MLB: 1986 Postseason Retrospective Filled with Triumph and Tragedy
The 1986 MLB postseason was an incredible mix of tension, triumph and tragedy that culminated with a heartbreaking loss by one of baseball’s longest-suffering franchises.
Thirty years ago, the best team in MLB was the New York Mets. They had steadily improved from 68 wins in 1983 to 108 wins in 1986. This was the team of Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Lenny Dykstra, and Mookie Wilson. The top four starting pitchers—Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda, and Sid Fernandez—combined to go 66-23, with a 2.92 ERA (league average ERA was 3.72). The Mets won the NL East by 21 ½ games.
The 1986 Houston Astros were a surprise division winner. They had come into existence as an expansion team in 1962 and had made the playoffs just twice in 24 years. The 1986 Astros won 96 games and finished 10 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the NL West and had the league’s best ERA.
Starting pitcher Mike Scott was a phenomenon in 1986. Scott was a below-average pitcher for the first six years of his career. Heading into the 1985 season, Scott had a lifetime record of 29-44, with a 4.45 ERA. As the story goes, Scott was taught the split-finger fastball by legendary pitching coach Roger Craig and his career blossomed. He was 18-8 with a 3.29 ERA in 1985, then went 18-10 with a league-leading 2.22 ERA in 1986. He also led the league in innings pitched and strikeouts and earned the NL Cy Young Award.
One of the more amazing statistics for Mike Scott was that he more than doubled his career strikeout rate in that 1986 season. In 885 1/3 innings before 1986, Scott struck out 4.5 batters per nine innings. In 1986, he struck out 10 batters per nine. Of course, there were rumors at the time that Scott’s sudden rise to brilliance was not the split-finger fastball, but was one of the oldest tricks in the book—scuffed baseballs. Years later, the MLB Network took a look back at the 1986 postseason and Scott said of the accusations that he cheated, “They can believe what they want to believe. Every ball that hits the ground has something on it . . . I’ve thrown balls that were scuffed but I haven’t scuffed every ball that I’ve thrown.”
With a 108-win season under their belts, the New York Mets were the favorite to win the NLCS, but they would have to face Mike Scott in Games One, Four, and Seven, should the series go that far. There was no guarantee they could beat him three times.
1986 American League Division Winners
The American League Championship Series had two compelling teams competing for a World Series berth. The California Angels were an expansion team in 1961 and had yet to make it to the World Series. They lost the ALCS in 1979 and 1982 and had finished in second place in the AL West in 1984 and 1985. They returned to the playoffs with a 92-70 season in 1986, finishing five games ahead of the Texas Rangers.
The 1986 Angels finished sixth in the league in runs scored and allowed the second-fewest runs in the league. They had four lineup regulars who were 35 years old or older—Brian Downing, Doug DeCinces, Bob Boone, and Reggie Jackson. They also had three veterans in part-time roles in Rick Burleson, George Hendrick, and Bobby Grich. Rookie first baseman Wally Joyner was one of only two regular starting players under the age of 28. Joyner led the team in RBI and was second on the team in home runs.
The team’s top starting pitcher was Mike Witt, who went 18-10 with a 2.84 ERA and finished third in the voting for AL Cy Young. Kirk McKaskill and Don Sutton were the other two mainstays in the rotation, with three other pitchers starting at least 12 games. In the bullpen, Donnie Moore led the team in saves, with 21, but Doug Corbett also had 10 saves and Terry “Tub of Goo” Forster had five.
One of the endearing stories of the 1986 Angels was manager Gene Mauch, who had been around seemingly forever. He began his career as a manager with the 1960 Phillies and was most known for the collapse of the 1964 team. Those Phillies led the National League by 6 ½ games with two weeks to go in the season, but went 2-10 down the stretch and finished tied for second place with the Cincinnati Reds, one game back of the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a crushing collapse.
Mauch managed the Phillies, Expos, and Twins, then took over the Angels in 1981. He guided them to the playoffs in 1982, but they lost the best-of-five series to the Milwaukee Brewers in five games. The 1986 season was another chance for Mauch to get the monkey off his back. He had managed for 24 seasons and had been to the playoffs just once, but had never made it to the World Series.
