1987 Los Angeles Dodgers season

The 1987 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 98th of the franchise in Major League Baseball and their 30th season in Los Angeles, California. They finished in fourth place in the National League West, with an identical record to the previous season, 73–89.

1987 Los Angeles Dodgers
Dodger Stadium pictured beneath the Los Angeles skyline in 1987.
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Dodger Stadium
City	Los Angeles
Owners	Peter O'Malley
General managers	Al Campanis, Fred Claire
Managers	Tommy Lasorda
Television	KTTV (11) Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter Dodgervision Eddie Doucette, Al Downing, Rick Monday
Radio	KABC Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter KWKW Jaime Jarrín, René Cárdenas
← 1986 Seasons 1988 →

Offseason

• December 10, 1986: Acquired Matt Young from the Seattle Mariners for Dennis Powell and Mike Watters
• December 10, 1986: Acquired Tim Leary and Tim Crews from the Milwaukee Brewers for Greg Brock
• December 11, 1986: Acquired Alex Treviño from the San Francisco Giants for Candy Maldonado
• December 11, 1986: Acquired Ed Vande Berg from the Seattle Mariners for Steve Yeager

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Francisco Giants	90	72	.556	—	46‍–‍35	44‍–‍37
Cincinnati Reds	84	78	.519	6	42‍–‍39	42‍–‍39
Houston Astros	76	86	.469	14	47‍–‍34	29‍–‍52
Los Angeles Dodgers	73	89	.451	17	40‍–‍41	33‍–‍48
Atlanta Braves	69	92	.429	20½	42‍–‍39	27‍–‍53
San Diego Padres	65	97	.401	25	37‍–‍44	28‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1987 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	6–5	8–10	8–10	6–12	3–9	7–5	7–5	7–5	6–12	8–10	3–9
Chicago	5–6	—	6–6	8–4	6–6	10–8	9–9	8–10	4–14	9–3	5–7	6–12
Cincinnati	10–8	6–6	—	13–5	10–8	6–6	7–5	5–7	4–8	12–6	7–11	4–8
Houston	10–8	4–8	5–13	—	12–6	7–5	6–6	6–6	6–6	5–13	10–8	5–7
Los Angeles	12–6	6–6	8–10	6–12	—	3–9	6–6	2–10	6–6	11–7	10–8	3–9
Montreal	9–3	8–10	6–6	5–7	9–3	—	8–10	10–8	11–7	9–3	5–7	11–7
New York	5–7	9–9	5–7	6–6	6–6	10–8	—	13–5	12–6	8–4	9–3	9–9
Philadelphia	5–7	10–8	7–5	6–6	10–2	8–10	5–13	—	11–7	8–4	2–10	8–10
Pittsburgh	5–7	14–4	8–4	6–6	6–6	7–11	6–12	7–11	—	8–4	6–6	7–11
San Diego	12–6	3–9	6–12	13–5	7–11	3–9	4–8	4–8	4–8	—	5–13	4–8
San Francisco	10–8	7–5	11–7	8–10	8–10	7–5	3–9	10–2	6–6	13–5	—	7–5
St. Louis	9–3	12–6	8–4	7–5	9–3	7–11	9–9	10–8	11–7	8–4	5–7	—

Opening Day starters

Name	Position
Steve Sax	Second baseman
Mariano Duncan	Shortstop
Bill Madlock	Third baseman
Mike Marshall	Right fielder
Franklin Stubbs	First baseman
Ken Landreaux	Left fielder
Mike Scioscia	Catcher
Mike Ramsey	Center fielder
Orel Hershiser	Starting pitcher

Notable transactions

• May 6, 1987: Acquired Orlando Mercado from the Detroit Tigers for Balvino Gálvez
• May 22, 1987: Acquired John Shelby^[1] and Brad Havens from the Baltimore Orioles for Tom Niedenfuer
• May 29, 1987: Bill Madlock was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[2]
• June 19, 1987: Acquired Phil Garner from the Houston Astros for Jeff Edwards
• June 23, 1987: Acquired Bill Krueger from the Oakland Athletics for Tim Meeks
• August 17, 1987: Acquired Glenn Hoffman from the Boston Red Sox for Billy Bartels
• August 29, 1987: Acquired Tim Belcher from the Oakland Athletics for Rick Honeycutt
• September 21, 1987: Acquired Mike Sharperson from the Toronto Blue Jays for Juan Guzmán^[3]

