1985 National League

The St. Louis Cardinals returned to the top spot, winning 101 games and surviving a heated race with the Mets by a three-game margin. Montreal was third with 84 wins, followed by Chicago, Philadelphia, and the empty husk of Pittsburgh, as the Pirates lost 104 games in the midst of a cocaine-induced collapse. Los Angeles took the West with 95 victories, ahead of resurgent Cincinnati's 89. Houston and San Diego tied for third with 83 wins, Atlanta was 5th with 96 losses, and San Francisco last with 100 defeats. Willie McGee easily won the batting title and also led in hits and triples, and copped the MVP award. McGee hit .353 to Pedro Guerrero's and Tim Raines's .320. Dale Murphy led in HR and runs, Hitting 37 homers to Dave Parker's 34, and Parker led in doubles and RBI, with 125 to Murphy's 111 and Tom Herr's 110. Guerrero led in OPS. Vince Coleman stole 110 bases. Dwight Gooden won a pitcher's Triple Crown by leading in wins, ERA and strikeouts, easily taking the Cy Young. He did this as the second-youngest player in the league. He was actually the youngest real player, as younger Jose Gonzalez only accumulated 11 at bats. Gooden had 24 wins to 21 for Joaquin Andujar and John Tudor as Tom Browning won 20. Gooden's 1.53 ERA was followed by Tudor at 1.93 and Orel Hershiser at 2.03. Gooden had 268 strikeouts, Mario Soto 214. Jeff Reardon led with 41 saves. Win Shares leaders, players; Tim Raines (Montreal) and Willie McGee (St. Louis) 36, Pedro Guerrero (Los Angeles) 35, Gary Carter (Montreal) 33, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) 31, Tommy Herr (St. Louis) 30, Dave Parker (Cincinnati) 29, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) and Bill Doran (Houston) 28, Keith Hernandez (New York) 27, Mike Scioscia (Los Angeles) and Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 26, Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 25, Vance Law (Montreal) and Darryl Strawberry (New York) 24, Mike Marshall (Los Angeles) and Tim Wallach (Montreal) 23, Jack Clark (St. Louis) 22, Ron Oester (Cincinnati), Jose Cruz (Houston), Juan Samuel (Philadelphia) and Garry Templeton (San Diego) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Dwight Gooden (New York) 33, John Tudor (St. Louis) 27, Orel Hershiser (Los Angeles) 23, Fernando Valenzuela (Los Angeles) 21, Rick Reuschel (Pittsburgh) 20, Tom Browning (Cincinnati) 18, Rick Mahler (Atlanta), Lee Smith (Chicago) and Ron Darling (New York) 17, John Franco (Cincinnati), Bryn Smith (Montreal) and Danny Cox (St. Louis) 16. WARP3 scores: Guerrero 9.7 (best year), Raines 9.5, Smith 7.9, McGee (best year) and Carter 7.8, Scioscia 6.1 (best year), Sandberg 6.0, Wallach 5.9, Doran (best year) and Hernandez 5.8, Templeton 5.7, Schmidt and Strawberry 5.5, Herr 5.4 (best year), Marshall 5.2 (career year), Murphy 5.1, Law 5.0 (career year), Parker 4.8, Oester 4.5 (best year), Tony Gwynn (San Diego) and Andy Van Slyke (St. Louis) 4.4. Pitchers, Gooden 11.7, Tudor 7.9, Reuschel 7.8, Mahler 5.8, Hershiser 5.6, Valenzuela 5.3, Franco 4.5, Dennis Eckersley (Chicago) and Bob Welch (Los Angeles) 4.4, Kevin Gross (Philadelphia) 4.3, Shane Rawley (Philadelphia) 4.2, Tim Burke (Montreal) 4.1. WAR, position players: Guerrero 7.9, Raines 7.3, McGee 7.2, Carter 6.7, Sandberg 6.0, Scioscia and Smith 5.6, Parker 5.4, Schmidt 5.3, Herr and Wallach 5.2, Doran and Hernandez 5.1, Murphy 4.7, Gwynn 4.3. Pitchers: Gooden 9.0, Tudor 6.7, Hershiser and Valenzuela 5.4, Reuschel 