1983 National League

The Phillies took only the fourth pennant in their history, but couldn't repeat their only World Championship of three years earlier. They did it with the backbone of those 1980 champions, filling in with a number of grizzled veterans. The lineup often read like a 1970s All-Star team, and the Phils usually had more members of the Big Red Machine in their lineup than Cincinnati did. Philadelphia won 90, six more than second-place Pittsburgh and eight more than Montreal. St. Louis fell to fourth, Chicago was 5th and New York last. Los Angeles won the West with their own mixture of 1970s All-Stars combined with some young guns, taking 91 victories. Atlanta was three games back, Houston was third with 85 wins. San Diego was 4th at .500, with San Francisco 5th and Cincinnati last. Atlanta's Dale Murphy won his second straight MVP although the Braves fell three games short. Murphy led in RBI (121) and OPS, but he played in a good hitters' park so home run leader Mike Schmidt led in OPS+. Schmidt had 40 homers to Murphy's 36. Andre Dawson was second in RBI with 118. Bill Madlock won the batting title at .323, leading Lonnie Smith's .321. Jose Cruz and George Hendrick batted .318. Tim Raines led in steals with 90 and runs with 133. Andre Dawson and Jose Cruz had 189 hits each. Johnny Ray, Al Oliver, and Bill Buckner each had 38 doubles. Brett Butler had 13 triples. John Denny led the league in wins with 19 and was 2nd in ERA to take the Cy Young. Atlee Hammaker lead in ERA with a 2.24 mark. Denny checked in at 2.37, Bob Welch at 2.65. Steve Carlton led in strikeouts with 275, followed by Mario Soto at 242. Lee Smith led in saves with 29. Soto, Bill Gullickson, and Steve Rogers had 17 wins. Soto had 18 complete games. Win Shares leaders, players; Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 35, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) and Pedro Guerrero (Los Angeles) 32, Jose Cruz and Dickie Thon (Houston) 30, Tim Raines (Montreal) 29, Andre Dawson (Montreal) and Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 28, Gary Carter (Montreal) and Terry Kennedy (San Diego) 24, Bill Doran (Houston) 22, Tony Pena (Pittsburgh) 21, Eddie Milner (Cincinnati), Johnny Ray (Pittsburgh), Alan Wiggins (San Diego) and Jack Clark (San Francisco) 20, Glenn Hubbard (Atlanta), Dusty Baker and Ken Landreaux (Los Angeles), Tim Wallach (Montreal), Joe Morgan (Philadelphia), Dale Berra (Pittsburgh), Jeffery Leonard (San Francisco) and Lonnie Smith (St. Louis) 19. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Mario Soto (Cincinnati) 25, John Denny (Philadelphia) 23, Jesse Orosco (New York) 20, Lee Smith (Chicago) 19, Steve Carlton and Al Holland (Philadelphia) 18, Steve Rogers (Montreal) and Kent Tekulve (Pittsburgh) 17, Craig McMurtry (Atlanta), Bob Welch (Los Angeles) and Rick Rhoden (Pittsburgh) 16. WARP3 scores: Thon 9.9 (career year), Schmidt 7.5, Carter 7.2, Cruz 7.1, Murphy 6.8, Raines 6.5, Guerrero 6.3, Darrell Porter (St. Louis) 5.7, Dawson, Evans, and Doran (rookie) 5.6, Pena 4.9, Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 4.8, George Hendrick (St. Louis) 4.6, Ray and Hubbard (best year) 4.5, Kennedy 4.4, Terry Puhl (Houston) 4.3, Milner (career year), Wallach, Smith 