1994 National League

The Year Without a World Series. It could be a movie. Nothing could be more depressing to a baseball fan than a season that just stops, and doesn't go to its natural end. It was the season that ruined baseball in Montreal, as the Expos could have won it all. Their six-game lead went for naught. So did Cincinnati's half-game advantage over the Astros in the Central, and LA's lead in the West. Jeff Bagwell won the MVP, as he was first in OPS, runs with 106, and RBI with 116, as well as slugging, and second in average at .368 and homers with 39. He would probably not have won the award had the season continued, as a broken wrist had effectively ended his season just before competition ceased, and he would likely have been surpassed. Tony Gwynn won the batting title with a .394 mark, Matt Williams had a shot at the home run record with 41, and Craig Biggio had the edge on Deion Sanders for steals 39 to 38. Craig Biggio and Larry Walker each had 44 doubles, Darren Lewis and Brett Butler had nine triples apiece. Bagwell had a healthy lead in runs created over Barry Bonds. Ken Hill and Greg Maddux tied for the wins lead with 16, while Maddux held the ERA title with a cool 1.56 mark. Bret Saberhagen was second with 2.74. Andy Benes led in strikeouts with 189 followed by Jose Rijo at 176. John Franco led in saves with 30. Win Shares leaders, players; Jeff Bagwell (Houston) 30, Craig Biggio (Houston) 26, Barry Bonds (San Francisco) 25, Fred McGriff (Atlanta) and Moises Alou (Montreal) 22, Mike Piazza (New York) and Larry Walker (Montreal) 21, David Justice (Atlanta), Barry Larkin (Cincinnati), Brett Butler (Los Angeles), Bobby Bonilla (New York) and Jay Bell (Pittsburgh) 19, Kevin Mitchell (Cincinnati), Tim Wallach (Montreal), Jeff Kent (New York) and Matt Williams (San Francisco) 18, Wil Cordero and Marquis Grissom (Montreal), Tony Gwynn (San Diego) and Gregg Jefferies (St. Louis) 17. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Greg Maddux (Atlanta) 26, Bret Saberhagen (New York) 16, Danny Jackson (Philadelphia) 14, Marvin Freeman (Colorado), Doug Drabek (Houston) and Zane Smith (Pittsburgh) 13, Tom Glavine (Atlanta), Butch Henry, Ken Hill and John Wetteland (Montreal) 12. WARP3 scores: Bagwell 11.7, Bonds 8.6, Williams 7.3, Biggio 7.2, Gwynn 6.8, Larkin 6.6, Cordero 6.4 (career year), Mitchell 5.8 (last big year), Justice 5.7, Grissom 5.6, Alou 5.5, Bonilla 5.4, Butler 5.3 (last big year), Piazza and Walker 5.1, Ken Caminiti (Houston) 5.0, McGriff 4.8, Bell and Sammy Sosa (Chicago) 4.6. Pitchers, Maddux 10.5, Saberhagen 6.0, Freeman 5.2 (career year), Drabek 4.9, Smith 4.8 (best year), Jackson 4.6 (last good year), Doug Jones (Philadelphia) 4.3, Steve Trachsel (Chicago) 4.2, Henry 4.1 (best year), Kevin Gross (Los Angeles) 3.9, Hill, Jeff Brantley (Cincinnati) and Trevor Hoffman (San Diego) 3.8, Glavine 3.6, Jose Rijo (Cincinnati) 3.2. WAR leaders, position players: Bagwell 7.8, Bonds 6.0, MGriff 4.9, Alou 4.8, Biggio, Walker, and Williams 4.5, Grissom 4.3, Mitchell 4.2, Gwynn 4.1, Caminiti, Piazza, and Sosa 3.9, Justice 3.8, Larkin 3.7, Bell 3.6, Conine 3.5. WAR leaders, pitchers: Maddux 7.4, Saberhagen 5.2, Jackson and Rijo 4.1, Benes 3.9, Glavine 3.6, P. Martinez 3.5, Gross 3.2, Hanson 