He played Major League Baseball from 1983 to 1993, most notably as a member of the New York Mets with whom he won a world championship in 1986.

He was a fan favorite with the New York Mets and became known for his batting stance, the "Teufel shuffle", in which he wiggled his buttocks back and forth before the pitcher's delivery.

[2] Teufel went 2-for-4 and score two runs to help the last-place Twins snap a five-game losing streak on September 6.

[3] On September 16, Teufel led off the game by hitting his first major league home run off Jim Gott of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Teufel finished fourth behind Alvin Davis, Mark Langston and teammate Kirby Puckett in American League Rookie of the Year balloting.

Following the season, Teufel was traded with minor leaguer Pat Crosby to the New York Mets for Billy Beane, Bill Latham and Joe Klink.

On June 10, Teufel had one of the most exciting moments in the Mets' championship season with a walk-off pinch-hit grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Mets' reputation as a rowdy bunch was punctuated on July 19 when Teufel, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda, and Rick Aguilera were arrested after a bar fight with off-duty police officers in Houston, Texas.

[7] None of the four missed any playing time, though the incident helped fuel some rivalry between the Mets and their impending 1986 National League Championship Series competitors, the Houston Astros.

Teufel managed just one hit and no runs batted in against the Astros in the Championship Series, won by the Mets in six games.

In that game, usually sure-handed Mets' second baseman Félix Millán committed a third inning error that led to both of Oakland's runs in their 2–1 victory.

He was given the chance to play every day in 1988, but spent all of April below .200 and missed three weeks from mid-May with an injury, causing the platoon to be reinstated.

[16] He was named manager of the Savannah Sand Gnats on January 11, 2007 and was a Mets representative at the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.

In 2010, in his first season managing the Double-A Binghamton Mets, he led the team to a 66–76 record and a fifth-place finish in the Eastern League.