1986 American League

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1986 American League
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The 1986 season of the American League was the eighty-sixth season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
Eastern Division
1	Boston Red Sox	161	95	66	0	.590	-.-	794 (4.93)	696 (4.32)	0.271	0.342	0.415	3.93	0.979
2	New York Yankees	162	90	72	0	.556	5.5	797 (4.92)	738 (4.56)	0.271	0.347	0.430	4.11	0.979
3	Detroit Tigers	162	87	75	0	.537	8.5	798 (4.93)	714 (4.41)	0.263	0.336	0.424	4.02	0.982
4	Toronto Blue Jays	163	86	76	1	.528	9.5	809 (4.96)	733 (4.50)	0.269	0.328	0.427	4.08	0.984
5	Cleveland Indians	163	84	78	1	.515	11.5	831 (5.10)	841 (5.16)	0.284	0.337	0.430	4.58	0.975
6	Milwaukee Brewers	161	77	84	0	.478	18.0	667 (4.14)	734 (4.56)	0.255	0.321	0.385	4.01	0.976
7	Baltimore Orioles	162	73	89	0	.451	22.5	708 (4.37)	760 (4.69)	0.258	0.327	0.395	4.30	0.978
Western Division
1	California Angels	162	92	70	0	.568	-.-	786 (4.85)	684 (4.22)	0.255	0.337	0.404	3.84	0.983
2	Texas Rangers	162	87	75	0	.537	5.0	771 (4.76)	743 (4.59)	0.267	0.329	0.428	4.11	0.980
3	Kansas City Royals	162	76	86	0	.469	16.0	654 (4.04)	673 (4.15)	0.252	0.311	0.390	3.82	0.980
4	Oakland Athletics	162	76	86	0	.469	16.0	731 (4.51)	760 (4.69)	0.252	0.321	0.390	4.31	0.978
5	Chicago White Sox	162	72	90	0	.444	20.0	644 (3.98)	699 (4.31)	0.247	0.309	0.363	3.93	0.981
6	Minnesota Twins	162	71	91	0	.438	21.0	741 (4.57)	839 (5.18)	0.261	0.323	0.428	4.77	0.980
7	Seattle Mariners	162	67	95	0	.414	25.0	718 (4.43)	835 (5.15)	0.253	0.324	0.399	4.65	0.975

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Tony Fernandez	Toronto Blue Jays	163
At Bats	Tony Fernandez	Toronto Blue Jays	687
Runs Scored	Rickey Henderson	New York Yankees	130
Hits	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	238
Doubles	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	53
Triples	Brett Butler	Cleveland Indians	14
Home Runs	Jesse Barfield	Toronto Blue Jays	40
Total Bases	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	388
Runs Batted In	Joe Carter	Cleveland Indians	121
Stolen Bases	Rickey Henderson	New York Yankees	87
Caught Stealing	Rickey Henderson John Moses	New York Yankees Seattle Mariners	18
Walks	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	105
Intentional Base-on-Balls	George Brett	Kansas City Royals	18
Hit by Pitch	Don Baylor	Boston Red Sox	35
Strikeouts	Pete Incaviglia	Texas Rangers	185
Sacrifice Hits	Marty Barrett	Boston Red Sox	18
Sacrifice Flies	Wally Joyner	California Angels	12
Grounded into Double Plays	Julio Franco	Cleveland Indians	28
Batting Average	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	0.357
On-Base Percentage	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	0.453
Slugging Percentage	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	0.573
On-Base plus Slugging	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	0.967
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	161

