1987 American League

The AL East put on a marvelous race, with Toronto leading most of the way only to fold at the end as Detroit won the division, taking 98 victories to Toronto's 96. Milwaukee was close behind with 91, while New York had 89. Boston lost 84, Baltimore 95, and Cleveland 101. The West division was ho-hum, with everyone struggling just to stay above .500. But like 1985, when Kansas City trudged through the season only to win it all at the end, Minnesota came up big in the postseason. The Twins won 85 games to take a close race with the Royals by two games. Oakland, at .500, was 4 games out. Seattle lost 84, Chicago 85, Texas and California 87 as the Angels slid to last one year after winning the West. Toronto led the league in pitching, Detroit in offense, both were good the other way too, while Minnesota was middle-of-the-pack all over. But they were obviously clutch. Wade Boggs won the batting title at .363, followed by Paul Molitor at .353 and Alan Trammell at .343. Boggs also led in on-base and OPS. Molitor scored 114 runs, followed by George Bell at 111, while Kevin Seitzer and Kirby Puckett tied at 207 hits closely followed by Trammell at 205. Molitor had 41 doubles, Willie Wilson 15 triples, and rookie Mark McGwire swatted 49 home runs and led the league in slugging. Bell led in RBI with 134 and won the MVP in spite of Toronto's late collapse. Dwight Evans was second in RBI at 123. Bell was second in homers at 47. Harold Reynolds led with 60 steals, one ahead of Wilson. Dave Stewart and Roger Clemens each won 20 games, followed by Mark Langston at 19. Langston led with 262 strikeouts and Clemens was second with 256. Jimmy Key paced the loop with a 2.76 ERA and Frank Viola was second at 2.90, with Clemens third at 2.97. Tom Henke led with 34 saves, followed by Dave Righetti and Jeff Reardon with 31. Charlie Hough led with 285 innings, while Clemens had 18 complete games and seven shutouts. Win Shares leaderboard: Players; Alan Trammell (Detroit) 35, Wade Boggs (Boston) 32, Mark McGwire (Oakland) 30, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) and Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) 29, Don Mattingly (New York) 27, Robin Yount (Milwaukee) and George Bell (Toronto) 26, Dwight Evans (Boston) and Kent Hrbek (Minnesota) 25, Danny Tartabull (Kansas City) and Tony Fernandez (Toronto) 24, Brian Downing (California), Kevin Seitzer (Kansas City) and Carney Lansford (Oakland) 23, Wally Joyner (California), Brook Jacoby (Cleveland), Darrell Evans (Detroit), Willie Randolph (New York) and Lloyd Moseby (Toronto) 22. Pitchers; Roger Clemens (Boston) 28, Frank Viola (Minnesota) 24, Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) and Jimmy Key (Toronto) 23, Jack Morris (Detroit) and Mark Langston (Seattle) 21, Charlie Leibrandt (Kansas City) and Teddy Higuera (Milwaukee) 20, Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) and Tom Henke (Toronto) 18, Floyd Bannister (Chicago), Dave Stewart (Oakland), Charlie Hough (Texas) and Jim Clancy (Toronto) 17. WARP3, players: Trammell 10.0, Boggs 7.6, Fernandez 7.3, McGwire 5.6, Molitor 5.5, Bell 5.4, Randolph 5.3, Rickey Henderson (New York) and Ernie Whitt (Toronto) 4.8, Lansford, Mattingly, and Jesse Barfield (Toronto) 4.7, Jacoby 4.4. WARP3, pitchers: Clemens 9.7, Viola 7.1, Saberhagen 6.9, Liebrandt and Higuera 5.7, Key 5.5, Morris and Mark Gubicza (Kansas City) 5.0, Langston and Bruce Hurst (Boston) 4.9, Stewart 4.7, Blyleven 4.6. WAR position players: Boggs 9.2, Trammell 7.9, Molitor 6.3, Bell and Mattingly 5.6, McGwire 5.4, Seitzer 5.3, Evans and Fernandez 5.1, Randolph 5.0, Jacoby, Lansford, and White 4.9, Evans 4.8, Barfield 4.6, Murray 4.4. Pitchers: Clemens 9.3, Higuera 7.4, Langston 6.5, Viola 6.2, Key 6.1, Saberhagen 5.8, Clancy 5.4, Leibrandt 5.0, Jackson and Stewart 4.9, Gubicza 4.4, Hurst 4.3, Hough 4.2, Bosio 4.1. Actual voting: MVP (top 10): Place Name Team 1st place Points: 1 George Bell TOR 16 332 2 Alan Trammell DET 12 311 3 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 201 4 Dwight Evans BOS 0 127 5 Paul Molitor MIL 0 125 6 Mark McGwire OAK 0 109 7 Don Mattingly NYY 0 92 8 Tony Fernandez TOR 0 79 9 Wade Boggs BOS 0 64 10 Gary Gaetti MIN 0 47 Cy Young: Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Roger Clemens BOS 21 124 2 Jimmy Key TOR 4 64 3 Dave Stewart OAK 2 32 4 Doyle Alexander TOT 1 8 5 Mark Langston SEA 0 7 6 Teddy Higuera MIL 0 5 6 Frank Viola MIN 0 5 8 Jeff Reardon MIN 0 4 9 Jack Morris DET 0 3 Rookie: Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Mark McGwire OAK 28 140 2 Kevin Seitzer KCR 0 64 3 Matt Nokes DET 0 32 4 Mike Greenwell BOS 0 9 5 Devon White CAL 0 5 6 Mike Henneman DET 0 1 6 Nelson Liriano TOR 0 1 Best Player: It was obvious to everyone at the time, except 16 members of the BBWAA and RBI numnuts, that Alan Trammell was the top player, MVP, and whatever else. Wade Boggs might have outplayed him a bit, but for me; 1. Alan Trammell; 2. Wade Boggs; 3. Paul Molitor; 4. Mark McGwire; 5. George Bell; 6. Tony Fernandez. Best Pitcher: Roger Clemens. Another great Rocket year. Not quite as dominating as other seasons, but still ahead of the crowd. 1. Roger Clemens; 2. Frank Viola; 3. Bret Saberhagen; 4. Jimmy Key; 5. Teddy Higuera. Best rookie: Mark McGwire, easily. 49 homers! Seitzer a solid second. Best manager: props to Sparky Anderson.