1987 American League

1987 in baseball
1987 American League
Cuban National League
Japanese baseball
National League
<< 1986 1988 >>

The 1987 season of the American League was the eighty-seventh season of the league.

BR page

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	Detroit Tigers	162	98	64	0	.605	-.-	896 (5.53)	735 (4.54)	0.272	0.347	0.451	4.02	0.980
2	Toronto Blue Jays	162	96	66	0	.593	2.0	845 (5.22)	655 (4.04)	0.269	0.334	0.446	3.74	0.982
3	Milwaukee Brewers	162	91	71	0	.562	7.0	862 (5.32)	817 (5.04)	0.276	0.345	0.428	4.62	0.976
4	New York Yankees	162	89	73	0	.549	9.0	788 (4.86)	758 (4.68)	0.262	0.335	0.418	4.36	0.983
5	Boston Red Sox	162	78	84	0	.481	20.0	842 (5.20)	825 (5.09)	0.278	0.349	0.430	4.77	0.982
6	Baltimore Orioles	162	67	95	0	.414	31.0	729 (4.50)	880 (5.43)	0.258	0.321	0.418	5.01	0.982
7	Cleveland Indians	162	61	101	0	.377	37.0	742 (4.58)	957 (5.91)	0.263	0.322	0.422	5.28	0.975
Western Division
1	Minnesota Twins	162	85	77	0	.525	-.-	786 (4.85)	806 (4.98)	0.261	0.326	0.430	4.63	0.984
2	Kansas City Royals	162	83	79	0	.512	2.0	715 (4.41)	691 (4.27)	0.262	0.326	0.412	3.86	0.979
3	Oakland Athletics	162	81	81	0	.500	4.0	806 (4.98)	789 (4.87)	0.260	0.332	0.428	4.32	0.977
4	Seattle Mariners	162	78	84	0	.481	7.0	760 (4.69)	801 (4.94)	0.272	0.333	0.428	4.49	0.980
5	Chicago White Sox	162	77	85	0	.475	8.0	748 (4.62)	746 (4.60)	0.258	0.318	0.415	4.30	0.981
6	Texas Rangers	162	75	87	0	.463	10.0	823 (5.08)	849 (5.24)	0.266	0.334	0.430	4.63	0.976
7	California Angels	162	75	87	0	.463	10.0	770 (4.75)	803 (4.96)	0.252	0.324	0.401	4.38	0.981

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Cal Ripken	Baltimore Orioles	162
At Bats	Ruben Sierra	Texas Rangers	643
Runs Scored	Paul Molitor	Milwaukee Brewers	114
Hits	Kirby Puckett Kevin Seitzer	Minnesota Twins Kansas City Royals	207
Doubles	Paul Molitor	Milwaukee Brewers	41
Triples	Willie Wilson	Kansas City Royals	15
Home Runs	Mark McGwire	Oakland Athletics	49
Total Bases	George Bell	Toronto Blue Jays	369
Runs Batted In	George Bell	Toronto Blue Jays	134
Stolen Bases	Harold Reynolds	Seattle Mariners	60
Caught Stealing	Harold Reynolds	Seattle Mariners	20
Walks	Brian Downing Dwight Evans	California Angels Boston Red Sox	106
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	19
Hit by Pitch	Don Baylor	Boston Red Sox/Minnesota Twins	28
Strikeouts	Rob Deer	Milwaukee Brewers	186
Sacrifice Hits	Marty Barrett	Boston Red Sox	22
Sacrifice Flies	Ruben Sierra	Texas Rangers	12
Grounded into Double Plays	Gary Gaetti	Minnesota Twins	25
Batting Average	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	0.363
On-Base Percentage	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	0.461
Slugging Percentage	Mark McGwire	Oakland Athletics	0.618
On-Base plus Slugging	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	1.049
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox	173