5.4, and Ken Oberkfell (St. Louis) 4.1. Pitchers, Denny 8.9 (career year), Smith 6.9, Orosco 6.6 (best year), Carlton 6.5, Soto 6.1, Holland (best year) and Steve Howe (Los Angeles) 4.9, Atlee Hammaker (San Francisco) 4.8, Rhoden 4.7, Tekulve 4.5. WAR leaders, position players: Thon 7.5, Murphy 7.3, Schmidt 7.1, Carter 7.0, Dawson 6.7, Raines 6.3, Cruz 6.1, Guerrero and Hernandez 5.6, Doran and Ray 4.7, Evans 4.5, Kennedy and Porter 4.4, Smith 4.1, Milner and Pena 4.0. Pitchers: Carlton 7.7, Denny 6.1, Rhoden 5.2, Reuss and Soto 4.9, Candelaria and Rogers 4.7, Hammaker 4.6, McWilliams 4.5, Valenzuela 4.2, Pena and Perez 4.1, Welch 3.7. Actual award voting: 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 Dale Murphy ATL 21 318 336 0.95 | 589 178 36 .302 .933 30 2 Andre Dawson MON 1 213 336 0.63 | 633 189 32 .299 .877 25 3 Mike Schmidt PHI 1 191 336 0.57 | 534 136 40 .255 .923 7 4 Pedro Guerrero LAD 1 182 336 0.54 | 584 174 32 .298 .904 23 5 Tim Raines MON 0 83 336 0.25 | 615 183 11 .298 .822 90 6 Jose Cruz HOU 0 76 336 0.23 | 594 189 14 .318 .848 30 7 Dickie Thon HOU 0 67 336 0.20 | 619 177 20 .286 .798 34 8 Bill Madlock PIT 0 45 336 0.13 | 473 153 12 .323 .830 3 9 Al Holland PHI 0 42 336 0.12 | 7 0 0 .000 .000 0| 8-4 92 2.26 1.01 100 25 10 Terry Kennedy SDP 0 37 336 0.11 | 549 156 17 .284 .776 1 11 George Hendrick STL 0 33 336 0.10 | 529 168 18 .318 .866 3 12 Tony Pena PIT 0 25 336 0.07 | 542 163 15 .301 .773 6 13 John Denny PHI 0 24 336 0.07 | 77 13 0 .169 .372 2| 19-6 243 2.37 1.16 139 14 Darrell Evans SFG 0 16 336 0.05 | 523 145 30 .277 .894 6 14 Mario Soto CIN 0 16 336 0.05 | 88 11 0 .125 .294 0| 17-13 274 2.70 1.10 242 Murphy was the clear choice for his second straight award. Cy Young (top 5): | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 John Denny PHI 20 103 120 0.86 | 19-6 243 2.37 1.16 139 2 Mario Soto CIN 2 61 120 0.51 | 17-13 274 2.70 1.10 242 3 Jesse Orosco NYM 1 19 120 0.16 | 13-7 110 1.47 1.04 84 17 4 Steve Rogers MON 1 15 120 0.12 | 17-12 273 3.23 1.23 146 5 Larry McWilliams PIT 0 7 120 0.06 | 15-8 238 3.25 1.23 199 Denny, then Soto, then the rest. Not sure why it's Orosco in the Cy voting, but it was Holland for MVP. 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 Darryl Strawberry NYM 18 106 120 0.88 | 420 108 26 .257 .848 19 2 Craig McMurtry ATL 6 49 120 0.41 | 70 6 0 .086 .209 0| 15-9 225 3.08 1.30 105 3 Mel Hall CHC 0 32 120 0.27 | 410 116 17 .283 .840 6 4 Gary Redus CIN 0 8 120 0.07 | 453 112 17 .247 .795 39 5 Bill Doran HOU 0 7 120 0.06 | 535 145 8 .271 .736 12 Strawberry had 18 Win Shares and a WARP3 of 5.6. Top player: Dickie Thon. He got mostly overlooked in the MVP voting, but he was the best player in the league. A pitch to the eye early in 1984 nearly ended his career, and derailed his Hall of Fame track. #1 Dickie Thon, #2 Dale Murphy, #3 Mike Schmidt, #4 Tim Raines, #5 Jose Cruz, #6 Gary Carter. Top pitcher: John Denny was the best in a down year for NL pitchers. #1 John Denny, #2 Mario Soto, #3 Jesse Orosco, #4 Steve Carlton, #5 Steve Rogers. Top rookie: Bill Doran, with stats held down by the Astrodome. Strawberry got all the attention, as would continue to happen. Top manager: Tommy LaSorda, whose Dodgers led the league in victories.

