# 1986 Texas Rangers season

The 1986 Texas Rangers season was the 26th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 15th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 15th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished second in the American League West with a record of 87 wins and 75 losses.
Michael Stone was President of the Rangers and promoted Tom Grieve to General Manager.

## Offseason

* November 9, 1985: Chris Welsh was released by the Rangers.
* November 25, 1985: Wayne Tolleson and Dave Schmidt were traded by the Rangers to the Chicago White Sox for Ed Correa, Scott Fletcher and a player to be named later. The White Sox completed the trade by sending José Mota to the Rangers on December 11.
* December 20, 1985: Ellis Valentine was released by the Rangers.
* December 20, 1985: Dickie Noles was released by the Rangers.

## Regular season

* September 13, 1986: Rubén Sierra became the youngest player in history to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in one game. This was accomplished against the Minnesota Twins.
* Ed Correa set a club record for most wins by a rookie pitcher.
* In his rookie year, Pete Incaviglia tied the club record for most home runs in a season.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| California Angels | 92 | 70 | .568 | — | 50‍–‍32 | 42‍–‍38 |
| Texas Rangers | 87 | 75 | .537 | 5 | 51‍–‍30 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Kansas City Royals | 76 | 86 | .469 | 16 | 45‍–‍36 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Oakland Athletics | 76 | 86 | .469 | 16 | 47‍–‍36 | 29‍–‍50 |
| Chicago White Sox | 72 | 90 | .444 | 20 | 41‍–‍40 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Minnesota Twins | 71 | 91 | .438 | 21 | 43‍–‍38 | 28‍–‍53 |
| Seattle Mariners | 67 | 95 | .414 | 25 | 41‍–‍41 | 26‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1986 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 4–9 | 1–12 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–5 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–3 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 7–6 |
| California | 6–6 | 7–5 | — | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–7 | — | 5–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 2–11 | 6–6 |
| Cleveland | 9–4 | 3–10 | 6–6 | 7–5 | — | 4–9 | 8–4 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 10–2 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 3–10–1 |
| Detroit | 12–1 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 9–4 | — | 5–7 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 4–9 |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 7–5 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 |
| Milwaukee | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 6–6 | — | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 2–10 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 8–4 | — | 4–8 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 |
| New York | 8–5 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 8–4 | — | 5–7 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 7–6 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 6–7 | 2–10 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 7–5 | — | 10–3 | 3–10 | 8–4 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 3–10 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 |
| Texas | 7–5 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 11–2 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 10–3 | 9–4 | — | 5–7 |
| Toronto | 5–8 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–3–1 | 9–4 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 7–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 2, 1986: John Barfield was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 11th round of the 1986 amateur draft. Player signed June 5, 1986.
* June 2, 1986: Wayne Rosenthal was drafted by the Rangers in the 24th round of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft.
* September 30, 1986: Randy Kramer was traded by the Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jeff Zaske.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Don Slaught | 95 | 314 | 83 | .264 | 13 | 46 |
| 1B | Pete O'Brien | 156 | 551 | 160 | .290 | 23 | 90 |
| 2B | Toby Harrah | 95 | 289 | 63 | .218 | 7 | 41 |
| SS | Scott Fletcher | 147 | 530 | 159 | .300 | 3 | 50 |
| 3B | Steve Buechele | 153 | 461 | 112 | .243 | 18 | 54 |
| LF | Gary Ward | 105 | 380 | 120 | .316 | 5 | 51 |
| CF | Oddibe McDowell | 154 | 572 | 152 | .266 | 18 | 49 |
| RF | Pete Incaviglia | 153 | 540 | 135 | .250 | 30 | 88 |
| DH | Larry Parrish | 129 | 464 | 128 | .276 | 28 | 94 |

#### 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 |
| Rubén Sierra | 113 | 382 | 101 | .264 | 16 | 55 |
| Curt Wilkerson | 110 | 236 | 56 | .237 | 0 | 15 |
| Tom Paciorek | 88 | 213 | 61 | .286 | 4 | 22 |
| Darrell Porter | 68 | 155 | 41 | .265 | 12 | 29 |
| Geno Petralli | 69 | 137 | 35 | .255 | 2 | 18 |
| George Wright | 49 | 106 | 23 | .217 | 2 | 7 |
| Orlando Mercado | 46 | 102 | 24 | .235 | 1 | 7 |
| Mike Stanley | 15 | 30 | 10 | .333 | 1 | 1 |
| Jerry Browne | 12 | 24 | 10 | .417 | 0 | 3 |
| Bob Jones | 13 | 21 | 2 | .095 | 0 | 3 |
| Jeff Kunkel | 8 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 1 | 2 |
| Bob Brower | 21 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 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 |
| Charlie Hough | 33 | 230.1 | 17 | 10 | 3.79 | 146 |
| Ed Correa | 32 | 202.0 | 12 | 14 | 4.23 | 189 |
| José Guzmán | 29 | 172.0 | 9 | 15 | 4.54 | 87 |
| Bobby Witt | 31 | 158.0 | 11 | 9 | 5.48 | 174 |
| Mike Mason | 27 | 135.0 | 7 | 3 | 4.33 | 85 |
| Kevin Brown | 1 | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 3.60 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Mickey Mahler | 29 | 63.0 | 0 | 2 | 4.14 | 28 |
| Mike Loynd | 9 | 42.0 | 2 | 2 | 5.36 | 33 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Greg A. Harris | 73 | 111.0 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 2.83 | 95 |
| Mitch Williams | 80 | 98.0 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 3.58 | 90 |
| Dale Mohorcic | 58 | 79.0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2.51 | 29 |
| Jeff Russell | 37 | 82.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3.40 | 54 |
| Ricky Wright | 21 | 39.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.03 | 23 |
| Dwayne Henry | 19 | 19.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.66 | 17 |
| Dave Rozema | 6 | 10.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.91 | 3 |
| Ron Meridith | 5 | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | American Association | Dave Oliver |
| AA | Tulsa Drillers | Texas League | Bill Stearns |
| A | Salem Redbirds | Carolina League | Mike Bucci |
| A | Daytona Beach Admirals | Florida State League | Chino Cadahia |
| Rookie | GCL Rangers | Gulf Coast League | Rudy Jaramillo |