1991 National League

It was the beginning of a "Braves" new world: the first of a string of division championships by the Atlanta Braves. They went from worst to first, as their Series opponents, the Twins did. Things were worse in Atlanta: the Braves had finished last in the NL West the previous three seasons in a row, and hadn't won the division since 1982 under Joe Torre, and since 1969 before that. It had been a long dry spell in Atlanta. It wasn't easy for the Braves either, as they squeaked past the Dodgers by a one-game margin. San Diego was third with 84 wins. San Francisco lost 87, defending champs Cincinnati lost 88, and Houston lost 97. In the East, Pittsburgh easily repeated with 98 wins. Atlanta's 7-game victory in the NLCS was a big upset. St. Louis was 2nd with 84 wins, Chicago lost 83, Philadelphia and New York lost 84, and Montreal lost 90. Terry Pendleton led in batting average with a .319 mark, just ahead of Hal Morris at .318. Tony Gwynn was a close third at .317. Pendleton also led in hits (187) and total bases on his way to the MVP. Brett Butler led with 112 runs, Bobby Bonilla with 44 doubles, Ray Lankford with 15 triples. Howard Johnson had 38 homers, followed by Matt Williams with 34. Johnson also led with 117 RBI, closely followed by Barry Bonds and Will Clark at 116. Marquis Grissom edged Otis Nixon with 76 steals to 72. Clark led in slugging, Bonds in on-base and OPS. Tom Glavine and John Smiley were the big winners with 20 each. Dennis Martinez led with a 2.39 ERA while Jose Rijo was second at 2.51. David Cone led with 241 strikeouts, followed by Greg Maddux with 198. Lee Smith was an easy leader with 47 saves, Rob Dibble was second with 31. Glavine and Martinez had 9 complete games each, Martinez five shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players; Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) and Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) 37, Will Clark (San Francisco) 34, Bobby Bonilla (Pittsburgh) 31, Terry Pendleton (Atlanta) 27, Barry Larkin (Cincinnati) and Brett Butler (Los Angeles) 26, Ron Gant (Atlanta), Howard Johnson (New York), John Kruk (Philadelphia), Fred McGriff (San Diego), Felix Jose and Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 25, Darryl Strawberry (Los Angeles) 24, Jeff Bagwell (Houston) 23, David Justice (Atlanta), Chris Sabo (Cincinnati), Jay Bell and Andy Van Slyke (Pittsburgh), Tony Gwynn (San Diego), Robby Thompson and Matt Williams (San Francisco) and Todd Zeile (St. Louis) 22. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Tom Glavine (Atlanta) 23, Dennis Martinez (Montreal) and Mitch Williams (Philadelphia) 18, Greg Maddux (Chicago), Jose Rijo (Cincinnati), Mike Morgan (Los Angeles) and Tommy Greene (Philadelphia) 17, Steve Avery (Atlanta), Pete Harnisch (Houston) and Andy Benes (San Diego) 16, Tim Belcher (Los Angeles), David Cone (New York), Bruce Hurst (San Diego) and Lee Smith (St. Louis) 15. WARP3 scores: Bonds 9.7, Larkin 8.7, Pendleton 8.6, Sandberg 7.9, Clark and Bonilla 7.6, Smith 6.9, Butler and Bell 6.4, McGriff 6.0, Gant and Williams 5.9, Bagwell 5.7 (rookie), Thompson and Larry Walker (Montreal) 5.2, Paul O'Neill (Cincinnati), Tony Fernandez (San Diego), and Ivan Calderon (Montreal) 5.1, Johnson 4.9 (last good season), Kruk and Justice 4.8, Sabo and Luis Gonzalez (Houston) 4.8, Zeile 4.4 (best season), Hal Morris (Cincinnati) 4.3. Pitchers, Glavine 6.8 (best season), Williams 5.8 (career year), Martinez 5.7, Rijo 5.6, Harnisch 5.4 (best year), Maddux 5.3, Cone 5.0, Benes 4.9 (best year), Smith 4.8, Dwight Gooden (New York) 4.5, Greene 4.2, Morgan 4.1, Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh) 