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Roger Clemens Dave Stewart	Boston Red Sox Oakland Athletics	20
Losses	Mike Moore	Seattle Mariners	19
Win-Loss Percentage	Mike Henneman	Detroit Tigers	0.786
Appearances	Mark Eichhorn	Toronto Blue Jays	89
Games Started	Charlie Hough	Texas Rangers	40
Complete Games	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox	18
Shutouts	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox	7
Games Finished	Tom Henke	Toronto Blue Jays	62
Saves	Tom Henke	Toronto Blue Jays	34
Innings Pitched	Charlie Hough	Texas Rangers	285.1
Batters Faced	Charlie Hough	Texas Rangers	1231
Hits Allowed	Mike Moore	Seattle Mariners	268
Home Runs Allowed	Bert Blyleven	Minnesota Twins	46
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Bobby Witt	Texas Rangers	140
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Mark Williamson	Baltimore Orioles	15
Hit Batsmen	Charlie Hough	Texas Rangers	19
Strikeouts	Mark Langston	Seattle Mariners	262
Wild Pitches	Jack Morris	Detroit Tigers	24
Balks	Charlie Hough	Texas Rangers	9
Runs Allowed	Charlie Hough	Texas Rangers	159
Earned Runs Allowed	Mike Moore	Seattle Mariners	121
Earned Run Average	Jimmy Key	Toronto Blue Jays	2.76
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Jimmy Key	Toronto Blue Jays	1.057

All-Star Game

The American League lost the fifty-eighth midsummer classic at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, CA on Tuesday, July 14, 1987 by a score of 2 to 0 in 13 innings. The league's manager was John McNamara.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured Detroit Tigers, the Eastern Division winner, and the Minnesota Twins, the Western Division winner. The Twins defeated the Tigers, 4 games to 1.

In the World Series, the American League champion Minnesota Twins defeated the National League's St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was George Bell (bellge02), an outfielder with the Toronto Blue Jays. In the award's voting, he had 332 out of a possible 392 points and 16 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 124 out of a possible 140 points and 21 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Mark McGwire, a first baseman with the Oakland Athletics. In the award's voting, he had 140 out of a possible 140 points and 28 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	Mark Langston	Seattle Mariners
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
	Dave Winfield	New York Yankees

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	Matt Nokes	Detroit Tigers
1B	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees
2B	Lou Whitaker	Detroit Tigers
3B	Wade Boggs	Boston Red Sox
SS	Alan Trammell	Detroit Tigers
OF	George Bell	Toronto Blue Jays
	Dwight Evans	Boston Red Sox
	Kirby Puckett	Minnesota Twins
DH	Paul Molitor	Milwaukee Brewers

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: Brian Downing, California Angels
  • May: Larry Parrish, Texas Rangers
  • June: Wade Boggs, Boston Red Sox
  • July: Don Mattingly­, New York Yankees
  • August: Dwight Evans, Boston Red Sox
  • September: Alan Trammell, Detroit Tigers

• Pitcher of the Month Award
  • April: Bret Saberhagen, Kansas City Royals
  • May: Jim Clancy, Toronto Blue Jays
  • June: Steve Ontiveros, Oakland Athletics
  • July: Frank Viola, Minnesota Twins
  • August: Mark Langston, Seattle Mariners
  • September: Doyle Alexander, Detroit Tigers

Hall of Fame Game

The forty-fourth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on July 27 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves of the National League by a score of 3 to 0.

Umpires

• Larry Barnett
• Nick Bremigan
• Joe Brinkman
• Al Clark
• Drew Coble
• Terry Cooney
• Derryl Cousins
• Terry Craft
• Don Denkinger
• Jim Evans
• Dale Ford
• Rich Garcia
• Ted Hendry
• John Hirschbeck
• Mark Johnson
• Jim Joyce
• Ken Kaiser
• Greg Kosc
• Tim McClelland
• Larry McCoy
• Jim McKean
• Chuck Meriwether
• Durwood Merrill
• Joseph Mickel
• 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: 1987 Season, Signet Books, New American Library, New York, NY, 1987. ISBN 0-451-14761-8
• Will Leitch: "Bash Brothers and 100 steals: 1987 was wild - 10 fun facts from a wild season", mlb.com, March 18, 2020. [1]