It was a "back to the future" year as the Pirates and Reds returned to the top of their respective divisions. Then, a reversal, as the Pirates won the NLCS and then the World Series. Both won in tight two-team races, as the Pirates outlasted the surprising Expos by 2 games, and the Reds beat out the Astros by 1.5. Pittsburgh won 98, Montreal 95, St. Louis 86, Philadelphia 84, and Chicago 80, while New York lost 99 games for last. In the West, the Reds won 90, Houston 89, and the Dodgers slipped below .500 to 79-83. San Francisco, San Diego, and Atlanta all trailed, losing at least 90.
Keith Hernandez led in batting average, doubles and runs, and won half the MVP. Hernandez had a .344 average to beat Pete Rose (now with Philadelphia) at .333. Ray Knight, Rose's replacement in Cincinnati, was third at .318. Hernandez had 48 doubles, followed by Warren Cromartie at 46, while at 116 runs Hernandez was followed by Omar Moreno at 110. Moreno led in steals with 77. Dave Kingman led in HR with 48,and also in slugging and OPS. Pete Rose led in on-base, edging Hernandez. Garry Templeton had 19 triples. Dave Winfield led in total bases, RBI and OPS+. Winfield's 118 RBI was followed by Kingman at 115 and Mike Schmidt at 114.
Brothers Phil and Joe Niekro tied for the lead in wins with 21. J.R. Richard led in ERA and strikeouts in his last full season. Richard had a 2.71 ERA, followed by Tom Hume at 2.76 and Dan Schatzeder at 2.83. Richard's 313 strikeouts outdistanced Steve Carlton's second-place 213. Bruce Sutter led in saves with 37, while Kent Tekulve kept busy pitching in 94 games. Phil Niekro had 44 starts and 23 complete games.
Win Shares leaders, players: Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) and Dave Winfield (San Diego) 33, Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 31, Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 29, Larry Parrish (Montreal) 28, Jose Cruz (Houston), Davey Lopes (Los Angeles), Gary Carter (Montreal) and Pete Rose (Philadelphia) 27 each, Gary Mathews (Atlanta), Ron Cey (Los Angeles), Lee Mazzilli (New York) and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 25 each, Dave Kingman (Chicago), Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Andre Dawson (Montreal) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 24, Terry Puhl (Houston), Phil Garner and Omar Moreno (Pittsburgh), Jack Clark and Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 23. co-MVP Willie Stargell had 18.
WS leaders, pitchers: Phil Niekro (Atlanta) 24, J.R. Richard (Houston) 23, Bruce Sutter (Chicago) 22, Kent Tekulve (Pittsburgh) 20, Joe Niekro (Houston) 19, Tom Hume (Cincinnati), Joe Sambito (Houston) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 18, Rick Reuschel (Chicago) 17, Tom Seaver (Cincinnati), Rick Sutcliffe (Los Angeles), Bill Lee, Steve Rogers and Elias Sosa (Montreal) and Gaylord Perry (San Diego) 16.
WARP3: Winfield 9.3 (best year), Templeton 8.6 (best year), Schmidt 8.4, Concepcion 7.9, Hernandez 7.6, Cey 7.3, Tenace 6.6, Carter 6.5, Cruz and Bench (Cincinnati) 5.6, Lopes 5.3, Parrish 5.2 (career year), Parker 5.1, Kingman (best year) and Garner (best year) 4.8, George Foster (Cincinnati) 4.7, Rose, Ted Simmons (St. Louis), and Craig Reynolds (Houston) 4.7, Steve Garvey (Los Angeles) 4.4.
Pitchers, P. Niekro 7.7, Reuschel 6.2, Sutter 5.9, Sambito 5.7, Richard 4.7, Sosa 4.5 (career year), Hume and Gary Lavelle (St. Louis) 4.4, Tekulve 4.3, Craig Swan (New York) and Dick Tidrow (Chicago) 4.2.
WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Winfield 7.9, Schmidt 7.6, Hernandez 7.4, Carter 6.0, Parker 5.8, Cey and Tenace 5.5, Bench and Foster 5.3, Parrish 4.9, Cruz and Mazzilli 4.8, Concepcion and Lopes 4.7, Templeton 4.5.
Pitchers: Richard 8.8, Sutter 5.1, Reuschel 4.7, Carlton 4.6, Rogers 4.5, Hooton and Swan 4.3, Perry 4.2, Niekro 4.0, Lamp and Seaver 3.9, Vuckovich 3.7, Blyleven 3.6.
Actual award voting:
MVP
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Keith Hernandez STL 10 216
1 Willie Stargell PIT 4 216
3 Dave Winfield SDP 4 155
4 Larry Parrish MON 0 128
5 Ray Knight CIN 2 82
6 Joe Niekro HOU 1 75
7 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 69
8 Kent Tekulve PIT 1 64
9 Dave Concepcion CIN 0 63
10 Dave Parker PIT 0 56
11 Dave Kingman CHC 0 53
12 George Foster CIN 0 34
13 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 32
14 Steve Garvey LAD 0 30
15 Omar Moreno PIT 0 23
15 Pete Rose PHI 0 23
17 Gary Carter MON 1 15
18 Bill Madlock TOT 1 14
19 J.R. Richard HOU 0 12
20 Phil Niekro ATL 0 11
21 Joe Sambito HOU 0 9
21 Tom Seaver CIN 0 9
23 Johnny Bench CIN 0 7
24 Andre Dawson MON 0 6
25 Garry Templeton STL 0 5
26 Gary Matthews ATL 0 4
27 Dave Collins CIN 0 3
28 Bob Horner ATL 0 1
A very interesting year for MVP voting, as 8 different players received 1st place votes, including Bill Madlock whose only vote was a 1st place vote. Gary Carter got two votes: a first and a tenth. Wllie Stargell got named as a nice gesture on a lot of ballots, and snuck up to the top spot. Balloting was all over the place with no clear favorite. Hernandez had far more first-place votes, but Stargell more overall support.
Cy Young
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Bruce Sutter CHC 10 72
2 Joe Niekro HOU 9 66
3 J.R. Richard HOU 4 41
4 Tom Seaver CIN 0 20
5 Kent Tekulve PIT 1 14
6 Phil Niekro ATL 0 3
More of the same in the Cy Young, as four pitchers got 1st place votes. Phil Niekro should have sued.
Rookie
Place Name Team Points
1 Rick Sutcliffe LAD 20
2 Jeffrey Leonard HOU 3
3 Scot Thompson CHC 1
Best player: Dave Winfield. His best year, and he led in OPS+ by 10 points over George Foster. The Padres still lost 93 games, which is probably why he didn't win.
#1 Dave Winfield, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Keith Hernandez, #4 Gary Carter, #5 Dave Parker, #6 Ron Cey.
Best Pitcher; Phil Niekro. The knuckleballer both won and lost 20, but he was the most dependable pitcher in the league, and when you look at 2nd place J. R. Richard in the context of the Astrodome, while Niekro toiled in the Launching Pad, the ERA gap decreases substantially. Sutter and Tekulve both had great years in relief, but Niekro did more. Knucksie was robbed for the second year in a row.
#1 Phil Niekro, #2 Bruce Sutter, #3 J.R. Richard, #4 Steve Carlton, #5 Rick Reuschel.
Best rookie: Rick Sutcliffe. Wasn't really close, he was by far the best.
Best manager: Chuck Tanner on the best team in the league.
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