The A's won their first of three straight pennants and World Series, after a good race with the White Sox in the West Division. The East was a knock-down, drag-out event, with the Tigers and a team of grizzled veterans (mostly left over from their 1960s teams) managed by Billy Martin winning by a mere half-game over the Red Sox. Such a small margin was made possible by a player strike at the beginning of the season, knocking out the first week of games, and those contests were not rescheduled. As a result, some teams played more games than others. Another bad decision by MLB.
In the West, Minnesota finished 3rd and at .500, with Kansas City and California close behind. The former Senators moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and became the Texas Rangers, and managed to lose 100 games in spite of having only 154 to work with. In the East, Baltimore fell from its three straight pennants and finished 3rd, just above .500, which left the division wide open. New York was 4th in that race, with Cleveland and Milwaukee the also-rans. It was a strong defensive year, with low offense. The Red Sox led the league with just 4.13 runs per game. The best offense was probably Oakland's, right behind the Bosox in a tougher hitting park. Oakland was second in preventing runs, to the Orioles.
Rod Carew won the batting title (with a mere .318) followed by Lou Piniella at .312 and Dick Allen and Carlos May at .308. Joe Rudi at .305 and Richie Schienblum at .300 rounded out the .300 hitters. Allen took charge in his first year with the White Sox and led the league in homers, RBI and OPS. Allen's 37 homers were followed by Bobby Murcer with 33. Allen's 113 RBI led John Mayberry's 100. He won the MVP. Bobby Murcer led in runs with 102, Bert Campaneris in stolen bases with 52. Piniella had 33 doubles, Rudi 181 hits.
Gaylord Perry and Wilbur Wood tied for the lead with 24 victories, Mickey Lolich 22. Perry was just .01 behind Luis Tiant's 1.91 in the ERA race. Catfish Hunter was third at 2.04. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts with 329 for his new team, the Angels, while Sparky Lyle led in saves (35) in his Yankee debut.
Win Shares leaders, players; Dick Allen (Chicago) 40, Bobby Murcer (New York) 36, Carlton Fisk (Boston) 33, Carlos May (Chicago) and Joe Rudi (Oakland) 29, John Mayberry (Kansas City) and Mike Epstein (Oakland) 27, Reggie Smith (Boston), Roy White (New York) and Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 26, Tommy Harper (Boston) 24, Bobby Grich (Baltimore) and Sal Bando (Oakland) 23, Ken Berry (California), Amos Otis (Kansas City) and Rod Carew (Minnesota) 22.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Gaylord Perry (Cleveland) 39, Wilbur Wood (Chicago) 29, Mickey Lolich (Detroit) 26, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 25, Nolan Ryan (California) and Catfish Hunter (Oakland) 24, Luis Tiant (Boston), Terry Forster (Chicago), Joe Coleman (Detroit) and Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 19, Sparky Lyle (New York) 18.
WARP3 scores, players: Murcer and Allen 9.0, Fisk 8.8, Grich 7.3, Mayberry 6.7, Rudi 6.3, Jackson 6.2, Thurman Munson (New York) 6.1, Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 5.9, Carew 5.8, Epstein and Lou Piniella (Kansas City) 5.4, White 5.3, Johnny Briggs (Milwaukee) 5.2, Berry, Otis, and Ellie Rodriguez (Kansas City) 4.7.
Pitchers: Perry 11.7, Wood 9.5, Lolich 6.8, Hunter 6.7, Tiant 5.9, Roger Nelson (Kansas City) 5.5, Palmer 5.0, Coleman 4.9, Ryan 4.5, Tom Bradley (Chicago) 4.3, Dick Tidrow (Cleveland) 4.2, Lyle 4.1.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Allen 8.5, Murcer 8.1, Fisk 7.1, Grich and Rudi 6.0, White 5.8, Mayberry 5.5, Epstein 5.4, Jackson 5.3, Bando 5.2, Campaneris and Carew 4.9, Scott 4.8, Nettles 4.7, B. Robinson 4.4, May and Piniella 4.3. Pitchers (bWAR): Perry 10.5, Wood 9.7, Lolich 6.8, Ryan 6.3, Hunter and Tiant 5.7, Nelson 5.0, Bradley and Palmer 4.9, Blyleven 4.5, Coleman 4.0, Kline and Pattin 3.5.
