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.

1995 National League

Atlanta won 90 games, and went on to win the only World Series of their 1990s dynasty. The Braves ripped through the NL East, winning by 21 games. Cincinnati took the NL Central by 9 games over Houston and 12 over Chicago, while Los Angeles took the NL West by a game over Colorado, which took the Wild Card. Pittsburgh was the worst team in the league with 86 losses. Tony Gwynn won the batting title at .368 and tied for the lead in hits with 197, while Dante Bichette tied Gwynn for hits and led in HR (40) and RBI (128) as well as total bases. Mike Piazza was second in average at .346, Bichette third at .340. Quilvio Veras led in steals with 56, followed by Barry Larkin at 51. Craig Biggio scored 123 runs, Mark Grace had 51 doubles, Eric Young and Brett Butler tied with 9 triples. Sammy Sosa and Larry Walked tied for second in homers with 36, while Sosa was second in RBI with 119. Barry Bonds edged Piazza in OPS. Piazza had the edge in OPS+. Greg Maddux led in wins with 19 and ERA at 1.63. Pete Schourek was second in wins with 18, Ramon Martinez third with 17. Hideo Nomo led in strikeouts with 236, and was second in ERA at 2.54. Randy Myers led in saves with 38, followed by Tom Henke with 36. Win Shares leaders, players; Barry Bonds (San Francisco) 36, Barry Larkin (Cincinnati) 30, Craig Biggio (Houston) 29, Reggie Sanders (Cincinnati) and Mike Piazza (Los Angeles) 27, Sammy Sosa (Chicago) and Eric Karros (Los Angeles) 25, Ken Caminiti (San Diego) 24, Mark Grace (Chicago), Dante Bichette (Colorado) and Tony Gwynn (San Diego) 23, Raul Mondesi (Los Angeles) and Ray Lankford (St. Louis) 22, Ron Gant (Cincinnati) 21, Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff (Atlanta), Jeff Conine (Florida), Jeff Bagwell (Houston) and Matt Williams (San Francisco) 20, David Justice (Atlanta) and Steve Finley (San Diego) 19. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Greg Maddux (Atlanta) 30, Tom Glavine (Atlanta) 20, John Smoltz (Atlanta) and Hideo Nomo (Los Angeles) 17, Mark Wohlers (Atlanta), Pete Schourek (Cincinnati) and Denny Neagle (Pittsburgh) 16, Jaime Navarro (Chicago) and Ismael Valdez (Los Angeles) 15, Curtis Leskanic (Colorado), Todd Worrell (Los Angeles), Pedro Martinez (Montreal) and Andy Ashby (San Diego) 14. WARP3 scores: Bonds 9.4, Biggio 8.2, Piazza 7.3, Caminiti 7.1, Larkin 6.8, Sanders 6.0 (peak season), Karros 5.9, Williams 5.6, Bagwell 5.4, Gwynn and Jose Vizcaino (New York) 5.3, Mondesi 5.2, Grace 4.6, Delino DeShields (Los Angeles) 4.5, Jim Eisenreich (Philadelphia) 4.3, Gant 4.2 (returning from broken leg), Sosa, Conine, and Jose Offerman (Los Angeles) 4.1. Pitchers, Maddux 10.8, Glavine 5.3, Neagle 5.1, Wohlers 4.8 (peak season), Tom Henke (St. Louis) 4.5, Worrell and Kevin Ritz (Colorado) 4.1, Schourek 4.0 (career year), P. Martinez 3.7, Smoltz and Navarro 3.6, Nomo (rookie), Leskanic, Steve Reed (Colorado) and Chris Hammond (Florida) 3.3. WAR leaders, position players: Bonds 7.7, Sanders 6.6, Biggio 6.2, Piazza 6.0, Larkin 5.3, Sosa 5.2, Grace 4.7, Karros and Walker 4.6, Bagwell, Jordan, and Williams 4.5, Lankford 4.3, Mondesi 4.1, Caminiti and White 3.7, Justice and McRae 3.6. WAR leaders, pitchers: Maddux 8.0, Reynolds 5.0, Nomo 4.9, Smoltz 4.7, Neagle 4.6, Glavine and Smiley 4.4, Schourek 4.3, Ritz 4.0, Fassero 3.8, Navarro and Valdez 3.5, P. Martinez 3.3, Leskanic 3.2, Ashby 3.0. 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 Barry Larkin CIN 11 281 392 0.72 | 496 158 15 .319 .886 51 2 Dante Bichette COL 6 251 392 0.64 | 579 197 40 .340 .984 13 3 Greg Maddux ATL 7 249 392 0.64 | 72 11 0 .153 .367 0| 19-2 210 1.63 0.81 181 4 Mike Piazza LAD 3 214 392 0.55 | 434 150 32 .346 1.006 1 5 Eric Karros LAD 0 135 392 0.34 | 551 164 32 .298 .905 4 6 Reggie Sanders CIN 0 120 392 0.31 | 484 148 28 .306 .975 36 7 Larry Walker COL 0 88 392 0.22 | 494 151 36 .306 .988 16 8 Sammy Sosa CHC 0 81 392 0.21 | 564 151 36 .268 .840 34 9 Tony Gwynn SDP 0 72 392 0.18 | 535 197 9 .368 .888 17 10 Craig Biggio HOU 0 58 392 0.15 | 553 167 22 .302 .889 33 11 Ron Gant CIN 1 31 392 0.08 | 410 113 29 .276 .940 23 12 Barry Bonds SFG 0 21 392 0.05 | 506 149 33 .294 1.009 31 13 Mark Grace CHC 0 14 392 0.04 | 552 180 16 .326 .911 6 14 Derek Bell HOU 0 12 392 0.03 | 452 151 8 .334 .827 27 15 Jeff Bagwell HOU 0 5 392 0.01 | 448 130 21 .290 .894 12 A close vote....with Barry Bonds 12th? Maddux almost won, and this would have been a good season to give it to the pitcher. Cy Young: | 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 | 19-2 210 1.63 0.81 181 2 Pete Schourek CIN 0 55 140 0.39 | 18-7 190 3.22 1.07 160 3 Tom Glavine ATL 0 30 140 0.21 | 16-7 199 3.08 1.25 127 4 Hideo Nomo LAD 0 29 140 0.21 | 13-6 191 2.54 1.06 236 5 Ramon Martinez LAD 0 8 140 0.06 | 17-7 206 3.66 1.25 138 Rookie: (top 6)| 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 Hideo Nomo LAD 18 118 140 0.84 | 66 6 0 .091 .180 0| 13-6 191 2.54 1.06 236 2 Chipper Jones ATL 10 104 140 0.74 | 524 139 23 .265 .803 8 3 Quilvio Veras FLA 0 14 140 0.10 | 440 115 5 .261 .757 56 4 Jason Isringhausen NYM 0 4 140 0.03 | 27 4 0 .148 .419 0| 9-2 93 2.81 1.28 55 4 John Mabry STL 0 4 140 0.03 | 388 119 5 .307 .752 0 4 Carlos Perez MON 0 4 140 0.03 | 45 6 1 .133 .471 0| 10-8 141 3.69 1.20 106 Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Don Baylor COL 19 122 140 0.87 | 77-67 2 2 Davey Johnson CIN 8 89 140 0.64 | 85-59 1 3 Bobby Cox ATL 1 20 140 0.14 | 90-54 1 4 Terry Collins HOU 0 11 140 0.08 | 76-68 2 5 Jim Riggleman CHC 0 6 140 0.04 | 73-71 3 6 Dallas Green NYM 0 3 140 0.02 | 69-75 2 7 Bruce Bochy SDP 0 1 140 0.01 | 70-74 3 Top player: Barry Larkin. It's a homer vote, as Bonds and Piazza both rank as better: but not so much better that I can't make the case, much as the writers did. And Larkin clearly had a spectacular year for a surprise Reds team. #1 Barry Larkin, #2 Barry Bonds, #3 Mike Piazza, #4 Craig Biggio, #5 Ken Caminiti, #6 Reggie Sanders. Top pitcher: Greg Maddux, and it's not even close. It's easy to see the domination of the Braves' staff by this time. #1 Greg Maddux, #2 Tom Glavine, #3 Pete Schourek, #4 Denny Neagle, #5 Mark Wohlers. Top rookie: Hideo Nomo. The choice is between Nomo, who clearly had the better season, and Chipper Jones, who would almost certainly have the better career. I'll take Nomo this time. Top manager: Davey Johnson, guiding the Reds in to the Central crown.

