The second year of divisional play brought repeats by Baltimore and Oakland, and a repeat by Baltimore in winning the LCS. It was a happier ending for Orioles' fans, as the Birds won the World Series in 5 games on a tremendous performance by Brooks Robinson. Seattle, on the verge of bankruptcy, was bought by a group of Milwaukee businessmen headed by Bud Selig and moved to the City of Beer on the very eve of the season. Court fights over this eventually brought baseball back to Seattle in 1977.
Expansion teams Kansas City and Milwaukee each lost 97 games, but were tied for fourth as the White Sox lost 106. This left Oakland and California 2nd and 3rd respectively. Baltimore easily outdistanced New York and Boston, with Detroit, Cleveland and Washington as also-rans. The East was much stronger than the West.
Alex Johnson led in batting average with his .329 mark edging Carl Yastremski's by a fraction of a point. Yaz led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. Tony Oliva was third at .325. Frank Howard led in HR with 44 and RBI with 126. Harmon Killebrew was second in homers with 41, followed by Yaz at 40. Tony Conigliaro was second in RBI with 116. Yaz had 125 runs, Cesar Tovar had 13 triples, and Tover, Oliva, and Amos Otis each had 36 doubles. Bert Campaneris had 42 steals. Boog Powell won an unlikely MVP award. Boog was 5th in homers, 3rd in RBI, and 3rd in OPS.
Diego Segui led in ERA with a 2.56 mark, followed by Jim Palmer at 2.71. Sam McDowell led in strikeouts with 304, followed by Mickey Lolich at 230. Ron Perranoski had 34 saves, and there was a three-way tie for wins between Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and Jim Perry with 24. Clyde Wright won 22. McDowell and Palmer led with 305 innings, Cuellar had 21 complete games. Perry took the Cy Young.
Win Shares leaders, players; Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) 36, Roy White (New York) 34, Jim Fregosi (California) and Tommy Harper (Milwaukee) 33, Boog Powell (Baltimore) 31, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva (Minnesota) and Frank Howard (Washington) 30, Alex Johnson (California) and Cesar Tovar (Minnesota) 28, Bobby Murcer (New York) 27, Don Buford and Frank Robinson (Baltimore), Thurman Munson (New York) and Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 26, Reggie Smith (Boston) and Amos Otis (Kansas City) 25, Sal Bando (Oakland) 24, Dave Johnson (Baltimore) and Rico Petrocelli (Boston) 23, Paul Blair (Baltimore) 22, Brooks Robinson (Baltimore) 21.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Sam McDowell (Cleveland) 30, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 25, Dave McNally (Baltimore) 22, Jim Perry (Minnesota) 21, Clyde Wright (California) and Mudcat Grant (Oakland) 20, Lindy McDaniel and Fritz Peterson (New York) 19, Mike Cuellar (Baltimore) and Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 18, Ray Culp (Boston), Tommy John (Chicago) and Mickey Lolich (Detroit) 17.
WARP3 leaders, position players: Fregosi 9.3, Yastrzemski 7.5, Oliva 7.4, Munson 6.5, Harper 6.4, Bando 5.8, Petrocelli 5.5, White 5.4, Powell and Killebrew 5.3, Campaneris 5.2, Otis, Howard, and A. Johnson 5.1.
WARP3 leaders, pitchers: McDowell 7.4, Palmer 6.8, John 6.7, Dick Bosman (Washington) 5.4, Culp 5.2, McNally, Lolich, and Steve Hargan (Cleveland) 5.0, Marty Pattin (Kansas City) 4.9.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Yastrzemski 9.4, Fregosi 7.4, Harper 7.3, Oliva 7.0, Smith 6.8, Powell and White 6.3, Bando 6.2, Campaneris, Killebrew, and Rodriguez 6.1, Blair 5.9, Howard 5.5, Munson 5.4, Nettles 5.3, F. Robinson 5.2, Petrocelli 5.1. Pitchers (bWAR): McDowell 8.2, Palmer 6.4, John 5.7, Pattin 5.2, Culp 4.8, Lolich 4.7, Bosman 4.4, Johnson 4.1, Grant and Hargan 3.9, McNally and Perry 3.8.
