1985 American League

With their fine 1970s team fading, the Kansas City Royals finally won a World Championship, behind a terrific pitching staff and an offense that had George Brett and not much else. The Royals won 91 times to edge the Angels in the AL West by a game, then took the ALCS and the World Series in 7 games each. None of it was easy, but it was quite a ride. The White Sox were third in the West with 85 wins, Minnesota and Oakland tied for fourth, Seattle was 6th and Texas lost 99 times to finish last. The AL East was where the action was supposed to be, with Toronto posting 99 wins to beat New York by two games, followed by Detroit, Baltimore and Boston, with Milwaukee 6th and Cleveland bringing up the rear with 102 losses. Wade Boggs won the batting title with a .368 average and led in on-base, while George Brett was second with a .335 mark and led in slugging and OPS. Darrell Evans led in HR with 40, followed by Carlton Fisk at 37. Don Mattingly led in RBI with 145, doubles with 48 and total bases. Eddie Murray was second with 124 RBI. Rickey Henderson led in steals with 80 and runs with 146. Boggs had 240 hits and Willie Wilson 21 triples. Ron Guidry led in wins with 22 followed by Bret Saberhagen with 20. Dave Stieb led in ERA with 2.48, followed by Charlie Liebrandt at 2.69 and Saberhagen at 2.87. Bert Blyleven led in strikeouts with 206 and Floyd Bannister was second with 198. Dan Quisenberry led in saves with 37. Blyleven pitched 24 complete games and five shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players; Rickey Henderson (New York) 38, George Brett (Kansas City) 37, Don Mattingly (New York) 32, Wade Boggs (Boston) 31, Eddie Murray (Baltimore) 28, Phil Bradley (Seattle) and Jesse Barfield (Toronto) 26, Cal Ripken (Baltimore) and Harold Baines (Chicago) 25, Carlton Fisk (Chicago), Kirk Gibson and Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 24, Brett Butler (Cleveland) and Mike Davis (Oakland) 23, Alvin Davis (Seattle) 22, Dwight Evans (Boston), Brian Downing (California), Paul Molitor (Milwaukee), Dave Winfield (New York), and George Bell, Tony Fernandez, and Lloyd Moseby (Toronto) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Charlie Liebrandt and Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) and Dave Stieb (Toronto) 24, Dan Quisenberry (Kansas City) and Bert Blyleven (Cleveland/Minnesota) 23, Bob James (Chicago) 22, Charlie Hough (Texas) 21, Donnie Moore (California) and Doyle Alexander (Toronto) 20, Willie Hernandez and Jack Morris (Detroit), Mike Moore (Seattle) and Jimmy Key (Toronto) 19. WARP3 scores: Henderson 9.7, Barfield 8.1, Brett 7.7, Boggs 7.6, Mattingly 7.3, Ripken 6.9, Fernandez 6.3, Rich Gedman (Boston) 5.9, Murray 5.8, Willie Randolph (New York) 5.7, M. Davis 5.3 (career year), Evans 4.8, Whitaker and Butler 4.5, Gibson 4.4, Lance Parrish (Detroit) 4.3, Bradley (best year), Fisk, and Alan Trammell (Detroit) 4.1. Pitchers, Saberhagen 7.5, Liebrandt 7.2 (best year), Hough 7.0 (best year), Quisenberry (best year) and Oil Can Boyd (Boston) 6.4, Moore 5.5 (career year), Tom Seaver (Chicago) 5.3, Stieb 5.1, Jay Howell (Oakland) 4.5, Morris, Dave Righetti and Ron Guidry (both New York) 4.4, Blyleven 4.2. WAR leaders, position players: Henderson 10.2, Boggs 9.4, Brett 8.8, Barfield 7.5, Mattingly 6.6, Gedman and Murray 6.0, Ripken 5.9, Gibson 5.8, Davis 5.4, Bradley 5.3, Whitaker 