Greatest Twins Teams of All Time: 1987

[Matt Braun]

Join us in argument as we count down the greatest Twins teams in history, as voted on by the Twins Daily writers. Today: the third-ranked team.

Image courtesy of Thiéres Rabelo

Overview
Minnesota was wandering. For what felt like 40 years, the Twins navigated the baseball landscape with little success, only finding desert between occasional small oases. Their last great team—the 1970 group that fell to the Baltimore dynasty—might as well have been in a different century; the last 15 seasons bore a handful of above-average years along with the kind of absolutely dreadful baseball they don’t recommend for young children or for those with a sensitive disposition. 

But losing stops eventually. Talent always finds a way. Homeborn and homegrown All-Star Kent Hrbek has been a thumping force in the lineup since 1982, providing a legitimate power threat to a team known for a dearth of muscle. Frank Viola, who once led all of MLB in earned runs allowed, flashed potential; he finished sixth in the Cy Young vote in 1984. And, critically, the Twins had a true star, a player as great as his popularity. His constant presence on All-Star rosters and MVP voter ballots could only be matched by his television appearances and iconic, broad smile. Minnesota had Kirby Puckett.

Somehow, those three—along with full-time first-year manager Tom Kelly—helped carry a ragtag assortment of complimentary pieces to the team’s first World Series victory—and one of the most unlikely championship wins in recent history.

Lineup
The 1987 Twins offense was top-heavy but otherwise solid. They were 16th in MLB in batting average, 15th in on-base percentage, and 8th in slugging. That led to an offense 10th in runs—a number made a little less impressive in the context of a 26-team league. 

Nonetheless, there were bright spots: the aforementioned Hrbek turned into another excellent season in his remarkably consistent career, slashing .285/.389/.545 with a career-high 34 homers. Puckett wasn’t far behind; his OPS also crossed the .900 threshold. Puckett preferred a more democratic hit-oriented approach than his first-base counterpart, and the strategy fueled the first of four years leading the league in hits. That's not to say he was a slap-happy weakling; the 5'8" Puckett found a power stroke the previous season, lapping his previous career-high in homers by nearly eightfold while still hanging on to the batting average that made him fascinating in the first place. Tom Brunansky and Gary Gaetti bashed 32 and 31 home runs, respectively, giving the team a trio of boppers with at least 30 bombs in the season. 

The rest of the lineup… fluctuated. Leadoff duties were mainly split between Dan Gladden and Al Newman, neither of whom hit particularly well that season. Tom Nieto started as the everyday catcher before giving way to a Tim Laudner/Sal Butera combo of adroit defenders and painful hitters. The Roy Smalley and Gene Larkin DH duo proved ineffective enough to necessitate an early September move for former MVP Don Baylor one year before he called an end to his career. Greg Gagne, Randy Bush, and Steve Lombardozzi rounded Kelly’s unusual collection of batters. 

All in all, the team smoked the 8th-most homers in MLB, mainly thanks to their outstanding quartet of sluggers.

Pitching
Frank, Bert, and pray for rain isn’t a perfectly precise way to describe the starting rotation—Les Straker deserves credit for pitching at an above-average level—but… there’s a reason why 12 different arms earned a start in 1987. Even the 2023 Twins, a team nestled in the heart of the use-once-and-throw-away meta of pitching, only relied on 10 starters.

Viola was a tremendous ace; his Cy Young wouldn’t come until the following season, but his ERA+ of 159 was slightly better than the mark that earned him the award. What changed for the inconsistent but talented lefty? Bryan Lake, writing for SABR, explains that “Viola watched how his teammate, veteran righthander Bert Blyleven, handled adversity without changing his disposition, even when he gave up mammoth home runs. It made [him] think, “Why don’t I just take a lesson from this man?””*

When combined with a tweaked changeup, Viola laid waste to AL batters, striking out 197 hitters over 251 ⅔ innings.

Then there was Blyleven. The prodigal son returned to Minnesota in 1985, and while he was merely good, no longer superhuman, he could still gobble frames at an astounding rate. The effectiveness came with one downside: homers. The same curveball that eventually carried him to the hall of fame had a nasty habit of hanging out in the heart of the zone; Bert allowed 96 home runs combined between 1986 and 1987, with an unthinkable 50 of those homers leaving in 1986 alone—a major-league record. His 1987 season is 4th. 

This is where it gets bleak. Straker was serviceable, but Mike Smithson continued his multiple-year slide down the effectiveness slope, and Joe Niekro—when not getting caught for using an emery board—got knocked around with ease. The situation’s darkness necessitated a mid-season deal for another 42-year-old: Steve Carlton. “Lefty” would cruise into the Hall of Fame in a few years as one of the best starters to ever take a baseball mound, but in 1987, his stuff had as much bite as a platypus. His addition did not clarify the mess. 

