1990 National League

Cincinnati had one of the great all-time surprise seasons, leading wire-to-wire and sweeping the World Series over the favored A's. It was the season that really made manager Lou Piniella's reputation. After years as also-rans under Pete Rose, the Reds broke through. They won 91 games, ahead of Los Angeles by 5 and San Francisco by 6. Houston and San Diego tied for 4th, and Atlanta was last with 97 losses. Pittsburgh won the East as young Barry Bonds burst onto the scene, with New York four games behind. Montreal was 10 back with 85 victories. Chicago and Philadelphia tied for 4th, and St. Louis was last with 92 losses. Willie McGee won the batting title even though he was traded to Oakland at the end of August. He posted a .335 average by the end of August, and Eddie Murray couldn't catch him, finishing at .330. Brett Butler and Lenny Dykstra tied for the hits lead with 192. Ryne Sandberg led in runs (116), total bases (344) and home runs (40), Matt Williams led in RBI (122). Darryl Strawberry was second in homers with 37, Bobby Bonilla second in RBI with 120. Vince Coleman led in steals (77), and Bonds led in slugging and OPS. Doug Drabek led in wins with 22, while Ramon Martinez and Frank Viola won 20. Danny Darwin led in ERA with a 2.21 mark, followed by Zane Smith at 2.55. David Cone led in strikeouts with 233 and Dwight Gooden and Ramon Martinez were second at 223. John Franco led in saves at 33. Bonds won the MVP and Drabek the Cy Young. Win Shares, players: Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) 37, Lenny Dykstra (Philadelphia) 35, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) 34, Eddie Murray (Los Angeles) 31, Matt Williams (San Francisco) 28, Brett Butler (San Francisco) 27, Kal Daniels (Los Angeles), Tim Wallach (Montreal) and Darryl Strawberry (New York) 26, Barry Larkin (Cincinnati), Dave Magadan (New York) and Will Clark (San Francisco) 25, Howard Johnson (New York) 24, Darren Daulton (Philadelphia), Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke (Pittsburgh) 23, Andre Dawson and Mark Grace (Chicago) and Bip Roberts (San Diego) 22, Ron Gant (Atlanta) and Kevin McReynolds (New York) 21. WS, pitchers: Frank Viola (New York) and Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh) 20, Ed Whitson (San Diego) 19, Rob Dibble, Randy Myers and Jose Rijo (Cincinnati), Danny Darwin (Houston) and Ramon Martinez (Los Angeles) 17 each, Mike Harkey and Greg Maddux (Chicago), Dennis Martinez (Montreal), Jeff Brantley (San Francisco) and John Tudor (St. Louis) 15. WARP3: Bonds 10.8 in his first great season, Dykstra 10.0, Larkin 8.6, Murray 7.5, Wallach 7.3, Sandberg 6.5, Roberts 6.4 (best year), Kevin Mitchell (San Francisco) 6.1, Williams 5.9, Jay Bell (Pittsburgh) 5.7, Daniels and Magadan (best year) 5.6, Daulton and Bonilla 5.5, Butler 5.4, J. Clark and Bill Doran (Houston/Cincinnati) 5.3, Chris Sabo (Cincinnati) 5.2, Strawberry 5.0, Will Clark (San Francisco) 4.9, Van Slyke 4.7, Gant 4.5, Johnson 4.3. Pitchers, Viola 8.4, Whitson 6.7 (last good year), Drabek 5.4, Darwin 5.3, John Smoltz (Atlanta) 5.2, Brantley 4.9, Rijo, David Cone (New York) and Charlie Leibrandt (Atlanta) 4.8, Harkey (rookie, best year) and Greg Harris (San Diego) 4.5, Dibble and Tudor (last year) 4.4, Myers 4.3, Tom Glavine (Atlanta) 4.1. WAR leaders, position players: Bonds 10.1, Dykstra 9.3, Strawberry 6.7, Sandberg 6.6, Murray 6.2, Larkin and Magadan 5.6, Gant and Roberts 5.3, Williams 5.2, Butler 4.9, Daniels, Daulton, and Van Slyke 4.6, Mitchell and Sabo 4.4, McGee and Smith 4.3, Wallach 4.1, Bonilla 4.0. WAR leaders, pitchers: Gooden 6.9, Viola 5.9, Maddux 5.7, Whitson 5.3, Cone and R. Martinez 5.1, D. Martinez 4.7, Rijo 4.5, Dibble 4.4, Drabek 4.3, Hurst and Smith 4.1, Smoltz 4.0, Magrane 3.7, Leibrandt 3.5. Award voting: MVP (top 10) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Barry Bonds PIT 23 331 2 Bobby Bonilla PIT 1 212 3 Darryl Strawberry NYM 0 167 4 Ryne Sandberg CHC 0 151 5 Eddie Murray LAD 0 123 6 Matt Williams SFG 0 95 7 Barry Larkin CIN 0 82 8 Doug Drabek PIT 0 59 9 Lenny Dykstra PHI 0 41 10 Tim Wallach MON 0 36 Cy Young Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Doug Drabek PIT 23 118 2 Ramon Martinez LAD 1 70 3 Frank Viola NYM 0 19 4 Dwight Gooden NYM 0 8 5 Randy Myers CIN 0 1 Rookie Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 David Justice ATL 23 118 2 Delino DeShields MON 1 60 3 Hal Morris CIN 0 13 4 John Burkett SFG 0 12 5 Mike Harkey CHC 0 7 6 Todd Zeile STL 0 4 7 Marquis Grissom MON 0 1 7 Larry Walker MON 0 1 Best player: Barry Bonds, beginning a string. Broke out with a .301 average, 33 HR and 114 RBI. #1 Barry Bonds, #2 Lenny Dykstra, #3 Ryne Sandberg, #4 Eddie Murray, #5 Barry Larkin, #6 Darryl Strawberry. Best pitcher: Frank Viola, although Drabek had more wins and more votes. Frankie V. was better. #1 Frank Viola, #2 Doug Drabek, #3 Ed Whitson, #4 Ramon Martinez, #5 Jose Rijo, #6 Rob Dibble. Best rookie: David Justice burst onto the scene with a fine rookie season. Best manager: Lou Piniella. Wire-to-wire!