2001 National League

The Arizona Diamondbacks won the World Series behind the one-two starting punch of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, and Barry Bonds won the first of four straight MVP awards.  It was a big season for the NL, breaking the Yankees' dominance.  Arizona won 92 games to edge San Francisco's 90 in the West, while Houston and St. Louis each won 93 in the Central, with the Astros taking the tiebreaker to push the Cards into the Wild Card.  Atlanta took the East with 88 victories, two ahead of Philadelphia.  Chicago won 88, Los Angeles won 86, and the Mets 82.  Pittsburgh lost 100 games and Cincinnati 96 to bring up the rear.

Bonds hit 73 home runs to set a new single-season record.  He ran away with the OPS lead.  Larry Walker won the batting title, batting .350.  Todd Helton hit .336, Moises Alou and Lance Berkman .331.  Sammy Sosa led in runs with 146:  Helton scored 132.  Sosa led in RBI with 160, Helton had 146 and Luis Gonzalez 142.  Rich Aurilia led in hits with 206 followed by Juan Pierre's 202.  Lance Berkman had 55 doubles, Helton 54.  Juan Pierre and Jimmy Rollins tied for the steals lead with 46.  Rollins had 12 triples.  Sosa had 64 homers, Gonzalez 57, Helton and Shawn Green 49.

Matt Morris and Curt Schilling tied for the wins lead with 22, Randy Johnson had 21, Jon Leiber 20.  Johnson led in ERA with a 2.49 mark, strikeouts with 372, and won the Cy Young.  Schilling was second in ERA at 2.98, John Burkett at 3.04, Greg Maddux at 3.05.  Schilling was second in strikeouts with 293, Chan Ho Park K'd 218, Kerry Wood 217.  Robb Nen led in saves with 45.  Armando Benitez, Trevor Hoffman, and Jeff Shaw tied at 43.

Win Shares leaders, players; Barry Bonds (San Francisco) 54, Sammy Sosa (Chicago) 42, Luis Gonzalez (Arizona) 37, Shawn Green (Los Angeles) 34, Rich Aurilia (San Francisco) 33, Lance Berkman (Houston) 32, Phil Nevin (San Diego) 31, Jeff Bagwell (Houston), Gary Sheffield (Los Angeles) and Jim Edmonds (St. Louis) 30, Chipper Jones (Atlanta), Scott Rolen (Philadelphia), Brian Giles (Pittsburgh), Ryan Klesko (San Diego) and Albert Pujols (St. Louis) 29, Paul LoDuca (Los Angeles) 28, Aramis Ramirez (Pittsburgh) and Jeff Kent (San Francisco) 27, Todd Helton (Colorado), Cliff Floyd (Florida), Orlando Cabrera (Montreal) and Bobby Abreu (Philadelphia) 26, Larry Walker (Colorado) and Craig Biggio (Houston) 25.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Randy Johnson (Arizona) 26, Curt Schilling (Arizona) 24, Javier Vazquez (Montreal) 21, Greg Maddux (Atlanta) 20, Darryl Kile (St. Louis) 18, John Burkett (Atlanta), Wade Miller (Houston) and Matt Morris (St. Louis) 17, Byung-Hyun Kim (Arizona), Tom Glavine (Atlanta), Jon Lieber (Chicago), and Chan Ho Park (Los Angeles) 16.

WARP3 scores:  Bonds 15.5, Sosa 13.6 (best season), Gonzalez 12.3 (best season), Green 9.3, Aurilia 11.6 (career year), Berkman 10.7, Nevin 10.1 (career year), Bagwell 8.9, Sheffield 8.5, Edmonds 8.9, Jones 7.9, Rolen 9.2, Giles 8.7, Klesko 6.1, Pujols 10.2 (rookie), LoDuca 7.7, Ramirez 6.2, Kent 10.0, Helton 10.6, Floyd 9.2, Cabrera 9.1, Abreu 7.1, Walker 8.9, Biggio 5.4.  Pitchers, Johnson 10.3, Schilling 9.7, Vazquez 9.3, Maddux 9.4, Kile 7.8, Burkett 7.2, Miller 6.9, Morris 7.0, Kim 6.1, Glavine 6.8, Lieber 7.1, Park 7.2.

WAR leaders, position players:  Bonds 12.9, Sosa 10.4, Gonzalez 9.4, Walker 8.0. Pujols 7.7, Aurilia and Helton 7.6, Berkman 7.3, Green 7.2, Floyd 6.9, Edmonds 6.7, Chipper 6.5, Rolen 6.1, Giles and Nevin 6.0.  Pitchers:  Johnson 10.7, Schilling 7.6, Vazquez 6.4, Maddux 6.3, Morris 6.0, Burkett 5.2, Ortiz and Penny 4.6, Kile and Oswalt 4.4, Leiber 4.3.

