24 October 2009

1977 National League

The NL kept its lineup while the AL expanded. The Reds fell from the top spot, as the Dodgers returned to the top of the NL West with 98 victories. The Reds were second with 88. Houston went 81-81 to finish third, followed by San Francisco, San Diego, and finally Atlanta with 101 losses. Philadelphia won the East again with 101 wins, with Pittsburgh just behind at 96 victories. St. Louis was 3rd, Chicago 4th, Montreal 5th and the Mets last. The Dodgers then beat the Phillies in the NLCS.

Dave Parker won the batting title with a .338 average, just ahead of teammate Rennie Stennett at .336. However, Stennett played just 114 games before going down with a leg injury (which helped cost Pittsburgh the division) and was never the same player again. George Foster had a monster year with 52 HR, 149 RBI,led in slugging and OPS, and won the MVP. Parker had 44 doubles, Garry Templeton 18 triples, Frank Taveras led in steals with 70. Jeff Burroughs was second in homers with 41, Greg Luzinski third with 39. Luzinski had 130 RBI. Reggie Smith, playing in the pitchers' park of Dodger Stadium, led in on-base, was second in OPS, and had a small lead on Foster for OPS+.

Steve Carlton led in wins with 23, followed by Tom Seaver with 21. Bob Forsch, John Candelaria, Tommy John, and Rick Reuschel each won 20. Candelaria led in ERA with a 2.34 mark, followed by Seaver at 2.58. Phil Niekro had 262 strikeouts, followed by J.R. Richard at 214. Niekro led in innings, starts, and complete games. Rollie Fingers led in saves with 35, followed by Bruce Sutter at 31. Carlton won the Cy Young.

Win Shares leaders, NL, 1977:

Players, Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) and Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 33, George Foster (Cincinnati) 32, Greg Luzinski (Philadelphia) and Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 30 (Bull's were all offensive, I bet), Reggie Smith (Los Angeles) 29, George Hendrick (San Diego) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 28, Gary Carter (Montreal) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 25, Jose Cruz (Houston), Davey Lopes (Los Angeles), Dave Winfield (San Diego) and Keith Hernandez and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 24, Ken Griffey and Pete Rose (Cincinnati) and Cesar Cedeno and Bob Watson (Houston) 23, Jeff Burroughs (Atlanta) and Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 22.

For pitchers, it was Bruce Sutter (Chicago) 27, Rick Reuschel (Chicago), John Candelaria and Goose Gossage (Pitsburgh) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 26, Tom Seaver (New York/Cincinnati) 25, J.R. Richard (Houston) and Steve Rogers (Montreal) 21, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Ed Halicki (San Francisco) 20, Burt Hooton and Tommy John (Los Angeles) 19, Gary Lavelle (San Francisco) 18.

WARP3, players: Foster 9.1, Schmidt 8.7, Smith 8.2, Parker 8.0, Morgan 7.5, Carter 6.7, Simmons 6.5, Bench 6.3, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Lopes, and Tenace 5.9, Watson 5.2, Cedeno, Joe Ferguson (Los Angeles) and Lenny Randle (New York) 5.1, Hendrick and Rennie Stennett (Pittsburgh) 5.0, Phil Garner (Pittsburgh) 4.9, Winfield and Dusty Baker (Los Angeles) 4.8.

WARP3, pitchers: Reuschel 9.2, Niekro 8.5, Gossage 8.1, Carlton 8.0, Richard 7.1, Sutter 7.0, Halicki 6.9, Candelaria 6.8, Lavelle and Seaver 5.7, Hooton 5.2, Rogers and John 5.0, Rollie Fingers (San Diego) 4.7.

WAR leaders from Fangraphs: position players; Schmidt 9.6, Foster 9.3, Parker 8.1, Smith 6.8, Morgan 6.2, Simmons 6.0, Carter 5.7, Hendrick 5.5, Bench and Luzinski 5.3, Lopes and Watson 5.2, Cruz and Tenace 5.0, Cedeno and Ferguson 4.9, Cey and Griffey 4.7.

