# 1986 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1986 Milwaukee Brewers season was the 17th season for the Brewers in Milwaukee, and their 18th overall. The Brewers finished sixth in the American League East with a record of 77 wins and 84 losses.

## Offseason

* November 14, 1985: Rick Waits was released by the Brewers.
* November 25, 1985: Pete Ladd was released by the Brewers.
* December 11, 1985: Ed Romero was traded by the Brewers to the Boston Red Sox for Mark Clear.
* December 18, 1985: Dean Freeland (minors) and Eric Pilkington (minors) were traded by the Brewers to the San Francisco Giants for Rob Deer.
* December 22, 1985: Danny Darwin was signed as a free agent with the Brewers.
* March 5, 1986: Ted Simmons was traded by the Brewers to the Atlanta Braves for Rick Cerone, David Clay (minors), and Flavio Alfaro (minors).
* March 26, 1986: Rob DeWolf (minors) was traded by the Brewers to the San Francisco Giants for Steve Stanicek.
* March 30, 1986: Moose Haas was traded by the Brewers to the Oakland Athletics for Charlie O'Brien, Steve Kiefer, Mike Fulmer (minors), and Pete Kendrick (minors).

## Regular season

Teddy Higuera would win 20 games in 1986 and would be the last 20 game winner in the 20th century for the Brewers.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Boston Red Sox | 95 | 66 | .590 | — | 51‍–‍30 | 44‍–‍36 |
| New York Yankees | 90 | 72 | .556 | 5½ | 41‍–‍39 | 49‍–‍33 |
| Detroit Tigers | 87 | 75 | .537 | 8½ | 49‍–‍32 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 86 | 76 | .531 | 9½ | 42‍–‍39 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Cleveland Indians | 84 | 78 | .519 | 11½ | 45‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍43 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 77 | 84 | .478 | 18 | 41‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 73 | 89 | .451 | 22½ | 37‍–‍42 | 36‍–‍47 |

### 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

* April 1, 1986: Ray Burris was released by the Brewers.
* August 15, 1986: Danny Darwin was traded by the Brewers to the Houston Astros for Don August and Mark Knudson.

#### Draft picks

* June 2, 1986: 1986 Major League Baseball draft
** Gary Sheffield was drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round (6th pick). Player signed June 26, 1986.
** Tim McIntosh was drafted by the Brewers in the 3rd 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 | Rick Cerone | 68 | 216 | 56 | .259 | 4 | 18 |
| 1B | Cecil Cooper | 134 | 542 | 140 | .258 | 12 | 75 |
| 2B | Jim Gantner | 139 | 497 | 136 | .274 | 7 | 38 |
| 3B | Paul Molitor | 105 | 437 | 123 | .281 | 9 | 55 |
| SS | Ernest Riles | 145 | 524 | 132 | .252 | 9 | 47 |
| LF | Glenn Braggs | 58 | 215 | 51 | .237 | 4 | 18 |
| CF | Robin Yount | 140 | 522 | 163 | .312 | 9 | 46 |
| RF | Rob Deer | 134 | 466 | 108 | .232 | 33 | 86 |
| DH | Ben Oglivie | 103 | 346 | 98 | .283 | 5 | 53 |

#### 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 |
| Dale Sveum | 91 | 317 | 78 | .246 | 7 | 35 |
| Charlie Moore | 80 | 235 | 61 | .260 | 3 | 39 |
| Bill Schroeder | 64 | 217 | 46 | .212 | 7 | 19 |
| Rick Manning | 89 | 205 | 52 | .254 | 8 | 27 |
| Billy Jo Robidoux | 56 | 181 | 41 | .227 | 1 | 21 |
| Mike Felder | 44 | 155 | 37 | .239 | 1 | 13 |
| Gorman Thomas | 44 | 145 | 26 | .179 | 6 | 10 |
| Randy Ready | 23 | 79 | 15 | .190 | 1 | 4 |
| Paul Householder | 26 | 78 | 17 | .218 | 1 | 16 |
| Juan Castillo | 26 | 54 | 9 | .167 | 0 | 5 |
| Edgar Díaz | 5 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Adduci | 3 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Kiefer | 2 | 6 | 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 |
| Teddy Higuera | 34 | 248.1 | 20 | 11 | 2.79 | 207 |
| Bill Wegman | 35 | 198.1 | 5 | 12 | 5.13 | 82 |
| Tim Leary | 33 | 188.1 | 12 | 12 | 4.21 | 110 |
| Juan Nieves | 35 | 184.2 | 11 | 12 | 4.92 | 116 |
| Pete Vuckovich | 6 | 32.1 | 2 | 4 | 3.06 | 12 |

#### 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 |
| Danny Darwin | 27 | 130.1 | 6 | 8 | 3.52 | 80 |
| Chris Bosio | 10 | 34.2 | 0 | 4 | 7.01 | 29 |
| Mike Birkbeck | 7 | 22.0 | 1 | 1 | 4.50 | 13 |
| Mark Knudson | 4 | 17.2 | 0 | 1 | 7.64 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Mark Clear | 59 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 2.20 | 85 |
| Dan Plesac | 51 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 2.97 | 75 |
| Bryan Clutterbuck | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.29 | 38 |
| John Henry Johnson | 19 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2.66 | 42 |
| Jaime Cocanower | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.43 | 22 |
| Ray Searage | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6.95 | 10 |
| Bob McClure | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.86 | 11 |
| Bob Gibson | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.73 | 11 |

## Farm system

The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1986. The El Paso Diablos won the Texas League championship, and the Stockton Ports won the California League championship.
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Triple-A | Vancouver Canadians | Pacific Coast League | Terry Bevington |
| Double-A | El Paso Diablos | Texas League | Duffy Dyer |
| Class A | Stockton Ports | California League | Dave Machemer |
| Class A | Beloit Brewers | Midwest League | Gomer Hodge |
| Rookie | Helena Gold Sox | Pioneer League | Dave Huppert |