1987 American League Championship Series

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The 1987 American League Championship Series pitted the Minnesota Twins, the AL West champions, against the Detroit Tigers, the AL East champions. Minnesota won the Series 4 games to 1, en route to winning the 1987 World Series 4 games to 3 over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Managers: Tom Kelly (Minnesota), Sparky Anderson (Detroit)

Umpires: Joe Brinkman, Durwood Merrill, Drew Coble, Al Clark, Mike Reilly, Jim McKean

Series MVP: Gary Gaetti, Minnesota

Television: NBC (Bob Costas and Tony Kubek announcing)

[edit] Background

The Detroit Tigers finished the 1987 regular season with the best record in all of baseball, at 98-64 (.605). They won the American League East by two games in thrilling fashion over the Toronto Blue Jays, overcoming a 3½-game deficit and clinching the division on the last day of the season with a 1-0 win over the Jays. The Twins, by contrast, finished with the worst record of any of the four teams that made the playoffs, at 85-77 (.525). Although they held off the Kansas City Royals by two games to take the division, they were clearly seen as the underdogs against the power of the Tigers in the 1987 ALCS. After their elimination in the 1987 ALCS, the Detroit Tigers would not see the playoffs again for 19 years, clinching their next playoff berth on September 24, 2006.

[edit] Summary

[edit] Game 1

October 7, Metrodome

The 1987 AL playoffs opened at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, with the Tigers throwing Doyle Alexander against the Twins' Frank Viola. In the bottom of the second, the Twins opened the scoring when third baseman Gary Gaetti homered off Alexander to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. However, Detroit answered back the very next half-inning, as catcher Mike Heath socked a home run to center field to tie the game. The game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth, when the Twins erupted for three runs. Gaetti led off the inning with his second round-tripper of the game, and Randy Bush followed by stroking a triple to right field and coming home on an double by Tom Brunansky. Steve Lombardozzi sacrificed Brunansky to third, and he scored on a subsequent base hit by Dan Gladden to make it 4-1.

Beginning in the top half of the sixth, however, Detroit staged a comeback. Kirk Gibson smacked a solo home run that inning, and then Heath ripped an RBI single in the seventh that scored Larry Herndon to cut Minnesota's lead down to one. In the top of the eighth, the Tigers took a one-run lead with a pair of sacrifice flies off Twins reliever Jeff Reardon that scored Gibson and Alan Trammell.

In the bottom of the eighth, however, Minnesota took the lead for good. A double by Kirby Puckett brought Gladden home to tie the game, and Don Baylor and Brunansky drove in the go-ahead runs off Willie Hernández with a single and double, respectively. A single by Johnny Grubb and a walk to Lou Whitaker was all the Tigers could muster against Reardon in the ninth, as Gibson struck out to give the Twins an 8-5 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.

[edit] Game 2

October 8, Metrodome

[edit] Game 3

October 10, Tiger Stadium

[edit] Game 4

October 11, Tiger Stadium

[edit] Game 5

October 12, Tiger Stadium

[edit] Quotes of the Series

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - 1987 ALCS