Actual award winners;
MVP (top 20) | 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 Boog Powell BAL 11 234 336 0.70 | 526 156 35 .297 .962 1
2 Tony Oliva MIN 5 157 336 0.47 | 628 204 23 .325 .878 5
3 Harmon Killebrew MIN 1 152 336 0.45 | 527 143 41 .271 .957 0
4 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 2 136 336 0.40 | 566 186 40 .329 1.044 23
5 Frank Howard WSA 1 91 336 0.27 | 566 160 44 .283 .962 1
6 Tommy Harper MIL 1 78 336 0.23 | 604 179 31 .296 .899 38
7 Brooks Robinson BAL 2 75 336 0.22 | 608 168 18 .276 .764 1
8 Alex Johnson CAL 0 70 336 0.21 | 614 202 14 .329 .830 17
9 Jim Perry MIN 0 63 336 0.19 | 97 24 1 .247 .572 0| 24-12 279 3.04 1.130 168
10 Frank Robinson BAL 0 60 336 0.18 | 471 144 25 .306 .918 2
11 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 45 336 0.13 | 112 10 2 .089 .257 0| 24-8 298 3.48 1.149 190
12 Luis Aparicio CHW 0 35 336 0.10 | 552 173 5 .313 .776 8
12 Jim Fregosi CAL 0 35 336 0.10 | 601 167 22 .278 .812 0
12 Ron Perranoski MIN 1 35 336 0.10 | 24 1 0 .042 .083 0| 7-8 111 2.43 1.351 55 34
15 Roy White NYY 0 25 336 0.07 | 609 180 22 .296 .860 24
16 Sam McDowell CLE 0 22 336 0.07 | 105 13 1 .124 .293 0| 20-12 305 2.92 1.203 304
16 Dave McNally BAL 0 22 336 0.07 | 105 14 1 .133 .461 0| 24-9 296 3.22 1.199 185
18 Cesar Tovar MIN 0 16 336 0.05 | 650 195 10 .300 .798 30
19 Thurman Munson NYY 0 15 336 0.04 | 453 137 6 .302 .801 5
20 Don Buford BAL 0 12 336 0.04 | 504 137 17 .272 .816 16
Powell was a clear winner of a very divided vote. No one was sure who was the MVP. 8 guys got first-place votes. You gotta love the guy who cast a first-place vote for Ron Perranoski.
Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Jim Perry MIN 6 55 120 0.46 | 24-12 279 3.04 1.130 168
2 Dave McNally BAL 5 47 120 0.39 | 24-9 296 3.22 1.199 185
3 Sam McDowell CLE 4 45 120 0.38 | 20-12 305 2.92 1.203 304
4 Mike Cuellar BAL 6 44 120 0.37 | 24-8 298 3.48 1.149 190
5 Jim Palmer BAL 1 11 120 0.09 | 20-10 305 2.71 1.190 199
6 Clyde Wright CAL 1 9 120 0.08 | 22-12 261 2.83 1.204 110
7 Ron Perranoski MIN 1 5 120 0.04 | 7-8 111 2.43 1.351 55 34
The first year for 1-2-3 balloting, and again a very divided ballot. All seven pitchers named got at least one first-place vote.
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 Thurman Munson NYY 23 23 24 0.96 | 453 137 6 .302 .801 5
2 Roy Foster CLE 1 1 24 0.04 | 477 128 23 .268 .824 3
This voting, at least, was clear.
Top player: Carl Yastrzemski. Clearly the best player in the league, with the OPS lead and good defense.
#1 Carl Yastrzemski, #2 Jim Fregosi, #3 Tommy Harper, #4 Boog Powell, #5 Roy White, #6 Harmon Killebrew.
Top pitcher: Sam McDowell, one of four in the running for the writers' award. Sudden Sam should have gotten the call in this, his last big season.
#1 Sam McDowell, #2 Jim Palmer, #3 Jim Perry, #4 Dave McNally, #5 Ray Culp.
Top rookie: Thurman Munson, pretty easily.
Top manager: Earl Weaver won an awful lot of games.
