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1988 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1988 Milwaukee Brewers season was the 19th season for the Brewers in Milwaukee, and their 20th overall. The Brewers finished third in the American League East with a record of 87 wins and 75 losses. During the franchise's 25-year playoff draught from 1983-2007, 1988 tied with 2007 with 2 games back as the closest the team came to making the playoffs.

Offseason

  • November 11, 1987: Bryan Clutterbuck was signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers. [1]
  • November 11, 1987: Bill Mooneyham was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.[2]
  • January 19, 1988: Ronn Reynolds was signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers.[3]

Regular season

  • April 4, 1988: The largest margin of victory in a shutout win on Opening Day was the Brewers' 12-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles in 1988.[4]
  • April 19, 1988: The Orioles tied the 1904 Washington Senators and the 1920 Detroit Tigers for most losses to start the season with 13 losses after being beaten by the Brewers, 9-5, in Milwaukee.[5]
  • April 20, 1988: On a cold, wet night, 7,284 witnessed baseball history at Milwaukee's County Stadium. Baltimore became the first team in the 120-odd years of major league baseball to start the season 0-14 as the Brewers won, 8-6.[5]
  • June 12, 1988: Robin Yount had 6 RBIs in a game against the Baltimore Orioles.

Season standings

AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Red Sox 89 73 .549 — 53‍–‍28 36‍–‍45
Detroit Tigers 88 74 .543 1 50‍–‍31 38‍–‍43
Milwaukee Brewers 87 75 .537 2 47‍–‍34 40‍–‍41
Toronto Blue Jays 87 75 .537 2 45‍–‍36 42‍–‍39
New York Yankees 85 76 .528 3½ 46‍–‍34 39‍–‍42
Cleveland Indians 78 84 .481 11 44‍–‍37 34‍–‍47
Baltimore Orioles 54 107 .335 34½ 34‍–‍46 20‍–‍61

Record vs. opponents

1988 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 4–9 5–7 4–7 4–9 5–8 0–12 4–9 3–9 3–10 4–8 7–5 6–6 5–8
Boston 9–4 — 8–4 7–5 8–5 6–7 6–6 10–3 7–5 9–4 3–9 6–6 8–4 2–11
California 7–5 4–8 — 9–4 8–4 5–7 5–8 3–9 4–9 6–6 4–9 6–7 8–5 6–6
Chicago 7–4 5–7 4–9 — 3–9 3–9 7–6 6–6 4–9 3–9 5–8 9–4 8–5 7–5
Cleveland 9–4 5–8 4–8 9–3 — 4–9 6–6 9–4 5–7 6–7 4–8 5–7 6–6 6–7
Detroit 8–5 7–6 7–5 9–3 9–4 — 8–4 5–8 1–11 8–5 4–8 9–3 8–4 5–8
Kansas City 12–0 6–6 8–5 6–7 6–6 4–8 — 3–9 7–6 6–6 8–5 7–5 7–6 4–8
Milwaukee 9–4 3–10 9–3 6–6 4–9 8–5 9–3 — 7–5 6–7 3–9 8–4 8–4 7–6
Minnesota 9–3 5–7 9–4 9–4 7–5 11–1 6–7 5–7 — 3–9 5–8 8–5 7–6 7–5
New York 10–3 4–9 6–6 9–3 7–6 5–8 6–6 7–6 9–3 — 6–6 5–7 5–6 6–7
Oakland 8–4 9–3 9–4 8–5 8–4 8–4 5–8 9–3 8–5 6–6 — 9–4 8–5 9–3
Seattle 5–7 6–6 7–6 4–9 7–5 3–9 5–7 4–8 5–8 7–5 4–9 — 6–7 5–7
Texas 6–6 4–8 5–8 5–8 6–6 4–8 6–7 4–8 6–7 6–5 5–8 7–6 — 6–6
Toronto 8–5 11–2 6–6 5–7 7–6 8–5 8–4 6–7 5–7 7–6 3–9 7–5 6–6 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1988 Milwaukee Brewers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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 B. J. Surhoff 139 493 121 .245 5 38
1B Greg Brock 115 364 77 .212 6 50
2B Jim Gantner 155 539 149 .276 0 47
SS Dale Sveum 129 467 113 .242 9 51
3B Paul Molitor 154 609 190 .312 13 60
LF Jeffrey Leonard 94 374 88 .235 8 44
CF Robin Yount 162 621 190 .306 13 91
RF Rob Deer 135 492 124 .252 23 85
DH Joey Meyer 103 327 86 .263 11 45

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
Glenn Braggs 72 272 71 .261 10 42
Ernest Riles 41 127 32 .252 1 9
Bill Schroeder 41 122 19 .156 5 10
Charlie O'Brien 40 118 26 .220 2 9
Darryl Hamilton 44 103 19 .184 1 11
Jim Adduci 44 94 25 .266 1 15
Billy Jo Robidoux 33 91 23 .253 0 5
Juan Castillo 54 90 20 .222 0 2
Mike Felder 50 81 14 .173 0 5
Gary Sheffield 24 80 19 .238 4 12
Mike Young 8 14 0 .000 0 0
Steve Kiefer 7 10 3 .300 1 1

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
Teddy Higuera 31 227.1 16 9 2.45 192
Bill Wegman 32 199.0 13 13 4.12 84
Don August 24 148.1 13 7 3.09 66
Mike Birkbeck 23 124.0 10 8 4.72 64
Tom Filer 19 101.2 5 8 4.43 39

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
Chris Bosio 38 182.0 7 15 3.36 84
Juan Nieves 25 110.1 7 5 4.08 73

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
Dan Plesac 50 1 2 30 2.41 52
Chuck Crim 70 7 6 9 2.91 58
Paul Mirabella 38 2 2 4 1.65 33
Odell Jones 28 5 0 1 4.35 48
Mark Clear 25 1 0 0 2.79 26
Dave Stapleton 6 0 0 0 5.93 6
Mark Knudson 5 0 0 0 1.13 7

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

The Brewers' farm system consisted of six minor league affiliates in 1988.[9] The AZL Brewers won the Arizona League championship.[10]

Level Team League Manager
Triple-A Denver Zephyrs American Association Duffy Dyer
Double-A El Paso Diablos Texas League Dave Machemer
Class A Stockton Ports California League Dave Huppert
Class A Beloit Brewers Midwest League Gomer Hodge
Rookie AZL Brewers Arizona League Alex Taveras
Rookie Helena Brewers Pioneer League Dusty Rhodes

Notes

  1. ^ "Bryan Clutterbuck: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  2. ^ Bill Mooneyham at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ "Ronn Reynolds Stats".
  4. ^ SI.com – Statitudes: Opening Day 2002, By the Numbers – Sunday March 30, 2003 01:50 AM
  5. ^ a b Washingtonpost.com: The 1988 Orioles: And the Losing Goes On
  6. ^ Pat Listach at Baseball-Reference
  7. ^ Mike Ignasiak at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ Ernest Riles at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ "1988 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  10. ^ "1988 Arizona League Standings". Stats Crew. Retrieved December 9, 2020.

References