1996 American League

Cleveland had the best record, but the Yankees won their first pennant in 15 years and then defeated the Braves for the World Championship. The Yankees had 92 wins and took the AL East by four games over Baltimore (the wild-card winner) and seven games over the Red Sox. Cleveland won 99 and edged the White Sox by 14.5 games. Texas won the West with 90 victories by 4.5 games over Seattle. Detroit had a horrible year, losing 109 games as the only AL team with 100 losses. Juan Gonzalez won the MVP in spite of not leading the league in any categories. Alex Rodriguez led the league in batting average (.358), runs (141), doubles (54) and total bases. Frank Thomas was second in batting average at .349, followed by Paul Molitor at .341. Mark McGwire led in homers with 52, on-base, slugging and OPS. Brady Anderson was second in homers with 50. Albert Belle led in RBI with 148, followed by Gonzalez at 144. Molitor led in hits with 225, Chuck Knoblauch in triples with 14, and Kenny Lofton in steals with 70. Pat Hentgen won the Cy Young leading in innings and placing second in wins (20) and ERA (3.22) and led with 10 complete games. Andy Pettitte led in wins with 21, Juan Guzman in ERA at 2.93, Roger Clemens in strikeouts with 257, John Wetteland in saves with 43. Win Shares leaders, players; Alex Rodriguez (Seattle) 34, Chuck Knoblauch (Minnesota) 32, Roberto Alomar (Baltimore) and Albert Belle (Cleveland) 31, Rafael Palmeiro (Baltimore) 30, Mo Vaughn (Boston) and Mark McGwire (Oakland) 29, Brady Anderson (Baltimore), Frank Thomas (Chicago), Jim Thome (Cleveland) and Ken Griffey Jr. 28, Bernie Williams (New York) 26, Kenny Lofton and Manny Ramirez (Cleveland), Edgar Martinez (Seattle) and Ivan Rodriguez (Texas) 23, Cal Ripken (Baltimore), Tim Salmon (California), Paul O'Neill (New York) and Jay Buhner (Seattle) 22. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Pat Hentgen (Toronto) 24, Ken Hill (Texas) 22, Charles Nagy (Cleveland) 21, Roger Clemens (Boston) 20, Alex Fernandez (Chicago), Kevin Appier and Tim Belcher (Kansas City) 19, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera (New York) 18, Roberto Hernandez (Chicago) and Juan Guzman (Toronto) 17. WARP3 scores: Knoblauch 9.7 (best year), Rodriguez 9.5 (at age 20!), Alomar 8.2, Belle 7.6, Griffey 7.1, McGwire 6.9, Thomas 6.8, Thome 6.6, Martinez and Robin Ventura (Chicago) 6.2, Anderson 5.5 (best season, his 50-homer year), O'Neill 5.1, Rodriguez and Scott Brosius (Oakland) 5.0, Mark McLemore (Texas) 4.7, Ramirez, Rusty Greer (Texas) and Tony Phillips (Chicago) 4.6, Palmeiro and Vaughn 4.5. Pitchers, Clemens 7.0, Hentgen 6.7 (career year), Hernandez 6.3 (best year), Fernandez 6.0 (best year), Hill 5.9 (career year), Nagy 5.7, Appier 5.2, Pettitte and Guzman (best year) 4.9, Rivera and Heathcliff Slocumb (Boston) 4.7, Belcher and Chuck Finley (California) 4.4. WAR leaders, position players: Griffey 10.2, A. Rodriguez 9.8, Knoblauch 8.4, Thome 7.9, McGwire 7.6, Anderson 7.3, Thomas and Vaughn 6.5, E. Martinez 6.4, I. Rodriguez 5.9, Belle 5.7, Alomar 5.6, Ventura 5.4, D. Martinez 5.2, Edmonds and Lofton 5.1, Greer 5.0, Palmeiro 4.9, Ramirez 4.7, Cirillo 4.6, Valentin 4.4. WAR leaders, pitchers: Clemens 7.6, Appier 6.6, Hentgen and Hill 6.4, Nagy 5.8, Mussina 5.4, Finley 5.3, Guzman 4.9, Fernandez 4.8, McDonald and Pettitte 4.7, Rivera 4.4, Alvarez 4.3, Haney 4.2, Belcher and Hershiser 4.1. 