1994 American League

The year of no World Series. It was that depressing season of labor unrest when the postseason was cancelled. The baseball schedule didn't end, it just stopped. It should have been an exciting year, the first year of three divisions and a wild card, the first year with expanded playoffs. Instead, there were no playoffs, no postseason. When it stopped, the newly created three divisions were led by New York, Chicago and Texas, although the Rangers were 10 games below .500. That in itself points out a fatal flaw in the three-division setup. The presence of a Wild Card, Cleveland at the time of the stoppage, is another. But enough purist rambling. Paul O'Neill posted the best batting average at .359, trailed by Albert Belle at .357 and Frank Thomas at .353. Thomas led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. He also led with 106 runs scored. Kenny Lofton had 160 hits, Chuck Knoblauch 45 doubles, Lance Johnson 14 triples, and Lofton had 60 steals. Ken Griffey had 40 home runs, Thomas 38, Belle 36. Kirby Puckett led with 112 RBI. Jimmy Key topped the league with 17 wins, David Cone and Mike Mussina each had 16. Steve Ontiveros had a 2.65 ERA and was followed by Roger Clemens at 2.85. Randy Johnson had 204 strikeouts with Clemens second at 168. Lee Smith paced the league with 33 saves. Win Shares leaders, players; Frank Thomas (Chicago) 25, Albert Belle (Cleveland) 24, Paul O'Neill (New York) 23, Kenny Lofton (Cleveland) 21, Chuck Knoblauch and Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) and Ken Griffey (Seattle) 20, Will Clark (Texas) and Paul Molitor (Toronto) 19, Cal Ripken (Baltimore) and Wade Boggs (New York) 18, Rafael Palmeiro (Baltimore) and Mo Vaughn (Boston) 17, Robin Ventura (Chicago), Tony Phillips (Detroit) and Jose Canseco (Texas) 16, Chili Davis (California), Julio Franco (Chicago), Travis Fryman (Detroit), Shane Mack (Minnesota), Don Mattingly (New York), Terry Steinbach (Oakland) and Ivan Rodriguez (Texas) 15. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; David Cone (Kansas City) 20, Mike Mussina (Baltimore) 18, Roger Clemens (Boston) 16, Jimmy Key (New York), Randy Johnson (Seattle) and Pat Hentgen (Toronto) 15, Chuck Finley (California), Dennis Martinez (Cleveland) and Ricky Bones (Milwaukee) 14, Charles Nagy (Cleveland) and Kevin Appier (Kansas City) 13. WARP3 scores: Thomas 10.4, Belle and O'Neill 8.1, Lofton (peak) and Phillips 6.8, Griffey 6.3, Boggs 6.2, Ventura 5.8, Mike Stanley (New York) 5.7, Ripken 5.4, Molitor 5.0, Bernie Williams (New York) 4.9, Mack 4.7, Roberto Alomar (Toronto) 4.6, Palmeiro, Franco, Jose Valentin (Milwaukee), and Chris Hoiles (Baltimore) 4.5, Davis 4.4, Rodriguez 4.2, Canseco and Geronimo Berroa (Oakland) 4.1, Clark and Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 4.0, Steinbach and Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 3.8, Vaughn, Fryman, and Jay Buhner (Seattle) 3.7. Pitchers, Johnson 7.2, Cone and Clemens 6.2, Hentgen 6.0, Martinez 5.7, Mussina 5.6, Nagy 4.9, Key 4.5, Finley 4.2, Aaron Sele (Boston) 4.1, Mark Eichhorn (Baltimore) 3.9. WAR leaders, position players: Thomas 7.3, Griffey 7.2, Lofton 7.0, Belle 5.6, Palmeiro and Ripken 4.8, Phillips 4.6, O'Neill 4.5, Boggs 4.4, Knoblauch 3.9, Molitor 3.6, Hoiles and Williams 3.5, Anderson, Franco, E. Martinez, Olerud, Puckett, and Ventura 3.3. WAR leaders, pitchers: Johnson 5.3, Clemens 5.0, McDowell 4.9, Appier 4.4, Cone 4.3, Brown and Key 4.1, D. Martinez and Tapani 3.9, Finley, Hentgen, and Nagy 3.8, Mussina 3.7, McDonald 3.2, Gubicza, Rogers, and Sele 3.1. 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 Frank Thomas CHW 24 372 392 0.95 | 399 141 38 .353 1.217 2 2 Ken Griffey SEA 3 233 392 0.59 | 433 140 40 .323 1.076 11 3 Albert Belle CLE 0 225 392 0.57 | 412 147 36 .357 1.152 9 4 Kenny Lofton CLE 1 181 392 0.46 | 459 160 12 .349 .948 60 5 Paul O'Neill NYY 0 150 392 0.38 | 368 132 21 .359 1.064 5 6 Jimmy Key NYY 0 102 392 0.26 | | 17-4 168 3.27 1.36 97 7 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 100 392 0.26 | 439 139 20 .317 .902 6 8 Julio Franco CHW 0 49 392 0.12 | 433 138 20 .319 .916 8 9 David Cone KCR 0 40 392 0.10 | | 16-5 172 2.94 1.07 132 10 Joe Carter TOR 0 35 392 0.09 | 435 118 27 .271 .841 11 11 Jose Canseco TEX 0 27 392 0.07 | 429 121 31 .282 .939 15 12 Cal Ripken BAL 0 24 392 0.06 | 444 140 13 .315 .823 1 13 Wade Boggs NYY 0 19 392 0.05 | 366 125 11 .342 .922 2 14 Lee Smith BAL 0 18 392 0.05 | | 1-4 38 3.29 1.17 42 33 15 Will Clark TEX 0 17 392 0.04 | 389 128 13 .329 .932 5 Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 David Cone KCR 15 108 140 0.77 | 16-5 172 2.94 1.07 132 2 Jimmy Key NYY 10 96 140 0.69 | 17-4 168 3.27 1.36 97 3 Randy Johnson SEA 2 24 140 0.17 | 13-6 172 3.19 1.19 204 4 Mike Mussina BAL 1 23 140 0.16 | 16-5 176 3.06 1.16 99 5 Lee Smith BAL 0 1 140 0.01 | 1-4 38 3.29 1.17 42 33 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 Bob Hamelin KCR 25 134 140 0.96 | 312 88 24 .282 .987 4 2 Manny Ramirez CLE 0 44 140 0.31 | 290 78 17 .269 .878 4 3 Rusty Greer TEX 3 42 140 0.30 | 277 87 10 .314 .898 0 4 Chris Gomez DET 0 6 140 0.04 | 296 76 8 .257 .738 5 4 Bill Risley SEA 0 6 140 0.04 | | 9-6 52 3.44 0.96 61 6 Brian Anderson CAL 0 4 140 0.03 | | 7-5 102 5.22 1.45 47 6 Jeffrey Hammonds BAL 0 4 140 0.03 | 250 74 8 .296 .819 5 8 Jim Edmonds CAL 0 2 140 0.01 | 289 79 5 .273 .720 4 9 Jose Valentin MIL 0 1 140 0.01 | 285 68 11 .239 .751 12 Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Buck Showalter NYY 24 132 140 0.94 | 70-43 1 2 Mike Hargrove CLE 4 86 140 0.61 | 66-47 2 3 Gene Lamont CHW 0 17 140 0.12 | 67-46 1 4 Tony LaRussa OAK 0 10 140 0.07 | 51-63 2 5 Hal McRae KCR 0 6 140 0.04 | 64-51 3 6 Butch Hobson BOS 0 1 140 0.01 | 54-61 4 Top player: Frank Thomas. I took it away from him last year, but this year even with no defensive value he was the best in the league. #1 Frank Thomas, #2 Albert Belle, #3 Paul O'Neill, #4 Kenny Lofton, #5 Ken Griffey,Jr. Top pitcher: David Cone, pitching very well for a losing team. #1 David Cone, #2 Mike Mussina, #3 Randy Johnson, #4 Roger Clemens, #5 Jimmy Key. Top rookie: Manny Ramirez, with the benefit of hindsight. There were several rookies of similar quality, including Bob Hamelin, Ramirez, Jim Edmonds, and Rusty Greer. When stats are close, go for the youngest player, who is far more likely to have the best career. Hamelin was 26, Ramirez 22. Top manager: Buck Showalter, who could have been the manager to lead the Yankees back to the promised land. Oh well.