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 Bonds       SFG   30    438    448  0.98 |  476 156 73  .328 1.379  13|                           
  2 Sammy Sosa        CHC    2    278    448  0.62 |  577 189 64  .328 1.174   0|                           
  3 Luis Gonzalez     ARI    0    261    448  0.58 |  609 198 57  .325 1.117   1|                           
  4 Albert Pujols     STL    0    222    448  0.50 |  590 194 37  .329 1.013   1|                           
  5 Lance Berkman     HOU    0    125    448  0.28 |  577 191 34  .331 1.051   7|                           
  6 Shawn Green       LAD    0    112    448  0.25 |  619 184 49  .297  .970  20|                           
  7 Jeff Bagwell      HOU    0    109    448  0.24 |  600 173 39  .288  .966  11|                           
  8 Chipper Jones     ATL    0    100    448  0.22 |  572 189 38  .330 1.032   9|                           
  9 Todd Helton       COL    0     90    448  0.20 |  587 197 49  .336 1.116   7|                           
10 Curt Schilling    ARI    0     24    448  0.05 |   83  11  0  .133  .287   0| 22-6  257  2.98  1.08 293  
11 Randy Johnson     ARI    0     23    448  0.05 |   80   8  0  .100  .243   0| 21-6  250  2.49  1.01 372  
12 Rich Aurilia      SFG    0     20    448  0.04 |  636 206 37  .324  .941   1|                           
13 Mike Piazza       NYM    0     14    448  0.03 |  503 151 36  .300  .957   0|                           
14 Moises Alou       HOU    0     13    448  0.03 |  513 170 27  .331  .949   5|                           
14 Matt Morris       STL    0     13    448  0.03 |   72  10  0  .139  .329   0| 22-8  216  3.16  1.26 185  

Cy Young:    Season Results
Rk Name     Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share|  W-L   IP  ERA   WHIP  SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
  1 Randy Johnson     ARI   30    156    160  0.98 | 21-6  250  2.49  1.01 372  
  2 Curt Schilling    ARI    2     98    160  0.61 | 22-6  257  2.98  1.08 293  
  3 Matt Morris       STL    0     31    160  0.19 | 22-8  216  3.16  1.26 185  
  4 Jon Lieber        CHC    0      2    160  0.01 | 20-6  232  3.80  1.15 148  
  5 Roy Oswalt        HOU    0      1    160  0.01 | 14-3  142  2.73  1.06 144 

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 Albert Pujols     STL   32    160    160  1.00 |  590 194 37  .329 1.013   1|                           
  2 Roy Oswalt        HOU    0     82    160  0.51 |   47   9  0  .191  .421   0| 14-3  142  2.73  1.06 144  
  3 Jimmy Rollins     PHI    0     44    160  0.28 |  656 180 14  .274  .743  46|                           
  4 Adam Dunn         CIN    0      1    160  0.01 |  244  64 19  .262  .948   4|                           
  4 Bud Smith         STL    0      1    160  0.01 |   25   4  0  .160  .352   0|  6-3   85  3.83  1.22  59

Manager:
Rk Name     Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share |    W-L    Rank
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+
  1 Larry Bowa        PHI   18    113    160   0.71 |   86-76     2
  2 Jim Tracy         LAD    4     48    160   0.30 |   86-76     3
  3 Bob Brenly        ARI    3     43    160   0.27 |   92-70     1
  4 Tony LaRussa      STL    4     38    160   0.24 |   93-69     1
  5 Larry Dierker     HOU    1     21    160   0.13 |   93-69     1
  6 Don Baylor        CHC    0     13    160   0.08 |   88-74     3
  7 Bobby Cox         ATL    2     12    160   0.08 |   88-74     1
  8 Dusty Baker       SFG    0     10    160   0.06 |   90-72     2

Top player:  Barry Bonds.  Bonds begins the greatest period of sustained excellence of any player ever, kicking his career up to a higher level.

#1 Barry Bonds, #2 Sammy Sosa, #3 Luis Gonzalez, #4 Rich Aurilia, #5 Lance Berkman, #6 Albert Pujols.

Top pitcher:  Randy Johnson again dominates a league.

#1 Randy Johnson, #2 Curt Schilling, #3 Greg Maddux, #4 Javier Vazquez, #5 Matt Morris.

Top rookie:  Albert Pujols leads an impressive class.

Top manager:  Larry Dierker helmed a strong Astros squad.