1986 Boston Red Sox season

The 1986 Boston Red Sox season was the 86th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished first in the American League East with a record of 95–66. After defeating the California Angels in the ALCS, the Red Sox lost the World Series to the New York Mets in seven games.

Offseason

November 13, 1985: Bob Ojeda, Tom McCarthy, John Mitchell and Chris Bayer were traded to the New York Mets for Calvin Schiraldi, Wes Gardner, John Christensen, and La Schelle Tarver.
December 11, 1985: Mark Clear was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ed Romero.
January 14, 1986: Alan Mills was selected in the first round of the amateur draft, but did not sign.
January 14, 1986: Curt Schilling was selected in the second round of the amateur draft, and signed on May 30.
March 28, 1986: Mike Easler was traded to the New York Yankees for Don Baylor.

Spring Training

The Red Sox held spring training at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida, for the 21st season.

Boston Win

Boston Loss

Tie Game

Regular season

April

The Red Sox ended the series at Chicago with a 12─2 victory.

July

In the second game of the series, the Red Sox defeated the Blue Jays 9─7, with Tom Seaver making his debut with the Red Sox.
The Red Sox played only 161 games, as a road game scheduled against the Milwaukee Brewers on September 24 was rained out, and was not rescheduled as it had no bearing on the divisional race.

Highlights

On April 29 at Fenway Park, 23-year-old Roger Clemens struck out 20 Seattle Mariners to set a major league record for a nine-inning game.
Clemens finished the regular season with 24 wins, the most by a Red Sox pitcher since Mel Parnell won 25 games in 1949.

Season standings

This was the first season since 1904 that the Yankees franchise finished second in the standings to the Red Sox franchise.

Notable transactions

June 2, 1986: The Red Sox selected Scott Cooper in the third round of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft.
June 29, 1986: Steve Lyons was traded by the Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox for Tom Seaver.
August 17, 1986: The Seattle Mariners traded Spike Owen and Dave Henderson to the Red Sox for Rey Quiñones and players to be named later.

Opening day lineup

Source:

Alumni game

On May 17, the Red Sox held an old-timers game at Fenway, before a scheduled game with the Texas Rangers. The game—themed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the pennant-winning 1946 Red Sox—welcomed back 19 alumni of the team and was also the first to invite non-Red Sox alumni. Besides Ted Williams, Luis Tiant, and Rico Petrocelli, the day featured appearances by all three DiMaggio brothers: Joe, Vince, and Dom. The umpiring crew included Hall of Fame inductee Jocko Conlan.

Illegal Firing of Tommy Harper

General Manager Haywood Sullivan, a supporter of the all-white and anti-Black Elks Club of Winter Haven, Florida, would welcome the organization into the Red Sox' Chain of Lakes Park clubhouse to invite the white players and white front-office personnel only to the Elks' segregated facilities. Former outfielder and coach Tommy Harper spoke against this practice in 1985 and the Red Sox retaliated and fired Harper. On July 1, 1986, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vindicated Harper and cited the Red Sox for illegal actions.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; ''HR = Home runs; R = Runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; OBP = On base percentage; SLG = Slugging percentage''

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	Avg.	OBP	SLG	Reference
C		135	462	119	29	0	16	49	65	.258	.315	.424
1B		153	629	168	39	2	18	73	102	.267	.311	.421
2B		158	625	179	39	4	4	94	60	.286	.353	.381
3B		149	580	207	47	2	8	107	71	.357	.453	.486
SS		62	190	45	12	1	2	26	15	.237	.315	.342
LF		157	618	200	39	2	20	98	110	.324	.384	.490
CF		121	425	112	21	4	11	40	58	.264	.305	.409
RF		152	529	137	33	2	26	86	97	.259	.376	.476
DH		160	585	139	23	1	31	93	94	.238	.344	.439

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	Reference
	100	233	49	.210	2	23
	42	126	23	.183	1	10
	59	124	31	.250	1	14
	41	119	23	.193	1	14
	36	51	10	.196	1	3
	39	39	5	.128	0	3
	31	35	11	.314	0	4
	35	35	9	.257	0	2
	13	25	3	.120	0	1
	12	23	5	.217	0	1
	21	21	2	.095	0	1
	9	12	5	.417	1	3
	4	11	5	.455	1	1

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	Reference
	33	254.0	24	4	2.48	238
	30	214.1	16	10	3.78	129
	25	174.1	13	8	2.99	167
	26	159.0	10	12	5.38	79
	16	104.1	5	7	3.80	72
	14	82.0	3	7	4.94	51

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	Reference
	15	57.1	4	4	5.34	32
	9	35.2	2	3	5.30	14

Relief pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Awards and honors

;Awards
Marty Barrett, ALCS MVP
Don Baylor, Silver Slugger Award
Wade Boggs, Silver Slugger Award, AL Player of the Month
Roger Clemens:

Bruce Hurst, AL Pitcher of the Month
;Accomplishments
Wade Boggs:

Major League Baseball Batting Average Leader.
American League Walks Leader.
Major League Baseball On-base percentage Leader.

Roger Clemens:

American League ERA Leader.
American League Wins Leader.

;All-Star Game

Name	Starter or Reserve	Position	Reference
Wade Boggs	Starter	3B
Roger Clemens	Starter	P
Rich Gedman	Reserve	C
Jim Rice	Reserve	LF

Farm system

Source: