1986 California Angels season

The 1986 California Angels season was the 26th season of the Angels franchise in the American League, the 21st in Anaheim, and their 21st season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The season ended with the Angels losing the American League Championship Series in dramatic fashion.
The regular season ended with the Angels finishing first in the American League West with a record of 92–70, earning the franchise's third division title. After jumping to a 3–1 series lead over the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-seven ALCS, the Angels blew a 3-run lead in the ninth inning of Game 5 that included giving up a two-out, two-strike home run to Boston's Dave Henderson. The Angels went on to lose Game 5 in extra innings, and eventually lost the next two games and the series.
After 1986, the Angels went into a lengthy playoff drought, not returning to the postseason until their championship season of 2002. They would not win a division title again until 2004.

Offseason

November 19, 1985: DeWayne Buice was signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
December 5, 1985: Don Sutton was signed as a free agent by the Angels.
December 20, 1985: Daryl Sconiers was released by the Angels.
December 20, 1985: Geoff Zahn was released by the California Angels.

Regular season

May 4, 1986: Reggie Jackson hit the 537th home run of his career off Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens, passing Mickey Mantle on the all-time home run list.
June 18, 1986: Don Sutton won the 300th game of his career. Sutton became the 19th pitcher in MLB history to win 300 games.
September 18, 1986: Reggie Jackson had 3 home runs and 7 RBIs in one game.

Notable transactions

June 2, 1986: Alan Mills was drafted by the California Angels in the 1st round of the 1986 amateur draft. Player signed June 10, 1986.

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	144	442	98	.222	7	49
1B	Wally Joyner	154	593	172	.290	22	100
2B	Bobby Grich	98	313	84	.268	9	30
SS	Dick Schofield	139	458	114	.249	13	57
3B	Doug DeCinces	140	512	131	.256	26	96
LF	Brian Downing	152	513	137	.267	20	95
CF	Gary Pettis	154	539	139	.258	5	58
RF	Ruppert Jones	126	393	90	.229	17	49
DH	Reggie Jackson	132	419	101	.241	18	58

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
Rob Wilfong	92	288	63	.219	3	33
George Hendrick	102	283	77	.272	14	47
Rick Burleson	93	271	77	.284	5	29
Jack Howell	63	151	41	.272	4	21
Jerry Narron	57	95	21	.221	1	8
Darrell Miller	33	57	13	.228	0	4
Devon White	29	51	12	.235	1	3
Mark Ryal	13	32	12	.375	2	5
Gus Polidor	6	19	5	.263	0	1
Mark McLemore	5	4	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	269.0	18	10	2.84	208
Kirk McCaskill	34	246.1	17	10	3.36	202
Don Sutton	34	207.0	15	11	3.74	116
Ron Romanick	18	106.1	5	8	5.50	38
John Candelaria	16	92.0	10	2	2.55	81
Jim Slaton	14	73.1	4	6	5.65	31
Ray Chadwick	7	27.1	0	5	7.24	9
Willie Fraser	1	4.1	0	0	8.31	2

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
Vern Ruhle	16	47.2	1	3	4.15	23
Urbano Lugo	6	21.1	1	1	3.80	9
Mike Cook	5	9.0	0	2	9.00	6

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
Donnie Moore	49	4	5	21	2.97	53
Doug Corbett	46	4	2	10	3.66	36
Terry Forster	41	4	1	5	3.51	28
Gary Lucas	27	4	1	2	3.15	31
Chuck Finley	25	3	1	0	3.30	37
T.R. Bryden	16	2	1	0	6.55	25
Ken Forsch	10	0	1	1	9.53	13
Todd Fischer	9	0	0	0	4.24	7