# 1987 Texas Rangers season

The 1987 Texas Rangers season was the 27th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 16th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 16th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished sixth in the American League West with a record of 75 wins and 87 losses.

## Offseason

* December 18, 1986: Mike Jeffcoat was signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.

## Regular season

Rubén Sierra set the Rangers' club record for extra base hits (69) in one season. He became the youngest player in the American League to get 100 RBIs in a season since Al Kaline in 1956.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 85 | 77 | .525 | — | 56‍–‍25 | 29‍–‍52 |
| Kansas City Royals | 83 | 79 | .512 | 2 | 46‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Oakland Athletics | 81 | 81 | .500 | 4 | 42‍–‍39 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Seattle Mariners | 78 | 84 | .481 | 7 | 40‍–‍41 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 77 | 85 | .475 | 8 | 38‍–‍43 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Texas Rangers | 75 | 87 | .463 | 10 | 43‍–‍38 | 32‍–‍49 |
| California Angels | 75 | 87 | .463 | 10 | 38‍–‍43 | 37‍–‍44 |

### Record vs. opponents

1987 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 1–12 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 9–3 | 2–11 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 1–12 |
| Boston | 12–1 | — | 4–8 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 2–11 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| California | 3–9 | 8–4 | — | 8–5 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–8 | — | 7–5 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 6–7 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 5–8 |
| Detroit | 9–4 | 11–2 | 9–3 | 9–3 | 9–4 | — | 5–7 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–6 |
| Kansas City | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | — | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 8–4 |
| Milwaukee | 11–2 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 8–4 | — | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 9–4 |
| Minnesota | 7–5 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 7–6 | 9–3 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 9–3 | — | 6–6 | 10–3 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 3–9 |
| New York | 10–3 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | — | 5–7 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 3–10 | 7–5 | — | 5–8 | 6–7 | 7–5 |
| Seattle | 8–4 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 4–9 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 8–5 | — | 9–4 | 2–10 |
| Texas | 5–7 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 10–2 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 4–9 | — | 3–9 |
| Toronto | 12–1 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–9 | 9–3 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 10–2 | 9–3 | — |

### Transactions

* June 2, 1987: 1987 Major League Baseball draft
** Bill Haselman was drafted by the Rangers in the first round (23rd pick).
** Scott Coolbaugh was drafted by the Rangers in the third round. Player signed June 18, 1987.
** Kevin Belcher was drafted by the Rangers in the sixth round.

### Roster
## 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 | Don Slaught | 95 | 237 | 53 | .224 | 8 | 16 |
| 1B | Pete O'Brien | 159 | 569 | 163 | .286 | 23 | 88 |
| 2B | Jerry Browne | 132 | 454 | 123 | .271 | 1 | 38 |
| 3B | Steve Buechele | 136 | 363 | 86 | .237 | 13 | 50 |
| SS | Scott Fletcher | 156 | 588 | 169 | .287 | 5 | 63 |
| LF | Pete Incaviglia | 139 | 509 | 138 | .271 | 27 | 80 |
| CF | Oddibe McDowell | 128 | 407 | 98 | .241 | 14 | 52 |
| RF | Rubén Sierra | 158 | 643 | 169 | .263 | 30 | 109 |
| DH | Larry Parrish | 152 | 557 | 149 | .268 | 32 | 100 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Brower | 127 | 303 | 79 | .261 | 14 | 46 |
| Mike Stanley | 78 | 216 | 59 | .273 | 6 | 37 |
| Geno Petralli | 101 | 202 | 61 | .302 | 7 | 31 |
| Curtis Wilkerson | 85 | 138 | 37 | .268 | 2 | 14 |
| Darrell Porter | 85 | 130 | 31 | .238 | 7 | 21 |
| Tom O'Malley | 45 | 117 | 32 | .274 | 1 | 12 |
| Tom Paciorek | 27 | 60 | 17 | .283 | 3 | 12 |
| Jeff Kunkel | 15 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 1 | 2 |
| Dave Meier | 13 | 21 | 6 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Tabor | 9 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 1 |
| Cecil Espy | 14 | 8 | 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 |
| Charlie Hough | 40 | 285.1 | 18 | 13 | 3.79 | 223 |
| José Guzmán | 37 | 208.1 | 14 | 14 | 4.67 | 143 |
| Bobby Witt | 26 | 143.0 | 8 | 10 | 4.91 | 160 |
| Ed Correa | 15 | 70.0 | 3 | 5 | 7.59 | 61 |
| Bob Malloy | 2 | 11.0 | 0 | 0 | 6.55 | 8 |
| Mike Jeffcoat | 2 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 | 12.86 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Greg A. Harris | 42 | 140.2 | 5 | 10 | 4.86 | 106 |
| Paul Kilgus | 25 | 89.1 | 2 | 7 | 4.13 | 42 |
| Mike Loynd | 26 | 69.1 | 1 | 5 | 6.10 | 48 |
| Mike Mason | 8 | 29.0 | 0 | 2 | 5.59 | 21 |

#### 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 |
| Dale Mohorcic | 74 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 2.99 | 48 |
| Mitch Williams | 85 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 3.23 | 129 |
| Jeff Russell | 52 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4.44 | 56 |
| Steve Howe | 24 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4.31 | 19 |
| Ron Meridith | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.10 | 17 |
| Scott Anderson | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.53 | 6 |
| Keith Creel | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.66 | 5 |
| Dwayne Henry | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 7 |
| Gary Mielke | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 3 |

## Awards and honors

* Rubén Sierra, American League Leader At-Bats (643)
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | American Association | Toby Harrah |
| AA | Tulsa Drillers | Texas League | Bill Stearns |
| A | Charlotte Rangers | Florida State League | Jim Skaalen |
| A | Gastonia Rangers | South Atlantic League | Chino Cadahia |
| Rookie | GCL Rangers | Gulf Coast League | Stan Hough |