1989 National League

Chicago won its second division title of the decade, but again fell short in the NLCS. The Cubs took 93 victories to best the Mets by six games. St. Louis was one behind that. Montreal was at .500, Pittsburgh lost 88, and Philadelphia lost 95. San Francisco won the pennant after winning the West with 92 victories, with San Diego at 89 and Houston at 86. Los Angeles lost 83, Cincinnati 87, and Atlanta 97. Tony Gwynn edged Will Clark for the batting title .336 to .333, and also led in hits with 203 to Clark's 196. Clark led in walks (132) and tied Howard Johnson and Ryne Sandberg for the lead in runs (104). Kevin Mitchell led in HR (47), RBI (125), slugging, and OPS. Pedro Guerrero and Tim Wallach had 42 doubles, Robby Thompson 11 triples. Vince Coleman led in steals with 65. Mike Scott led in wins with 20, followed by Greg Maddux at 19. Scott Garrelts led in ERA with a 2.28 mark that was just ahead of Orel Hershiser at 2.31. Jose DeLeon led in strikeouts with 201 to edge Tim Belcher at 200 and Sid Fernandez at 198. Mark Davis led in saves with 44. Belcher threw 8 shutouts, and Hershiser led in innings with 257. Win Shares leaders, players; Will Clark (San Francisco) 44, Howard Johnson (New York) and Kevin Mitchell (San Francisco) 38, Jack Clark (San Diego) 31, Glenn Davis (Houston), Pedro Guerrero (St. Louis) and Tony Gwynn (San Diego) 30, Bobby Bonilla (Pittsburgh) 29, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) 28, Lonnie Smith (Atlanta) 27, Eric Davis (Cincinnati) 26, Mark Grace (Chicago), Ken Caminiti (Houston), Tim Raines (Montreal) and Von Hayes (Philadelphia) 25, Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) and Roberto Alomar (San Diego) 23, Jose Oquendo (St. Louis) 22, Eddie Murray (Los Angeles) and Kevin McReynolds (New York) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Orel Hershiser (Los Angeles) 21, Greg Maddux (Chicago) 20, Mark Davis (San Diego) 19, Bruce Hurst and Ed Whitson (San Diego) and Joe Magrane (St. Louis) 18, Tim Burke (Montreal) 17, Mike Bielecki (Chicago), Jay Howell (Los Angeles), Dennis Martinez (Montreal) and Sid Fernandez (New York) 16. WARP3: Mitchell 10.7, W. Clark 10.3, Bonilla 8.9, Johnson 8.7, L. Smith 7.7 (last big year), Sandberg 6.9, Gwynn 6.7, Bonds 6.6, Oquendo 6.2 (career year), J. Clark 6.1, Hayes 6.0 (last big year), Raines and Brett Butler San Francisco) 5.9, Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 5.7, G. Davis 5.5, E. Davis 5.4, Guerrero 5.3 (last good year), Grace, Milt Thompson (St. Louis) and Kevin Elster (New York) 4.9. Pitchers, Hershiser 8.1, Maddux and Howell 5.4, M. Davis 5.2, Jim Deshaies (Houston) and Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh) 5.1, John Smoltz (Atlanta) 5.0, Fernandez and Bryn Smith (Montreal) 4.8, Hurst, Whitson, Mark Langston (Montreal), Danny Darwin (Houston) and Rob Dibble (Cincinnati) 4.7, Martinez, Burke, and Mike Scott (Houston) 4.6, Magrane 4.3. WAR leaders, position players: L, Smith 8.4, W. Clark 8.3, Bonds and Johnson 7.3, Mitchell 7.1, O. Smith 6.9, Oquendo and Sandberg 5.9, Thompson 5.6, Hayes 5.1, Davis 5.0, Caminiti 4.7, Thompson 4.6, Bonilla and Strawberry 4.5, J. Clark, Pendleton, and Wallach 4.4, Raines 4.3. Pitchers: Hershiser 5.5, DeLeon, Hurst, and Magrane 4.9, Smoltz 4.3, Maddux and Sutcliffe 4.0, Howell 3.8, Dibble and Perez 3.7, Garrelts 3.5, Bielecki 3.4, Belcher and Cone 3.2, Fernandez 3.1, Mahler and Smith 3.0. Actual Award winners: MVP: 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 Kevin Mitchell SFG 20 314 336 0.93 | 543 158 47 .291 1.023 3 2 Will Clark SFG 3 225 336 0.67 | 588 196 23 .333 .953 8 3 Pedro Guerrero STL 1 190 336 0.57 | 570 177 17 .311 .868 2 4 Ryne Sandberg CHC 0 157 336 0.47 | 606 176 30 .290 .853 15 5 Howard Johnson NYM 0 153 336 0.46 | 571 164 36 .287 .928 41 6 Mark Davis SDP 0 76 336 0.23 | 13 0 0 .000 .000 0| 4-3 93 1.85 1.05 92 44 7 Glenn Davis HOU 0 64 336 0.19 | 581 156 34 .269 .842 4 8 Tony Gwynn SDP 0 57 336 0.17 | 604 203 4 .336 .813 40 9 Eric Davis CIN 0 44 336 0.13 | 462 130 34 .281 .908 21 10 Mitch Williams CHC 0 41 336 0.12 | 5 1 1 .200 1.000 0| 4-4 82 2.76 1.51 67 36 11 Lonnie Smith ATL 0 34 336 0.10 | 482 152 21 .315 .948 25 12 Jack Clark SDP 0 16 336 0.05 | 455 110 26 .242 .869 6 13 Jerome Walton CHC 0 14 336 0.04 | 475 139 5 .293 .721 24 14 Mark Grace CHC 0 9 336 0.03 | 510 160 13 .314 .862 14 15 Mike Scott HOU 0 6 336 0.02 | 75 10 1 .133 .327 0| 20-10 229 3.10 1.06 172 16 Bobby Bonilla PIT 0 5 336 0.01 | 616 173 24 .281 .848 8 17 Brett Butler SFG 0 3 336 0.01 | 594 168 4 .283 .703 31 17 Tim Raines MON 0 3 336 0.01 | 517 148 9 .286 .813 41 17 Milt Thompson STL 0 3 336 0.01 | 545 158 4 .290 .733 27 20 Scott Garrelts SFG 0 2 336 0.01 | 66 9 0 .136 .371 1| 14-5 193 2.28 1.01 119 They picked the wrong teammate on the pennant winner. Cy Young: Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Mark Davis SDP 19 107 120 0.89 | 4-3 93 1.85 1.05 92 44 2 Mike Scott HOU 4 65 120 0.54 | 20-10 229 3.10 1.06 172 3 Greg Maddux CHC 0 17 120 0.14 | 19-12 238 2.95 1.28 135 4 Orel Hershiser LAD 1 7 120 0.06 | 15-15 257 2.31 1.18 178 4 Joe Magrane STL 0 7 120 0.06 | 18-9 235 2.91 1.24 127 6 Tim Belcher LAD 0 4 120 0.03 | 15-12 230 2.82 1.14 200 1 6 Scott Garrelts SFG 0 4 120 0.03 | 14-5 193 2.28 1.01 119 8 Rick Reuschel SFG 0 3 120 0.02 | 17-8 208 2.94 1.20 111 9 Mike Bielecki CHC 0 1 120 0.01 | 18-7 212 3.14 1.26 147 9 Mitch Williams CHC 0 1 120 0.01 | 4-4 82 2.76 1.51 67 36 I can see why the writers were confused enough to choose Davis. There was no true standout. Rookie: 1st Max | Season Results Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Jerome Walton CHC 22 116 120 0.97 | 475 139 5 .293 .721 24 2 Dwight Smith CHC 2 68 120 0.57 | 343 111 9 .324 .875 9 3 Gregg Jefferies NYM 0 18 120 0.15 | 508 131 12 .258 .706 21 4 Derek Lilliquist ATL 0 6 120 0.05 | 63 12 0 .190 .397 0| 8-10 166 3.97 1.42 79 5 Andy Benes SDP 0 3 120 0.02 | 24 6 1 .250 .625 0| 6-3 67 3.51 1.23 66 5 Charlie Hayes TOT 0 3 120 0.02 | +304 78 8 .257 .671 3 7 Greg Harris SDP 0 2 120 0.02 | 19 1 0 .053 .195 0| 8-9 135 2.60 1.17 106 6 Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Don Zimmer CHC 23 118 120 0.98 | 93-69 1 2 Roger Craig SFG 1 62 120 0.52 | 92-70 1 3 Whitey Herzog STL 0 31 120 0.26 | 86-76 3 4 Art Howe HOU 0 4 120 0.03 | 86-76 3 5 Jack McKeon SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 89-73 2 Top Player: Will Clark. "The Natural" was the best player in the league, and on the top team, but a teammate led the league in RBI. That usually pulls voters' focus. Clark's Hall of Fame argument would be helped if he had rightfully won this award. #1 Will Clark, #2 Kevin Mitchell, #3 Howard Johnson, #4 Lonnie Smith, #5 Ozzie Smith, #6 Ryne Sandberg. Top pitcher: Orel Hershiser. By my count, this should be his 3rd in a row. That would help his Hall of Fame case, too. #1 Orel Hershiser, #2 Greg Maddux, #3 Mark Davis, #4 Mike Scott, #5 Joe Magrane. Top rookie: Jerome Walton. Not a good group, overall, partly because Craig Biggio had just a few too many ABs the year before. Top manager: Roger Craig. Got the Giants to the pennant.