The bullpen wasn’t better. An 8th-place finish in the Cy Young race masked the fact that All-Star Jeff Reardon had one of the worst years of his career; he just barely notched an above-average ERA while blowing 10 of his 41 save opportunities. Veterans George Frazier and Keith Atherton added ancillary support in the middle innings.

Perhaps Minnesota’s best relief weapon, though, was Juan Berenguer, aka Señor Smoke. The 32-year-old Berenguer joined the team the prior offseason, already laboring under “journeyman” pretenses. His Swiss-army versatility allowed Kelly to use him in any inning, or in any situation. That success begat a bloated September workload, where Berenguer totaled 19 ⅓ frames as the Twins frantically fought for a playoff spot. His 4.66 ERA wasn’t dominant, but the team went 8-5 in those games, providing just enough support to send the squad to the postseason.

Postseason
The Twins won only 85 games. Four other teams would have topped them in the East. None did so in the West. Thank God for mediocrity.

The division win set Minnesota up with a match against the Sparky Anderson Tigers three years removed from their brutal decimation of baseball’s very landscape, when they started the season 35-5, and never wavered through a near-perfect 7-1 playoff route. They weren’t quite as great in 1987, but they were still damn good: Alan Trammell finished 2nd in the MVP race with the most brilliant season his hall-of-fame career produced, Jack Morris was still a consistent All-Star and Cy Young threat, and armed with newcomer Doyle Alexander—who went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA after Detroit acquired him—the Tigers were formidable and frightening. 

And the Twins beat them 4-1 in a series that wasn’t ever close. 

Gary Gaetti belted a pair of identical homers off Alexander in a Game One victory, becoming the first player to hit homers in his first two postseason at-bats, and Bert Blyleven covered 7 ⅓ innings in a Game Two win.** Detroit exacted revenge off Reardon late in Game Three, but Minnesota cleaned up business in Game Four and Five to send the team to their first World Series in 22 years.

Their opponent? Perhaps the team that best embodied baseball in the 1980s—the Whitey Herzog Cardinals.

In an era of steals and defense, St. Louis ran the dominant strategy to perfection, unleashing hell on the bases with a dynamic trio of Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith, and Willie McGee. Coleman alone stole an unimaginable 109 bags in 1987. Pitchers were likely better off just allowing him to stroll to 3rd base. Once those men reached base, it was up to the perpetually underrated Jack Clark and future MVP Terry Pendleton to knock them in. They usually did exactly that. 

Their pitching staff wasn’t the greatest, but Danny Cox, Greg Mathews, Bob Forsch, Joe Magrane, and John Tudor usually kept it close enough for dynamite closer Todd Worrell to shut down games with ease.

Games One and Two were lopsided Twins victories. The team drew from the Metrodome’s primal energy all season, absorbing the raucous vigor and jubilant spirits of their fans to fuel a goliath 56-25 home record during the regular season. The World Series, evidently, was no different; Minnesota ambushed St. Louis’ starters early to give the team a dominating 2-0 series lead.

The Cardinals were not done: they bested Minnesota in the next three games, oscillating between late-inning squeakers and a crushing Game Four evisceration of Viola to suddenly take the series lead themselves, 3-2. 

And—just as they did all year—the Twins used their Metrodome mojo to fight back. Tim McCarver astutely noted before Minnesota's return home that he couldn't "really think of a team since the 1961 Yankees who [had] more of a home-field advantage than the Minnesota Twins."*** The series may have pointed towards a St. Louis advantage, but make no mistake: the magic, unseen forces that moved baseball were set to halt their momentum and give the home team the edge. 

Hrbek blasted an iconic grand slam to center in Game Six to give his team more than enough insurance to fend off elimination for one more day. Then, the lefty ace they relied on all year turned in one final masterpiece: a Game 7 performance only topped by Morris four years later.*** He suffocated the Cardinals over eight dominant innings as Minnesota sprinkled enough runs throughout the game to finally claim the first World Series win for the team since they became the Twins in 1961.

Viola was an easy choice for the World Series MVP.

Concluding Thoughts
To start: yes, this team was lucky. There’s no defending a squad that was outscored in the regular season and only got their shot because the rest of the AL West decided to take a gap year 

However, I think it would be irresponsible to call their playoff run a product of fortune. The “two aces and power bats” strategy has been a proven winner throughout the years. Viola and Blyleven started nine of the 12 games they played, making the Niekros and Carltons who dragged down their regular season stats irrelevant. The only real shock is that it was Steve Lombardozzi, of all people, who led the hitters in championship WPA for the series, somehow improving their odds by 12.98%. He barely hit in the regular season but clocked a .412 batting average in the World Series! That’s baseball.

