1986 American League

Boston's Red Sox were the story of the year, winning the AL East with 95 victories, then taking 7 games to defeat the Angels in the ALCS. Boston won the division over New York at 90 victories, Detroit at 87, Toronto at 86, Cleveland at 84, and 84-loss Milwaukee and 89-loss Baltimore. It was a very strong and competitive division. California had a relatively easy time of it in the West, with only Texas joining them over .500 at 87 victories. Defending champs Kansas City lost 86 and tied for third with Oakland, Chicago lost 90, Minnesota lost 91, and Seattle lost 95. The Angels gave a surprisingly good showing in the playoffs until closer Donnie Moore's meltdown. Boston had a meltdown of their own in the World Series, blowing Game 6 and losing in 7. Wade Boggs edged out Don Mattingly for the batting title .357 to .352. Jesse Barfield led in homers with 40, followed by Dave Kingman at 35. Joe Carter led in RBI with 121, followed by Jose Canseco with 117 and Mattingly at 113. Rickey Henderson led in runs with 130, trailed by Kirby Puckett at 117, and steals with 87, followed by John Cangelosi and Gary Pettis at 50. Brett Butler had 14 triples. Mattingly led in hits, doubles, total bases and OPS. Roger Clemens won the MVP and Cy Young as he led in wins and ERA, and was 2nd in strikeouts to Mark Langston. Jack Morris was second to Clemens' 24 wins with 21, and Teddy Higuera won 20. Following Clemens in ERA at 2.48 was Higuera at 2.79 and Mike Witt at 2.84. Dave Righetti led in saves with 46. Morris tossed six shutouts, and Tom Candiotti had 17 complete games. Win Shares leaders, players; Wade Boggs (Boston) 37, Don Mattingly (New York) 34, Cal Ripken (Baltimore), Jim Rice (Boston), Joe Carter (Cleveland) and Jesse Barfield (Toronto) 28, Alan Trammell (Detroit), Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) and Rickey Henderson (New York) 26, Tony Bernazard (Cleveland) 25, Dwight Evans (Boston), Pete O'Brien (Texas) and Tony Fernandez (Toronto) 24, Brian Downing (California), Robin Yount (Milwaukee), Gary Gaetti (Minnesota) and George Bell (Toronto) 23, Marty Barrett (Boston) 22, Wally Joyner (California), Brook Jacoby (Cleveland) and Jose Canseco (Oakland) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Roger Clemens (Boston) 29, Teddy Higuera (Milwaukee) 25, Mike Witt (California) 23, Mark Eichhorn (Toronto) 21, Jack Morris (Detroit) and Dave Righetti (New York) 20, Kirk McCaskill (California) and Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 18, Tom Candiotti (Cleveland) 17, Bruce Hurst (Boston) 16. WARP3 scores: Barfield 8.5 (best year), Mattingly and Ripken 8.3, Trammell 7.9, Boggs 7.4, Henderson 7.0, Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 5.7, Fernandez 5.6, Bernazard 5.4 (best year), Carter 5.2 (best year), Rice 5.1 (last good year), Dick Schofield (California) 5.0, Gary Pettis (California) 4.9, Gaetti 4.8 (best year), Scott Fletcher (Texas) 4.6, Frank White (Kansas City) 4.3, Tony Phillips (Oakland) and Lance Parrish (Detroit) 4.1. Pitchers, Clemens 9.0, Higuera 8.6 (career year), Eichhorn 8.1 (career year), Righetti 6.0 (career year), Witt 5.7 (career year), Blyleven and Hurst 5.4, Mike Moore (Seattle) 4.8, Candiotti and Jimmy Key (Toronto) 4.6, Oil Can Boyd (Boston) 4.5, Morris 4.2, Greg Harris (Texas) 