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox	24
Losses	Richard Dotson Mike Morgan	Chicago White Sox Seattle Mariners	17
Win-Loss Percentage	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox	0.857
Appearances	Mitch Williams	Texas Rangers	80
Games Started	Mike Moore Frank Viola	Seattle Mariners Minnesota Twins	37
Complete Games	Tom Candiotti	Cleveland Indians	17
Shutouts	Jack Morris	Detroit Tigers	6
Games Finished	Dave Righetti	New York Yankees	68
Saves	Dave Righetti	New York Yankees	46
Innings Pitched	Bert Blyleven	Minnesota Twins	271.2
Batters Faced	Mike Moore	Seattle Mariners	1145
Hits Allowed	Mike Moore	Seattle Mariners	279
Home Runs Allowed	Bert Blyleven	Minnesota Twins	50
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Bobby Witt	Texas Rangers	143
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Mark Eichhorn	Toronto Blue Jays	14
Hit Batsmen	Dave Stieb	Toronto Blue Jays	15
Strikeouts	Mark Langston	Seattle Mariners	245
Wild Pitches	Bobby Witt	Texas Rangers	22
Balks	Eric Plunk	Oakland Athletics	6
Runs Allowed	Mark Langston	Seattle Mariners	142
Earned Runs Allowed	Mark Langston	Seattle Mariners	129
Earned Run Average	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox	2.48
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox	0.969

All-Star Game

The American League won the fifty-seventh midsummer classic at Astrodome in Houston, TX on Tuesday, July 15, 1986 by a score of 3 to 2. The league's manager was Dick Howser.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured Boston Red Sox, the Eastern Division winner, and the California Angels, the Western Division winner. The Red Sox defeated the Angels, 4 games to 3.

In the World Series, the American League champion Boston Red Sox were defeated by the National League's New York Mets, 4 games to 3.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Roger Clemens, a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox. In the award's voting, he had 339 out of a possible 392 points and 19 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox. In the award's voting, he had 140 out of a possible 140 points and 28 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Jose Canseco, an outfielder with the Oakland Athletics. In the award's voting, he had 110 out of a possible 140 points and 16 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Ron Guidry	New York Yankees
C	Bob Boone	California Angels
1B	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees
2B	Frank White	Kansas City Royals
3B	Gary Gaetti	Minnesota Twins
SS	Tony Fernandez	Toronto Blue Jays
OF	Jesse Barfield	Toronto Blue Jays
	Kirby Puckett	Minnesota Twins
	Gary Pettis	California Angels

Silver Sluggers

The following players won the Silver Slugger Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
C	Lance Parrish	Detroit Tigers
1B	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees
2B	Frank White	Kansas City Royals
3B	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox
SS	Cal Ripken, Jr.	Baltimore Orioles
OF	Jesse Barfield	Toronto Blue Jays
	George Bell	Toronto Blue Jays
	Kirby Puckett	Minnesota Twins
DH	Don Baylor	Boston Red Sox

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: Kirby Puckett, Minnesota Twins
  • May: Wade Boggs, Boston Red Sox
  • June: Kent Hrbek, Minnesota Twins
  • July: Scott Fletcher, Texas Rangers
  • August: Doug DeCinces, California Angels
  • September: Don Mattingly, New York Yankees

• Pitcher of the Month Award
  • April: Roger Clemens, Boston Red Sox
  • May: Don Aase, Baltimore Orioles
  • June: Roger Clemens, Boston Red Sox
  • July: Jack Morris, Detroit Tigers
  • August: Mike Witt, California Angels
  • September: Bruce Hurst, Boston Red Sox

Hall of Fame Game

The forty-third annual Hall of Fame Game was played on August 4 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the Texas Rangers defeated the Kansas City Royals by a score of 11 to 4. Both teams were from the American League.

Umpires

• Larry Barnett
• Nick Bremigan
• Joe Brinkman
• Al Clark
• Drew Coble
• Terry Cooney
• Derryl Cousins
• Don Denkinger
• Jim Evans
• Dale Ford
• Rich Garcia
• Ted Hendry
• John Hirschbeck
• Rich Humphrey
• Mark Johnson
• Ken Kaiser
• Greg Kosc
• Tom Lepperd
• Tim McClelland
• Larry McCoy
• Jim McKean
• Durwood Merrill
• Dan Morrison
• Steve Palermo
• Dave Phillips
• Rick Reed
• Mike Reilly
• Rocky Roe
• Dale Scott
• John Shulock
• Tim Tschida
• Vic Voltaggio
• Tim Welke
• Larry Young

Further Reading

• Zander Hollander, ed.: The Complete Handbook of Baseball: 1986 Season, Signet Books, New American Library, New York, NY, 1986. ISBN 0-451-14177-6