Oakland made it three World Championships in a row, a feat not managed since the Yankees took five in a row 1949-53. The A's had an underwhelming 90 regular season wins, but featured a balanced team with excellent hitting, pitching and defense. The A's held off upstart Texas in the West by 5 games, with Minnesota 3rd, Chicago 4th, Kansas City 5th and California last. The A's beat the East Division champion Orioles in the ALCS, after Baltimore had captured 91 regular season wins. New York was second in a close race, 2 games back. Boston was 3rd, Cleveland 4th, Milwaukee 5th and Detroit last.
Oakland had switched managers after Dick Williams resigned, frustrated over owner Charlie Finley's meddling. Al Dark took over the A's helm, but Finley dictated most managerial moves through his young assistant, who would become the artist known as M.C. Hammer. Williams would resurface as the Angels manager around mid-season.
Jeff Burroughs won the RBI title and the MVP, while Dick Allen led the loop in homers and OPS despite missing the month of September. Rod Carew won the batting title at .364 with Jorge Orta second at .316 and Hal McRae third at .310. Mike Hargrove hit .323 but did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Carl Yastrzemski scored 99 runs, Carew had 218 hits, Joe Rudi had 39 doubles, Mickey Rivers 11 triples. Allen had 32 homers, Reggie Jackson 29. Burroughs had 118 RBI, Sal Bando 103 for the other number in triple digits. Bill North led in steals.
Catfish Hunter led in ERA and tied for the lead in wins with Fergie Jenkins as both had 25. Hunter's 2.49 ERA was trailed by Gaylord Perry at 2.51. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts with 367 trailed by Bert Blyleven with 249. Terry Forster led in saves with 24. Gaylord Perry was the leader in ERA+.
Win Shares leaders, players; Jeff Burroughs (Texas) 33, Bobby Grich (Baltimore) and Rod Carew (Minnesota) 32, Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 30, Ken Henderson (Chicago) and Don Money (Milwaukee) 26, Carl Yastrzemski (Boston), Dick Allen (Chicago) and Joe Rudi (Oakland) 24, Brooks Robinson (Baltimore), Bill Freehan (Detroit) and Elliot Maddox (New York) 23, Jorge Orta (Chicago), Amos Otis (Kansas City), Graig Nettles (New York), Bert Campaneris and Gene Tenace (Oakland) and Cesar Tovar (Texas) 22, Paul Blair (Baltimore) and Sal Bando (Oakland) 21.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Gaylord Perry (Cleveland) 30, Luis Tiant (Boston) 29, Catfish Hunter (Oakland) 27, Fergie Jenkins (Texas) 26, Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 23, Steve Busby (Kansas City) 22, Ross Grimsley (Baltimore), Nolan Ryan (California) and Jim Kaat (Chicago) 21, Jim Perry (Cleveland) and John Hiller (Detroit) 20, Mike Cuellar (Baltimore), Bill Lee (Boston), Wilbur Wood (Chicago), Tom Murphy (Milwaukee) and Pat Dobson (New York) 19.
WARP3 scores, players: Grich 9.3, Jackson 8.1, Carew 7.4, Tenace 6.1, Burroughs 6.0, Henderson 5.9, Billy North (Oakland) 5.8, Nettles 5.7, Campaneris 5.4, Bando 5.3, George Scott (Milwaukee) 5.2, Ellie Rodriguez (Milwaukee) and Amos Otis (Kansas City) 5.0, Bucky Dent (Chicago) and Hal McRae (Kansas City) 4.9.
WARP3 scores, pitchers: G. Perry 9.3, Tiant 8.0, Jenkins 6.7, Hunter and Murphy 6.4, Blyleven and Hiller 6.0, Kaat 5.9, Ryan 5.0, J. Perry and Wood 4.5, Busby and Bill Campbell (Minnesota) 4.0, Joe Decker (Minnesota) 3.9.
WAR leaders from Fangraphs:
Position players; Grich 7.1, Carew 6.8, Jackson 5.8, B. Robinson 5.2, Money 5.0, E. Maddox 4.9, Blair, Campaneris, and Henderson 4.8, Nettles, Rudi, Scott, and Tenace 4.6, Otis 4.4, Allen 4.3, Bando and McRae 4.2, Evans 4.1, Belanger 4.0.
