| 1986 California Angels | ||
|---|---|---|
| American League West Champions | ||
| League | American League | |
| Division | West | |
| Ballpark | Anaheim Stadium | |
| City | Anaheim, California | |
| Owners | Gene Autry | |
| General managers | Mike Port | |
| Managers | Gene Mauch | |
| Television | KTLA (Joe Torre, Bob Starr) | |
| Radio | KMPC (Ron Fairly, Al Conin) XPRS (Ruben Valentin, Ulpiano Cos Villa) | |
| ||
The 1986 California Angels season was the franchise's 26th season and ended with the Angels losing the American League Championship Series in dramatic fashion.
The regular season ended with the Angels finishing first in the American League West with a record of 92–70, earning the franchise's third division title. After jumping to a 3–1 series lead over the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-seven ALCS, the Angels blew a 3-run lead in the ninth inning of Game 5 that included giving up a two-out, two-strike home run to Boston's Dave Henderson (in other words, the Angels were 1 strike away from the World Series). The Angels went on to lose Game 5 in extra innings, and eventually lost the next two games and the series.
After 1986, the Angels went into a lengthy playoff drought, not returning to the postseason until their championship season of 2002 (though they did come close in 1995). They would not win a division title again until 2004.