For the following season, he batted .287 while playing 148 games, for which he would have 71 walks to go with 69 strikeouts. He led the Astros in runs, hits, walks, stolen bases and also times caught stealing. He received votes for the Most Valuable Player award. The Astros, having experienced a downturn since the back-to-back playoff berths in 1980 & 1981, finally bounced back in 1986, and Doran was there to contribute. He played in 145 games while batting .276, stealing 42 bases alongside 81 walks to 57 strikeouts. He would lead the team in runs, stolen bases, and perhaps most dubiously in times caught stealing (19, which led the league). Doran finished eleventh in the voting for NL Most Valuable Player that year In the 1986 National League Championship Series, he would have a cold bat for most of the series, having six hits on 29 plate appearances. Doran hit a home run off Ron Darling in the second inning to give the Astros a 4-0 lead. However, the team could not hold it together for the last four innings and lost 6-5. In Game 5, with the series tied at two, he would hit a groundout with two runners on and one out in the fifth inning that scored the first run of the game, although the Mets would win it in the ninth on a walk-off hit in the 12th inning. In the pivotal Game 6, often thought of as one of the best postseason games played of the season, Doran would have a small part in the overall result. Doran had a single and was then forced out at second base in the first inning that would later see four straight Astros get on base and result in a 3-0 initial lead. The Mets would tie the game and the teams dueled it out until the 16th inning. Doran, with a runner on first and one out while trailing 7-4, hit a single to try and continue a potential rally. He would score the 6th run of the game for the Astros on a Glenn Davis single, but the next batter in Kevin Bass was struck out by Jesse Orosco to end the game and series. Before the 1987 season, Doran lost an arbitration case with the Astros, as he had sought a raise of $275,000 from his previous salary (which was $550,000), with the