1987 AsPlayed Replay in Review

  I just completed my 1987 asplayed replay and my usual replay goal of managing the Detroit Tigers to an AL Championship was reached, and then some. After battling the Toronto Blue Jays all season for the top spot in the AL East, the Tigers left the Jays behind over the final 2 weeks of the season and won the division by 6 games. The Tigers met the AL West Champion Oakland A's in the AL Championship Series and won the AL pennant 4 games to 1. In the World Series the Tigers were matched up against the surprising NL Champion Cincinnati Reds. The Series went 7 games before the Tigers pulled out a tight 3-2 victory and were crowned 1987 MLB Champions!

  DETROIT: Without a doubt the Tigers had an excellent hitting team finishing 2nd in team BA behind the Boston Red Sox, .292 to .283, and 1st in RS (998) an average of 6.16 runs/game. The pitching was good too. Detroit finished 2nd to Oakland in team ERA 4.10 to 4.18. Now, I say good for 1987 standards. The Tigers did have good starting pitching but their one weakness was the bullpen. Mike Henneman was the top reliever (7-7, 13 saves, 3.83era) but he definitely underperformed his IRL stats. Guillermo Hernandez was 1-2, 13 saves with a 4.86 ERA. Not much else in the pen besides a 'pedestrian' Mark Thurmond (2-3, 6, 4.17).
The Tigers DID have very good hitting as I stated: 3 players had over 100 RBI, 6 hit 20+ homers.

Primary Player Statistics For 1987 Detroit Tigers Totals After 162 Games
 
 
NAME              BAVG  GM  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO HB SH DP  SB CS  E
L.Herndon         .346  84 246  41  85 15  0 17  52  29  46  0  0  3   0  0  2
M.Heath           .332  89 247  36  82 26  0  8  40  36  34  7  1  6   1  2  1
M.Nokes           .330 129 479 101 158 21  6 35 101  37  79  5  0  8   0  0  5
A.Trammell        .324 158 649 131 210 31  2 32 118  69  51  1  1 21   5  1 19
C.Lemon           .317 151 571  97 181 43  6 23  93  82 113  6  1 20   0  0  6
S.Lusader         .311  18  45  11  14  3  1  1   7   5  10  0  1  1   1  0  3
T.Brookens        .277 148 473  74 131 20  3 16  86  55  67  2 17 10   5  3 25
D.Evans           .275 150 516 104 142 34  0 38 114 115  91  3  5  8   3  1  5
B.Madlock         .266  92 346  50  92 20  0 14  51  39  45  8  8  9   1  0  1
L.Whitaker        .261 150 640 111 167 41  5 20  68  70 111  0  7  7   6  0 20
K.Gibson          .260 127 480  94 125 24  5 22  72  67 120  8  3 11  17  5 15
P.Sheridan        .258 131 372  63  96 14  4  4  36  43  78  0  8 12  21  6  7
D.Bergman         .246 103 207  27  51  8  1  4  25  38  30  0  0  2   0  0  4
B.Bean            .233  21  60   5  14  3  0  0   7   5  13  0  0  0   1  0  0
T.Harper          .231  28  65  13  15  1  0  7  18   5  12  0  0  6   0  0  2
J.Morrison        .221  28  77   6  17  1  1  3  15   4  18  1  0  0   0  0  2
J.Walewander      .204  33  54  13  11  3  0  0   4   7  13  0  3  2   2  0  3
D.Coles           .183  33 109  15  20  5  4  6  27  11  21  2  4  0   0  0  8
J.Grubb           .119  25  59   3   7  1  1  1  11   7  11  0  0  3   0  0  1
D.Baker           .000   3   1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  0  0  0   0  0  0
D.Lowry           .000   2   1   0   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  0  0  0   0  0  0
O.Mercado         .000   5  15   1   0  0  0  0   1   1   1  0  0  1   0  0  1
T.Tolman          .000   4   7   1   0  0  0  0   0   5   0  0  0  1   0  0  0
ALL PITCHERS      ---- 162   0   0   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  0  0  0   0  0  5
----------------- ---- --- --- --- --- -- -- -- --- --- --- -- -- -- --- -- --
TEAM TOTALS       .283    5719    1618    39    946     964    59     63   135
                       162     998    314   251     730     43   131     18
 
 
NAME               ERA  W  L   PCT   G GS CG SH SV    IP   H   R  ER HR  BB  SO
D.Alexander       2.92  7  3  .700  11 11  2  2  0  77.0  62  26  25 10  19  42
J.Robinson        3.32 16  5  .762  30 21  4  3  0 165.1 143  70  61 17  69 123
M.Henneman        3.82  7  7  .500  60  0  0  0 13  68.1  73  34  29 10  20  59
J.Morris          4.06 17 11  .607  35 35 14  1  0 275.0 244 135 124 46 103 242
M.Thurmond        4.17  2  3  .400  61  0  0  0  6  54.0  68  29  25  5  17  20
F.Tanana          4.31 14 10  .583  34 34  4  0  0 242.0 260 128 116 39  57 177
W.Terrell         4.33 20  9  .690  35 35  5  1  0 253.2 248 134 122 35  78 166
D.Petry           4.57  9  7  .563  29 23  4  2  1 157.2 157  91  80 22  77 107
G.Hernandez       4.68  1  2  .333  39  0  0  0 13  32.2  35  23  17  5  14  20
E.King            5.04  7  4  .636  45  3  0  0  2  96.1  95  61  54 20  48  68
N.Snell           5.18  0  0  ----  23  0  0  0  0  24.1  30  14  14  4  11  14
M.Madden          5.40  0  0  ----   1  0  0  0  0   1.2   2   1   1  0   0   0
B.Kelly           8.31  1  0 1.000   7  0  0  0  0   4.1   5   4   4  0   4   7
D.Noles           ----  0  0  ----   1  0  0  0  0   0.0   3   3   3  0   0   0
ALL NON-PITCHERS  ----  0  0  ----   0  0  0  0  0   0.0   0   0   0  0   0   0
Team                                          0                   -1
----------------- ---- -- -- ----- --- -- -- -- -- ----- --- --- --- -- --- ---
TEAM TOTALS       4.18    61       162    33    35      1425     674    517
                      101     .623    162     9   1452.1     753    213    1045

 

Matt Nokes was a very pleasant surprise and would probably run away with AL Rookie of the Year honors if not for Oakland's Mark McGwires' .289, 49, 107 numbers making it a choice. Larry Herndon was also a great help to the Tigers winning season though he was pretty bad against right-handed pitchers.

 

 

AMERICAN LEAGUE: Toronto Blue Jays finished 6 games behind Detroit but outfielder George Bell had a season for the ages: .296 BA, 65 HR, 172 RBI. His 65HR established a new MLB record for me. Boston's Wade Boggs won the batting title with a .390BA and Roger Clemens went 26-8, 3.10ERA, 294K,leading the Red Sox to a 89-73 record, 11 games better than their actual record. Milwaukee's Teddy Higuera's 24-4, 2.32ERA, 263K record was enough to give him the CY Young Award and AL MVP Award, though MANY thought Bell SHOULD have gotten the MVP. New York and Cleveland were the big underperformers when compared to actual record in the AL East.

The Oakland Athletics were the most over-performing team in the AL and that, combined with Minnesota's under-performing season, allowed the A's to win the AL West. Oakland was led by McGwire, Jose Canseco (33hr,101rbi), carney Lansford(.292,19,102), Dave Stewart (20-12,3.57,199) and Dennis Eckersley (11-3,2.97,15sv).

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE: The St. Louis Cardinals, 100-62, were the top team in the NL all season long. They looked like a lock to go to the World Series with a very good chance to win it all. But the loss of 1st baseman Jack Clark (.317, 48, 135) near the end of the regular season and an uncharacteristic poor defensive showing(9 errors) and pitching performance(7.62ERA)in the NL Championship Series was enough to eliminate the Cardinals 4 games to 2 against the NL West Champion Cincinnati Reds. LA's Pedro Guerrero won the batting title with a .376BA. NY Mets Darryl Strawberry (.317,49,136) won the NL MVP over Jack Clark in a close vote 382-380. A strong Houston team gave us the NL Cy Young winner. Nolan Ryan was 18-9,3.06,270. Atlanta's Dale Murphy put up some excellent numbers this season too: .292,45,146. His 146rbi were tops in the NL.

Cincinnati won 5 more games than actual and San Francisco lost 5 more than actual, enough for the Reds to win the NL West title. Cincinnati had excellent hitting but suspect pitching. The hitting stars were Eric Davis (.294,36,98), Kal Daniels (.351,35,81) and Dave Parker(102rbi). Tom Browning was their top starter (17-10, 4.55era) while John Franco (3.86, 30sv) was their best out of the pen. 

Cincinnati had most of the better stats in the World Series, but Detroit had the most important one: Games Won

 

LEAGUE GRAND TOTALS (primary report) FOR 1987 World Series Champ.
 
 
TEAM                   AVG    AB    R     H   2B  3B   HR  RBI   SB   CS    E
1987 Cincinnati       .301   259   39    78   14   3    8   36    2    2    8
1987 Detroit          .272   246   38    67   11   2    7   36    1    0    6
--------------------  ---- ----- ---- ----- ---- --- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
LEAGUE TOTALS         .287   505   77   145   25   5   15   72    3    2   14
 
 
TEAM                   ERA   W   L      IP     H    R   ER   HR   BB    SO OAVG
1987 Cincinnati       4.43   3   4    63.0    67   38   31    7   24    34 .272
1987 Detroit          4.50   4   3    64.0    78   39   32    8   21    40 .301
-------------------- ----- --- --- ------- ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----
LEAGUE TOTALS         4.46   7   7   127.0   145   77   63   15   45    74 .287