1986 Season

The 1986 season in brief

1986 belonged, by record, to the New York Mets: 108-54. Nobody in 1986 fared worse than the Pittsburgh Pirates (64-98). Across the races, the California Angels owned the American League West with a 92-70 mark, the Texas Rangers next at 87-75, the New York Yankees (90-72) finished a distant second to the Boston Red Sox (95-66) in the American League East, nobody in the National League West came near the Houston Astros's 96-66, and the National League East was not close, the New York Mets finishing 108-54 to the Philadelphia Phillies's 86-75. The bracket ends with the New York Mets taking the World Series from the Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3. The other series results were the Boston Red Sox over the California Angels in the AL Championship Series (4-3) and the New York Mets over the Houston Astros in the NL Championship Series (4-2). On the home run tile, Jesse Barfield sat first with 40, ahead of Mike Schmidt with 37. Wade Boggs's .357 is the best average on the qualified board, with Don Mattingly next at .352. In 1986 the qualifying line sat at 502 plate appearances, from a 162-game club schedule. Among qualified pitchers, Mike Scott had the lowest ERA, 2.22; Roger Clemens followed at 2.48. The 1986 leaders page lists every qualified line, and each club links to its own 1986 page.