The Boston Red Sox were the only non-expansion franchise in the 1986 MLB postseason. Their last World Series championship was in 1918. They had returned to the World Series three times since then, losing all three in seven games. In the three years leading up to the 1986 season, the Red Sox had finished sixth, fourth, and fifth in a seven-team division. The ’86 Red Sox finished third in the league in runs scored and third in the league in ERA.
Wade Boggs was the best hitter on the Red Sox, but Jim Rice was the most “feared.” Rice led the team in RBI, with 110, while Bill Buckner, Dwight Evans, and Don Baylor all drove in at least 90 runs. Outfielder Dave Henderson had joined the Red Sox in a trade with the Seattle Mariners on August 19, but hit just .196/.226/.314 in 36 games with the team after the trade. He probably wouldn’t do anything important in the playoffs, right?
Roger Clemens was a 23-year-old pitcher having his breakout season. He went 24-4 with a league-leading 2.48 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. He was an all-star for the first time and won the AL Cy Young and AL MVP awards. Behind him in the rotation, Oil Can Boyd was 16-10 with a 3.78 ERA, and Bruce Hurst went 13-8 with a 2.99 ERA. The bullpen looked like a weakness. Bob Stanley led the team in saves with 16, but had a 4.37 ERA. Joe Sambito picked up 12 saves despite a 4.84 ERA. The savior in the bullpen looked to be Calvin Schiraldi, who had come up to MLB in July and saved nine games with a 1.41 ERA down the stretch.
1986 National League Championship Series
As expected, Mike Scott came out and dominated Game 1 of the 1986 NLCS. He pitched the team to a 1-0 victory and had 14 strikeouts, outpitching young Dwight Gooden. The only run of the game came on a Glenn Davis home run. The Mets evened the series up with a 5-1 victory in Game 2, as Bobby Ojeda pitched all nine innings, scattering 10 hits and walking two, but allowing just the single run. Nolan Ryan started the game for the Astros and lasted just five innings. Lenny Dykstra, Wally Backman, and Keith Hernandez combined for six hits and two walks out of the top three spots in the batting order.
The Astros took an early 4-0 lead in Game 3 but starting pitcher Bob Knepper couldn’t hold it. The Mets exploded for four runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Astros battled back with a single run in the top of the seventh and looked to take a lead in the series if Dave Smith could hold the lead in the bottom of the ninth. He couldn’t. Lenny Dykstra hit a two-run jack off Smith to win the game for the Mets.
Mike Scott was back on the mound for Game Four and he once again shut down the Mets. He tossed his second complete game and allowed just a single run. The Astros scored their runs on a two-run homer by Alan Ashby and a solo shot from Dickie Thon. The series was tied at two games apiece.
Game Five was a matchup of 39-year-old Nolan Ryan and 21-year-old Dwight Gooden. With these two flamethrowers on the bump, offense was scarce. They each allowed just a single run. Ryan pitched nine innings and struck out 12 batters. Gooden lasted 10 innings before turning it over to Jesse Orosco in the eleventh inning. The game stayed tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the 12th. In that frame, Charlie Kerfeld gave up an RBI single to Gary Carter, sending the Shea Stadium faithful home happy.
With Mike Scott looming, the Mets knew how important Game 6 would be. Mookie Wilson made it clear, saying, “I think of all the things we feared the most was facing Scott in Game 7. We knew what was at stake. We knew that if we lost Game 6, Game 7 was pretty much a write-off. Mentally, most of the guys on the team didn’t think that we could beat Scott.”
The Astros came out strong in Game 6 by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. With that lead in hand, starting pitcher Bob Knepper started tossing zeroes. He made it through eight scoreless innings but ran into trouble in the ninth. Astros manager Hal Lanier let Knepper start the inning, but Big Bob ran into trouble immediately, allowing a pinch-hit triple to Lenny Dykstra and an RBI-single to Mookie Wilson. He got Kevin Mitchell to ground out, but then allowed an RBI-double to Keith Hernandez and the score was 3-2, Astros.