Pitchers, Rogers 7.6, Reuschel 7.1, Seaver 6.5, Niekro 6.4, Carlton and Sutter 5.4, Hooton 5.1, John 5.0, Richard 4.9, Bonham 4.7, Koosman 4.6, Gossage and Rau 4.3, Reuss 4.2.

Actual award voting:
MVP (top 15) : | 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 George Foster CIN 15 291 336 0.87 | 615 197 52 .320 1.013 6
2 Greg Luzinski PHI 9 255 336 0.76 | 554 171 39 .309 .988 3
3 Dave Parker PIT 0 156 336 0.46 | 637 215 21 .338 .927 17
4 Reggie Smith LAD 0 112 336 0.33 | 488 150 32 .307 1.003 7
5 Steve Carlton PHI 0 100 336 0.30 | 97 26 3 .268 .684 0| 23-10 283 2.64 1.124 198
6 Steve Garvey LAD 0 98 336 0.29 | 646 192 33 .297 .834 9
7 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 68 336 0.20 | 20 3 0 .150 .377 0| 7-3 107 1.34 0.857 129 31
8 Ron Cey LAD 0 60 336 0.18 | 564 136 30 .241 .797 3
9 Ted Simmons STL 0 58 336 0.17 | 516 164 21 .318 .908 2
10 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 48 336 0.14 | 544 149 38 .274 .967 15
11 Bill Robinson PIT 0 34 336 0.10 | 507 154 26 .304 .862 12
12 Tommy John LAD 0 33 336 0.10 | 79 14 1 .177 .433 0| 20-7 220 2.78 1.248 123
13 Garry Templeton STL 0 20 336 0.06 | 621 200 8 .322 .786 28
14 Rollie Fingers SDP 0 17 336 0.05 | 20 1 0 .050 .100 0| 8-9 132 2.99 1.202 113 35
15 Pete Rose CIN 0 15 336 0.04 | 655 204 9 .311 .809 16
Foster by a fairly small margin over Luzinski. Parker ran a strong third, and the rest were also-rans.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Steve Carlton PHI 17 104 120 0.87 | 23-10 283 2.64 1.124 198
2 Tommy John LAD 3 54 120 0.45 | 20-7 220 2.78 1.248 123
3 Rick Reuschel CHC 1 18 120 0.15 | 20-10 252 2.79 1.218 166 1
3 Tom Seaver TOT 2 18 120 0.15 |+21-6 261 2.58 1.014 196
5 John Candelaria PIT 1 17 120 0.14 | 20-5 231 2.34 1.071 133
6 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 5 120 0.04 | 7-3 107 1.34 0.857 129 31
Carlton followed by a full comeback season by Tommy John from the surgery that now bears his name. Sutter and Gossage got little attention from their terrific years in relief.

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 Andre Dawson MON 10 10 24 0.42 | 525 148 19 .282 .800 21
2 Steve Henderson NYM 9 9 24 0.38 | 350 104 12 .297 .852 6
3 Gene Richards SDP 4 4 24 0.17 | 525 152 5 .290 .754 56
4 Floyd Bannister HOU 1 1 24 0.04 | 48 9 0 .188 .392 0| 8-9 143 4.04 1.444 112

Top player: George Foster. Foster had a year, with 52 HR and 149 RBI, that hadn't been seen in some years. He had by far the most impressive season.
#1 George Foster, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Dave Parker, #4 Reggie Smith, #5 Joe Morgan, #6 Ted Simmons.

Top pitcher: Rick Reuschel for a terrific year. He won 20, and was 2nd in ERA+ behind Candelaria, but Candy pitched for a much better team.
#1 Rick Reuschel, #2 Tom Seaver, #3 Bruce Sutter, #4 Steve Carlton, #5 Steve Rogers.

Top Rookie: with the benefit of hindsight, I'll choose Dawson.

Top manager: Tommy Lasorda was successful in his first year as skipper of the Dodgers.

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