A year after taking over the reins of the Twins from Miller, Kelly took the team that he had helped build through his role as one of the top people in the Twins' minor league organization and led it to a World Series championship. Though the '87 Twins were criticized for being the top team in a weak division (amassing only a .525 record in regular season play, which was the worst winning percentage for an eventual World Champion until surpassed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006), they easily handled the Detroit Tigers in five games, losing only Game 3 of the American League Championship Series to a heartbreaking 8th-inning two-run home run.