After an eight-year run of success that included a World Series title in 1980 and a National League pennant in 1983, the Phillies had slipped to .500 and then below over the last couple seasons. In 1986, the Phils started the season looking like the downward trend was going to continue. But they turned it […]
Major league baseball came to Texas in 1972 when the Washington Senators relocated and changed their name to the Rangers. Success took a lot longer. Coming into 1986, this franchise had yet to win the AL West. There were only two seasons (1974 & 1977) that had been playoff-caliber by the more lenient standards of […]
The 1986 Toronto Blue Jays were facing an unexpected transition. They had won the AL East in 1985 for the first playoff appearance in franchise history. But a heartbreaking ALCS loss was followed by an offseason of change. Bobby Cox, the manager who led them into prominence, departed to become the general manager at Atlanta. […]
Sparky Anderson had brought consistent winning baseball to Detroit. Since his arrival in 1980, the Tigers had posted a winning record every year. The highlight of the run was a dominant run to the 1984 World Series title. The 1986 Detroit Tigers were squarely in that tradition, with only the more stringent standards of the […]
The 1986 Pittsburgh Pirates represented the start of a new era. Chuck Tanner’s nine-year tenure as manager–one that included a World Series title in 1979–had come crashing down in a 1985 season that saw the team lose 104 games on the field and go through embarrassing drug revelations off it, came to an end. Jim […]
This is part of a series of sports history articles aimed at preserving the best moments of the modern sports era, from 1976 to the present. The focus is team sports—college & pro basketball and football, major league baseball and hockey. This article offers a snapshot of 1986 sports, a year highlighted by baseball drama, a great Super Bowl champ and two historic college championship battles.
When baseball fans think of 1986, the first thought that comes to mind is a certain ground ball in the World Series, the heartbreak of the Boston Red Sox and the triumph of the New York Mets. But what cannot be overlooked is that the World Series was set up with a pair of League Championship Series that ensured the 1986 MLB postseason met whatever criteria there is for “epic.”
The 1986 World Series is one of the games’ historic, thanks to an ill-fated groundball that skipped through the legs of Bill Buckner. But the battle between the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox had more—it had early twists of fate, a Game 7 itself that was dramatic and the entire Game 6 run-up […]
The New York Mets came into the 1986 NLCS as a 108-win team and the clear favorite to win the World Series. The Houston Astros were a turnaround story under rookie manager Hal Lanier. It turned into an incredibly tense, taut National League Championship Series that had the Mets giving thanks for their survival. GREAT […]
One team was one of baseball’s history-laden franchises, the other an expansion team. But they were united a shared heritage of heartbreak. The Boston Red Sox and California Angels met at the 1986 ALCS and it was inevitable that somebody’s fan base would be crushed when it was over. In a rare turnabout for the […]
After making the postseason in 1980 and 1981, the Astros had slipped into mediocrity. Over the next four years they ranged between 77-85 and 85-77, the very definition of being predictably average. The 1986 Houston Astros had a new manager in Hal Lanier and a new result as they won the NL West. GREAT 1980s […]
Gene Mauch and the California Angels parted ways after a heartbreaking loss in the 1982 American League Championship Series. The Angels promptly fell apart and by 1985 Mauch was back in the fold. He put the Angels back into contention that year and even though the 1986 California Angels again suffered October heartbreak, they first […]