This was probably the hardest team for me to rank. They forced me to dig at and interrogate the concept of “greatest” in a way that no other team really did. For as good as other, more winning squads were, some just weren’t as set up to win in the playoffs as the 87 team was—mainly because they lacked a true game-altering ace like Frank Viola. Anyway, I think this is the correct ranking, but I easily see this being the team that sparks the most debate. Perhaps that's a good thing. It’s no fun if we think we fully understand what we see.

"Two aces and a powerful lineup, just enough Jeff Reardon to overcome a Cardinals team with nothing left." -Hans Birkeland

"This was an 85-win team with a negative run differential. Magic? Most definitely. Perhaps the No. 1 team/season in terms of pure enjoyment." -Tom Froemming

"Arguably the most surprising World Series-winning team ever. This is when Frank Viola was a true Cy Young candidate (he eventually won in '88). This is in contention with the Bomba Squad in being the most fun team in Twins history, and they have a World Series trophy to show for it." -Cody Schoenmann

Previous Entries
#10 - 2010
#9 - 2023
#8 - 2002
#7 - 1970
#6 - 2019
#5 - 2006
#4 - 1969
Honorable Mentions                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Sources

Lake, Bryan, "https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/frank-viola/," SABR, 2020.

Halsed, Alex, "100 Things Twins Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die," Triumph Books, Chicago, 2016.

Gleeman, Aaron, "The Big 50: The Men and Moments That Made the Minnesota Twins," Triumph Books, Chicago, 2018.

View full article

[tony&rodney]

1987 was a fun season for Twins fans. Sitting a row in front of Lou Brock near the dugout along the third base line for Game One and Two of the World Series was a real treat for me. 

Despite the joy of those games and the first World Series win for the Twins, that '87 squad wasn't among the greatest of Twins teams from my perspective. Naturally, all personal definitions of greatest are personal, welcome and purely subjective. Mine too. Winning cannot be the be all, end all. Winning is the goal, for sure, but so many factors are well beyond any individual or team control and fate does play a roll as well. We should also remember that 1985, 1986, and 1987 were years where MLB owners were found guilty of collusion. Stuff happens and '87 was a glorious run for our Twins. Yet just how the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals or 2014 San Francisco Giants were elated to win the World Series, those victories don't necessarily put those teams among their best in franchise history.

[Doctor Gast]

The '87 team probally didn't have greatest production of other Twins teams but I still ranked them the best because they were scrappy. They won the close games when they had to, they reached down & won the games they had to. They did everything they could to finally get the monkey off MN's back. My best memory of being a Twins fan.

#1 '87

#2 '91

#3 '65

[theBOMisthebomb]

Ok, I'll take the bait. The 1987 Twins should be number 2 on this list. They won the World Series for goodness' sake. I don't think anyone is going to debate that 1987 was a better regular season team than 1965. You can take your consolation prize. I'll take Kirby, Herbie, and the Sweet Music of a World Series championship. 

[TopGunn#22]

I understand where tony&rodney is coming from and I agree with his assessment.  The 1987 team was special.  They were the first World Series Championship team the Twins had.  But the debate about greatest ever teams is always done with a world championship as a secondary consideration.

It's why, even if the Vikings had won a Super Bowl in one of their appearances, we would still be debating if the 1975 or 1998 or 2009 team was their greatest.  It's primarily a statistical debate regarding won-loss record and other stats like team offense versus defense and such.  It's a debate that looks backward and considers the team "on paper."  We know teams don't win championships "on paper."  But that's what we debate when we talk of "greatest teams."  

This is why I feel the 1987 Twins, despite their magic, were not as good as some of the other teams we've considered.  We talk about the Twins having two Aces in 1987.  They didn't.  They had ONE.  Frank Viola.  Bert Blyleven had a 15-12 record with a 4.01 ERA.  He gave up over 40HR's and walked over 100 batters.  He was getting by on guile and guts.  His "stats" were not those of an Ace.  Outside of Viola and Reardon, none of their pitchers were the least bit dependable.

The offense had power and could score runs and the defense was pretty darn good.  Hrbek, Gagne and Gaetti were Gold Glove caliber even though East Coast bias robbed them of Gold Gloves.  Puckett was a Gold Glove CF and Bruno was solid in RF.  Yet, teams scored more runs on the Twins than their vaunted offense scored.

1987 was MAGICAL.  But we're not debating "magic."  