4.1, McCaskill 4.0 (best year). WAR leaders, position players: Boggs 8.2, Barfield 7.9, Mattingly 7.7, Ripken 7.4, Henderson 6.9, Trammell 6.1, Rice 5.9, Gaetti and Puckett 5.7, Carter 5.3, Fernandez 5.0, Evans and Whitaker 4.9, O'Brien 4.7, White 4.6, Fletcher, Murray, and Pettis 4.5. Pitchers, Clemens 8.0, Witt 6.8, Higuera 5.7, McCaskill 5.6, Eichhorn 5.3, Candiotti and Hurst 4.8, Leibrandt 4.3, Langston 4.3, Key, Moore, and Morris 3.9, Blyleven and Correia 3.8, Henke and Viola 3.7, Clancy 3.5. Actual award winners: MVP (top 15): | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Roger Clemens BOS 19 339 392 0.86 | | 24-4 254 2.48 0.97 238 2 Don Mattingly NYY 5 258 392 0.66 | 677 238 31 .352 .967 0 3 Jim Rice BOS 4 241 392 0.61 | 618 200 20 .324 .874 0 4 George Bell TOR 0 125 392 0.32 | 641 198 31 .309 .881 7 5 Jesse Barfield TOR 0 107 392 0.27 | 589 170 40 .289 .927 8 6 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 105 392 0.27 | 680 223 31 .328 .903 20 7 Wade Boggs BOS 0 87 392 0.22 | 580 207 8 .357 .939 0 8 Wally Joyner CAL 0 74 392 0.19 | 593 172 22 .290 .805 5 9 Joe Carter CLE 0 72 392 0.18 | 663 200 29 .302 .849 29 10 Dave Righetti NYY 0 71 392 0.18 | | 8-8 107 2.45 1.15 83 46 11 Doug DeCinces CAL 0 56 392 0.14 | 512 131 26 .256 .784 2 12 Mike Witt CAL 0 34 392 0.09 | | 18-10 269 2.84 1.08 208 13 Don Baylor BOS 0 32 392 0.08 | 585 139 31 .238 .783 3 14 Tony Fernandez TOR 0 17 392 0.04 | 687 213 10 .310 .766 25 15 Teddy Higuera MIL 0 7 392 0.02 | | 20-11 248 2.79 1.21 207 Clemens a clear winner over Mattingly and Rice. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Roger Clemens BOS 28 140 140 1.00 | 24-4 254 2.48 0.97 238 2 Teddy Higuera MIL 0 42 140 0.30 | 20-11 248 2.79 1.21 207 3 Mike Witt CAL 0 35 140 0.25 | 18-10 269 2.84 1.08 208 4 Dave Righetti NYY 0 20 140 0.14 | 8-8 107 2.45 1.15 83 46 5 Jack Morris DET 0 13 140 0.09 | 21-8 267 3.27 1.16 223 6 Mark Eichhorn TOR 0 2 140 0.01 | 14-6 157 1.72 0.96 166 10 Easy victory for Clemens here. Rookie: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+--------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Jose Canseco OAK 16 110 140 0.79 | 600 144 33 .240 .775 15 2 Wally Joyner CAL 12 98 140 0.70 | 593 172 22 .290 .805 5 3 Mark Eichhorn TOR 0 23 140 0.16 | | 14-6 157 1.72 0.96 166 10 4 Cory Snyder CLE 0 16 140 0.11 | 416 113 24 .272 .799 2 5 Danny Tartabull SEA 0 4 140 0.03 | 511 138 25 .270 .836 4 6 Ruben Sierra TEX 0 1 140 0.01 | 382 101 16 .264 .779 7 Canseco by a slim margin over Joyner. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 John McNamara BOS 13 95 140 0.68 | 95-66 1 2 Bobby Valentine TEX 12 90 140 0.64 | 87-75 2 3 Gene Mauch CAL 2 44 140 0.31 | 92-70 1 4 Pat Corrales CLE 1 18 140 0.13 | 84-78 5 5 Lou Piniella NYY 0 5 140 0.04 | 90-72 2 Top player: Wade Boggs takes the crown for the pennant winners. Mattingly had a bit more offensive value, but Boggs at 3B adds more on defense. #1 Wade Boggs, #2 Don Mattingly, #3 Jesse Barfield, #4 Cal Ripken, #5 Rickey Henderson, #6 Alan Trammell. Top pitcher: Roger Clemens. Clemens had all the stats and led a winner. #1 Roger Clemens, #2 Ted Higuera, #3 Mark Eichhorn, #4 Mike Witt, #5 Jack Morris. Top rookie: Wally Joyner was just a bit better than Jose Canseco. Top manager: John McNamara brought the Red Sox home in a tough field.