Pitchers; Blyleven 8.7, Jenkins 7.8, Busby and Tiant 6.9, Ryan 6.1, Perry 5.9, Kaat 5.7, Wood 5.3, Hunter 5.1, Lolich 4.7, Holtzman 4.6, Blue 4.5, Dobson 4.2, Lee and Perry 4.0.
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 Jeff Burroughs TEX 10 248 336 0.74 | 554 167 25 .301 .901 2
2 Joe Rudi OAK 5 161 336 0.48 | 593 174 22 .293 .818 2
3 Sal Bando OAK 3 143 336 0.43 | 498 121 22 .243 .778 2
4 Reggie Jackson OAK 1 119 336 0.35 | 506 146 29 .289 .905 25
5 Fergie Jenkins TEX 3 118 336 0.35 | 2 1 0 .500 1.000 0| 25-12 328 2.82 1.008 225
6 Catfish Hunter OAK 1 107 336 0.32 | | 25-12 318 2.49 0.986 143
7 Rod Carew MIN 0 70 336 0.21 | 599 218 3 .364 .879 38
8 Elliott Maddox NYY 0 59 336 0.18 | 466 141 3 .303 .781 6
9 Bobby Grich BAL 0 49 336 0.15 | 582 153 19 .263 .807 17
10 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 42 336 0.12 | | 22-10 269 3.11 1.259 106
11 Luis Tiant BOS 0 41 336 0.12 | | 22-13 311 2.92 1.166 176
12 Brooks Robinson BAL 0 30 336 0.09 | 553 159 7 .288 .728 2
13 Paul Blair BAL 0 27 336 0.08 | 552 144 17 .261 .730 27
14 Nolan Ryan CAL 0 24 336 0.07 | | 22-16 333 2.89 1.271 367
15 Bert Campaneris OAK 0 23 336 0.07 | 527 153 2 .290 .713 34
16 Rollie Fingers OAK 0 21 336 0.06 | | 9-5 119 2.65 1.118 95 18
17 Gaylord Perry CLE 0 18 336 0.05 | | 21-13 322 2.51 1.021 216
18 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 14 336 0.04 | 515 155 15 .301 .859 12
19 Ken Henderson CHW 0 12 336 0.04 | 602 176 20 .292 .827 12
20 John Hiller DET 0 11 336 0.03 | | 17-14 150 2.64 1.260 134 13
Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Catfish Hunter OAK 12 90 120 0.75 | 25-12 318 2.49 0.986 143
2 Fergie Jenkins TEX 10 75 120 0.62 | 25-12 328 2.82 1.008 225
3 Nolan Ryan CAL 1 28 120 0.23 | 22-16 333 2.89 1.271 367
4 Gaylord Perry CLE 1 8 120 0.07 | 21-13 322 2.51 1.021 216
4 Luis Tiant BOS 0 8 120 0.07 | 22-13 311 2.92 1.166 176
6 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 6 120 0.05 | 22-10 269 3.11 1.259 106
7 John Hiller DET 0 1 120 0.01 | 17-14 150 2.64 1.260 134 13
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 Mike Hargrove TEX 16 16 24 0.67 | 415 134 4 .323 .819 0
2 Bucky Dent CHW 3 3 24 0.12 | 496 136 5 .274 .662 3
3 George Brett KCR 2 2 24 0.08 | 457 129 2 .282 .676 8
4 Rick Burleson BOS 1 1 24 0.04 | 384 109 4 .284 .693 3
4 Jim Sundberg TEX 1 1 24 0.04 | 368 91 3 .247 .678 2
Top player: I think Jackson, Carew, and Grich were the three best players in the league this year. The writers went for RBI man Burroughs on the surprising Rangers, but Jackson was the leader on the three-time champs, Grich was the glue that held the Orioles together, and Carew was a singles-hitting machine. Burroughs was a good hitter but terrible defensively. Let's go with:
#1 Reggie Jackson, #2 Rod Carew, #3 Bobby Grich, #4 Jeff Burroughs, #5 Don Money, #6 Ken Henderson.
Top pitcher: Fergie Jenkins. Gaylord, Luis, Catfish and Fergie were all pretty close to even, and there's Bert Blyleven again pitching well for a poor team. A lot of ways this could go, but I'll go with:
#1 Fergie Jenkins, #2 Gaylord Perry, #3 Bert Blyleven, #4 Catfish Hunter, #5 Luis Tiant.
Top rookie: Mike Hargrove had the best rookie season. George Brett would be the superstar. Five good players in the voting.
Top manager: Billy Martin revived the Rangers from the dead.
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