Eckersley’s four LCS saves set postseason record

At the start of the 1988 season, Dennis Eckersley’s career was at a crossroads as he transitioned into a new short relief role pioneered by Athletics manager Tony La Russa.

Six months later, Eckersley pitched Oakland into the World Series – saving every game of the American League Championship Series en route to Most Valuable Player honors.

The Athletics clinched the AL pennant on Oct. 9, 1988, with a 4-1 win over the Red Sox. Eckersley saved that game as he had the three previous contests, working a total of six innings while allowing just one hit and two walks.

“This is the best I’ve felt in my life,” Eckersley told United Press International after becoming the first pitcher in history to record four saves in a postseason series. “I didn’t think this would happen to me.”

Traded to the A’s from the Cubs on April 3, 1987, along with Dan Rohn in exchange for three minor leaguers, Eckersley had totaled 151 wins over 12 big league seasons to that point. But he was coming off a 6-11 campaign with Chicago and was sent to the bullpen by La Russa and his pitching coach, Dave Duncan. Starting out the season as a middle reliever, Eckersley found his rhythm with a strike-throwing approach that kept batters constantly behind in the count.

By June, La Russa had made Eckersley his primary reliever – a role that soon evolved into a one-inning specialist. Eckersley finished the season with a 6-8 record and 16 saves.

Then in 1988, Eckersley saved 45 games – one short of the then-single season record held by Dave Righetti – as Oakland won the AL West title. Eckersley was 4-2 with a 2.35 ERA in 60 games, locking down win after win as bullpen mates Greg Cadaret, Rick Honeycutt, Gene Nelson and Eric Plunk set the table in complimentary roles.

In the ALCS, Honeycutt won Game 1 as Oakland prevailed 2-1 and then Nelson picked up victories in Games 2 and 3. By the time Eckersley got Jody Reed to pop to second base to end Game 4, Eckersley had established himself as the game’s best closer – and was on his way to a plaque in Cooperstown after becoming the first reliever with four saves in one postseason series.

“I was so pumped up, it didn’t matter what stuff I had,” said Eckersley, who gave La Russa even more bullpen depth by working two innings in both Game 1 and Game 3. “I haven’t pitched this much this year. I’m glad we’re not playing (the) day after tomorrow because I need a rest.”

The victory gave the Athletics five days off heading into the World Series against Los Angeles. In Game 1, Kirk Gibson came off the Dodgers’ bench to homer with one on and two outs in the ninth against Eckersley, turning a 4-3 Oakland lead into a 5-4 Los Angeles win that set the tone for the series.

But Eckersley and the Athletics rebounded from that loss to claim the World Series title in 1989, and Eckersley pitched through the 1998 season, totaling 390 saves – all but three of which came after 1986.

Eckersley was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004.

“What he’s doing right now,” fellow pitcher Jerry Reuss said during Eckersley’s early days as a reliever, “is setting new parameters for relief pitchers to come. He’s going to set the standard by which everyone else is compared.”

Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum