# 1988 California Angels season

The 1988 California Angels season was the 28th season of the California Angels franchise in the American League, the 23rd in Anaheim, and their 23rd season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels finished fourth in the American League West with a record of 75 wins and 87 losses. The Angels closed out the year by losing twelve games in a row, longest in team history; when they lost on Opening Day the next year, it unofficially served as a thirteen-game streak. This record was broken 34 years later.

## Offseason

* September 23, 1987: Doug DeCinces was released by the California Angels.
* October 30, 1987: Don Sutton was released by the California Angels.
* December 1, 1987: Chili Davis signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
* December 3, 1987: Greg Minton was signed as a free agent with the California Angels.

## Regular season
### Opening Day starters

* Bob Boone
* Chili Davis
* Brian Downing
* Jack Howell
* Wally Joyner
* Kirk McCaskill
* Mark McLemore
* Johnny Ray
* Dick Schofield
* Devon White

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 104 | 58 | .642 | — | 54‍–‍27 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Minnesota Twins | 91 | 71 | .562 | 13 | 47‍–‍34 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Kansas City Royals | 84 | 77 | .522 | 19½ | 44‍–‍36 | 40‍–‍41 |
| California Angels | 75 | 87 | .463 | 29 | 35‍–‍46 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Chicago White Sox | 71 | 90 | .441 | 32½ | 40‍–‍41 | 31‍–‍49 |
| Texas Rangers | 70 | 91 | .435 | 33½ | 38‍–‍43 | 32‍–‍48 |
| Seattle Mariners | 68 | 93 | .422 | 35½ | 37‍–‍44 | 31‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1988 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 5–7 | 4–7 | 4–9 | 5–8 | 0–12 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 3–10 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 5–8 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 8–4 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 10–3 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 2–11 |
| California | 7–5 | 4–8 | — | 9–4 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 3–9 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–4 | 5–7 | 4–9 | — | 3–9 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 5–8 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Cleveland | 9–4 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 9–3 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 6–7 |
| Detroit | 8–5 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 9–4 | — | 8–4 | 5–8 | 1–11 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 5–8 |
| Kansas City | 12–0 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 4–8 |
| Milwaukee | 9–4 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 8–5 | 9–3 | — | 7–5 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 7–6 |
| Minnesota | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 7–5 | 11–1 | 6–7 | 5–7 | — | 3–9 | 5–8 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 7–5 |
| New York | 10–3 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 9–3 | — | 6–6 | 5–7 | 5–6 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 8–4 | 9–3 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 9–3 | 8–5 | 6–6 | — | 9–4 | 8–5 | 9–3 |
| Seattle | 5–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 4–9 | — | 6–7 | 5–7 |
| Texas | 6–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 6–5 | 5–8 | 7–6 | — | 6–6 |
| Toronto | 8–5 | 11–2 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — |

### Notable Transactions

* May 9, 1988: Bill Buckner was released by the California Angels.
* June 1, 1988: Jim Abbott was drafted by the California Angels in the 1st round (8th pick) of the 1988 amateur draft. Player signed August 3, 1988.

### 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 | Bob Boone | 122 | 352 | 104 | .295 | 5 | 39 |
| 1B | Wally Joyner | 158 | 597 | 176 | .295 | 13 | 85 |
| 2B | Johnny Ray | 153 | 602 | 184 | .306 | 6 | 83 |
| SS | Dick Schofield | 158 | 527 | 126 | .239 | 6 | 34 |
| 3B | Jack Howell | 154 | 500 | 127 | .254 | 16 | 63 |
| LF | Tony Armas | 120 | 368 | 100 | .272 | 13 | 49 |
| CF | Devon White | 122 | 455 | 118 | .259 | 11 | 51 |
| RF | Chili Davis | 158 | 600 | 161 | .268 | 21 | 93 |
| DH | Brian Downing | 135 | 484 | 117 | .242 | 25 | 64 |

#### 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 |
| Mark McLemore | 77 | 233 | 56 | .240 | 2 | 16 |
| Darrell Miller | 70 | 140 | 31 | .221 | 2 | 7 |
| George Hendrick | 69 | 127 | 31 | .244 | 3 | 19 |
| Jim Eppard | 56 | 113 | 32 | .283 | 0 | 14 |
| Gus Polidor | 54 | 81 | 12 | .148 | 0 | 4 |
| Chico Walker | 33 | 78 | 12 | .154 | 0 | 2 |
| Thad Bosley | 35 | 75 | 21 | .280 | 0 | 7 |
| Butch Wynegar | 27 | 55 | 14 | .255 | 1 | 8 |
| Mike Brown | 18 | 50 | 11 | .220 | 0 | 3 |
| Dante Bichette | 21 | 46 | 12 | .261 | 0 | 8 |
| Bill Buckner | 19 | 43 | 9 | .209 | 0 | 9 |
| Junior Noboa | 21 | 16 | 1 | .063 | 0 | 0 |
| Domingo Ramos | 10 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 0 |
| Doug Davis | 6 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Dorsett | 7 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 2 |
| Joe Redfield | 1 | 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 |
| Mike Witt | 34 | 249.2 | 13 | 16 | 4.15 | 133 |
| Willie Fraser | 34 | 194.2 | 12 | 13 | 5.41 | 86 |
| Chuck Finley | 31 | 194.1 | 9 | 15 | 4.17 | 111 |
| Kirk McCaskill | 23 | 146.1 | 8 | 6 | 4.31 | 98 |
| Dan Petry | 22 | 139.2 | 3 | 9 | 4.38 | 64 |
| Terry Clark | 15 | 94.0 | 6 | 6 | 5.07 | 39 |

#### 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 |
| Jack Lazorko | 10 | 37.2 | 0 | 1 | 3.35 | 19 |

#### 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 |
| Bryan Harvey | 50 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 2.13 | 67 |
| Greg Minton | 44 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2.85 | 46 |
| Stew Cliburn | 40 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4.07 | 42 |
| Sherman Corbett | 34 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4.14 | 28 |
| DeWayne Buice | 32 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5.88 | 38 |
| Donnie Moore | 27 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4.91 | 22 |
| Ray Krawczyk | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.81 | 17 |
| Frank DiMichele | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.64 | 1 |
| Rich Monteleone | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Mike Cook | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.91 | 2 |
| Vance Lovelace | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |
| Urbano Lugo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Edmonton Trappers | Pacific Coast League | Tom Kotchman |
| AA | Midland Angels | Texas League | Mako Oliveras |
| A | Palm Springs Angels | California League | Bill Lachemann |
| A | Quad Cities Angels | Midwest League | Eddie Rodríguez |
| A-Short Season | Bend Bucks | Northwest League | Don Long |