5.2, Randolph 4.7, Evans, Evans, and Fernandez 4.6, Harrah and Parrish 4.5. Pitchers: Blyleven 7.7, Saberhagen 6.8, Moore 6.0, Boyd 5.7, Jackson 5.2, Guidry and Stieb 5.1, Terrell 4.9, Liebrandt and Viola 4.8, Morris, Seaver, and Witt 4.7, Alexander 4.6, Burns 4.5, Hough 4.4, Black, Hurst, and Smithson 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 Don Mattingly NYY 23 367 392 0.94 | 652 211 35 .324 .939 2 2 George Brett KCR 5 274 392 0.70 | 550 184 30 .335 1.022 9 3 Rickey Henderson NYY 0 174 392 0.44 | 547 172 24 .314 .934 80 4 Wade Boggs BOS 0 159 392 0.41 | 653 240 8 .368 .928 2 5 Eddie Murray BAL 0 130 392 0.33 | 583 173 31 .297 .906 5 6 Donnie Moore CAL 0 96 392 0.24 | | 8-8 103 1.92 1.09 72 31 7 Jesse Barfield TOR 0 88 392 0.22 | 539 156 27 .289 .905 22 8 George Bell TOR 0 84 392 0.21 | 607 167 28 .275 .807 21 9 Harold Baines CHW 0 49 392 0.12 | 640 198 22 .309 .815 1 10 Bret Saberhagen KCR 0 45 392 0.11 | | 20-6 235 2.87 1.06 158 11 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 39 392 0.10 | | 8-9 129 2.37 1.22 54 37 12 Dave Winfield NYY 0 35 392 0.09 | 633 174 26 .275 .799 19 13 Carlton Fisk CHW 0 29 392 0.07 | 543 129 37 .238 .808 17 14 Darrell Evans DET 0 17 392 0.04 | 505 125 40 .248 .875 0 15 Ron Guidry NYY 0 15 392 0.04 | | 22-6 259 3.27 1.10 143 Mattingly handily won the BBWAA voting. Cy Young (top 5): | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Bret Saberhagen KCR 23 127 140 0.91 | 20-6 235 2.87 1.06 158 2 Ron Guidry NYY 4 88 140 0.63 | 22-6 259 3.27 1.10 143 3 Bert Blyleven TOT 1 9 140 0.06 |+17-16 294 3.16 1.15 206 3 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 9 140 0.06 | 8-9 129 2.37 1.22 54 37 5 Charlie Leibrandt KCR 0 7 140 0.05 | 17-9 238 2.69 1.22 108 Saberhagen over Guidry in a fairly close race. 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 Ozzie Guillen CHW 16 101 140 0.72 | 491 134 1 .273 .650 7 2 Teddy Higuera MIL 9 67 140 0.48 | | 15-8 212 3.90 1.17 127 3 Ernest Riles MIL 0 29 140 0.21 | 448 128 5 .286 .717 2 4 Oddibe McDowell TEX 1 25 140 0.18 | 406 97 18 .239 .735 25 5 Stew Cliburn CAL 1 16 140 0.11 | | 9-3 99 2.09 1.14 48 6 6 Brian Fisher NYY 0 7 140 0.05 | | 4-4 98 2.38 1.08 85 14 7 Tom Henke TOR 1 5 140 0.04 | | 3-3 40 2.02 0.92 42 13 8 Mark Salas MIN 0 2 140 0.01 | 360 108 9 .300 .791 0 Guillen and Higuera led a weak field. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Bobby Cox TOR 16 104 140 0.74 | 99-62 1 2 Dick Howser KCR 4 66 140 0.47 | 91-71 1 3 Gene Mauch CAL 8 57 140 0.41 | 90-72 2 4 Billy Martin NYY 0 19 140 0.14 | 91-54 2 5 Jackie Moore OAK 0 4 140 0.03 | 77-85 5 6 Tony LaRussa CHW 0 1 140 0.01 | 85-77 3 6 John McNamara BOS 0 1 140 0.01 | 81-81 5 Top player: Rickey Henderson emerges as the best player this year. Mattingly won the MVP for his RBI, but it was Henderson giving him someone to drive in so often. #1 Rickey Henderson, #2 George Brett, #3 Don Mattingly, #4 Wade Boggs, #5 Jesse Barfield, #6 Cal Ripken. Top pitcher: Bret Saberhagen, 20-game winner for the Royals. #1 Bret Saberhagen, #2 Charlie Liebrandt, #3 Dan Quisenberry, #4 Bert Blyleven, #5 Dave Stieb. The Royals won on their pitching, which is why the top three pitchers are Royals. Top rookie: Ozzie Guillen is the right choice, by a slim margin. He had 15 Win Shares to Teddy Higuera's 14. Top manager: Bobby Cox managed Toronto to their first title of any kind. KC's Dick Howser was great too.