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 Dick Allen CHW 21 321 336 0.96 | 506 156 37 .308 1.023 19
2 Joe Rudi OAK 1 164 336 0.49 | 593 181 19 .305 .830 3
3 Sparky Lyle NYY 1 158 336 0.47 | 21 4 0 .190 .465 0| 9-5 108 1.92 1.049 75 35
4 Carlton Fisk BOS 0 96 336 0.29 | 457 134 22 .293 .909 5
5 Bobby Murcer NYY 0 89 336 0.26 | 585 171 33 .292 .898 11
6 Gaylord Perry CLE 0 88 336 0.26 | 110 17 1 .155 .397 0| 24-16 343 1.92 0.978 234 1
7 Wilbur Wood CHW 0 78 336 0.23 | 125 17 0 .136 .312 0| 24-17 377 2.51 1.059 193
8 Luis Tiant BOS 0 70 336 0.21 | 56 6 0 .107 .263 0| 15-6 179 1.91 1.078 123 3
9 Ed Brinkman DET 0 62 336 0.18 | 516 105 6 .203 .538 0
10 Mickey Lolich DET 1 60 336 0.18 | 89 6 0 .067 .313 0| 22-14 327 2.50 1.088 250
11 Catfish Hunter OAK 0 57 336 0.17 | 105 23 0 .219 .434 0| 21-7 295 2.04 0.914 191
12 John Mayberry KCR 0 27 336 0.08 | 503 150 25 .298 .900 0
13 Jim Palmer BAL 0 21 336 0.06 | 98 22 0 .224 .516 0| 21-10 274 2.07 1.054 184
14 Rod Carew MIN 0 16 336 0.05 | 535 170 0 .318 .749 12
14 Bobby Grich BAL 0 16 336 0.05 | 460 128 12 .278 .773 13
16 Bert Campaneris OAK 0 11 336 0.03 | 625 150 8 .240 .603 52
16 Mike Epstein OAK 0 11 336 0.03 | 455 123 26 .270 .866 0
18 Luis Aparicio BOS 0 9 336 0.03 | 436 112 3 .257 .649 3
18 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 9 336 0.03 | 499 132 25 .265 .823 9
18 Rico Petrocelli BOS 0 9 336 0.03 | 521 125 15 .240 .702 0
Allen was a clear winner. The other guy who might have had a case was Perry, but his Indians did very poorly and robbed him of any chance at the MVP.
Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+---
1 Gaylord Perry CLE 9 64 120 0.53 | 24-16 343 1.92 0.978 234 1
2 Wilbur Wood CHW 7 58 120 0.48 | 24-17 377 2.51 1.059 193
3 Mickey Lolich DET 3 27 120 0.22 | 22-14 327 2.50 1.088 250
4 Catfish Hunter OAK 2 26 120 0.22 | 21-7 295 2.04 0.914 191
5 Jim Palmer BAL 2 20 120 0.17 | 21-10 274 2.07 1.054 184
6 Luis Tiant BOS 1 16 120 0.13 | 15-6 179 1.91 1.078 123 3
7 Sparky Lyle NYY 0 3 120 0.02 | 9-5 108 1.92 1.049 75 35
8 Nolan Ryan CAL 0 2 120 0.02 | 19-16 284 2.28 1.137 329
Perry in a close race. Probably some holdover for Wood, who was deserving in 1971, plus his White Sox were contenders.
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 Carlton Fisk BOS 24 24 24 1.00 | 457 134 22 .293 .909 5|
No question about the winner here.
Top player: Dick Allen. The White Sox hadn't finished above .500 since 1967, and hadn't won a pennant since 1959. They got the first, and were not far off the second. Allen was a big part of that, with his big bat.
#1 Dick Allen, #2 Bobby Murcer, #3 Carlton Fisk, #4 Joe Rudi, #5 John Mayberry, #6 Bobby Grich.
Top pitcher: Gaylord Perry was great for a lousy team. Best use of a spitball since the 1920s.
#1 Gaylord Perry, #2 Wilbur Wood, #3 Mickey Lolich, #4 Catfish Hunter, #5 Jim Palmer.
Top rookie: Carlton Fisk sweeps this field.
Top manager: Billy Martin urged home a team practically on Social Security, with the 1968 championship veterans like Al Kaline and Norm Cash, and one regular under 29 in Aurelio Rodriguez, 24. It was a superb managerial performance.
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