1986 Atlanta Braves season

The 1986 Atlanta Braves season was the 116th in franchise history and their 21st in Atlanta.

1986 Atlanta Braves
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record72–89 (.447)
Divisional place6th
Other information
OwnersTed Turner
General managersBobby Cox
ManagersChuck Tanner
Local televisionWTBS
Superstation WTBS
Local radioWSB
(Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, John Sterling)
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Offseason

Regular season

The Braves shutout the Montreal Expos, 6-0 in their season opener, but were 7-12 at the end of April, 6 1/2 games out of first. Atlanta won 17 of their first 25 games in the month of May, improving their record to 24–20 May 27. They were tied for second and were 1 1/2 games out of first.

On June 24 the Braves dropped into fourth place with a 34-36 record. They were in fourth place, 4 1/2 games out of first. Atlanta won seven of their next eight games to surge back into contention on July 3. Atlanta was 41-37 and in third place, 1 1/2 games out of first. The Braves promptly lost 20 of their next 25 games and fell into the cellar, 46-57, 12 1/2 games out of first. After a 12-5 run put them within 10 1/2 games of the lead, the Braves fizzled and faded down the stretch, losing their last five games to finish in last place with a 72-89 record, 23 1/2 games out of first.

The strong play of the Braves in the first half of the season was partly attributed to "The Bomb Squad", a group of six veterans who provided clutch hitting of the bench. The members of "The Bomb Squad" were: Ted Simmons, Chris Chambliss, Omar Moreno, Billy Sample, Bruce Benedict, and Andres Thomas.[4] The name for the group was coined during spring training by Simmons in an effort to create unity among the bench players (Simmons, Moreno, and Sample were in their first season with the Braves).

  • July 6, 1986: In an 11-8 loss to the Montreal Expos, Bob Horner hit four home runs in one game. Horner became the second player in the 20th century (Gil Hodges was the first in 1950) to hit four home runs in one game in his home park.[5] He became the first player since Ed Delahanty to hit four home runs in a losing game.[5]

Season standings
NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 9666 0.593 — 52–29 44–37
Cincinnati Reds 8676 0.531 10 43–38 43–38
San Francisco Giants 8379 0.512 13 46–35 37–44
San Diego Padres 7488 0.457 22 43–38 31–50
Los Angeles Dodgers 7389 0.451 23 46–35 27–54
Atlanta Braves 7289 0.447 23½ 41–40 31–49

Record vs. opponents
1986 National League record

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta —9–36–125–1310–84–74–84–85–712–67–116–6
Chicago 3–9—5–74–86–68–106–129–87–116–66–610–7
Cincinnati 12–67–5—4–1410–87–54–87–510–29–99–97–5
Houston 13–58–414–4—10–88–45–76–66–610–89–97–5
Los Angeles 8–106–68–108–10—5–73–95–78–46–128–108–4
Montreal 7–410–85–74–85–7—8–108–1011–74–85–79–9
New York 8–412–68–47–59–310–8—8–1017–110–27–512–6
Philadelphia 8-48–95–76–67–510–810–8—11–76–69–36–12
Pittsburgh 7–511–72–106–64–87–111–177–11—8–44–87–11
San Diego 6–126–69–98–1012–68–42–106–64–8—8–105–7
San Francisco 11–76–69–99–910–87–55–73–98–410–8—5–7
St. Louis 6–67–105–75–74–89–96–1212–611–77–57–5—

Notable transactions

Roster
1986 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
COzzie Virgil11435980.2231548
1BBob Horner141517141.2732787
2BGlenn Hubbard14340894.230436
3BKen Oberkfell151503136.270548
SSAndrés Thomas10232381.251632
LFKen Griffey8029290.3081232
CFDale Murphy160614163.2652983
RFOmar Moreno11835984.234427

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
Rafael Ramírez134496119.240833
Terry Harper10626568.257830
Billy Sample9220057.285614
Bruce Benedict6416036.225013
Claudell Washington4013737.270514
Ted Simmons7612732.252425
Chris Chambliss9712238.311214
Gerald Perry297019.271211
Albert Hall165012.24001
Darryl Motley5102.20000
Paul Runge782.25000
Brad Komminsk552.40001

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
Rick Mahler39237.214184.88137
David Palmer35209.211103.65170
Zane Smith38204.28164.05139
Doyle Alexander17117.1663.8474
Joe Johnson1787.0674.9749

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
Jim Acker2195.0383.7937
Craig McMurtry3779.2164.7450
Charlie Puleo524.1122.9618

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
Gene Garber6155242.5456
Paul Assenmacher617372.5056
Jeff Dedmon576632.9858
Ed Olwine370013.4037
Bruce Sutter162034.3416
Cliff Speck132104.1321
Duane Ward100107.318
Steve Shields60007.116

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Richmond Braves International League Roy Majtyka
AA Greenville Braves Southern League Jim Beauchamp
A Durham Bulls Carolina League Buddy Bailey
A Sumter Braves South Atlantic League Brian Snitker
Rookie Pulaski Braves Appalachian League Grady Little
Rookie GCL Braves Gulf Coast League Pedro González
Rookie Idaho Falls Braves Pioneer League Rod Gilbreath

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Richmond, Pulaski[10]

Notes
  1. Randy Johnson at Baseball-Reference
  2. Billy Sample at Baseball-Reference
  3. Ted Simmons at Baseball-Reference
  4. "Atlanta`s `Bomb Squad` No Flop." Archived March 12, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Sun-Sentinel, June 10, 1986. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  5. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.258, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  6. Pascual Pérez at Baseball-Reference
  7. Ben McDonald at Baseball-Reference
  8. Ken Griffey at Baseball-Reference
  9. Doyle Alexander at Baseball-Reference
  10. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

References
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