1983 American League

Earl Weaver retired, and doom was predicted for the Orioles, but then that thing that often happens happens again. A team stressed by a high-pressure manager relaxes when a low-key guy (Joe Altobelli, here) takes over, and makes a seemingly effortless run at the pennant. The Orioles even won it all, for the first time since 1970. Soon, Altobelli's magic wore off, and Weaver briefly came out of retirement, but this was a sort of last hurrah for the 1970s era Birds. Detroit was 2nd, 6 games back, with New York 3rd, Toronto 4th, and Milwaukee 5th but with 87 wins off their pennant season. Five strong teams in the AL East. Boston was 6th at 78-84, and Cleveland last but with only 92 losses. The West was another story, as the White Sox won the division with 99 wins, but no one else was over .500. Kansas City was 2nd, 20 games out. Texas, Oakland, California, Minnesota, and Seattle (with 102 losses) followed in order. The Chisox, unchallenged during the season, couldn't keep up with Baltimore in the ALCS. Among individuals, Wade Boggs broke out with his first batting title, batting .361. Rod Carew followed with a .339 mark. Jim Rice led in HR with 39 and tied with Cecil Cooper in RBI with 126. Tony Armas was second with 36 homers. Rickey Henderson was over 100 steals again, and George Brett led in OPS, but Cal Ripken won the MVP as he led in runs, hits, and doubles, and played superb defense. Robin Yount had 10 triples, and Boggs edged Eddie Murray for the lead in runs created. LaMarr Hoyt won the Cy Young by leading with 24 wins. Richard Dotson won 22 and Ron Guidry 21. Rick Honeycutt led in ERA with a 2.42 mark, follwed by Mike Boddicker at 2.77. Jack Morris led in strikeouts with 232, followed by Floyd Bannister at 193. Dan Quisenberry led in saves with 45. Morris pitched 294 innings, Guidry had 21 complete games. Boddicker tossed five shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players; Cal Ripken (Baltimore) 35, Wade Boggs (Boston) 34, Robin Yount (Milwaukee) 33, Eddie Murray (Baltimore) 31, Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 30, Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 29, Carlton Fisk (Chicago) and Alan Trammell (Detroit) 26, Cecil Cooper (Milwaukee) and Lloyd Moseby (Toronto) 25, Jim Rice (Boston), Lance Parrish (Detroit) and George Brett (Kansas City) 24, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) 23, Larry Herndon (Detroit), Dave Winfield (New York) and Willie Upshaw (Toronto) 22, Chet Lemon (Detroit), Jim Gantner (Milwaukee), John Castino (Minnesota) and Don Baylor (New York) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Dan Quisenberry (Kansas City) 28, Dave Stieb (Toronto) 24, Scott McGregor (Baltimore), Rich Dotson (Chicago) and Bob Stanley (Boston) 21, LaMarr Hoyt (Chicago) and Jack Morris (Detroit) 20, Ron Guidry (New York) 19, Charlie Hough (Texas) 18, Tippy Martinez (Baltimore) and Floyd Bannister (Chicago) 17, Mike Boddicker (Baltimore), Matt Young (Seattle), Goose Gossage (New York) and Rick Honeycutt (Texas) 16. WARP3 scores: Ripken 10.3, Trammell 7.9, Boggs and Whitaker 7.1, Yount 6.7, Henderson 6.4, Murray and Lemon 6.0, Parrish 5.5, Fisk and Herndon 4.7, Gantner 4.3 (best year), Moseby and Molitor 4,2, Ted Simmons (Milwaukee) 4.1, Cooper 4.0 (last good year), Upshaw 3.8 (best year). Pitchers, Quisenberry 6.4, Stieb 5.5, Guidry 5,4, Hough 5.3, Stanley and Young (rookie, career year) 5.2, Honeycutt 4.9 (before going to LA in a trade), Dotson 4.8 (best year), McGregor (best year) and Jim Beattie (Seattle) 4.5, Boddicker (rookie), Gossage, and Martinez (career year) 4.4, Geoff Zahn (California) 3.9, Bruce Hurst (Boston) 3.8, Hoyt and John Tudor (Boston) 3.6. WAR leaders, position players: Ripken 8.8, Boggs 