1987 Detroit Tigers season
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| 1987 Detroit Tigers AL East Champs |
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| 1987 Information | |
| Owner(s) | Tom Monaghan |
| Manager(s) | Sparky Anderson |
| Local television | WDIV-TV (George Kell, Al Kaline) PASS (Larry Osterman, Jim Northrup) |
| Local radio | WJR (Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey) |
The 1987 Detroit Tigers season saw the Tigers make a startling late-season comeback to win the American League Eastern Division. The Tigers finished with a record of 98 wins and 64 losses, two games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. Detroit lost the American League Championship Series to the Minnesota Twins in 5 games.
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[edit] Regular season
After a pair of disappointing third-place finishes in 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 and would later win a Cy Young Award.
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 went all nine innings for the complete game shutout, and outfielder Larry Herndon gave the Tigers their lone run on a second-inning home run. Detroit finished the season a Major League-best 98-64, two games ahead of Toronto.
In what would prove to 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:
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[edit] Season standings
| AL East | W | L | Pct. | GB |
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| Detroit Tigers | 98 | 64 | .605 | -- |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 96 | 66 | .593 | 2 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 91 | 71 | .562 | 7 |
| New York Yankees | 89 | 73 | .549 | 9 |
| Boston Red Sox | 78 | 84 | .481 | 20 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 67 | 95 | .414 | 31 |
| Cleveland Indians | 61 | 101 | .377 | 37 |
[edit] Roster
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1987 Detroit Tigers roster
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| Pitchers | Catchers
Infielders |
Outfielders |
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[edit] Player stats
[edit] Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
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| Alan Trammell | 151 | 597 | 205 | .343 | 28 | 105 |
| Matt Nokes | 135 | 461 | 133 | .289 | 32 | 87 |
| Bill Madlock | 87 | 326 | 91 | .279 | 14 | 50 |
| Kirk Gibson | 128 | 487 | 135 | .277 | 24 | 79 |
| Chet Lemon | 146 | 470 | 130 | .277 | 20 | 75 |
| Lou Whitaker | 149 | 604 | 160 | .265 | 16 | 59 |
| Pat Sheridan | 141 | 421 | 109 | .259 | 6 | 49 |
| Darrell Evans | 150 | 499 | 128 | .257 | 34 | 99 |
| Tom Brookens | 143 | 444 | 107 | .241 | 14 | 59 |
[edit] 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 |
| Mike Henneman | 55 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Morris | 36 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
[edit] Pitching
[edit] Starting pitchers
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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| 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 |
[edit] Relief pitchers
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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| 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 |
[edit] References
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| Preceded by Boston Red Sox 1986 |
AL East Championship Season 1987 |
Succeeded by Boston Red Sox 1988 |
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