Roster

1987 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers 49 Tim Belcher 52 Tim Crews 54 Ron Davis 41 Brad Havens 55 Orel Hershiser 57 Shawn Hillegas 51 Brian Holton 40 Rick Honeycutt 43 Ken Howell 59 Bill Krueger 23 Tim Leary 49 Tom Niedenfuer 26 Alejandro Peña 41 Jerry Reuss 50 Jack Savage 34 Fernando Valenzuela 35 Bob Welch 36 Matt Young		Catchers 48 Orlando Mercado 15 Gilberto Reyes 14 Mike Scioscia 29 Alex Treviño Infielders 10 Dave Anderson 25 Mariano Duncan 20 Phil Garner 33 Jeff Hamilton  9 Mickey Hatcher 37 Glenn Hoffman 12 Bill Madlock  3 Steve Sax 60 Mike Sharperson 38 Craig Shipley 22 Franklin Stubbs 56 Brad Wellman  7 Tracy Woodson		Outfielders 46 Ralph Bryant 40 Mike Devereaux 47 José González 28 Pedro Guerrero 45 Chris Gwynn 12 Danny Heep 44 Ken Landreaux 27 Tito Landrum  5 Mike Marshall 56 Mike Ramsey 31 John Shelby 21 Reggie Williams		Manager  2 Tommy Lasorda Coaches  8 Joey Amalfitano 58 Mark Cresse 11 Manny Mota 16 Ron Perranoski 18 Bill Russell

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	Mike Scioscia	142	461	122	.265	6	38
1B	Franklin Stubbs	129	386	90	.233	16	52
2B	Steve Sax	157	610	171	.280	6	46
3B	Mickey Hatcher	101	287	81	.282	7	42
SS	Mariano Duncan	76	261	56	.215	6	18
LF	Pedro Guerrero	152	545	184	.338	27	89
CF	John Shelby	120	476	132	.277	21	69
RF	Mike Marshall	104	402	118	.294	16	72

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
Dave Anderson	108	265	62	.234	1	13
Ken Landreaux	115	182	37	.203	6	23
Alex Treviño	72	144	32	.222	3	16
Tracy Woodson	53	136	31	.228	1	11
Glenn Hoffman	40	132	29	.220	0	10
Phil Garner	70	126	24	.190	2	8
Mike Ramsey	48	125	29	.232	0	12
Danny Heep	60	98	16	.163	0	9
Jeff Hamilton	35	83	18	.217	0	1
Ralph Bryant	46	69	17	.246	2	10
Tito Landrum	51	67	16	.239	1	4
Bill Madlock	21	61	11	.180	3	7
Mike Devereaux	19	54	12	.222	0	4
Reggie Williams	39	36	4	.111	0	4
Craig Shipley	26	35	9	.257	0	2
Mike Sharperson	10	33	9	.273	0	1
Chris Gwynn	17	32	7	.219	0	2
José González	19	16	3	.188	0	1
Len Matuszek	16	15	1	.067	0	0
Orlando Mercado	7	5	3	.600	0	1
Brad Wellman	3	4	1	.250	0	1
Gilberto Reyes	1	0	0	----	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
Orel Hershiser	37	264.2	16	16	3.06	190
Bob Welch	35	251.2	15	9	3.22	196
Fernando Valenzuela	34	251.0	14	14	3.98	190
Shawn Hillegas	12	58.0	4	3	3.57	51
Tim Belcher	6	34.0	4	2	2.38	23

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
Rick Honeycutt	27	115.2	2	12	4.59	92
Tim Leary	39	107.2	3	11	4.76	61
Alejandro Peña	37	87.1	2	7	3.50	76

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
Matt Young	47	5	8	11	4.47	42
Brian Holton	53	3	2	2	3.89	58
Ken Howell	40	3	4	1	4.91	60
Brad Havens	31	0	0	1	4.33	23
Tim Crews	20	1	1	3	2.48	20
Tom Niedenfuer	15	1	0	1	2.76	10
Ron Davis	4	0	0	0	6.75	1
Jack Savage	3	0	0	0	2.70	0
Bill Krueger	2	0	0	0	0.00	2
Jerry Reuss	1	0	0	0	4.50	2

1987 awards

• 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Pedro Guerrero reserve
  • Orel Hershiser reserve
• Comeback Player of the Year Award
  • Pedro Guerrero
• NL Pitcher of the Month
  • Orel Hershiser (June 1987)
• NL Player of the Week
  • Orel Hershiser (June 8–14)
  • Alejandro Peña (Sep. 28-Oct.4)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Albuquerque Dukes	Pacific Coast League	Terry Collins
AA	San Antonio Dodgers	Texas League	Gary LaRocque
High A	Bakersfield Dodgers	California League	Kevin Kennedy
High A	Vero Beach Dodgers	Florida State League	John Shoemaker
Rookie	Great Falls Dodgers	Pioneer League	Tim Johnson
Rookie	Gulf Coast Dodgers	Gulf Coast League	Joe Alvarez

Teams in BOLD won League Championships

Major League Baseball draft

Main article: 1987 Major League Baseball draft

The draft was altered this year and the January drafts and the secondary phase of the June draft were eliminated, leaving just the one June draft, which was expanded to more rounds to allow the Junior College players to be included. The Dodgers drafted 51 players in this draft, the largest collection of players they had ever drafted in one draft. Of those, ten of them would eventually play Major League baseball.

