The 1986 California Angels season was the 26th season of the Angels franchise in the American League, the 21st in Anaheim, and their 21st season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The season ended with the Angels losing the American League Championship Series in dramatic fashion.
The regular season ended with the Angels finishing first in the American League West with a record of 92–70, earning the franchise's third division title. After jumping to a 3–1 series lead over the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-seven ALCS, the Angels blew a 3-run lead in the ninth inning of Game 5 that included giving up a two-out, two-strike home run to Boston's Dave Henderson (in other words, the Angels were 1 strike away from the World Series). The Angels went on to lose Game 5 in extra innings, and eventually lost the next two games and the series.
After 1986, the Angels went into a lengthy playoff drought, not returning to the postseason until their championship season of 2002 (though they did come close in 1995). They would not win a division title again until 2004.
Offseason November 19, 1985: DeWayne Buice was signed as a free agent with the California Angels. December 5, 1985: Don Sutton was signed as a free agent by the Angels.Don Sutton at Baseball Reference December 20, 1985: Daryl Sconiers was released by the Angels.Daryl Sconiers at Baseball Reference December 20, 1985: Geoff Zahn was released by the California Angels.
Regular season May 4, 1986: Reggie Jackson hit the 537th home run of his career off Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens, passing Mickey Mantle on the all-time home run list. June 18, 1986: Don Sutton won the 300th game of his career. Sutton became the 19th pitcher in MLB history to win 300 games. September 18, 1986: Reggie Jackson had 3 home runs and 7 RBIs in one game.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions June 2, 1986: Alan Mills was drafted by the California Angels in the 1st round (8th pick) of the 1986 amateur draft (secondary phase). Player signed June 10, 1986.
Roster 1986 California Angels Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches
Game log
Regular season
|- style="text-align:center; background:#bbcaff;" | colspan="12" | 57th All-Star Game in Houston, Texas
|- style="text-align:center;" | Legend: = Win = Loss = PostponementBold = Angels team member
Postseason Game log
|- style="text-align:center;" | Legend: = Win = Loss = PostponementBold = Angels team member
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Bob Boone 144 442 98 .222 7 49 1B Wally Joyner 154 593 172 .290 22 100 2B Bobby Grich 98 313 84 .268 9 30 SS Dick Schofield 139 458 114 .249 13 57 3B Doug DeCinces 140 512 131 .256 26 96 LF Brian Downing 152 513 137 .267 20 95 CF Gary Pettis 154 539 139 .258 5 58 RF Ruppert Jones 126 393 90 .229 17 49 DH Reggie Jackson 132 419 101 .241 18 58
Other batters 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 Rob Wilfong 92 288 63 .219 3 33 George Hendrick 102 283 77 .272 14 47 Rick Burleson 93 271 77 .284 5 29 Jack Howell 63 151 41 .272 4 21 Jerry Narron 57 95 21 .221 1 8 Darrell Miller 33 57 13 .228 0 4 Devon White 29 51 12 .235 1 3 Mark Ryal 13 32 12 .375 2 5 Gus Polidor 6 19 5 .263 0 1 Mark McLemore 5 4 0 .000 0 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note" G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Mike Witt 34 269.0 18 10 2.84 208 Kirk McCaskill 34 246.1 17 10 3.36 202 Don Sutton 34 207.0 15 11 3.74 116 Ron Romanick 18 106.1 5 8 5.50 38 John Candelaria 16 92.0 10 2 2.55 81 Jim Slaton 14 73.1 4 6 5.65 31 Ray Chadwick 7 27.1 0 5 7.24 9 Willie Fraser 1 4.1 0 0 8.31 2
Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Vern Ruhle 16 47.2 1 3 4.15 23 Urbano Lugo 6 21.1 1 1 3.80 9 Mike Cook 5 9.0 0 2 9.00 6
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Donnie Moore 49 4 5 21 2.97 53 Doug Corbett 46 4 2 10 3.66 36 Terry Forster 41 4 1 5 3.51 28 Gary Lucas 27 4 1 2 3.15 31 Chuck Finley 25 3 1 0 3.30 37 T.R. Bryden 16 2 1 0 6.55 25 Ken Forsch 10 0 1 1 9.53 13 Todd Fischer 9 0 0 0 4.24 7
ALCS
GameScoreDateLocationAttendance1California – 8, Boston – 1October 7Fenway Park32,9932California – 2, Boston – 9October 8Fenway Park32,7863Boston – 3, California – 5October 10Anaheim Stadium64,2064Boston – 3, California – 4 (11 innings)October 11Anaheim Stadium64,2235Boston – 7, California – 6 (11 innings)October 12Anaheim Stadium64,2236California – 4, Boston – 10 October 14Fenway Park32,9987California – 1, Boston – 8October 15Fenway Park33,001
Farm system
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997
References
1986 California Angels at Baseball Reference 1986 California Angels at Baseball Almanac