1986 Italian Series

The 1986 Italian Series was won by Grohe Grosseto. They beat Trevi Rimini in seven games to win their first Serie A1 championship.

Grosseto had dominated Girone 2, going 43-5, 6 1/2 games of runner-up Bologna. The staff included ERA leader Rich Olsen (9-1, 0.99, 108 K, 12 BB, 59 H in 100 IP), Alfio Boscarol (9-0, Sv, 1.67), Alessandro Cappuccini (8-2, 2 Sv, 2.06), Rolando Cretis (5-2, 5 Sv, 3.21) and Luca Spadoni (9-0, 2 Sv, 3.74). Offensive stars were former major leaguer Craig Stimac at C (.397/.436/.658, 60 R, 52 RBI in 48 G), SS John Cortese (.365/.464/.578, 39 BB, 52 R, 61 RBI in 48 G), LF Riccardo Luongo (.343/.432/.593, 46 RBI in 45 G) and CF Marco Mazzieri (.382/.475/.515, 35 BB, 60 R in 48 G). After their regular season success, they surprisingly struggled in the playoffs, going 7-3; adding in the Series, they would lose more games in the postseason than in the regular season.

Rimini had won Girone 1 at 37-11. Their offense was led by LF/C Dave Malpeso (.376/.436/.836, 24 HR, 81 RBI in 46 G; the league home run leader), RF Giuseppe Carelli (.350/.433/.645, 52 R, 65 RBI in 48 G) and P/1B/LF Paolo Ceccaroli (.373/.426/.538). The staff had relied heavily on league win leader Ceccaroli (14-2, 2 Sv, 2.65) and strikeout leader Mike Pagnozzi (11-2, 1.80, 162 K in 124 2/3 IP; interestingly, his brother Tom would play in the World Series a year later). Rimini had gone 7-4 in the quarterfinals and semifinals to advance to the Series.

Grosseto took the opener, 4-0 and then won 11-10. Rimini rallied to take games 3 (3-0) and 4 (12-2). Grosseto retook the lead with a 11-2 rout, but Rimini won a 2-1 squeaker to tie it at 3 games apiece. In the finale, Grosseto rolled to a 7-2 win. Stimac starred in the Series (.345/.457/.793, 4 HR, 9 R, 7 RBI) while the pitching was somewhat of a surprise; Cretis (0-1, 1.35) did not get a win despite pitching well and Boscarol was 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA, the victories going instead to Dario Borghino (1-0, 0 R in 1 2/3 IP), Cappuccini (1-0, 2.63), Spadoni (1-0, 3.48) and Cretis (1-1, 4.02), again demonstrating the depth of the staff. Rimini had gotten good mound work in the finals from Malpeso (1-0, 0 R in 4 1/3 IP) and Pagnozzi (1-0, 0.45) but Ceccaroli (1-3, 4.50) struggled on the hill. Malpeso also hit .538/.636/.962 with 5 doubles, 2 homers and 7 RBI while SS Michele Romano had hit .364/.576/.409.

Playoffs

1st Round

• Trevi Rimini (37-11) beat Nuova Stampa Florence (23-25), 3-1
• Norditalia Nettuno (29-19) beat World Vision Parma (34-14), 3-1
• Grohe Grosseto (43-5) beat BKV Milan (18-30), 3-1
• Biemme Giocattoli Bologna (37-11) beat Chesterfield San Marino (21-27), 3-1

Semi Finals

• Grohe Grosseto 4-2 Norditalia Nettuno
• Trevi Rimini 4-3 Biemme Giocattoli Bologna

Championship Series

Grohe Grosseto 4-3 Trevi Rimini