The top pick in this years draft was right-handed pitcher Dan Opperman from Valley High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, Opperman injured his arm pitching in the state high school playoffs his Senior season and would not be able to pitch professionally until 1989.^[4] He would eventually play in parts of four seasons with the Dodgers farm teams in Vero Beach, San Antonio and the last two with the AAA Albuquerque Dukes. In 63 games (all but one as a starter) he had a record of 19-22 and an ERA of 3.95.

None of the players from this years draft would leave much of an impression on the Majors. Pitchers Dennis Springer and Mike James had the longest careers, but were just average players at best.

1987 draft picks

[5] Round Name Position School Signed Career span Highest level 1 Dan Opperman RHP Valley High School Yes 1989–1992 AAA 2 Donald Carroll OF Granite Hills High School Yes 1988–1999 A+ 3 Chris Nichting RHP Northwestern University Yes 1988–2002 MLB 4 Thomas Demerit OF Dartmouth College Yes 1987–1988 A 5 Luis Martinez SS Old Dominion University Yes 1987–1993 AAA 6 Darrin Fletcher C University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Yes 1987–2002 MLB 7 Tony Barron 3B Willamette University Yes 1987–2002 MLB 8 Howie Freiling 1B University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Yes 1987–1990 AAA 9 Lem Luckham RHP Los Amigos High School Yes 1987–1992 AA 10 Douglas Noch RHP Central Michigan University Yes 1987–1989 A 11 Lawrence Gonzalez RHP Don Antonio Lugo High School Yes 1987–1989 A- 12 Barry Blackwell C Florida State University No Indians-1988 1988–1990 AA 13 Sherman Collins RHP University of Oklahoma Yes 1987 A 14 D. J. Floyd C Chino High School Yes 1987–1990 A 15 Alan Lewis SS Davidson College Yes 1987–1993 AA 16 John Wanish RHP Florida State University Yes 1987–1991 A+ 17 Bruce Dostal OF William Paterson University Yes 1987–1995 AAA 18 Steve Green OF Georgia Institute of Technology Yes 1987–1993 A+ 19 Rafael Bournigal IF Florida State University Yes 1987–2000 MLB 20 Jose Munoz SS Florida College Yes 1987–2001 MLB 21 Dennis Springer RHP California State University, Fresno Yes 1987–2002 MLB 22 Mike Parks RHP University of Miami No 23 Daniel Kreuder RHP Pace University Yes 1987 Rookie 24 Randal Wadsworth C California University of Pennsylvania Yes 1987 Rookie 25 Frank Mustari 3B Illinois State University Yes 1987–1988 A 26 Brian Emmert 1B Pace University Yes 1987 Rookie 27 Dan Piscetta RHP College of Wooster No 28 David Martin RHP Phillips University Yes 1987 Rookie 29 Zak Shinall RHP El Camino College Yes 1987–1995 MLB 30 Todd Melisauskas C Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Yes 1987–1988 A 31 Eric Johnson OF California State University, Sacramento Yes 1987 Rookie 32 William Argo OF Iowa State University Yes 1987–1989 A 33 Chris Harding OF Clover High School No 34 Jim Poole LHP Georgia Institute of Technology No Dodgers-1988 1988–2000 MLB 35 Brian Currie LHP University of South Carolina Yes 1987–1990 A- 36 Garrett Carter 3B University of South Carolina No Braves-1988 1988 Rookie 37 Jeff Herman OF De Anza College No 38 Larry Rezny LHP Grand Haven High School No 39 Brett Magnusson OF Santa Rosa Junior College Yes 1988–1994 AAA 40 Jerry Lutterman RHP Lafayette High School No 41 James Robinson RHP Sullivan High School No White Sox-1989 1989 Rookie 42 Joseph Fernandez OF Galileo High School Yes 1987 Rookie 43 Mike James RHP Lurleen B. Wallace Community College Yes 1988–2002 MLB 44 Christopher Gettler RHP Jacksonville University Yes 1987–1988 A 45 Doug Simons LHP Pepperdine University No Twins-1988 1988–1996 MLB 46 Sam Bland C Kishwaukee College Yes 1987 Rookie 47 Albert Bustillos RHP Gavilan College Yes 1988–1996 AAA 48 Ken Woods SS Palisades High School No 49 Troy Arrington RHP Jordan High School No 50 Vince Muldrew OF Centennial High School No 51 Andrew Perkens C Blair High School No