8.1, Henderson 7.4, Murray 7.1, Yount 6.9, Rice 6.6, Whitaker 6.4, Moseby 6.2, Lemon and Trammell 5.9, Parrish 5.3, Fisk 5.0, Molitor and Upshaw 4.9, Bell 4.6, Brett 4.5. Pitchers: Morris 6.2, Stieb 5.9, Hoyt 5.7, Righetti 5.6, Bannister 5.4, Beattie 4.7, Smithson 4.6, Guidry 4.1, Boddicker, Davis, and McGregor 4.0, Hough 3.9, Darwin, Gossage, Sutcliffe, and Sutton 3.6. Actual award voting: MVP (top 20): | 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 Cal Ripken BAL 15 322 392 0.82 | 663 211 27 .318 .888 0 2 Eddie Murray BAL 10 290 392 0.74 | 582 178 33 .306 .930 5 3 Carlton Fisk CHW 3 209 392 0.53 | 488 141 26 .289 .874 9 4 Jim Rice BOS 0 150 392 0.38 | 626 191 39 .305 .911 0 5 Cecil Cooper MIL 0 123 392 0.31 | 661 203 30 .307 .849 2 6 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 107 392 0.27 | | 5-3 139 1.94 0.93 48 45 7 Dave Winfield NYY 0 85 392 0.22 | 598 169 32 .283 .858 15 8 Lou Whitaker DET 0 84 392 0.21 | 643 206 12 .320 .837 17 9 Lance Parrish DET 0 66 392 0.17 | 605 163 27 .269 .796 1 10 Harold Baines CHW 0 49 392 0.12 | 596 167 20 .280 .776 7 11 Willie Upshaw TOR 0 41 392 0.10 | 579 177 27 .306 .887 10 12 Wade Boggs BOS 0 25 392 0.06 | 582 210 5 .361 .931 3 13 La Marr Hoyt CHW 0 24 392 0.06 | | 24-10 261 3.66 1.02 148 14 Lloyd Moseby TOR 0 21 392 0.05 | 539 170 18 .315 .875 27 15 Bob Stanley BOS 0 11 392 0.03 | | 8-10 145 2.85 1.26 65 33 15 Alan Trammell DET 0 11 392 0.03 | 505 161 14 .319 .856 30 17 Greg Luzinski CHW 0 9 392 0.02 | 502 128 32 .255 .854 2 18 Robin Yount MIL 0 6 392 0.02 | 578 178 17 .308 .886 12 19 Ted Simmons MIL 0 4 392 0.01 | 600 185 13 .308 .799 4 20 Richard Dotson CHW 0 3 392 0.01 | | 22-7 240 3.22 1.31 137 Five good candidates for MVP, though the writers concentrated on the two Orioles. With Ripken, they chose the right one. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 La Marr Hoyt CHW 17 116 140 0.83 | 24-10 261 3.66 1.02 148 2 Dan Quisenberry KCR 9 81 140 0.58 | 5-3 139 1.94 0.93 48 45 3 Jack Morris DET 2 38 140 0.27 | 20-13 294 3.34 1.16 232 4 Richard Dotson CHW 0 9 140 0.06 | 22-7 240 3.22 1.31 137 5 Ron Guidry NYY 0 5 140 0.04 | 21-9 250 3.42 1.17 156 6 Scott McGregor BAL 0 3 140 0.02 | 18-7 260 3.18 1.22 86 Odd that Quisenberry was ahead of Hoyt in MVP voting, but behind him here. Also, Bob Stanley got MVP votes but none for Cy. Seems to indicate voters considering relievers more as everyday players. Quiz would have been a better choice. Second straight award that Quiz could have won, but went to a mediocre starter with league-leading wins total instead. 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 Ron Kittle CHW 15 104 140 0.74 | 520 132 35 .254 .818 8 2 Julio Franco CLE 8 78 140 0.56 | 560 153 8 .273 .693 32 3 Mike Boddicker BAL 5 70 140 0.50 | | 16-8 179 2.77 1.08 120 Writers went for the slow slugger over more all-around talents. Never a good choice for top rookie. Top player: Cal Ripken. After 1982's sterling rookie campaign, Ripken really burst onto the scene here. Impressive offensively and defensively. There were other excellent players this year, but Ripken was the right choice. #1 Cal Ripken, #2 Wade Boggs, #3 Robin Yount, #4 Eddie Murray, #5 Alan Trammell, #6 Rickey Henderson. Top pitcher: Quisenberry was terrific, doing things no one else was doing. His unusual delivery apparently made it hard for the writers to take him seriously. KC fans knew. #1 Dan Quisenberry, #2 Dave Stieb, #3 Ron Guidry, #4 Jack Morris, #5 Lamarr Hoyt. Top rookie: Matt Young was the best, followed by Mike Boddicker. Julio Franco would be the best player over time. Kittle, a 32-year old in a 25-year old body, was a bad choice. Top manager: Joe Altobelli, guiding the Orioles through a tough pennant race and to the World Series crown.