[theBOMisthebomb]

18 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

I understand where tony&rodney is coming from and I agree with his assessment.  The 1987 team was special.  They were the first World Series Championship team the Twins had.  But the debate about greatest ever teams is always done with a world championship as a secondary consideration.

It's why, even if the Vikings had won a Super Bowl in one of their appearances, we would still be debating if the 1975 or 1998 or 2009 team was their greatest.  It's primarily a statistical debate regarding won-loss record and other stats like team offense versus defense and such.  It's a debate that looks backward and considers the team "on paper."  We know teams don't win championships "on paper."  But that's what we debate when we talk of "greatest teams."  

This is why I feel the 1987 Twins, despite their magic, were not as good as some of the other teams we've considered.  We talk about the Twins having two Aces in 1987.  They didn't.  They had ONE.  Frank Viola.  Bert Blyleven had a 15-12 record with a 4.01 ERA.  He gave up over 40HR's and walked over 100 batters.  He was getting by on guile and guts.  His "stats" were not those of an Ace.  Outside of Viola and Reardon, none of their pitchers were the least bit dependable.

The offense had power and could score runs and the defense was pretty darn good.  Hrbek, Gagne and Gaetti were Gold Glove caliber even though East Coast bias robbed them of Gold Gloves.  Puckett was a Gold Glove CF and Bruno was solid in RF.  Yet, teams scored more runs on the Twins than their vaunted offense scored.

1987 was MAGICAL.  But we're not debating "magic."  

Using the criteria of "...a world championship as a secondary consideration", 1987 barely cracks the top 10. 

I'll take the rings. The 1987 team was the second best of the "Greatest Twins Teams of All Time". 

[mnfireman]

If you can seriously say that a championship winning team is not among the best of all time in a franchise's history, then I have no words to describe your doucheness. The '87 team would of course beat the '65 team because most of those guys would have been in their late 40's and 50's, clearly past their baseball prime...

[tony&rodney]

11 hours ago, mnfireman said:

If you can seriously say that a championship winning team is not among the best of all time in a franchise's history, then I have no words to describe your doucheness. The '87 team would of course beat the '65 team because most of those guys would have been in their late 40's and 50's, clearly past their baseball prime...

Relax dude. The entire series is just to get people to think about past Twins teams and any list is merely based on individual thoughts about a particular squad in comparison to the other choices. There is no reward or treat for picking and I don't believe the author intended folks to get pissy about whether anyone had ideas that may not align with his own. 

[jmlease1]

The '87 team really is the hardest one to rank. Because they were deeply flawed and fortunate to get hot at the right time and compete in a soft division. When they faced the Cardinals, StL was missing Jack Clark and Pendleton didn't play much in the series (only 3 out of the 7 games and 7 total ABs). Clark was easily their best hitter and Pendleton was important too. It's the luckiest team in Twins history.

But they won the title. And that's a massive thing. You need to get a little lucky (most of the time) to win a title. And sometimes teams make their own luck. Gagne, Gladden, Brunansky, and Gaetti carried them against Detroit while the pitching was good enough. Viola, Blyleven, and Reardon were all great in the WS and Puckett, Gladden, Lombardozzi, and Gaetti were all hitting (and thank you Don Baylor who was great in the postseason). Timing. Magic. Luck. Winning.

seems like the right spot.

[DocBauer]

Definitely hard to rank accurately. There was a lot of talent on that team, it just didn't run deep and relied on a lot of role players. Though they did their job for sure. Everyone contributed and they beat teams that were considered "better". 

Considering the characters on that team, the number of home grown players, the mostly horrible seasons that transpired previously, and the final result, it's hard not to just love this team and rank them this high.

But if we're really going to give weight to baseball romance and winning the WS, they should be #2 behind the 1991 team.

If we just look at wins and losses and even a breakdown of even simple numbers...run differential just for an example...the '87 squad should be dropped down the list at least a handful of spots, despite winning the Minnesota Twins 1st championship. 

No matter what, it was a magical season. And I still remember shedding a couple tears when the final out came.

So maybe we just play both sides of the aisles, consider record, the WS, and the baseball romance, and just say #3 is fine when you put it all together.

[mnfireman]

12 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Relax dude. The entire series is just to get people to think about past Twins teams and any list is merely based on individual thoughts about a particular squad in comparison to the other choices. There is no reward or treat for picking and I don't believe the author intended folks to get pissy about whether anyone had ideas that may not align with his own. 

Re-read what I said, maybe you need to relax a bit. Or maybe you are as much of a douche as I think you are. I was not getting pissy about the authors POV, I was making a light-hearted joke about the '87 team being able to beat the '65 team because the guys from '65 would be too old to compete with them. Like they say, jokes are less funny when they have to be explained...