (especially not in ’72 when he decided talking to reporters was overrated), but boy did he let his arm do the talking. Four Cy Young Awards. Over 4,000 strikeouts. A World Series ring with the ’80 Phillies. And during his time in Philly, he was the Phillies — dragging them to relevance like Indiana Jones hauling the Ark out of a collapsing temple, because when Lefty pitched, the Phillies believed they had a chance. And most days, that was enough.

These two didn’t just pitch against each other — they challenged each other. And the fans got front row seats to one of baseball’s most quietly intense rivalries.

When Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton took the mound on the same day, you knew it wasn’t going to be a night for offense. Fans at Shea or The Vet wouldn’t dare leave their seats to get a hot dog in the third inning — you might miss a masterpiece in progress.

Two titans, two eventual Hall of Famers, and for a glorious stretch in the late '60s and '70s, two guys who turned a random Tuesday night into appointment television. They didn’t just square off once or twice a year—they were practically co-headliners on the National League marquee. Fans who saw them face each other still talk about it like they saw Sinatra and Elvis share a stage.

They faced each other 17 times as starters. Seaver won 11, Carlton just 3, with a few hard-fought no-decisions along the way. And while the win-loss column tilted Seaver’s way, the games were almost always tight, tense, beautifully pitched battles between two masters of their craft.

	#	Date	Final Score	Seaver (IP, decision)	Carlton (IP, decision)
	1	April 12, 1970 – at STL	Mets 6–4	Seaver: 7⅔ IP, W	Carlton: 5⅓ IP, L
	2	May 21, 1972 – at PHI	Mets 4–3	Seaver: 7 IP, W	Carlton: CG L
	3	September 24, 1972 – at NYM	Mets 2–1	Seaver: 8⅓ IP, W	Carlton: 8 IP, L
	4	April 6, 1973 – at NYM	Mets 3–0	Seaver: 7⅔ IP, W	Carlton: 7 IP, L
	5	April 6, 1974 – at PHI	Phillies 5–4	Seaver: 7 IP, ND	Carlton: 5 IP, ND
	6	June 21, 1974 – at PHI	Mets 3–1	Seaver: 5 IP, W	Carlton: 7 IP, L
	7	April 8, 1975 – at NYM	Mets 2–1	Seaver: CG, W	Carlton: 8 IP, L
	8	September 3, 1976 – at NYM	Mets 1–0	Seaver: CG, W	Carlton: 6 IP, L
	9	August 26, 1977 – at CIN	Reds 4–2	Seaver: CG, W	Carlton: 7 IP, L
	10	May 1, 1978 – at CIN	Phillies 12–1	Seaver: 2 IP, L	Carlton: 8 IP, W
	11	May 11, 1978 – at PHI	Phillies 4–1	Seaver: 7 IP, L	Carlton: CG, W
	12	July 28, 1978 – at CIN	Reds 2–1	Seaver: 8⅔ IP, W	Carlton: 8 IP, L
	13	May 10, 1980 – at CIN	Reds 5–3	Seaver: 7 IP, W	Carlton: 7 IP, L
	14	April 8, 1981 – at CIN	Reds 3–2	Seaver: 8 IP, ND	Carlton: 7 IP, ND
	15	August 18, 1981 – at CIN	Reds 3–1	Seaver: 8⅓ IP, W	Carlton: 7 IP, L
	16	May 24, 1982 – at CIN	Phillies 9–1	Seaver: 5 IP, L	Carlton: 8 IP, W
	17	April 5, 1983 – at NYM	Mets 2–0	Seaver: 6 IP, ND	Carlton: 7 IP, L

Here are some of the highlights:

1. April 12, 1970 – The Beginning of a Duel

Shea Stadium played host to the first of what would become 17 legendary matchups between future Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton. Seaver, coming off his Cy Young-winning 1969 campaign, outdueled Carlton and the Cardinals with a complete game effort, striking out eight and allowing just five hits in a 6-4 Mets win. Carlton pitched well enough—seven innings, three earned runs—but Seaver had the edge from the outset. It marked the start of a rivalry that would span 13 years and several signature moments.

2. September 24, 1972 – A Pure Pitchers’ Duel

This late-season matchup at Shea Stadium was everything fans could hope for in a Seaver-Carlton showdown. The two southpaw assassins matched zeroes for most of the day in a 2-1 Mets victory. Seaver went 8 1/3, striking out six and scattering five hits. Carlton allowed just five hits and struck out seven in eight innings but surrendered a home run to Tommie Agee and a Lute Barnes go ahead Sac Fly in the eighth . The game lasted just 1 hour and 53 minutes, a crisp, surgical clinic in classic National League style.

3. Opening Days: 1973, 1974, 1975 – Tradition of Aces

For three straight seasons, Major League Baseball celebrated its start by pitting Seaver against Carlton on Opening Day.

1973: Seaver and Carlton were both dominant, but the Mets won 3-0, thanks in part to a two-run single by Félix Millán.

1974: Carlton pitched brilliantly, but Seaver outlasted him again in a 5-4 Mets victory.

