IN THE NEWS: Don Mattingly sets a Yankees record with his 232nd hit of the season in a 6–1 win over the Red Sox, eclipsing the mark set by Earle Combs in 1927. Mattingly will finish the season with 238 hits and a .352 batting average.
Mike Scott strikes out eight Giants in a 2–1 Astros victory to run his season total to 306, joining Sandy Koufax and J.R. Richard as the only National League pitchers to fan 300 batters in one season. Scott loses his bid for a 2nd consecutive no-hitter when Will Clark doubles in the 7th inning.
The Kansas City Royals claim Jim Eisenreich off the waiver list. He's been out of organized baseball for the past two seasons because of Tourette's Syndrome after appearing in 46 games with The Twins in 1982-84.
IN THE NEWS: On the next-to-last day of the season, Dave Righetti saves both ends of the Yankees doubleheader sweep of the Red Sox to give him a ML-record 46 saves. Bruce Sutter and Dan Quisenberry had shared the record with 45.
At the Metrodome, the Twins Greg Gagne lines a 2nd inning inside-the-park homer off Chicago's Floyd Bannister. In his next at bat, there are two runners on when he repeats, again off Bannister, to tie the American League record. Gagne almost sets a 20th-century record with a third IPHR, but settles for a triple.
Playing for the Indians, Forty-seven-year old Phil Niekro "steals" the first base of his career. With the Tribe at bat in the 8th inning, behind 5–2 against Seattle, there is a runner on 1B when Niekro, wearing a red bandanna over his face, lumbers out of the Cleveland dugout. He rambles towards 2B, diving in headfirst, and ump Vic Voltaggio signals safe. To the delight of the fans, "Knucks" rips the bag out of the ground and triumphantly returns to the dugout with his first steal.
IN THE NEWS: Houston takes a 1–0 lead over the Mets in the NLCS as Mike Scott ties the NLCS record with 14 strikeouts. Glenn Davis' 2nd-inning solo home run off Dwight Gooden is the game's only run.
Angel errors and a lost fly ball in the late-afternoon sun hand the Red Sox a 9–2 victory in game 2.
IN THE NEWS: Trailing 3–0 entering the bottom of the 9th inning, California rallies for three runs off Roger Clemens and Calvin Schiraldi, and goes on to defeat the Red Sox 4–3 in 11 innings to take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS.
Len Dykstra's 2-run home run off Dave Smith with one out in the bottom of the 9th gives the Mets a 6–5 win over the Astros and a 2-1 lead in the NLCS.
IN THE NEWS: One loss away from elimination and trailing 5–2 entering the 9th, the Red Sox stage one of the most improbable comebacks in post-season history winning 7–6 over the Angels in 11 innings. After Don Baylor's 9th-inning home run reduces the deficit to 5–4, reserve outfielder Dave Henderson slugs a 2-out, 2-run home run off Donnie Moore to give Boston a 6–5 lead. California ties the score with a run in the bottom of the 9th but Henderson, who had appeared to be the goat when he dropped Bobby Grich's long fly ball over the fence for a home run in the 7th inning, delivers a sacrifice fly in the 11th for the winning run.
Mike Scott baffles the Mets for a 2nd time, yielding only three hits in a 3–1 Astros victory.
Norm Cash, the 1961 American League batting champion, drowns in Lake Michigan, a victim of a boating accident. He was 51.
IN THE NEWS: Boston scores five in the 3rd to beat California 10–4. The ALCS series is now tied at three apiece.
Breaking out of a 1-for-21 slump, Mets C Gary Carter drives in the winning run of the Mets 2–1 win in the bottom of the 12th, rendering meaningless Nolan Ryan's nine innings of 2-hit, 12-strikeout pitching.
IN THE NEWS: In the longest game in post-season history, the Mets beat the Astros 7–6 in 16 innings to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1973. New York scores three runs in the top of the 9th to force extra innings. The Mets score three more runs in the top of the 16th and Houston answers with two of its own before Jesse Orosco fans Kevin Bass to end the game.
Boston routs California 8–1 in the 7th game of the ALCS and advances to the World Series. The game caps yet another heartbreaking failure for Angels skipper Gene Mauch, who in game five was one strike away from reaching his first World Series in 25 seasons as a ML manager. After the game, veteran 2B Bobby Grich retires.
IN THE NEWS: Len Dykstra's leadoff home run helps Bob Ojeda beat his old team 7–1 to give the Mets their first win. The Sox now lead in the World Series, 2–1.
IN THE NEWS: Bill Russell, 38, announces his retirement. He was the last member of the Dodgers Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey infield and is 2nd on the club's all-time games-played list with 2,183.
IN THE NEWS: Trailing 5–3 with two out and no one on base in the bottom of the 10th inning, New York rallies to win game six of the World Series 6–5 and force a deciding 7th game. After Gary Carter, Kevin Mitchell, and Ray Knight single, Bob Stanley uncorks a wild pitch that permits the tying run to score, and a hobbled Bill Buckner lets Mookie Wilson's slow bouncer skip through his legs, allowing Knight to score the winning run. Reliever Calvin Schiraldi absorbs the loss.
IN THE NEWS: The Mets win game seven of the World Series 8–5 at Shea Stadium. 3B Ray Knight, whose leadoff home run off Calvin Schiraldi in the 7th inning, triggers a 3-run rally, is named MVP. Schiraldi is pinned with his 2nd straight loss, the only pitcher ever to lose games six and 7.
IN THE NEWS: Padres pitcher LaMarr Hoyt is arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border for possession of illegal drugs, the 3rd time he has been arrested on drug charges. He will be sentenced to 45 days in jail on December 16th.
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