The 1988 to 1990 Oakland A's won three straight AL pennants behind Canseco and McGwire. Records, awards, World Series results and Hall of Famers.
Quick answer: From 1988 through 1990, the Oakland A's under Tony La Russa won three straight American League pennants, going 104-58, 99-63 and 103-59. Built around the Bash Brothers, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, they lost the 1988 World Series to the Dodgers, swept the Giants in 1989, and were swept by the Reds in 1990.
Who Were the Bash Brothers?
The Bash Brothers were Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, the power pair in the middle of the A's lineup. Both won the American League Rookie of the Year award in back-to-back seasons: Canseco in 1986 and McGwire in 1987, when he hit 49 home runs with a .618 slugging percentage, per Baseball-Reference's Rookie of the Year list. Shortstop Walt Weiss then won it in 1988, giving Oakland three straight AL Rookies of the Year.
The power was real across the whole run. In 1988 Canseco hit 42 home runs and McGwire hit 32. In 1990 McGwire hit 39 and Canseco hit 37. Around them, general manager Sandy Alderson and La Russa assembled a deep rotation led by Dave Stewart, a lockdown bullpen anchored by Dennis Eckersley, and, from mid-1989 on, Rickey Henderson at the top of the order.
How Good Were the 1988 A's?
The 1988 A's went 104-58 and won the AL West, according to Baseball-Reference's 1988 A's page. Canseco had one of the most famous seasons in franchise history: a .307 average, 42 home runs, 124 RBI and 40 stolen bases. When he stole his 40th base on September 23, he became the first player in major league history with 40 home runs and 40 steals in the same season, as the SABR Games Project documents.
The awards followed. Canseco was the unanimous AL MVP, receiving all 28 first-place votes, Weiss was Rookie of the Year, and La Russa was AL Manager of the Year, per the 1988 awards voting. Eckersley saved 45 games with a 2.35 ERA and finished second in the Cy Young voting. Stewart went 21-12 with a 3.23 ERA over 275.2 innings.
In the ALCS, Oakland swept the Boston Red Sox in four games, and Eckersley saved all four. He was named ALCS MVP, per Baseball-Reference's 1988 ALCS page.
The 1988 World Series: Gibson and Hershiser
Oakland entered the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers as the 104-win team, and it lost in five games. The series turned in Game 1. Kirk Gibson, injured and out of the starting lineup, came off the bench in the bottom of the ninth and hit a two-run, pinch-hit walk-off home run off Eckersley for a 5-4 Dodgers win. It was Gibson's only at-bat of the series. The SABR account of that game covers how improbable the moment was.
Orel Hershiser won Games 2 and 5 and was named World Series MVP. Oakland's only win came in Game 3, a 2-1 victory at the Coliseum. The full results are on Baseball-Reference's 1988 World Series page.
How Did the A's Win the 1989 World Series?
The 1989 team went 99-63 and won the division again. The biggest change was the midseason return of Rickey Henderson from the Yankees. He reached base at a .425 clip for Oakland and was named ALCS MVP as the A's beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4 games to 1, per the 1989 ALCS page.
The 1989 pennant came despite the Bash Brothers being together for only part of the season. Canseco played just 65 games, so McGwire carried more of the power load with 33 home runs and 95 RBI. Henderson filled the gap at the top of the order, stealing 52 bases in 85 games with Oakland. The pitching was even deeper than in 1988: Stewart went 21-9 with a 3.32 ERA, Mike Moore went 19-11 with a 2.61 ERA, Storm Davis won 19 and Bob Welch won 17, and the staff led by that rotation posted a 3.09 team ERA, per Baseball-Reference's 1989 A's page.
The World Series against the San Francisco Giants was interrupted for ten days by the Loma Prieta earthquake, which struck shortly before Game 3 on October 17. Oakland swept the series 4-0, and Dave Stewart, who won Games 1 and 3, was named World Series MVP, per Baseball-Reference. It remains the most recent championship in franchise history. We cover the full story, game by game, on our 1989 World Series page.
What Made the 1990 A's So Dominant?
wer: From 1988 through 1990, the Oakland A's under Tony La Russa won three straight American League pennants, going 104-58, 99-63 and 103-59.
The 1990 A's went 103-59 and may have been the most talented of the three teams on paper, per Baseball-Reference's 1990 A's page:
- Rickey Henderson hit .325 with a .439 on-base percentage, 28 home runs and 65 stolen bases, and won the AL MVP.
- Bob Welch went 27-6 with a 2.95 ERA and won the AL Cy Young Award.
- Dennis Eckersley saved 48 games with a 0.61 ERA over 73.1 innings.
- Dave Stewart went 22-11 with a 2.56 ERA, finishing third in the Cy Young vote.
- Mark McGwire hit 39 home runs, drove in 108 runs, drew 110 walks and won a Gold Glove at first base.
- Jose Canseco hit 37 home runs with 101 RBI.
Henderson's MVP and Welch's Cy Young are confirmed in the 1990 awards voting. In the ALCS, Oakland swept Boston for the second time in three years. Stewart won Games 1 and 4, beating Roger Clemens 3-1 in the clincher, and was named ALCS MVP, per the 1990 ALCS page.
