# 1986 Kansas City Royals season

The 1986 Kansas City Royals season the 18th season in Royals franchise history, and they entered the season as the defending World Series champions. It involved the Royals finishing third in the American League West with a record of 76 wins and 86 losses.

## Regular 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

* March 28, 1986: Joe Beckwith was released by the Kansas City Royals.
* May 21, 1986: Mark Huismann was traded by the Royals to the Seattle Mariners for Terry Bell.
* June 2, 1986: 1986 Major League Baseball draft
** Bo Jackson was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round.
** Torey Lovullo was drafted by the Royals in the 27th round, but did not sign.
* August 16, 1986: Jacob Brumfield was signed as a free agent by the Royals.

### Notable events

* July 15, 1986: Dick Howser is relieved as Royals' manager after managing for the AL in the 1986 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Howser admitted he felt sick before the game and was having trouble with signals during the game. He is later diagnosed with brain cancer and undergoes surgery. Mike Ferraro takes over as manager for the remainder of the season.

### 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 | Jim Sundberg | 140 | 429 | 91 | .212 | 12 | 42 |
| 1B | Steve Balboni | 138 | 512 | 117 | .229 | 29 | 88 |
| 2B | Frank White | 151 | 566 | 154 | .272 | 22 | 84 |
| SS | Ángel Salazar | 117 | 298 | 73 | .245 | 0 | 24 |
| 3B | George Brett | 124 | 441 | 128 | .290 | 16 | 73 |
| LF | Lonnie Smith | 134 | 508 | 146 | .287 | 8 | 44 |
| CF | Willie Wilson | 156 | 631 | 170 | .269 | 9 | 44 |
| RF | Darryl Motley | 72 | 217 | 44 | .203 | 7 | 20 |
| DH | Jorge Orta | 106 | 336 | 93 | .277 | 9 | 46 |

#### 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 |
| Rudy Law | 87 | 307 | 80 | .261 | 1 | 36 |
| Hal McRae | 112 | 278 | 70 | .252 | 7 | 37 |
| Jamie Quirk | 80 | 219 | 47 | .215 | 8 | 26 |
| Mike Kingery | 62 | 209 | 54 | .258 | 3 | 14 |
| Buddy Biancalana | 100 | 190 | 46 | .242 | 2 | 8 |
| Greg Pryor | 63 | 112 | 19 | .170 | 0 | 7 |
| Kevin Seitzer | 28 | 96 | 31 | .323 | 2 | 11 |
| Bo Jackson | 25 | 82 | 17 | .207 | 2 | 9 |
| Lynn Jones | 67 | 47 | 6 | .128 | 0 | 1 |
| Rondin Johnson | 11 | 31 | 8 | .258 | 0 | 2 |
| Bill Pecota | 12 | 29 | 6 | .207 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Brewer | 12 | 18 | 3 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Terry Bell | 8 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dwight Taylor | 4 | 2 | 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 Leibrandt | 35 | 231.1 | 14 | 11 | 4.09 | 108 |
| Dennis Leonard | 33 | 192.2 | 8 | 13 | 4.44 | 114 |
| Danny Jackson | 32 | 186.0 | 11 | 12 | 3.20 | 115 |
| Mark Gubicza | 35 | 180.2 | 12 | 6 | 3.64 | 118 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 30 | 156.0 | 7 | 12 | 4.15 | 112 |
| Scott Bankhead | 24 | 121.0 | 8 | 9 | 4.61 | 94 |

#### 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 |
| Alan Hargesheimer | 5 | 13.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.23 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Dan Quisenberry | 62 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 2.77 | 36 |
| Bud Black | 56 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 3.20 | 68 |
| Steve Farr | 56 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 3.13 | 83 |
| David Cone | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.56 | 21 |
| Mark Huismann | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.15 | 13 |
| Steve Shields | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.08 | 2 |

## Awards and honors

* George Brett, Lou Gehrig Award
* Dennis Leonard, Hutch Award

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | John Boles and Frank Funk |
| AA | Memphis Chicks | Southern League | Tommy Jones |
| A | Fort Myers Royals | Florida State League | Duane Gustavson |
| A-Short Season | Eugene Emeralds | Northwest League | Ed Napoleon |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Luis Silverio |