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1986 END OF SEASON
The race between the Rangers and Athletics turned out to be a bit of a smokescreen. With the help of an undefeated July (after the All-Star Break), Texas blazed ahead to once again top the AL West.
For some reason I didn't screenshot the overall standings like I usually do, but we are joined in the playoffs by the Red Sox (again!), Mets (again!), and the Reds. Texas finished with a nice 113-49 record.
I've attached the batter and pitcher stats for the '86 season. Some great performances from our entire batting lineup, led by Brian Downing (162 wRC+, 6.8 WAR). Also some great pitching, with Nolan Ryan leading the way... and Tom Henke with a ridiculous 1.63 ERA and 4.5 WAR (!!) from the pen. He was 1 out away from pitching 100 innings too, heh.
The bad news though is that Scott Fletcher (5.5 WAR) -- our shutdown SS who can also hit -- got a season-ending injury in the last week of the season. That's a huge blow seeing as how our infield backups (Wayne Tolleson and Curt Wilkerson) are a big step down on both offense and defense. We'll see how it plays out.
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