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
