1987 Detroit Tigers season

The 1987 Detroit Tigers season saw the Tigers make a startling late-season comeback to win the American League Eastern Division on the season's final day. The Tigers finished with a Major League-best record of 98-64, two games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. Detroit lost the American League Championship Series to the Minnesota Twins in 5 games.

1987 Detroit Tigers
AL East Champs
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Tom Monaghan
General manager(s)Bill Lajoie
Manager(s)Sparky Anderson
Local televisionWDIV-TV
(George Kell, Al Kaline)
PASS
(Larry Osterman, Jim Northrup)
Local radioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
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This would be the last time the Tigers made the postseason until 2006.

Offseason

Regular season

After their 1984 championship season, the Tigers finished in third place in the AL East in both 1985 and 1986. The 1987 Tigers faced lowered expectations – which seemed to be confirmed by an 11-19 start to the season. The team hit its stride thereafter and gradually gained ground on its AL East rivals. This charge was fueled in part by the acquisition of pitcher Doyle Alexander from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for minor league pitcher John Smoltz. Alexander started 11 games for the Tigers, posting 9 wins without a loss and a 1.53 ERA. The deal came at a price. Smoltz, a Lansing, Michigan native, went on to have a long, productive career with the Braves winning a Cy Young Award and eventually gaining entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.

Despite their improvement, they entered September neck-and-neck with the Toronto Blue Jays. The two teams would square off in seven hard-fought games during the final two weeks of the season. All seven games were decided by one run, and in the first six of the seven games, the winning run was scored in the final inning of play. At Exhibition Stadium, the Tigers dropped three in a row to the Blue Jays before winning a dramatic extra-inning showdown.

The Tigers entered the final week of the 1987 season 3.5 games behind. After a series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Tigers returned home trailing by a game and swept the Blue Jays. Detroit clinched the division in a 1-0 victory over Toronto in front of 51,005 fans at Tiger Stadium on Sunday afternoon, October 4. Frank Tanana pitched a complete game shutout, and outfielder Larry Herndon hit a second-inning solo home run for the game's only run. Detroit finished the season a Major League-best 98-64, two games ahead of Toronto.

In what would be their last postseason appearance until 2006, the Tigers lost the 1987 American League Championship Series to the underdog Minnesota Twins (who would go on to win the World Series) in five games.

The 1987 Tigers' winning percentage ranks as the 10th best in team history, as follows:

Best Seasons in Detroit Tigers History
RankYearWinsLossesWin %  Finish
1 1934 101 53 .656 Lost 1934 World Series to Cardinals
2 1915 100 54 .649 2nd in AL behind Red Sox
3 1909 98 54 .645 Lost 1909 World Series to Pirates
4 1984 104 58 .642 Won 1984 World Series over Padres
5 1968 103 59 .636 Won 1968 World Series over Cardinals
6 1961 101 61 .623 2nd in AL behind Yankees
7 1950 95 59 .617 2nd in AL behind Yankees
8 1935 93 58 .616 Won 1935 World Series over Cubs
9 1907 92 58 .613 Lost 1907 World Series to Cubs
10 1987 98 64 .605 Lost 1987 ALCS to Twins

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 9864 0.605 — 54–27 44–37
Toronto Blue Jays 9666 0.593 2 52–29 44–37
Milwaukee Brewers 9171 0.562 7 48–33 43–38
New York Yankees 8973 0.549 9 51–30 38–43
Boston Red Sox 7884 0.481 20 50–30 28–54
Baltimore Orioles 6795 0.414 31 31–51 36–44
Cleveland Indians 61101 0.377 37 35–46 26–55

Record vs. opponents
1987 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —1–129–38–47–64–99–32–115–73–107–54–87–51–12
Boston 12–1—4–83–97–62–116–66–77–57–64–87–57–56–7
California 3–98–4—8–57–53–95–87–58–53–96–77–65–85–7
Chicago 4–89–35–8—7–53–96–76–66–75–79–46–77–64–8
Cleveland 6–76–75–75–7—4–96–64–93–96–74–85–72–105–8
Detroit 9–411–29–39–39–4—5–76–78–45–85–77–58–47–6
Kansas City 3–96–68–57–66–67–5—4–88–55–75–89–47–68–4
Milwaukee 11–27–65–76–69–47–68–4—3–97–66–64–89–39–4
Minnesota 7–55–75–87–69–34–85–89–3—6–610–39–46–73–9
New York 10–36–79–37–57–68–57–56–76–6—5–77–55–76–7
Oakland 5–78–47–64–98–47–58–56–63–107–5—5–86–77–5
Seattle 8–45–76–77–67–55–74–98–44–95–78–5—9–42–10
Texas 5–75–78–56–710–24–86–73–97–67–57–64–9—3–9
Toronto 12–17–67–58–48–56–74–84–99–37–65–710–29–3—

Transactions

Roster
1987 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Starters by position
= Indicates team leader

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CMatt Nokes135461133.2893287
1BDarrell Evans150499128.2573499
2BLou Whitaker149604160.2651659
3BTom Brookens143444107.2411459
SSAlan Trammell151597205.34328105
LFKirk Gibson128487135.2772479
CFChet Lemon146470130.2772075
RFPat Sheridan141421109.259649
DHBill Madlock8732691.2791450

Other batters
Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Larry Herndon8922573.324947
Scott Lusader234715.31918
Mike Heath9327076.281833
Dave Bergman9117247.273622
Billy Bean266617.25804
Jim Walewander535413.24114
Jim Morrison3411724.205419
Terry Harper316413.203310
Johnny Grubb5911423.202213
Dwight Lowry13255.20001
Darnell Coles5314927.181415
Orlando Mercado10223.13601
Tim Tolman9121.08301
Doug Baker810.00000

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Doyle Alexander1188⅓901.5344
Jack Morris3426618113.38208
Frank Tanana34218⅔15103.91146
Walt Terrell35244⅔17104.05143
Jeff Robinson29127⅓965.3798
Dan Petry30134⅔975.6193

Relief pitchers
Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mike Henneman5511372.9875
Willie Hernández453483.6730
Nate Snell221203.9619
Mark Thurmond480154.2321
Dickie Noles40024.500
Eric King556994.8989
Bryan Kelly50105.0610
Morris Madden200016.200

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Leon Roberts
AA Glens Falls Tigers Eastern League Tom Burgess, Tom Gamboa and Paul Felix
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League John Wockenfuss
A Fayetteville Generals South Atlantic League Johnny Lipon
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Rick Magnante

[8]

References
  1. Brian Harper page at Baseball Reference
  2. Travis Fryman page at Baseball Reference
  3. Torey Lovullo page at Baseball Reference
  4. Bill Madlock page at Baseball Reference
  5. Darnell Coles page at Baseball Reference
  6. Doyle Alexander page at Baseball Reference
  7. Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
  8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997
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