1988 Kansas City Royals season

1988 Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Royals Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners	Ewing Kauffman
General managers	John Schuerholz
Managers	John Wathan
Television	WDAF-TV (Paul Splittorff, Denny Trease)
Radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
← 1987 Seasons 1989 →

The 1988 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing third in the American League West with a record of 84 wins and 77 losses.

• November 6, 1987: Danny Jackson and Angel Salazar are traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Kurt Stillwell and Ted Power.^[1]
• December 10, 1987: Mélido Pérez, John Davis, Greg Hibbard, and Chuck Mount (minors) were traded by the Royals to the Chicago White Sox for Floyd Bannister and Dave Cochrane.^[2]

• On Opening Day, the Royals faced the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays' George Bell set a record for the most home runs hit on Opening Day with three.^[3]

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	104	58	.642	—	54‍–‍27	50‍–‍31
Minnesota Twins	91	71	.562	13	47‍–‍34	44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals	84	77	.522	19½	44‍–‍36	40‍–‍41
California Angels	75	87	.463	29	35‍–‍46	40‍–‍41
Chicago White Sox	71	90	.441	32½	40‍–‍41	31‍–‍49
Texas Rangers	70	91	.435	33½	38‍–‍43	32‍–‍48
Seattle Mariners	68	93	.422	35½	37‍–‍44	31‍–‍49

1988 American League record v t e 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	—

• May 13, 1988: Bill Buckner was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[4]
• May 27, 1988: Steve Balboni was released by the Royals.^[5]
• June 1, 1988: 1988 Major League Baseball draft
  • Bob Hamelin was drafted by the Royals in the 2nd round. Player signed June 11, 1988.^[6]
  • Kerwin Moore was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round. Player signed June 3, 1988.^[7]
• June 3, 1988: Bud Black was traded by the Royals to the Cleveland Indians for Pat Tabler.^[8]
• August 31, 1988: Ted Power was traded by the Royals to the Detroit Tigers for Rey Palacios and Mark Lee.^[9]

1988 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 17 Rick Anderson 27 Luis Aquino 19 Floyd Bannister 40 Bud Black 54 José DeJesús 26 Steve Farr 31 Gene Garber 39 Jerry Don Gleaton 36 Tom Gordon 23 Mark Gubicza 35 Mark Lee 37 Charlie Leibrandt 21 Jeff Montgomery 48 Ted Power 29 Dan Quisenberry 18 Bret Saberhagen 31 Israel Sánchez		Catchers  7 Ed Hearn  8 Mike Macfarlane 38 Scotti Madison 24 Larry Owen 29 Rey Palacios  9 Jamie Quirk Infielders 45 Steve Balboni  5 George Brett 14 Bill Buckner 51 Luis de los Santos  2 Dave Owen 32 Bill Pecota 33 Kevin Seitzer  1 Kurt Stillwell  3 Brad Wellman 20 Frank White		Outfielders 27 Thad Bosley 34 Nick Capra 22 Jim Eisenreich 16 Bo Jackson 30 Pat Tabler  4 Danny Tartabull 25 Gary Thurman  6 Willie Wilson		Manager 12 John Wathan Coaches 32 Frank Funk 41 Adrian Garrett 28 Mike Lum 46 Ed Napoleon 42 Bob Schaefer 44 Jimmie Schaffer

1988 regular season game log: 84–77 (Home: 44–36; Away: 40–44)
April: 12–10 (Home: 6–3; Away: 6–7) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Box/ Streak
May: 11–17 (Home: 4–12; Away: 7–5) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Box/ Streak
June: 17–10 (Home: 9–4; Away: 8–6) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Box/ Streak
July: 12–15 (Home: 6–5; Away: 6–10) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Box/ Streak
August: 18–10 (Home: 13–5; Away: 5–5) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Box/ Streak
September: 16–12 (Home: 6–5; Away: 10–7) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Box/ Streak
October: 0–2 (Home: 0–2; Away: 0–0) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Box/ Streak
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Royals team member

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	Mike Macfarlane	70	211	56	.265	4	26
1B	George Brett	157	589	180	.306	24	103
2B	Frank White	150	537	126	.235	8	58
SS	Kurt Stillwell	128	459	115	.251	10	53
3B	Kevin Seitzer	149	559	170	.304	5	60
LF	Bo Jackson	124	439	108	.246	25	68
CF	Willie Wilson	147	591	155	.262	1	37
RF	Danny Tartabull	146	507	139	.274	26	102
DH	Bill Buckner	89	242	62	.256	3	34

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
Pat Tabler	89	301	93	.309	1	49
Jim Eisenreich	82	202	44	.218	1	19
Jamie Quirk	84	196	47	.240	8	25
Bill Pecota	90	178	37	.208	1	15
Brad Wellman	71	107	29	.271	1	6
Larry Owen	37	81	17	.210	1	3
Gary Thurman	35	66	11	.167	0	2
Steve Balboni	21	63	9	.143	2	5
Scotti Madison	16	35	6	.171	0	2
Nick Capra	14	29	4	.138	0	0
Luis de los Santos	11	22	2	.091	0	1
Thad Bosley	15	21	4	.190	0	2
Ed Hearn	7	18	4	.222	0	1
Rey Palacios	5	11	1	.091	0	0
Dave Owen	7	5	0	.000	0	0

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mark Gubicza	35	269.2	20	8	2.70	183
Bret Saberhagen	35	260.2	14	16	3.80	171
Charlie Leibrandt	35	243.0	13	12	3.19	125
Floyd Bannister	31	189.1	12	13	4.33	113

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Ted Power	22	80.1	5	6	5.94	44
Rick Anderson	7	34.0	2	1	4.24	9
Luis Aquino	7	29.0	1	0	2.79	11
Tom Gordon	5	15.2	0	2	5.17	18
José DeJesús	2	2.2	0	1	27.00	2

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Steve Farr	62	5	4	20	2.50	72
Jeff Montgomery	45	7	2	1	3.45	47
Jerry Don Gleaton	42	0	4	3	3.55	29
Gene Garber	26	0	4	6	3.58	20
Dan Quisenberry	20	0	1	1	3.55	9
Israel Sánchez	19	3	2	1	4.54	14
Bud Black	17	2	1	0	4.91	19
Mark Lee	4	0	0	0	3.60	0

• George Brett, Silver Slugger Award
• Willie Wilson, American League Leader, Triples^[10]
• Willie Wilson, Tied Sam Crawford's American League record, Leading AL in Triples five times^[10]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Glenn Ezell
AA	Memphis Chicks	Southern League	Sal Rende
A	Baseball City Royals	Florida State League	Luis Silverio
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Brian Poldberg
A-Short Season	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	P. K. Kirsch
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Carlos Tosca

^[11]

• 1988 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1988 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac