Expansion came, giving the AL 12 teams and 2 divisions. Seattle received the Pilots (who would fly to a new home in Milwaukee during spring training 1970) and the AL returned to Kansas City with the Royals franchise. Both new teams inhabited the West division along with Minnesota, Oakland, Chicago and California. The East included six established teams, with Boston, New York, Baltimore, Cleveland, Washington, and defending champs Detroit. Baltimore proved to be a powerhouse, with 109 wins and a 19-game margin over the Tigers in the East. Minnesota took the West by 9 games over surging Oakland. Cleveland ended up with the worst record in the league, at 99 losses.
Rod Carew won his first (of many) batting title by posting a .332 average, Tommy Harper led in steals with 73, and Reggie Jackson led in slugging and OPS. Harmon Killebrew led in on-base, HR and RBI and took the MVP award. Killebrew had 49 HR and 140 RBI. Frank Howard was second with 48 HR, Boog Powell second with 121 RBI. Jackson scored 123 runs. Tony Oliva had 197 hits and 39 doubles. Del Unser had 8 triples.
Denny McLain led in wins again but was down to a "mere" 24, and tied for the Cy Young with 23-game winner Mike Cuellar. Dick Bosman led in ERA with a 2.19 mark, followed by Jim Palmer at 2.34. Sam McDowell led in strikeouts with 279, Mickey Lolich was second with 271. Ron Perranoski led in saves with 31. McLain had 325 innings and 9 shutouts.
Win Shares leaders, players; Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 41, Rico Petrocelli (Boston) 37, Sal Bando (Oakland) 36, Harmon Killebrew (Minnesota) and Frank Howard (Washington) 34, Frank Robinson (Baltimore) 32, Paul Blair (Baltimore) 28, Boog Powell (Baltimore) and Jim Northrup (Detroit) 27, Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) and Jim Fregosi (California) 26, Tony Oliva (Minnesota) 25, Don Buford (Baltimore), Mike Andrews and Reggie Smith (Boston), and Mike Epstein and Ken McMullen (Washington) 24, Leo Cardenas (Minnesota) and Horace Clarke (New York) 23, Roy White (New York) and Dick Green (Oakland) 22.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Denny McLain (Detroit) 29, Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 26, Mike Cuellar (Baltimore) 24, Fritz Peterson (New York) 23, Andy Messersmith (California) 22, Ken Tatum (California), Sam McDowell (Cleveland), Mickey Lolich (Detroit), Ron Perranoski and Jim Perry (Minnesota) 20, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) and Blue Moon Odom (Oakland) 18.
WARP3 leaders, position players: Jackson 10.1, Petrocelli 9.0, Killebrew and Bando 8.7, Cardenas 8.4, Green 7.6, F. Robinson and Powell 7.1, Oliva 6.8, McMullen 6.6, Dave Johnson (Baltimore) 6.5, Blair 6.3, Howard 5.9.
WARP3 leaders, pitchers: McLain 8.3, Messersmith 7.5, McDowell 7.1, Tatum 6.3, Stottlemyre 6.1, Wally Bunker (Kansas City) 5.0, Peterson and Tommy John (Chicago) 4.9.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Petrocelli 10.6, Jackson 9.9, Bando 8.7, F. Robinson 8.3, Blair and Killebrew 8.2, Powell 7.4, Yastrzemski 6.8, Howard 6.6, McMullen 6.3, Northrup 6.1, Cardenas 6.0, Smith 5.9, Oliva 5.8, Buford and Carew 5.7. Pitchers (bWAR): McLain 7.5, McDowell 6.3, Perry and Stottlemyre 5.3, John 5.2, Messersmith 5.1, Cuellar and Lolich 4.3, Peterson 4.1, Perranoski 4.0, Bosman and Tatum 3.9.
Actual award winners:
MVP: (top 25)| Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+----+---+---+---+--+
1 Harmon Killebrew MIN 16 294 336 0.88 | 555 153 49 .276 1.011 8
2 Boog Powell BAL 6 227 336 0.68 | 533 162 37 .304 .942 1
3 Frank Robinson BAL 2 162 336 0.48 | 539 166 32 .308 .955 9
4 Frank Howard WSA 0 115 336 0.34 | 592 175 48 .296 .976 1
5 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 110 336 0.33 | 549 151 47 .275 1.018 13
6 Denny McLain DET 0 85 336 0.25 | 106 17 0 .160 .348 0| 24-9 325 2.80 1.092 181
7 Rico Petrocelli BOS 0 71 336 0.21 | 535 159 40 .297 .992 3
8 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 55 336 0.16 | 103 12 0 .117 .279 0| 23-11 291 2.38 1.004 182
9 Jim Perry MIN 0 40 336 0.12 | 93 16 0 .172 .430 0| 20-6 262 2.82 1.185 153
10 Rod Carew MIN 0 30 336 0.09 | 458 152 8 .332 .853 19
11 Paul Blair BAL 0 28 336 0.08 | 625 178 26 .285 .804 20
12 Leo Cardenas MIN 0 27 336 0.08 | 578 162 10 .280 .741 5
13 Dave McNally BAL 0 25 336 0.07 | 94 8 1 .085 .295 0| 20-7 269 3.22 1.176 166
13 Ron Perranoski MIN 0 25 336 0.07 | 24 2 0 .083 .237 0| 9-10 120 2.11 1.145 62 31
15 Tony Oliva MIN 0 21 336 0.06 | 637 197 24 .309 .851 10
16 Sal Bando OAK 0 18 336 0.05 | 609 171 31 .281 .885 1
17 Cesar Tovar MIN 0 9 336 0.03 | 535 154 11 .288 .757 45
18 Mel Stottlemyre NYY 0 8 336 0.02 | 101 18 1 .178 .498 0| 20-14 303 2.82 1.201 113
18 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 8 336 0.02 | 603 154 40 .255 .870 15
20 Ed Brinkman WSA 0 7 336 0.02 | 576 153 2 .266 .653 2
20 Jim Fregosi CAL 0 7 336 0.02 | 580 151 12 .260 .742 9
22 Reggie Smith BOS 0 6 336 0.02 | 543 168 25 .309 .895 7
23 Brooks Robinson BAL 0 5 336 0.01 | 598 140 23 .234 .693 2
23 Del Unser WSA 0 5 336 0.01 | 581 166 7 .286 .731 8
25 Mike Epstein WSA 0 4 336 0.01 | 403 112 30 .278 .965 2
It was a power hitters' year with Killebrew and Powell running 1-2.
Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Mike Cuellar BAL 10 10 24 0.42 | 23-11 291 2.38 1.004 182
1 Denny McLain DET 10 10 24 0.42 | 24-9 325 2.80 1.092 181
3 Jim Perry MIN 3 3 24 0.12 | 20-6 262 2.82 1.185 153
4 Dave McNally BAL 1 1 24 0.04 | 20-7 269 3.22 1.176 166
Rookie: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+------+-----+---+
1 Lou Piniella KCR 9 9 24 0.38 | 493 139 11 .282 .741 2
2 Mike Nagy BOS 6 6 24 0.25 | 65 5 0 .077 .259 1| 12-2 197 3.11 1.469 84
3 Carlos May CHW 5 5 24 0.21 | 367 103 18 .281 .873 1
4 Ken Tatum CAL 4 4 24 0.17 | 21 6 2 .286 .937 0| 7-2 86 1.36 1.043 65 22
With the two-division setup, the normal voting habits were disturbed. It caused some confusion, having two "winners" at the end of the regular season.
Top player: Reggie Jackson. The best players in the league were Jackson and Petrocelli, and Jackson was much closer to the pennant race. So, in a close race, the edge goes to the contender.
#1 Reggie Jackson, #2 Rico Petrocelli, #3 Frank Robinson, #4 Harmon Killebrew, #5 Sal Bando, #6 Paul Blair.
Top pitcher: Denny McLain. The second year in a row at the top for McLain, and the last. His troubles, legal and otherwise, began soon after.
#1 Denny McLain, #2 Mike Cuellar, #3 Andy Messersmith, #4 Sam McDowell, #5 Ron Perranoski.
Top rookie: Lou Piniella. Tatum had the better year, but Piniella had more long-term potential.
Top manager: Earl Weaver pushed the right buttons for the Orioles.
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