3.1, Fassero 3.0, Ashby and Drabek 2.9. Actual award winners: MVP (top 16): | 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 28 392 392 1.00 | 400 147 39 .368 1.201 15 2 Matt Williams SFG 0 281 392 0.72 | 445 119 43 .267 .926 1 3 Moises Alou MON 0 183 392 0.47 | 422 143 22 .339 .989 7 4 Barry Bonds SFG 0 144 392 0.37 | 391 122 37 .312 1.073 29 5 Greg Maddux ATL 0 133 392 0.34 | 63 14 0 .222 .488 0| 16-6 202 1.56 0.90 156 6 Mike Piazza LAD 0 121 392 0.31 | 405 129 24 .319 .910 1 7 Tony Gwynn SDP 0 112 392 0.29 | 419 165 12 .394 1.022 5 8 Fred McGriff ATL 0 96 392 0.24 | 424 135 34 .318 1.012 7 9 Kevin Mitchell CIN 0 86 392 0.22 | 310 101 30 .326 1.110 2 10 Andres Galarraga COL 0 42 392 0.11 | 417 133 31 .319 .949 8 11 Larry Walker MON 0 23 392 0.06 | 395 127 19 .322 .981 15 12 Marquis Grissom MON 0 22 392 0.06 | 475 137 11 .288 .771 36 12 Ken Hill MON 0 22 392 0.06 | 48 7 0 .146 .342 0| 16-5 155 3.32 1.22 85 14 Dante Bichette COL 0 19 392 0.05 | 484 147 27 .304 .882 21 15 Hal Morris CIN 0 18 392 0.05 | 436 146 10 .335 .875 6 16 Craig Biggio HOU 0 17 392 0.04 | 437 139 6 .318 .893 39 Cy Young (top 5): | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Greg Maddux ATL 28 140 140 1.00 | 16-6 202 1.56 0.90 156 2 Ken Hill MON 0 56 140 0.40 | 16-5 155 3.32 1.22 85 3 Bret Saberhagen NYM 0 42 140 0.30 | 14-4 177 2.74 1.03 143 4 Doug Drabek HOU 0 4 140 0.03 | 12-6 165 2.84 1.07 121 4 Marvin Freeman COL 0 4 140 0.03 | 10-2 113 2.80 1.21 67 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 Raul Mondesi LAD 28 140 140 1.00 | 434 133 16 .306 .849 11 2 John Hudek HOU 0 27 140 0.19 | | 0-2 39 2.97 1.07 39 16 3 Ryan Klesko ATL 0 25 140 0.18 | 245 68 17 .278 .907 1 4 Steve Trachsel CHC 0 22 140 0.16 | 43 8 0 .186 .414 0| 9-7 146 3.21 1.28 108 5 Cliff Floyd MON 0 10 140 0.07 | 334 94 4 .281 .731 10 5 Joey Hamilton SDP 0 10 140 0.07 | 40 0 0 .000 .047 0| 9-6 109 2.98 1.17 61 7 William Van Landingham SFG 0 9 140 0.06 | 31 2 0 .065 .129 0| 8-2 84 3.54 1.35 56 8 Hector Carrasco CIN 0 3 140 0.02 | 6 0 0 .000 .000 0| 5-6 56 2.24 1.28 41 6 8 Bobby Jones NYM 0 3 140 0.02 | 46 5 0 .109 .239 0| 12-7 160 3.15 1.33 80 10 Javy Lopez ATL 0 2 140 0.01 | 277 68 13 .245 .718 0 11 Shane Reynolds HOU 0 1 140 0.01 | 33 3 0 .091 .209 0| 8-5 124 3.05 1.20 110 Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Felipe Alou MON 27 138 140 0.99 | 74-40 1 2 Davey Johnson CIN 0 51 140 0.36 | 66-48 1 3 Terry Collins HOU 0 31 140 0.22 | 66-49 2 4 Dallas Green NYM 1 12 140 0.09 | 55-58 3 5 Don Baylor COL 0 8 140 0.06 | 53-64 3 5 Tommy Lasorda LAD 0 8 140 0.06 | 58-56 1 7 Bobby Cox ATL 0 3 140 0.02 | 68-46 2 8 Dusty Baker SFG 0 1 140 0.01 | 55-60 2 An easy voting year. And even better, the choices were correct. Top player: Jeff Bagwell, clearly. He wouldn't have been if the season had come to its natural conclusion, due to injury, but we don't play the what-if game here. #1 Jeff Bagwell, #2 Barry Bonds, #3 Craig Biggio, #4 Larry Walker, #5 Tony Gwynn. Top pitcher: Greg Maddux with an astounding season. #1 Greg Maddux, #2 Bret Saberhagen, #3 Danny Jackson, #4 Marvin Freeman, #5 Doug Drabek. Top rookie: Raul Mondesi in a pretty unexciting year overall. Top manager: Felipe Alou's Expos had the best record in the league when everything stopped.