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 Juan Gonzalez TEX 11 290 392 0.74 | 541 170 47 .314 1.011 2 2 Alex Rodriguez SEA 10 287 392 0.73 | 601 215 36 .358 1.045 15 3 Albert Belle CLE 2 228 392 0.58 | 602 187 48 .311 1.033 11 4 Ken Griffey SEA 4 188 392 0.48 | 545 165 49 .303 1.020 16 5 Mo Vaughn BOS 0 132 392 0.34 | 635 207 44 .326 1.003 2 6 Rafael Palmeiro BAL 0 104 392 0.27 | 626 181 39 .289 .927 8 7 Mark McGwire OAK 0 100 392 0.26 | 423 132 52 .312 1.198 0 8 Frank Thomas CHW 0 88 392 0.22 | 527 184 40 .349 1.085 1 9 Brady Anderson BAL 0 53 392 0.14 | 579 172 50 .297 1.034 21 10 Ivan Rodriguez TEX 1 52 392 0.13 | 639 192 19 .300 .814 5 11 Kenny Lofton CLE 0 34 392 0.09 | 662 210 14 .317 .817 75 12 Mariano Rivera NYY 0 27 392 0.07 | | 8-3 108 2.09 0.99 130 5 13 Paul Molitor MIN 0 19 392 0.05 | 660 225 9 .341 .858 18 14 Andy Pettitte NYY 0 11 392 0.03 | | 21-8 221 3.87 1.36 162 15 Jim Thome CLE 0 9 392 0.02 | 505 157 38 .311 1.062 2 16 Chuck Knoblauch MIN 0 8 392 0.02 | 578 197 13 .341 .965 45 17 Jay Buhner SEA 0 6 392 0.02 | 564 153 44 .271 .926 0 17 Bernie Williams NYY 0 6 392 0.02 | 551 168 29 .305 .926 17 19 John Wetteland NYY 0 4 392 0.01 | | 2-3 64 2.83 1.18 69 43 20 Roberto Alomar BAL 0 3 392 0.01 | 588 193 22 .328 .938 17 21 Terry Steinbach OAK 0 1 392 0.00 | 514 140 35 .272 .871 0 Gonzalez edged Rodriguez by one first-place vote and three points. He didn't deserve to do so. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Pat Hentgen TOR 16 110 140 0.79 | 20-10 266 3.22 1.25 177 2 Andy Pettitte NYY 11 104 140 0.74 | 21-8 221 3.87 1.36 162 3 Mariano Rivera NYY 1 18 140 0.13 | 8-3 108 2.09 0.99 130 5 4 Charles Nagy CLE 0 12 140 0.09 | 17-5 222 3.41 1.25 167 5 Mike Mussina BAL 0 5 140 0.04 | 19-11 243 4.81 1.37 204 6 Alex Fernandez CHW 0 1 140 0.01 | 16-10 258 3.45 1.24 200 6 Roberto Hernandez CHW 0 1 140 0.01 | 6-5 85 1.91 1.22 85 38 6 Ken Hill TEX 0 1 140 0.01 | 16-10 251 3.63 1.38 170 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 Derek Jeter NYY 28 140 0 1.00 | 582 183 10 .314 .800 14 2 James Baldwin CHW 0 64 140 0.46 | | 11-6 169 4.42 1.33 127 3 Tony Clark DET 0 30 140 0.21 | 376 94 27 .250 .802 0 4 Rocky Coppinger BAL 0 6 140 0.04 | | 10-6 125 5.18 1.49 104 4 Jose Rosado KCR 0 6 140 0.04 | | 8-6 107 3.21 1.19 64 6 Darin Erstad CAL 0 3 140 0.02 | 208 59 4 .284 .708 3 7 Tony Batista OAK 0 1 140 0.01 | 238 71 6 .298 .783 7 7 Tim Crabtree TOR 0 1 140 0.01 | | 5-3 67 2.54 1.20 57 1 7 Jeff D'Amico MIL 0 1 140 0.01 | | 6-6 86 5.44 1.38 53 Manager (top 5): Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Johnny Oates TEX 12 89 140 0.64 | 90-72 1 1 Joe Torre NYY 10 89 140 0.64 | 92-70 1 3 Lou Piniella SEA 3 35 140 0.25 | 85-76 2 4 Mike Hargrove CLE 2 22 140 0.16 | 99-62 1 5 Buddy Bell DET 1 5 140 0.04 | 53-109 5 Top player: Alex Rodriguez got robbed of the MVP for the first time at the tender age of 20. It wouldn't be the last time. A-Rod was the class of the league even at that tender age. #1 Alex Rodriguez, #2 Chuck Knoblauch, #3 Ken Griffey, Jr, #4 Albert Belle, #5 Roberto Alomar, #6 Brady Anderson. Top pitcher: Pat Hentgen had the year of his lifetime. #1 Pat Hentgen, #2 Roger Clemens, #3 Ken Hill, #4 Charles Nagy, #5 Kevin Appier. Top rookie: Derek Jeter makes his initial mark. Top manager: Joe Torre brings the bacon back to the Big Apple.