5.3, Smith 5.1, Ryan 4.6, Eckersley 4.4, Gross 4.0, Cox 3.5, Andujar, Browning, Denny, and Soto 3.4, Krukow and Mahler 3.3. Actual award winners: 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 Willie McGee STL 14 280 336 0.83 | 612 216 10 .353 .887 56 2 Dave Parker CIN 6 220 336 0.65 | 635 198 34 .312 .916 5 3 Pedro Guerrero LAD 3 208 336 0.62 | 487 156 33 .320 .999 12 4 Dwight Gooden NYM 1 162 336 0.48 | 93 21 1 .226 .545 0| 24-4 277 1.53 0.97 268 5 Tom Herr STL 0 119 336 0.35 | 596 180 8 .302 .795 31 6 Gary Carter NYM 0 116 336 0.35 | 555 156 32 .281 .853 1 7 Dale Murphy ATL 0 63 336 0.19 | 616 185 37 .300 .927 10 8 Keith Hernandez NYM 0 61 336 0.18 | 593 183 10 .309 .814 3 8 John Tudor STL 0 61 336 0.18 | 94 13 0 .138 .395 0| 21-8 275 1.93 0.94 169 10 Jack Clark STL 0 20 336 0.06 | 442 124 22 .281 .895 1 11 Vince Coleman STL 0 16 336 0.05 | 636 170 1 .267 .655 110 12 Tim Raines MON 0 15 336 0.04 | 575 184 11 .320 .880 70 13 Ryne Sandberg CHC 0 14 336 0.04 | 609 186 26 .305 .868 54 14 Hubie Brooks MON 0 11 336 0.03 | 605 163 13 .269 .723 6 14 Mike Marshall LAD 0 11 336 0.03 | 518 152 28 .293 .857 3 McGee won a close vote. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1stPlace Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Dwight Gooden NYM 24 120 120 1.00 | 24-4 277 1.53 0.97 268 2 John Tudor STL 0 65 120 0.54 | 21-8 275 1.93 0.94 169 3 Orel Hershiser LAD 0 17 120 0.14 | 19-3 240 2.03 1.03 157 4 Joaquin Andujar STL 0 6 120 0.05 | 21-12 270 3.40 1.29 112 5 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 0 4 120 0.03 | 17-10 272 2.45 1.15 208 6 Tom Browning CIN 0 3 120 0.02 | 20-9 261 3.55 1.21 155 7 Jeff Reardon MON 0 1 120 0.01 | 2-8 88 3.18 1.07 67 41 Gooden was a deserving unanimous choice, and Tudor was a clear second with a year that would have won the award most years. 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 Vince Coleman STL 24 120 120 1.00 | 636 170 1 .267 .655 110 2 Tom Browning CIN 0 72 120 0.60 | 88 17 0 .193 .467 0| 20-9 261 3.55 1.21 155 3 Mariano Duncan LAD 0 9 120 0.08 | 562 137 6 .244 .633 38 4 Chris Brown SFG 0 7 120 0.06 | 432 117 16 .271 .787 2 5 Glenn Davis HOU 0 3 120 0.02 | 350 95 20 .271 .807 0 6 Roger McDowell NYM 0 2 120 0.02 | 19 3 0 .158 .411 0| 6-5 127 2.83 1.14 70 17 6 Joe Orsulak PIT 0 2 120 0.02 | 397 119 0 .300 .707 24 8 Joe Hesketh MON 0 1 120 0.01 | 44 4 0 .091 .258 0| 10-5 155 2.49 1.09 113 Coleman was a unanimous choice with his triple-digit steals. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Whitey Herzog STL 11 86 120 0.72 | 101-61 1 2 Pete Rose CIN 10 85 120 0.71 | 89-72 2 3 Tommy Lasorda LAD 3 39 120 0.32 | 95-67 1 4 Davey Johnson NYM 0 4 120 0.03 | 98-64 2 5 Buck Rodgers MON 0 2 120 0.02 | 84-77 3 Herzog edged Rose in a virtual dead heat. Top player: Pedro Guerrero. He was the top hitter in the league, and played for a division winner. Raines could have been the pick, but the difference in the meta-stats is not statistically significant, and Guerrero's team won something. #1 Pedro Guerrero, #2 Tim Raines, #3 Willie McGee, #4 Gary Carter, #5 Dale Murphy, #6 Ryne Sandberg. Top pitcher: Dwight Gooden, with one of the best years in recent memory. Only that could relegate Tudor's great year to #2. #1 Dwight Gooden, #2 John Tudor, #3 Rick Reuschel, #4 Orel Hershiser, #5 Fernando Valenzuela. Top rookie: Tom Browning and his 20 wins, although Coleman's showy steal total for a winner took all the attention. Top manager: Whitey Herzog, guiding the Cardinals in.