The 1990 World Series Upset
The Cincinnati Reds swept Oakland in four games. The Reds won Game 1 by 7-0, Game 2 by 5-4 in ten innings, Game 3 by 8-3 and Game 4 by 2-1. Jose Rijo won Games 1 and 4 and was named World Series MVP, per Baseball-Reference's 1990 World Series page. After 103 wins and a perfect ALCS, Oakland did not win a game in the World Series.
Who Else Was on the Bash Brothers Rosters?
Canseco and McGwire got the nickname, but the three pennants were built on depth. Per Baseball-Reference's season pages, these were some of the other key contributors:
- Carney Lansford, 3B: a steady presence at third base all three years, including a .336 average and 37 stolen bases in 1989.
- Dave Henderson, CF: hit .304 with 24 home runs and 94 RBI in 1988, and played 152 games in center in 1989.
- Terry Steinbach, C: an All-Star in both 1988 and 1989.
- Dave Parker, DH: 22 home runs and 97 RBI in 1989.
- Walt Weiss, SS: Rookie of the Year in 1988 and the everyday shortstop again in 1990.
- Bob Welch, SP: 17 wins in both 1988 and 1989 before his 27-win Cy Young season.
- Storm Davis, SP: 16-7 in 1988 and 19-7 in 1989.
- Mike Moore, SP: 19-11 with a 2.61 ERA in 1989, an All-Star who finished third in the Cy Young vote.
- Rick Honeycutt and Gene Nelson, RP: bullpen regulars in front of Eckersley in all three seasons.
The fan response grew with the winning. Baseball-Reference lists Oakland's home attendance at 2,287,335 in 1988, 2,667,225 in 1989 and 2,900,217 in 1990, second in the American League in each of the last two seasons.
What Did the Bash Brothers Era Add Up To?
Here is the three-year run in one place:
- 1988: 104-58, AL West champions, swept Boston in the ALCS, lost the World Series to the Dodgers 4-1.
- 1989: 99-63, AL West champions, beat Toronto 4-1 in the ALCS, swept the Giants 4-0 in the World Series.
- 1990: 103-59, AL West champions, swept Boston in the ALCS, swept by the Reds 4-0 in the World Series.
That is 306 regular-season wins, three pennants and one championship in three years. The ALCS record across those three series was 12-1. The World Series record was 5-8, the sharpest contrast of the whole era.
The individual hardware was just as concentrated: two AL MVPs (Canseco in 1988, Henderson in 1990), one Cy Young (Welch in 1990), one Rookie of the Year (Weiss in 1988), one Manager of the Year (La Russa in 1988), three ALCS MVPs (Eckersley, Henderson and Stewart) and one World Series MVP (Stewart).
Which Players From the Bash Brothers A's Are in the Hall of Fame?
Three figures from these teams are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Dennis Eckersley was inducted in 2004 (Hall of Fame profile), Rickey Henderson in 2009 (Hall of Fame profile), and Tony La Russa in 2014 as a manager (Hall of Fame profile).
Eckersley's numbers in this era tell the story of his conversion to closer: 45 saves in 1988 and 48 saves with a 0.61 ERA in 1990, plus all four saves in the 1988 ALCS.
Why the Bash Brothers Era Still Matters for Las Vegas Fans
Three straight pennants is the kind of run that defines a franchise for a generation, and that history moves with the club to its new home on the Strip. To see every name from the first of those pennant teams, start with our 1988 Oakland Athletics roster, then compare it with the championship group in our 1989 Oakland A's roster breakdown.
Sources
- Baseball-Reference, 1988, 1989 and 1990 Oakland Athletics season pages (records, stats, awards notes)
- Baseball-Reference postseason pages: 1988 ALCS, 1988 World Series, 1989 ALCS, 1989 World Series, 1990 ALCS, 1990 World Series
- Baseball-Reference awards voting: 1988, 1990, Rookie of the Year history
- SABR Games Project: Canseco becomes baseball's first 40-40 man and Kirk Gibson's World Series opener home run
- National Baseball Hall of Fame: Dennis Eckersley, Rickey Henderson, Tony La Russa
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who were the Bash Brothers?
Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, the power-hitting pair in the middle of the Oakland A's lineup. Canseco won AL Rookie of the Year in 1986, McGwire in 1987, and they powered three straight pennants from 1988 to 1990.
Did the A's win three straight World Series in the Bash Brothers era?
No. They won three straight AL pennants but one World Series. They lost to the Dodgers in 1988, swept the Giants in 1989, and were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in 1990.
What were the A's records from 1988 to 1990?
104-58 in 1988, 99-63 in 1989 and 103-59 in 1990, all under manager Tony La Russa and all good for first place in the AL West, a total of 306 regular-season wins.
What awards did Bash Brothers era A's players win?
Canseco was the unanimous 1988 AL MVP, Rickey Henderson won 1990 AL MVP, Bob Welch won the 1990 Cy Young, Walt Weiss was 1988 Rookie of the Year, and La Russa was 1988 Manager of the Year.
What happened in the 1988 World Series against the Dodgers?
The Dodgers won 4 games to 1. Kirk Gibson's pinch-hit, walk-off home run off Dennis Eckersley won Game 1, Orel Hershiser won Games 2 and 5 and was MVP, and Oakland's only win came in Game 3.
Was Jose Canseco the first 40-40 player?
Yes. In 1988 Canseco hit 42 home runs and stole 40 bases, becoming the first player in major league history to reach 40 of each in one season. He reached 40 steals on September 23, 1988.