That was it for Knepper. Dave Smith came in to try to shut the door. The Astros still needed two outs to force a Game 7. Unfortunately, Smith was not on his game. He walked Gary Carter and Darryl Strawberry to load the bases, then gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Ray Knight. After an intentional walk to Wally Backman, Smith was able to get pinch-hitter Danny Heep to end the inning.
Neither team could score over the next four innings. The Mets got on the board in the top of the 14th on an RBI-single by Wally Backman. The Astros weren’t done, though. They came right back with a solo homer by Billy Hatcher to tie the game, as the Astrodome sounded as loud as it ever had. About that home run, Hatcher said, “That’s probably the closest thing I’ll ever do to get to heaven. Everything was in slow motion. I remember running round the bases and if you can imagine this, I couldn’t hear myself think. Probably one of the greatest moments of my life.”
Neither team scored in the 15th, but the Mets got it going again in the top of the 16th when they rallied for three runs. It seemed to put the nail in the coffin of the Astros. Then, like a horror movie monster rising from the dead, the Astros came back to life. With the ageless Jesse Orosco on the mound, pinch-hitter Davey Lopes walked. Bill Doran and Billy Hatcher singled and the score was 7-5. Denny Walling grounded into a force out, but Glenn Davis followed with a single to make it 7-6, with two outs and runners on first-and-second. Up stepped Kevin Bass, looking for the game-winning hit. Alas, it was not to be. Bass struck out swinging and the Mets had won the NLCS.
Scott didn’t get his chance to pitch Game 7, but did walk away with the MVP Award for the 1986 NLCS. The pitcher who lost the 3-0 lead in the ninth inning of Game 6, Bob Knepper, went from 17-12 with a 3.14 ERA in 1986 to 8-17 with a 5.27 ERA in 1987. It may have been the crushing loss of this playoff series that affected him the next year. The Astros blew leads in three of their four losses, including losing games in the bottom of the ninth, the bottom of the 12th and the top of the 16th. Keith Hernandez said at the time that it was “the greatest game I ever played in.” Little did he know what would happen 10 days later.
1986 American League Championship Series
Game 1 of the ALCS featured Mike Witt versus Roger Clemens. It looked like a mismatch after Clemens went 24-4 with a league leading 2.48 ERA, but the Angels touched him for three runs in the top of the third and another in the fourth. They ended up scoring eight runs off Clemens in an easy 8-1 victory.
The Red Sox bounced back in Game 2. They led 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh, then scored three more thanks in large part to three errors by the Angels in the inning. The Red Sox added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth and won easily, 9-2.
Game 3 was a tight contest. The Red Sox took an early 1-0 lead, but the Angels scored one in the sixth and three more in the seventh. They won the game 5-3. Donnie Moore got the save.
Down in the series two games to one, the Red Sox brought Roger Clemens back for Game 4. The Angels countered with 41-year-old veteran Don Sutton. The game was scoreless until the sixth inning. The Red Sox scored one in the sixth and two more in the eighth. Red Sox manager John McNamara stuck with his ace going into the bottom of the ninth, but Clemens ran into trouble. The Angels scored a run on a solo homer by Doug DeCinces. After an out, Clemens gave up back-to-back singles. That brought Calvin Schiraldi into the game. He gave up a run-scoring double to make it 3-2, then intentionally walked Ruppert Jones. He struck out Bobby Grich but hit Brian Downing to force in the tying run. Reggie “Mr. October” Jackson came up with a chance to win the game but grounded out to second base.
The Angels rallied again in the bottom of the 11th. Jerry Narron singled and was bunted to second. Schiraldi once again intentionally walked Ruppert Jones, then gave up the game-winning hit to Bobby Grich. The Angels led the series, three games to one.
The Angels were at home with their ace on the mound and needing just one win to advance to their first World Series in franchise history. Angels’ pitcher Mike Witt was squaring off against the Red Sox’ Bruce Hurst. The Red Sox scored first, with two runs in the top of the second. The Angels came back with a run in the third, two in the sixth, and two more in the seventh. The two runs that scored in the sixth came when center fielder Dave Henderson, inserted into the game because Tony Armas got injured, knocked the ball over the fence with his glove, giving Bobby Grich a two-run homer. Henderson said later, “I thought I had it all the way, but when my wrist hit the top of the fence it shook the ball loose and it was out of there. I was really disappointed because I thought I should have caught it.” The Angels led 5-2 heading into the top of the ninth, three outs away from the World Series.
Mauch stuck with Mike Witt in the top of the ninth. Bill Buckner led off with a ground ball single to center and was pinch-run for by Dave Stapleton. Witt struck out Jim Rice for the first out of the inning, but then gave up a two-run homer to Don Baylor to make it a one-run game. Witt got Dwight Evans to pop out to third base for out number two, which brought up lefty-hitting Rich Gedman, who already had three hits in the game. Witt had thrown 123 pitches.
Mauch had seen enough. He replaced Witt with lefty Gary Lucas, but Lucas hit Gedman with his first pitch. In came Donnie Moore. The batter was Dave Henderson, the guy who had given the Angels two runs on the Bobby Grich homer that went off his glove. The count ran to 2-2, putting the Angels one strike away from the World Series. Then Henderson hit a heartbreaking two-run home run to put the Red Sox ahead. As the ball cleared the fence, Henderson jumped and spun around like a joyful child. Moore was shell-shocked. He recovered to get Ed Romero to fly out, but the damage had been done.
Moore would later say, “I’d been throwing him fastballs, and he was fouling them off, fouling them off. Then I threw him an offspeed pitch and I shouldn’t have thrown it. I should have stayed with the hard stuff. The kind of bat speed he has is offspeed. That pitch was right in his swing.”
The Angels weren’t dead yet, though. They came back and scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and had a chance to win it with the bases loaded and one out and two good hitters due up. Doug DeCinces hit a fly ball, but it was too shallow to score the run. Bobby Grich lined out to the pitcher to send the game to extra innings.
Don Baylor led off the top of the eleventh by getting hit by a pitch from Donnie Moore. Getting hit by pitches was a specialty of Baylor. Only three players in MLB history have been hit by more pitches than Don Baylor and two of them played in the 1800s. With Baylor on first, Dwight Evans singled. Rich Gedman followed with a popped-up bunt that third baseman DeCinces fielded bare-handed and fired to first. The throw was off-target and the bases were loaded. Henderson came to the plate, looking to be the hero once again. He hit Moore’s first pitch to center, scoring Baylor and giving Boston a 7-6 lead.
Calvin Schiraldi came into the game in the bottom of the eleventh and retired the top of the Angels’ lineup in order. Henderson was the hero, with his game-tying home run and game-winning sacrifice fly. His three RBI in the game was the same number of RBI he had in 54 plate appearances with the Red Sox since they acquired him in August. Red Sox’ manager John McNamara would say, “This was the most emotional, dramatic, and unbelievable baseball game I’ve ever been associated with.” He didn’t have any idea what would happen about a week-and-a-half later.
The loss was deflating to the Angels. They still led the series three games to two, but they were headed back to Boston. Kirk McCaskill started for the Angels in Game 6. He got hammered for seven runs in 2 1/3 innings in a 10-4 Red Sox’ victory. Game 7 featured John Candelaria against Roger Clemens. Clemens was up for the challenge this time, tossing seven innings of one-run ball. Candelaria was hurt by the Angels’ defense, giving up seven unearned runs in 3 2/3 innings. The Red Sox won, 8-1, and advanced to their first World Series since 1975.
1986 World Series
Game 1 of the 1986 World Series pitted lefty Bruce Hurst going for the Red Sox against righty Ron Darling for the Mets. Both pitchers were very good. The Red Sox scored the only run of the game on an error by Tim Teufel in the top of the seventh. Hurst and reliever Calvin Schiraldi combined for a five-hit shutout. Of the error by Teufel, Ron Darling said, “That run may have been the only run in the game, but that’s not what beat us. There hasn’t been a team yet that has been shut out and won a game.” Well said, Ron Darling, well said.
The second game of the series was expected to resemble the pitchers’ duel that fans saw in the first game. It was Roger Clemens versus Dwight Gooden. Clemens was the 1986 AL Cy Young Award winner and AL MVP who had gone 24-4; Gooden had won the NL Cy Young Award the previous year, also with a 24-4 record.
The pitcher’s duel never materialized. Clemens couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning and Gooden struggled through five. The Red Sox won the game 9-3 behind an 18-hit attack. The Red Sox were up two-games-to-none and heading back to Boston looking to clinch the series at home.
The Mets came out slugging in Game 3 when Lenny Dykstra homered to spark the team in the top of the first. He had four hits in the game. Keith Hernandez also had two hits and Gary Carter had two hits and three RBI. The Mets won easily, 7-1.
Down in the series, the Mets brought Ron Darling back on three day’s rest for Game 4. The Red Sox chose to go with Al Nipper instead of having Bruce Hurst pitch on three day’s rest. Darling kept the Red Sox off the board for seven innings as the Mets took a 6-0 lead on their way to a 6-2 victory. The series was now all tied up, two games to two, and the visiting team had won every game.
Fully-rested, Bruce Hurst started Game 5 for the Red Sox against Dwight Gooden. Gooden had struggled in his first start and would struggle again in this one. He left the game in the fifth inning and was charged with four runs, three of them earned. That was enough for Hurst. He pitched a complete game and allowed just two runs in the Red Sox’ 4-2 victory. The Red Sox were one win away from their first World Series championship in 67 years.
The Red Sox sent Roger Clemens out against Bobby Ojeda in Game 6. The Sox took a 2-0 lead after two innings. The Mets tied it in the fifth. The Red Sox went ahead again in the top of the seventh, but the Mets came right back again to tie it in the bottom of the eighth. The game stayed tied through nine innings.
Postseason hero Dave Henderson added another chapter to his book with a solo home run to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th and once again did a joyful little dance out of the batter’s box. Later in the inning, Marty Barrett singled in Wade Boggs to make it 5-3. The Red Sox threat ended on a fly ball to right by Jim Rice with two runners on, but they had a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the 10th.
Needing just three outs to win their first World Series championship since 1918, the Red Sox stuck with Schiraldi to start the bottom of the tenth. He got Wally Backman to fly to left and Keith Hernandez to fly to deep center field. The Red Sox were one out away. Gary Carter then stepped up and singled to short left field to keep the Mets’ hopes alive. Kevin Mitchell followed with a pinch-hit single to put runners on first and second. Schiraldi was about to face his 16th batter of the game, something he had never done during the regular season. His tank was running on fumes and Ray Knight took advantage with a single to center to make it 5-4. Kevin Mitchell advanced to third.
That was it for Schiraldi. Veteran Bob Stanley was brought on to face Mookie Wilson. On a 2-2 count, Stanley threw a wild pitch that allowed Mitchell to score the tying run. Then Mookie hit the most famous slowly rolling ground ball to first base in the history of the game. It got through Buckner and Ray Knight came around to score from second base to give the Mets the victory and the Red Sox an agonizing defeat.
Game 6 of the 1986 World Series has been talked about so much over the years that Game 7 is largely forgotten. It’s easy to forget that the Red Sox had a lead in Game 7. They jumped on Mets’ starter Ron Darling for three runs in the top of the second inning, but Bruce Hurst gave the runs back in the bottom of the sixth. The Mets scored three more in the bottom of the seventh to take a 6-3 lead.
The Red Sox weren’t dead yet, though. Singles by Buckner and Rice put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the eighth. Dwight Evans followed with a two-run double to make it 6-5. McDowell was removed and Jesse Orosco came into the game. He got the lefty Rich Gedman on a lineout, then struck out Dave Henderson and got pinch-hitter Don Baylor to ground out to short.
Down by just a run heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Red Sox still had hopes for a comeback, but reliever Al Nipper came in and nipped those hopes in the bud. He gave up a home run to Darryl Strawberry and an RBI-single to pitcher Jesse Orosco. Yes, PITCHER Jesse Orosco, he of the 10 career hits. Orosco got the Red Sox in order in the top of the ninth, then threw his glove in the air to celebrate the victory.
The Mets come-from-behind victories in Games 6 and 7 were the culmination of an incredible MLB postseason. The Astros lost multiple leads in their NLCS loss to the Mets and the Angels did the same in the ALCS. The Red Sox seemingly had the series won with a two-run lead and two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6, but couldn’t get that final out. It was an MLB postseason in which the final out was ever elusive.