1975 :Opening Day: Seaver vs. Carlton III

The third straight Opening Day showdown between these two icons had all the drama of a heavyweight title fight looked like another draw — until the bottom of the ninth. Tied 1–1, Félix Millán led off with a single, John Milner walked, and Joe Torre ripped a line drive to left. Millán crossed the plate, hands raised, and Carlton walked off the field with another Seaver-sized thorn in his side.

Seaver went the distance (9 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 9 K) and got the win. Carlton went 8+ and took the loss. Same script, different year.

4. May 1, 1978 – After eight consecutive losses to Tom Seaver dating back to their early 1970s duels, Steve Carlton finally earned his first head-to-head victory—though Seaver, now with the Reds, didn’t make it easy on himself. On a Monday night at Riverfront Stadium, Seaver was shelled early and removed in the third inning, charged with seven runs, six of them earned runs in just two-plus innings. Carlton, meanwhile, pitched eight strong innings, allowing only one run on five hits, backed by a Mike Schmidt home run and a relentless Phillies offense that piled on 12 runs in total.

Carlton struck out two and walked one, earning the long-awaited W. Gene Garber pitched a clean ninth to close out the 12–1 win. Schmidt reached base four times, and even Carlton helped his own cause with two hits and 3 RBIs—including an RBI single off Seaver during the Phillies’ five-run first inning.

This game marked a turning point in their rivalry: Carlton, the future 300-game winner and four-time Cy Young winner, had finally solved Seaver after nearly a decade of frustration.

5. August 18, 1981 – The Milestone Matchup

It was the 14th time Seaver and Carlton squared off, but the first time in Major League history that two pitchers with both 3,000 strikeouts and 200 wins faced each other.

Seaver: 252 wins, 3,041 Ks

Carlton: 258 wins, 3,068 Ks

In front of a packed Riverfront Stadium, Seaver was vintage brilliance—8 1/3 innings, four hits, one run, and five strikeouts in a 2-1 Reds win. Carlton took the loss, giving up two runs in seven innings with five Ks of his own. The game symbolized just how dominant—and intertwined—these two careers were.

6. April 5, 1983 – The Final Faceoff

It was poetic: Opening Day, Tom Terrific back in a Mets uniform, and Steve Carlton on the mound for the Phillies. What nobody knew at the time was that this would be the 17th and final meeting between the two titans.

Both pitchers still had something left in the tank. Seaver, now 38, delivered six shutout innings, giving up just three hits and one walk while striking out five. Carlton was solid too, striking out nine over seven innings, but he gave up two earned runs and took the loss, as the Mets edged out a 2–0 win.

Doug Sisk handled the final three frames to seal the deal. It wasn’t flashy, but it was vintage Seaver—quiet dominance—and a fitting farewell to the greatest pitcher rivalry of the era. Over their 17 matchups, Seaver finished 11-3 with three no-decisions; Carlton was 3-12 with two no-decisions.

Stat	Tom Seaver	Steve Carlton
Wins	11	3
ERA	2.74	2.77
Innings	121.2	123.1
Strikeouts	95	93
Walks	46	40
Hits Allowed	100	106
WHIP	1.200	1.184
Complete Games	3	5
Shutouts	1	0
Batters Faced	503	501
HRs Allowed	9	11

These weren’t just games — they were tension-filled chess matches played at 60 feet, 6 inches. Fans didn’t just watch; they endured these duels. Scorecards were scribbled to death. Radios clung to every pitch. And generations of Mets fans came away knowing they’d seen something special: two aces battling not just for a win, but for legacy.

For all their head-to-head battles, Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton came this close to being teammates. Seaver was with the White Sox from 1984 to mid-1986, winning 33 games in a Chicago uniform, including his milestone 300th win at Yankee Stadium on August 4, 1985—a complete game masterpiece in front of his family and a stunned Bronx crowd.

But on June 29, 1986, the White Sox dealt Seaver to Boston.

Exactly 44 days later, on August 12, they signed Carlton after he was released by the Giants. Carlton would go on to win games 320 through 323 in a Sox uniform, helping him reach 329 career victories.

Had the timing been just a little different—six weeks to be exact—baseball fans might’ve seen Seaver and Carlton side by side in the same dugout. Instead, their careers remained forever entwined as adversaries, never allies.

And maybe that’s how it was always meant to be.

Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton weren’t built to be teammates—they were built to be rivals. Their story was not one of handshakes in the dugout, but of duels on the mound. For 17 unforgettable games across 13 seasons, they embodied everything pure about baseball: precision, power, pride, and the pursuit of excellence.

In an era before pitch clocks and bullpen algorithms, when pitchers still finished what they started, Seaver vs. Carlton wasn’t just a matchup—it was a moment. A living, breathing reminder that sometimes, two arms and one ball can tell a story more compelling than any script.

And though they never wore the same uniform, together they wore the mantle of greatness—forever linked by the roar of the crowd, the scrawl of the scorecard, and the memories etched in the hearts of those lucky enough to watch.