# 1986 Detroit Tigers season

The 1986 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 86th season and the 75th season at Tiger Stadium. It involved the Detroit Tigers attempting to win the American League East.

## Offseason

* November 13, 1985: Bárbaro Garbey was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Oakland Athletics for Dave Collins.
* December 12, 1985: Darnell Coles was traded by the Seattle Mariners to the Detroit Tigers for Rich Monteleone.
* January 16, 1986: Dave Engle was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Detroit Tigers for Chris Pittaro and Alejandro Sánchez.

## Regular season
### 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 25, 1986: Brian Harper was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.
* August 10, 1986: Ken Hill was traded by the Detroit Tigers with a player to be named later to the St. Louis Cardinals for Mike Heath. The Detroit Tigers sent Mike Laga (September 2, 1986) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.
* August 10, 1986: Dave Engel was released by the Detroit Tigers.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting

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 | Lance Parrish | 91 | 327 | 84 | .257 | 22 | 62 |
| 1B | Darrell Evans | 151 | 507 | 122 | .241 | 29 | 85 |
| 2B | Lou Whitaker | 144 | 584 | 157 | .269 | 20 | 73 |
| SS | Alan Trammell | 151 | 574 | 159 | .277 | 21 | 75 |
| 3B | Darnell Coles | 142 | 521 | 142 | .273 | 20 | 86 |
| LF | Larry Herndon | 106 | 283 | 70 | .247 | 8 | 37 |
| CF | Chet Lemon | 126 | 403 | 101 | .251 | 12 | 53 |
| RF | Kirk Gibson | 119 | 441 | 118 | .268 | 28 | 86 |
| DH | Johnny Grubb | 81 | 210 | 70 | .333 | 13 | 51 |

### 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 |
| Dave Collins | 124 | 419 | 113 | .270 | 1 | 27 |
| Tom Brookens | 98 | 281 | 76 | .270 | 3 | 25 |
| Pat Sheridan | 98 | 236 | 56 | .237 | 6 | 19 |
| Dwight Lowry | 56 | 150 | 46 | .307 | 3 | 18 |
| Dave Bergman | 65 | 130 | 30 | .231 | 1 | 9 |
| Mike Heath | 30 | 98 | 26 | .265 | 4 | 11 |
| Dave Engle | 35 | 86 | 22 | .256 | 0 | 4 |
| Harry Spilman | 24 | 49 | 12 | .245 | 3 | 8 |
| Mike Laga | 15 | 45 | 9 | .200 | 3 | 8 |
| Bruce Fields | 16 | 43 | 12 | .279 | 0 | 6 |
| Brian Harper | 19 | 36 | 5 | .139 | 0 | 3 |
| Tim Tolman | 16 | 34 | 6 | .176 | 0 | 2 |
| Doug Baker | 13 | 24 | 3 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Nokes | 7 | 24 | 8 | .333 | 1 | 2 |
| Scotti Madison | 2 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |

### Starting pitchers

Note; G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jack Morris | 35 | 267.0 | 21 | 8 | 3.27 | 223 |
| Walt Terrell | 34 | 217.1 | 15 | 12 | 4.56 | 93 |
| Frank Tanana | 32 | 188.1 | 12 | 9 | 4.16 | 119 |
| Dan Petry | 20 | 116.0 | 5 | 10 | 4.66 | 56 |

### Other pitchers

Note; G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Eric King | 33 | 138.1 | 11 | 4 | 3.51 | 79 |
| Randy O'Neal | 37 | 122.2 | 3 | 7 | 4.33 | 68 |
| Dave LaPoint | 16 | 67.2 | 3 | 6 | 5.72 | 36 |
| Bryan Kelly | 6 | 20.0 | 1 | 2 | 4.50 | 18 |

### Relief pitchers

Note; G = Games; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Willie Hernández | 64 | 8 | 7 | 24 | 3.55 | 77 |
| Bill Campbell | 34 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3.88 | 37 |
| Mark Thurmond | 25 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1.92 | 17 |
| Jim Slaton | 22 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.05 | 12 |
| Chuck Cary | 22 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.41 | 21 |
| Bill Scherrer | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.29 | 16 |
| John Pacella | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.09 | 5 |
| Jack Lazorko | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.05 | 3 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Nashville Sounds | American Association | Leon Roberts |
| AA | Glens Falls Tigers | Eastern League | Bob Schaefer |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Tom Burgess |
| A | Gastonia Tigers | South Atlantic League | Johnny Lipon |
| Rookie | Bristol Tigers | Appalachian League | Tom Gamboa |