1982 National League

Before the season, the Phillies sent Larry Bowa and minor leaguer Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus in what would go down as one of the worst trades of all time. When the season starts, the Atlanta Braves break from the gate with 13 straight wins, and build a lead they will not relinquish, although they will have to fight off the Dodgers, who finish one game back, and the Giants, who end two back. San Diego is 4th at exactly .500, Houston is 5th, and the Reds, with the best record in the league last season, collapse to the worst record in the league this year with 101 losses. The fabled outfield of Cesar Cedeno, Clint Hurdle, and Paul Householder does not live up to (overblown) expectations. St. Louis wins the East, three games ahead of Philadelphia. Montreal is 6 back, Pittsburgh 8 back. Chicago is 5th and New York last. The Cardinals then win the NLCS, and also the World Series, their only title of the Whitey Herzog era. Al Oliver wins the batting title at .331, followed by Bill Madlock at .319. Dave Kingman leads in HR with 37, closely followed by Dale Murphy with 36 and Mike Schmidt with 35. Oliver and Murphy tie in RBI with 109, followed by Bill Buckner with 105. Tim Raines leads in steals at 78, then came Lonnie Smith at 68. Smith led with 120 runs. Oliver led with 204 hits and 43 doubles. Dickie Thon had 10 triples. Mike Schmidt is the OPS leader. Murphy, of the surprise Braves, wins the MVP. Steve Carlton led in wins (23, second was Steve Rogers and Fernando Valenzuela with 19) and in strikeouts with 286, followed by Mario Soto with 274. Rogers led in ERA with 2.40, followed by Joe Niekro and Joaquin Andjuar at 2.47. Bruce Sutter led in saves with 36. Carlton had six shutouts and 19 complete games, and won the Cy Young. Win Shares leaders, players; Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 37, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) 32, Gary Carter (Montreal) 31, Pedro Guerrero (Los Angeles) 30, Joe Morgan (San Francisco) 29, Terry Kennedy and Sixto Lezcano (San Diego) 28, Jason Thompson (Pittsburgh) 27, Andre Dawson and Al Oliver (Montreal), Jack Clark (San Francisco) and Lonnie Smith (St. Louis) 26, Leon Durham (Chicago) and Bill Madlock (Pittsburgh) 25, Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 24, Gary Matthews (Philadelphia) 23, Phil Garner and Dickie Thon (Houston), Dusty Baker (Los Angeles) and Ruppert Jones (San Diego) 22. WS leaders, pitchers; Joe Niekro (Houston) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 25, Steve Rogers (Montreal) 24, Joaquin Andujar (St. Louis) 22, Greg Minton (San Francisco) 21, Mario Soto (Cincinnati) and Fernando Valenzuela (Los Angeles) 20, Gene Garber (Atlanta) 19, Jeff Reardon (Montreal) 18, Jerry Reuss (Los Angeles), Tim Lollar (San Diego) and Bruce Sutter (St. Louis) 17, Nolan Ryan (Houston) and Bob Forsch (St. Louis) 16. WARP3: Carter 9.3, Guerrero 8.5, Lezcano 7.7 (last good year), Schmidt 7.5, Dawson 7.3, Murphy 7.0, Morgan and L. Smith 6.3, Oliver 6.2 (last good year), Thompson (last big year) and Thon 5.9, Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 5.7, Kennedy 5.4 (best year), Hernandez 5.1, Jones 5.0, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati) 4.7, Steve Sax (Los Angeles) 4.5, Madlock (last big year) and Ken Landreaux (Los Angeles) 4.4, Tim Wallach (Montreal) 4.2. Pitchers, Niekro (career year) and Rogers 7.2, Minton 7.1 (career year), Soto 7.0, Carlton 6.5, Valenzuela and Bruce Berenyi (Cincinnati) 5.4, Andujar 5.1 (best year), Garber 4.9 (best year), Reardon (best year) and Steve Bedrosian (Atlanta) 4.5, Reuss 4.4, John Candelaria Pittsburgh) 4.2. WAR leaders, position players: Carter 8.3, Dawson 7.4, Schmidt 7.2, Guerrero 6.2, Murphy 6.1, Madlock 5.5, Smith 5.4, Lezcano, Morgan, and Thompson 5.3, Thon 5.1, Oliver 4.9, Hernandez 4.7, Kennedy 4.6, Durham 4.5. Pitchers: Carlton 9.1, Soto 8.0, Rogers 6.7, Valenzuela 