3.8, John Smiley (Pittsburgh) 3.6. WAR leaders, position players: Bonds 7.9, Sandberg 6.5, Pendleton 6.4, Larkin 5.6, O'Neill 5.4, Clark and Gwynn 5.2, O. Smith and Williams 5.1, Kruk 5.0, Butler 4.9, Bonilla and Thompson 4.8, Finley 4.6, Bell 4.5, Bagwell 4.4, Strawberry 4.3, Johnson and Morris 4.1, Walker 4.0. WAR leaders, pitchers: Cone 6.6, Maddux 6.3, Rijo 6.0, Glavine 5.7, Mulholland 4.8, Z. Smith 4.7, Morgan 4.5, Belcher 4.1, Gooden, D. Martinez, and Smoltz 4.0, Drabek, Hurst, and Liebrandt 3.9, Benes and Harnisch 3.6, Dibble and Smiley 3.4. 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 Terry Pendleton ATL 12 274 336 0.82 | 586 187 22 .319 .880 10 2 Barry Bonds PIT 10 259 336 0.77 | 510 149 25 .292 .924 43 3 Bobby Bonilla PIT 1 191 336 0.57 | 577 174 18 .302 .883 2 4 Will Clark SFG 0 118 336 0.35 | 565 170 29 .301 .895 4 5 Howard Johnson NYM 0 112 336 0.33 | 564 146 38 .259 .877 30 6 Ron Gant ATL 0 110 336 0.33 | 561 141 32 .251 .834 34 7 Brett Butler LAD 1 103 336 0.31 | 615 182 2 .296 .744 38 8 Lee Smith STL 0 89 336 0.26 | | 6-3 73 2.34 1.14 67 47 9 Darryl Strawberry LAD 0 76 336 0.23 | 505 134 28 .265 .852 10 10 Fred McGriff SDP 0 23 336 0.07 | 528 147 31 .278 .890 4 11 Tom Glavine ATL 0 16 336 0.05 | 74 17 0 .230 .531 1| 20-11 247 2.55 1.09 192 12 Jay Bell PIT 0 11 336 0.03 | 608 164 16 .270 .757 10 12 David Justice ATL 0 11 336 0.03 | 396 109 21 .275 .880 8 14 Andre Dawson CHC 0 5 336 0.01 | 563 153 31 .272 .790 4 14 John Smiley PIT 0 5 336 0.01 | 70 7 0 .100 .237 0| 20-8 208 3.08 1.15 129 Pendleton edges Bonds in a close race with Bonilla a solid third. I understand why the writers did go for Pendleton, what with his and the Braves' surprise seasons. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Tom Glavine ATL 19 110 120 0.92 | 20-11 247 2.55 1.09 192 2 Lee Smith STL 4 60 120 0.50 | 6-3 73 2.34 1.14 67 47 3 John Smiley PIT 0 26 120 0.22 | 20-8 208 3.08 1.15 129 4 Jose Rijo CIN 1 13 120 0.11 | 15-6 204 2.51 1.08 172 5 Dennis Martinez MON 0 4 120 0.03 | 14-11 222 2.39 1.12 123 6 Steve Avery ATL 0 1 120 0.01 | 18-8 210 3.38 1.21 137 6 Andy Benes SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 15-11 223 3.03 1.13 167 6 Mitch Williams PHI 0 1 120 0.01 | 12-5 88 2.34 1.34 84 30 John Smiley, the other 20-game winner, had 14 Win Shares. 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 Jeff Bagwell HOU 23 118 120 0.98 | 554 163 15 .294 .824 7 2 Orlando Merced PIT 1 53 120 0.44 | 411 113 10 .275 .772 8 3 Ray Lankford STL 0 28 120 0.23 | 566 142 9 .251 .693 44 4 Brian Hunter ATL 0 7 120 0.06 | 271 68 12 .251 .746 0 5 Bret Barberie MON 0 3 120 0.02 | 136 48 2 .353 .949 0 5 Wes Chamberlain PHI 0 3 120 0.02 | 383 92 13 .240 .700 9 5 Chuck McElroy CHC 0 3 120 0.02 | 10 3 0 .300 .700 0| 6-2 101 1.95 1.28 92 3 8 Mike Stanton ATL 0 1 120 0.01 | 6 3 0 .500 1.238 0| 5-5 78 2.88 1.06 54 7 Bags a deserving clear winner. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Bobby Cox ATL 13 96 120 0.80 | 94-68 1 2 Jim Leyland PIT 9 74 120 0.62 | 98-64 1 3 Joe Torre STL 2 41 120 0.34 | 84-78 2 4 Tommy Lasorda LAD 0 5 120 0.04 | 93-69 2 Surprising that Cox did not sweep this award. Top player: Barry Bonds. The writers look for fresh faces, and did not give Barry a repeat, but he deserved the award he narrowly lost. #1 Barry Bonds, #2 Ryne Sandberg, #3 Terry Pendleton, #4 Barry Larkin, #5 Will Clark, #6 Bobby Bonilla. Top pitcher: Tom Glavine deserved this award. #1 Tom Glavine, #2 Dennis Martinez, #3 Greg Maddux, #4 David Cone, #5 Jose Rijo. Top rookie: Jeff Bagwell made a stellar debut. Top manager: Bobby Cox built the team as GM, then managed it to greatness.