1987 Detroit Tigers season

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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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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.

This would be the last time the Tigers made the postseason until 2006.

Offseason[]

  • March 23, 1987: Brian Harper was released by the Tigers.[1]

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. The team hit 225 home runs, the most since the 1961 New York Yankees.[2]

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
Rank Year Wins Losses Win %   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[]

  • v
  • t
AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 98 64 0.605 — 54–27 44–37
Toronto Blue Jays 96 66 0.593 2 52–29 44–37
Milwaukee Brewers 91 71 0.562 7 48–33 43–38
New York Yankees 89 73 0.549 9 51–30 38–43
Boston Red Sox 78 84 0.481 20 50–30 28–54
Baltimore Orioles 67 95 0.414 31 31–51 36–44
Cleveland Indians 61 101 0.377 37 35–46 26–55

Record vs. opponents[]

1987 American League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 1–12 9–3 8–4 7–6 4–9 9–3 2–11 5–7 3–10 7–5 4–8 7–5 1–12
Boston 12–1 — 4–8 3–9 7–6 2–11 6–6 6–7 7–5 7–6 4–8 7–5 7–5 6–7
California 3–9 8–4 — 8–5 7–5 3–9 5–8 7–5 8–5 3–9 6–7 7–6 5–8 5–7
Chicago 4–8 9–3 5–8 — 7–5 3–9 6–7 6–6 6–7 5–7 9–4 6–7 7–6 4–8
Cleveland 6–7 6–7 5–7 5–7 — 4–9 6–6 4–9 3–9 6–7 4–8 5–7 2–10 5–8
Detroit 9–4 11–2 9–3 9–3 9–4 — 5–7 6–7 8–4 5–8 5–7 7–5 8–4 7–6
Kansas City 3–9 6–6 8–5 7–6 6–6 7–5 — 4–8 8–5 5–7 5–8 9–4 7–6 8–4
Milwaukee 11–2 7–6 5–7 6–6 9–4 7–6 8–4 — 3–9 7–6 6–6 4–8 9–3 9–4
Minnesota 7–5 5–7 5–8 7–6 9–3 4–8 5–8 9–3 — 6–6 10–3 9–4 6–7 3–9
New York 10–3 6–7 9–3 7–5 7–6 8–5 7–5 6–7 6–6 — 5–7 7–5 5–7 6–7
Oakland 5–7 8–4 7–6 4–9 8–4 7–5 8–5 6–6 3–10 7–5 — 5–8 6–7 7–5
Seattle 8–4 5–7 6–7 7–6 7–5 5–7 4–9 8–4 4–9 5–7 8–5 — 9–4 2–10
Texas 5–7 5–7 8–5 6–7 10–2 4–8 6–7 3–9 7–6 7–5 7–6 4–9 — 3–9
Toronto 12–1 7–6 7–5 8–4 8–5 6–7 4–8 4–9 9–3 7–6 5–7 10–2 9–3 —


Transactions[]

  • June 2, 1987: 1987 Major League Baseball Draft
    • Travis Fryman was drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (30th pick). Player signed June 6, 1987.[3]
    • Torey Lovullo was drafted by the Tigers in the 5th round. Player signed June 7, 1987.[4]
  • June 4, 1987: Bill Madlock was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.[5]
  • August 7, 1987: Darnell Coles and a player to be named later were traded by the Tigers to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jim Morrison. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Morris Madden to the Pirates on August 12.[6]
  • August 12, 1987: John Smoltz was traded by the Tigers to the Atlanta Braves for Doyle Alexander.[7]
  • September 22, 1987: Dickie Noles was loaned to the Tigers by the Chicago Cubs.[8]

Roster[]

1987 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers
  • 19 Doyle Alexander
 Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager
  • 11 Sparky Anderson

Coaches

Player stats[]

Batting[]

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
C Matt Nokes 135 461 133 .289 32 87
1B Darrell Evans 150 499 128 .257 34 99
2B Lou Whitaker 149 604 160 .265 16 59
3B Tom Brookens 143 444 107 .241 14 59
SS Alan Trammell 151 597 205 .343 28 105
LF Kirk Gibson 128 487 135 .277 24 79
CF Chet Lemon 146 470 130 .277 20 75
RF Pat Sheridan 141 421 109 .259 6 49
DH Bill Madlock 87 326 91 .279 14 50

Other batters[]

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Larry Herndon 89 225 73 .324 9 47
Scott Lusader 23 47 15 .319 1 8
Mike Heath 93 270 76 .281 8 33
Dave Bergman 91 172 47 .273 6 22
Billy Bean 26 66 17 .258 0 4
Jim Walewander 53 54 13 .241 1 4
Jim Morrison 34 117 24 .205 4 19
Terry Harper 31 64 13 .203 3 10
Johnny Grubb 59 114 23 .202 2 13
Dwight Lowry 13 25 5 .200 0 1
Darnell Coles 53 149 27 .181 4 15
Orlando Mercado 10 22 3 .136 0 1
Tim Tolman 9 12 1 .083 0 1
Doug Baker 8 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Doyle Alexander 11 88⅓ 9 0 1.53 44
Jack Morris 34 266 18 11 3.38 208
Frank Tanana 34 218⅔ 15 10 3.91 146
Walt Terrell 35 244⅔ 17 10 4.05 143
Jeff Robinson 29 127⅓ 9 6 5.37 98
Dan Petry 30 134⅔ 9 7 5.61 93

Relief pitchers[]

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mike Henneman 55 11 3 7 2.98 75
Willie Hernández 45 3 4 8 3.67 30
Nate Snell 22 1 2 0 3.96 19
Mark Thurmond 48 0 1 5 4.23 21
Dickie Noles 4 0 0 2 4.50 0
Eric King 55 6 9 9 4.89 89
Bryan Kelly 5 0 1 0 5.06 10
Morris Madden 2 0 0 0 16.20 0

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
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League John Wockenfuss
A Fayetteville Generals South Atlantic League Johnny Lipon
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League

[9]

References[]

  1. ^ Brian Harper page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ "Team Batting Season Finder: For Single Seasons, from 1960 to 1989, Standard stats, requiring Home Runs >= 200, sorted by greatest Home Runs". Stathead. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  3. ^ Travis Fryman page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Torey Lovullo page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Bill Madlock page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Darnell Coles page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Doyle Alexander page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

External links[]

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