1982 National League

Before the season, the Phillies sent Larry Bowa and minor leaguer Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus in what would go down as one of the worst trades of all time. When the season starts, the Atlanta Braves break from the gate with 13 straight wins, and build a lead they will not relinquish, although they will have to fight off the Dodgers, who finish one game back, and the Giants, who end two back. San Diego is 4th at exactly .500, Houston is 5th, and the Reds, with the best record in the league last season, collapse to the worst record in the league this year with 101 losses. The fabled outfield of Cesar Cedeno, Clint Hurdle, and Paul Householder does not live up to (overblown) expectations. St. Louis wins the East, three games ahead of Philadelphia. Montreal is 6 back, Pittsburgh 8 back. Chicago is 5th and New York last. The Cardinals then win the NLCS, and also the World Series, their only title of the Whitey Herzog era. Al Oliver wins the batting title at .331, followed by Bill Madlock at .319. Dave Kingman leads in HR with 37, closely followed by Dale Murphy with 36 and Mike Schmidt with 35. Oliver and Murphy tie in RBI with 109, followed by Bill Buckner with 105. Tim Raines leads in steals at 78, then came Lonnie Smith at 68. Smith led with 120 runs. Oliver led with 204 hits and 43 doubles. Dickie Thon had 10 triples. Mike Schmidt is the OPS leader. Murphy, of the surprise Braves, wins the MVP. Steve Carlton led in wins (23, second was Steve Rogers and Fernando Valenzuela with 19) and in strikeouts with 286, followed by Mario Soto with 274. Rogers led in ERA with 2.40, followed by Joe Niekro and Joaquin Andjuar at 2.47. Bruce Sutter led in saves with 36. Carlton had six shutouts and 19 complete games, and won the Cy Young. Win Shares leaders, players; Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 37, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) 32, Gary Carter (Montreal) 31, Pedro Guerrero (Los Angeles) 30, Joe Morgan (San Francisco) 29, Terry Kennedy and Sixto Lezcano (San Diego) 28, Jason Thompson (Pittsburgh) 27, Andre Dawson and Al Oliver (Montreal), Jack Clark (San Francisco) and Lonnie Smith (St. Louis) 26, Leon Durham (Chicago) and Bill Madlock (Pittsburgh) 25, Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 24, Gary Matthews (Philadelphia) 23, Phil Garner and Dickie Thon (Houston), Dusty Baker (Los Angeles) and Ruppert Jones (San Diego) 22. WS leaders, pitchers; Joe Niekro (Houston) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 25, Steve Rogers (Montreal) 24, Joaquin Andujar (St. Louis) 22, Greg Minton (San Francisco) 21, Mario Soto (Cincinnati) and Fernando Valenzuela (Los Angeles) 20, Gene Garber (Atlanta) 19, Jeff Reardon (Montreal) 18, Jerry Reuss (Los Angeles), Tim Lollar (San Diego) and Bruce Sutter (St. Louis) 17, Nolan Ryan (Houston) and Bob Forsch (St. Louis) 16. WARP3: Carter 9.3, Guerrero 8.5, Lezcano 7.7 (last good year), Schmidt 7.5, Dawson 7.3, Murphy 7.0, Morgan and L. Smith 6.3, Oliver 6.2 (last good year), Thompson (last big year) and Thon 5.9, Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 5.7, Kennedy 5.4 (best year), Hernandez 5.1, Jones 5.0, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati) 4.7, Steve Sax (Los Angeles) 4.5, Madlock (last big year) and Ken Landreaux (Los Angeles) 4.4, Tim Wallach (Montreal) 4.2. Pitchers, Niekro (career year) and Rogers 7.2, Minton 7.1 (career year), Soto 7.0, Carlton 6.5, Valenzuela and Bruce Berenyi (Cincinnati) 5.4, Andujar 5.1 (best year), Garber 4.9 (best year), Reardon (best year) and Steve Bedrosian (Atlanta) 4.5, Reuss 4.4, John Candelaria Pittsburgh) 4.2. WAR leaders, position players: Carter 8.3, Dawson 7.4, Schmidt 7.2, Guerrero 6.2, Murphy 6.1, Madlock 5.5, Smith 5.4, Lezcano, Morgan, and Thompson 5.3, Thon 5.1, Oliver 4.9, Hernandez 4.7, Kennedy 4.6, Durham 4.5. Pitchers: Carlton 9.1, Soto 8.0, Rogers 6.7, Valenzuela 6.5, Andujar 6.4, Reuss 5.9, Christenson 4.9, Berenyi 4.8, J. Niekro 4.5, Krukow and Sutton 4.4, Candelaria and Rhoden 4.1. Actual award winners: MVP (top 15) 1 Dale Murphy ATL 14 283 2 Lonnie Smith STL 8 218 3 Pedro Guerrero LAD 0 175 3 Al Oliver MON 0 175 5 Bruce Sutter STL 2 134 6 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 54 7 Jack Clark SFG 0 53 8 Greg Minton SFG 0 44 9 Steve Carlton PHI 0 41 10 Bill Buckner CHC 0 38 11 Bill Madlock PIT 0 37 12 Gary Carter MON 0 35 13 Ozzie Smith STL 0 25 14 George Hendrick STL 0 20 14 Terry Kennedy SDP 0 20 Cy Young 1 Steve Carlton PHI 20 112 2 Steve Rogers MON 1 29 3 Bruce Sutter STL 2 25 3 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 1 25 5 Phil Niekro ATL 0 18 6 Greg Minton SFG 0 4 7 Joaquin Andujar STL 0 1 7 Gene Garber ATL 0 1 Rookie 1 Steve Sax LAD 9 63 2 Johnny Ray PIT 6 57 3 Willie McGee STL 5 39 4 Chili Davis SFG 3 32 5 Luis DeLeon SDP 0 10 6 Ryne Sandberg CHC 1 9 7 Steve Bedrosian ATL 0 4 8 Dave LaPoint STL 0 1 8 Eric Show SDP 0 1 Best player: Gary Carter. Through the mid-1980s, Carter would be the best player in the NL, combining his defense at catcher and cleanup-hitter offense. He was the main engine behind the contending Expos. #1 Gary Carter, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Dale Murphy, #4 Pedro Guerrero, #5 Sixto Lezcano, #6 Andre Dawson. Best pitcher: Steve Carlton. The writers were correct in this league. #1 Steve Carlton, #2 Mario Soto, #3 Steve Rogers, #4 Joe Niekro, #5 Fernando Valenzuela. Best rookie: Chili Davis is who I would have voted for at the time. With perfect hindsight, I would say Ryne Sandberg. Best manager: Whitey Herzog, in his World Series-winning year.