1995 American League

The season got off to a late start, but it did start, and play through to a real World Series. It was quite a relief for baseball fans. Cleveland proved the class of the league, winning 100 games in spite of the shortened season to take the AL Central and plowing through the playoffs before losing the World Series. Boston was seven games in front of the Yankees for the AL East crown, although the Yanks took the Wild Card, while Seattle beat out the Angels by a game for the AL West lead. Edgar Martinez led the league in batting average (.356) and OPS, and tied for the lead in runs (121) and doubles (52). Albert Belle led in home runs (50), total bases, and slugging, and tied for the league lead in RBI (126), runs, and doubles. Mo Vaughn tied for the lead in RBI, and won the MVP award. Yes, it was silly. More about that later. Kenny Lofton led in steals (54) and triples (13). Lance Johnson had 186 hits. Mike Mussina led in wins with 19, followed by David Cone and Randy Johnson at 18. Johnson led in ERA with a 2.48 mark, and strikeouts with 294. Tim Wakefield was second in ERA at 2.95. Todd Stottlemyre was second in strikeouts at 205. Jose Mesa led in saves with 46. Johnson won the Cy Young. Win Shares leaders, players; Edgar Martinez (Seattle) 32, Albert Belle (Cleveland) 30, John Valentin (Boston) and Tim Salmon (California) 29, Frank Thomas (Chicago) 28, Chuck Knoblauch (Minnesota) and Bernie Williams (New York) 27, Manny Ramirez (Cleveland) 25, Mo Vaughn (Boston) and Jim Thome (Cleveland) 24, Carlos Baerga (Cleveland) and Mark McGwire (Oakland) 23, Rafael Palmeiro (Baltimore), Jim Edmonds (California) and Kenny Lofton (Cleveland) 21, Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) and Tino Martinez (Seattle) 20, Brady Anderson (Baltimore), Tony Phillips (California), Travis Fryman (Detroit) and Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 19. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Randy Johnson (Seattle) 22, Kenny Rogers (Texas) 21, Mike Mussina (Baltimore) 20, David Cone (Toronto/New York) 19, Tim Wakefield (Boston) 18, Jose Mesa (Cleveland) 17, Dennis Martinez (Cleveland), Kevin Appier and Mark Gubicza (Kansas City) 16, Jack McDowell (New York) 15, Roger Pavlik (Texas) and Al Leiter (Toronto) 14. WARP3 scores: Belle 10.7, E. Martinez 8.6, Salmon 8.1, Thomas and Williams 7.8, Knoblauch 6.9, Valentin 6.4, McGwire 6.2, Baerga (last good year), Palmeiro, and Edmonds 5.8, Cal Ripken (Baltimore) 5.7, Thome 5.6, Marty Cordova (Minnesota) and Stan Javier (Oakland) 5.4, Omar Vizquel (Cleveland) 4.7, Ramirez, Wade Boggs (New York) and Roberto Alomar (Toronto) 4.4, Chili Davis (California) 4.3, Phillips, Ivan Rodriguez (Texas) and Robin Ventura (Chicago) 4.2, Vaughn and Fryman 4.0. Pitchers, Johnson 8.6, Mesa 6.9 (peak season), Rogers 5.8, Wakefield 5.7 (peak season), Mussina and Leiter 4.8, David Wells (Detroit) 4.3, Gubicza (last good year) and Felipe Lira (Detroit) 4.2, D. Martinez (last good year) and Jeff Nelson (Seattle) 4.0, Appier and Cone 3.9, Pavlik 3.8. WAR leaders, position players: Valentin 8.4, Belle 7.6, E. Martinez 7.5, Williams 6.7, Knoblauch 6.6, Thome 6.3, Salmon 6.0, Palmeiro 5.9, Thomas 5.8, Edmonds 5.5, Vaughn 5.2, Ventura 5.1, T. Martinez 4.9, Ripken 4.4, Boggs and Naehring 4.3, Lofton 4.1. WAR leaders, pitchers: Johnson 9.5, Appier 5.6, Mussina 5.2, Hanson 4.8, Brown and Finley 4.6, Cone 4.5, Fernandez 4.4, Langston 4.3, Stottlemyre 4.0, Gordon and Pavlik 3.8, Erickson and Rogers 3.7, Abbott 3.6, D. Martinez and Tewksbury 3.5. 