The Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals were teams built for their homefield. The Twins had power, well-suited to the hitter-friendly atmosphere at the Metrodome. The Cardinals, playing in what was then an artificial turf-covered Busch Stadium with deep dimensions, were constructed on speed. It’s appropriate that when these contrasting teams met in the 1987 […]
In the 21st century, the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants are arguably baseball’s two pre-eminent franchises. They’ve combined for seven National League pennants and four World Series titles. On three occasions (2002, 2012 & 2014) they’ve gone head-to-head in the postseason. That wasn’t the case when they met in the 1987 NLCS and […]
The Minnesota Twins were an 85-win team, one of the worst to ever reach the League Championship Series round in 1987. The Detroit Tigers had the best record in baseball and were fresh off winning an epic divisional race against the second-best team, the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s natural that the Minnesota-Detroit matchup in the […]
It been nearly twenty years since the good people of the Twin Cities had experienced postseason baseball. It had been a little longer—22 years—since they had reached the World Series. And they had never seen their franchise win it all. The 1987 Minnesota Twins changed all of that with an improbable run to a World […]
The Seattle Seahawks were a steady, if unspectacular contender through much of the 1980s. They made the playoffs in 1983 and 1984. Even though 1985 and 1986 were non-playoff years they still produced a combined record of 18-14. The 1987 Seattle Seahawks fit into the general pattern, as they returned the postseason and then lost […]
The 1987 Cleveland Browns came into the season off consecutive playoff appearances, but with each one ending in heartbreak. In 1985, they lost an AFC divisional round game in Miami after leading 21-3. In 1986, they lost an AFC Championship Game at home to Denver when the Broncos drove 98 yards in the final five […]
The 1987 Denver Broncos gave their fans a season much like the one they saw in 1986. For the most part, that was extremely good. There was a run to the playoffs, a great year from quarterback John Elway and a thrilling victory in the AFC Championship Game. Unfortunately the ending was also familiar with […]
The 1987 St. Louis Cardinals were a team with some amends to make. They were coming off a horrid run of a year plus ten innings. It went back to the 1985 World Series when, on the verge of a championship in Game 6, a bad umpire’s call triggered a ninth-inning collapse and they melted […]
After winning Super Bowl titles of 1981 and 1984 and reaching the NFC Championship Game in 1983, the San Francisco 49ers weren’t accustomed to early playoff exits. That’s what happened to them in 1985 and 1986, as they were twice handled by the New York Giants. After the 1987 San Francisco 49ers had a fantastic […]
The city of New Orleans got an NFL franchise in 1967 and for two decades experienced what can be described as mediocrity—if you’re being nice. After twenty years they had never made the playoffs, not even had so much as a winning season. They’d only finished .500 twice. The 1987 New Orleans Saints ended all […]
The 1987 New York Mets came into the season feeling like a dynasty might be at hand. They had won an epic World Series title in 1986, the culmination of a three-year building program under manager Davey Johnson that included strong seasons in 1984 and 1985. They were both young and established and were widely […]
From 1985-92, the Toronto Blue Jays were defined by close-but-no-cigar and questions about whether they could take the final step and win a championship. There was a crushing ALCS loss in 1985 and subsequent playoff losses in 1989 and 1991. The 1987 Toronto Blue Jays fit squarely in that tradition, as one of the best […]
