That season, he led the team in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in. In the 1996 season, he hit 39 home runs, 181 hits, and 142 runs batted in and helped the Orioles qualify for the American League Wild Card. This was both his first postseason appearance in his career along with the first postseason appearance for the Orioles since 1983. In his first postseason, he had seven total hits, six RBIs and a combined .205 average while playing in all nine games the Orioles played, as they beat the Cleveland Indians in the 1996 American League Division Series to advance to the 1996 American League Championship Series before being beat by the New York Yankees. He finished 6th in MVP balloting, his highest finish up to that point in his career.