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 Mo Vaughn BOS 12 308 392 0.79 | 550 165 39 .300 .963 11 2 Albert Belle CLE 11 300 392 0.77 | 546 173 50 .317 1.091 5 3 Edgar Martinez SEA 4 244 392 0.62 | 511 182 29 .356 1.107 4 4 Jose Mesa CLE 1 130 392 0.33 | | 3-0 64 1.12 1.03 58 46 5 Jay Buhner SEA 0 120 392 0.31 | 470 123 40 .262 .909 0 6 Randy Johnson SEA 0 111 392 0.28 | | 18-2 214 2.48 1.05 294 7 Tim Salmon CAL 0 110 392 0.28 | 537 177 34 .330 1.024 5 8 Frank Thomas CHW 0 86 392 0.22 | 493 152 40 .308 1.061 3 9 John Valentin BOS 0 57 392 0.15 | 520 155 27 .298 .931 20 10 Gary Gaetti KCR 0 45 392 0.11 | 514 134 35 .261 .846 3 11 Rafael Palmeiro BAL 0 34 392 0.09 | 554 172 39 .310 .963 3 12 Manny Ramirez CLE 0 30 392 0.08 | 484 149 31 .308 .960 6 13 Tim Wakefield BOS 0 20 392 0.05 | | 16-8 195 2.95 1.18 119 14 Jim Edmonds CAL 0 18 392 0.05 | 558 162 33 .290 .888 1 15 Paul O'Neill NYY 0 14 392 0.04 | 460 138 22 .300 .913 1 Vaughn edged Belle, in spite of Albert's superior stats, in the biggest travesty since the writers would not vote for Ted Williams because they didn't like him. Same story here. Albert didn't make nice with the press, so they didn't vote for him. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Randy Johnson SEA 26 136 140 0.97 | 18-2 214 2.48 1.05 294 2 Jose Mesa CLE 2 54 140 0.39 | 3-0 64 1.12 1.03 58 46 3 Tim Wakefield BOS 0 29 140 0.21 | 16-8 195 2.95 1.18 119 4 David Cone TOT 0 18 140 0.13 |+18-8 229 3.57 1.23 191 5 Mike Mussina BAL 0 14 140 0.10 | 19-9 222 3.29 1.07 158 6 Charles Nagy CLE 0 1 140 0.01 | 16-6 178 4.55 1.43 139 Two guys voted for Mesa over Johnson? Weird. I mean, Mesa did well, but just 64 innings? Really? This was not a good year for AL award voting. Rookie (top 5): | 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 Marty Cordova MIN 13 105 140 0.75 | 512 142 24 .277 .839 20 2 Garret Anderson CAL 13 99 140 0.71 | 374 120 16 .321 .857 6 3 Andy Pettitte NYY 1 16 140 0.11 | | 12-9 175 4.17 1.41 114 4 Troy Percival CAL 1 13 140 0.09 | | 3-2 74 1.95 0.85 94 3 5 Shawn Green TOR 0 8 140 0.06 | 379 109 15 .288 .835 1 A lot of future stars here. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank< +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Lou Piniella SEA 9 86 140 0.61 | 79-66 1 2 Kevin Kennedy BOS 11 74 140 0.53 | 86-58 1 3 Mike Hargrove CLE 8 71 140 0.51 | 100-44 1 4 Buck Showalter NYY 0 8 140 0.06 | 79-65 2 5 Marcel Lachemann CAL 0 5 140 0.04 | 78-67 2 6 Phil Garner MIL 0 4 140 0.03 | 65-79 4 7 Bob Boone KCR 0 3 140 0.02 | 70-74 2 8 Johnny Oates TEX 0 1 140 0.01 | 74-70 3 A very split vote. Top player: Albert Belle. Belle was certainly the best in the league, and played on the best team, making the MVP vote just look petty. Which it was, certainly. #1 Albert Belle, #2 Edgar Martinez, #3 John Valentin, #4 Tim Salmon, #5 Chuck Knoblauch, #6 Bernie Williams. Top pitcher: Randy Johnson took his place at the top in this season. #1 Randy Johnson, #2 Mike Mussina, #3 Tim Wakefield, #4 Kenny Rogers, #5 David Cone. Top rookie: Garrett Anderson, equal to award-winner Cordova and two years younger. Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi were also rookies in this season. Top manager: Mike Hargrove, directing the Indians to the best record in the league.