6.5, Andujar 6.4, Reuss 5.9, Christenson 4.9, Berenyi 4.8, J. Niekro 4.5, Krukow and Sutton 4.4, Candelaria and Rhoden 4.1. Actual award winners: MVP (top 15) 1 Dale Murphy ATL 14 283 2 Lonnie Smith STL 8 218 3 Pedro Guerrero LAD 0 175 3 Al Oliver MON 0 175 5 Bruce Sutter STL 2 134 6 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 54 7 Jack Clark SFG 0 53 8 Greg Minton SFG 0 44 9 Steve Carlton PHI 0 41 10 Bill Buckner CHC 0 38 11 Bill Madlock PIT 0 37 12 Gary Carter MON 0 35 13 Ozzie Smith STL 0 25 14 George Hendrick STL 0 20 14 Terry Kennedy SDP 0 20 Cy Young 1 Steve Carlton PHI 20 112 2 Steve Rogers MON 1 29 3 Bruce Sutter STL 2 25 3 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 1 25 5 Phil Niekro ATL 0 18 6 Greg Minton SFG 0 4 7 Joaquin Andujar STL 0 1 7 Gene Garber ATL 0 1 Rookie 1 Steve Sax LAD 9 63 2 Johnny Ray PIT 6 57 3 Willie McGee STL 5 39 4 Chili Davis SFG 3 32 5 Luis DeLeon SDP 0 10 6 Ryne Sandberg CHC 1 9 7 Steve Bedrosian ATL 0 4 8 Dave LaPoint STL 0 1 8 Eric Show SDP 0 1 Best player: Gary Carter. Through the mid-1980s, Carter would be the best player in the NL, combining his defense at catcher and cleanup-hitter offense. He was the main engine behind the contending Expos. #1 Gary Carter, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Dale Murphy, #4 Pedro Guerrero, #5 Sixto Lezcano, #6 Andre Dawson. Best pitcher: Steve Carlton. The writers were correct in this league. #1 Steve Carlton, #2 Mario Soto, #3 Steve Rogers, #4 Joe Niekro, #5 Fernando Valenzuela. Best rookie: Chili Davis is who I would have voted for at the time. With perfect hindsight, I would say Ryne Sandberg. Best manager: Whitey Herzog, in his World Series-winning year.

1982 American League

The Brewers win the pennant! The Brewers win the pennant! For the only time in their AL history, Milwaukee took the league championship. They made only two postseasons, the other being the previous year. Harvey's Wallbangers had what it took to get to the World Series: average or below pitching, but enough bats to club everyone into submission. They lost in 7 games to the Cardinals. Milwaukee won a close division race by beating the Orioles 95 wins to 94. Boston was third with 89, Detroit 4th with 83. New York lost 83, Cleveland and Toronto 84 as no AL East team was really bad. In the West, the Angels took top honors with 93 wins, over Kansas City with 90. Chicago won 85. Seattle was 4th, but with 86 losses would have finished behind all AL East teams. Oakland lost 94, Texas 98, and Minnesota 102 to round out the AL West. Willie Wilson won the batting title, beating out Robin Yount by a point .332 to .331. Reggie Jackson and Gorman Thomas tied for the home run lead at 39, and Hal McRae led in RBI with 133 followed by Cecil Cooper at 121. Rickey Henderson stole 130 bases for a new single-season record. Yount led in hits, total bases, slugging and OPS. Paul Molitor scored 136 runs. McRae and Yount had 46 doubles each, Wilson 15 triples. Dwight Evans led in on-base. Lamarr Hoyt led in wins with 19, followed by Geoff Zahn and Pete Vuckovich with 18. Floyd Bannister led in strikeouts with 209, followed by Len Barker at 187. Rick Sutcliffe had a 2.96 ERA, trailed by Bob Stanley at 3.10 and Jim Palmer at 3.13. Dan Quisenberry led in saves with 35. Dave Steib led in innings, complete games and shutouts. The Cy Young voting was a controversial affair. Win Shares leaders, players; Robin Yount (Milwaukee) 39, Dwight Evans (Boston) 31, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) 30, Eddie Murray (Baltimore) and Cecil Cooper (Milwaukee) 29, Doug DeCinces (California), Toby Harrah (Cleveland) and Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 28 each, George Brett (Kansas City) 27, Hal McRae (Kansas City) 26, Brian Downing (California), Willie Wilson (Kansas City), Gorman Thomas (Milwaukee) and Buddy Bell (Texas) 25, Lance Parrish (Detroit) and Dwayne Murphy (Oakland) 24, Cal Ripken (Baltimore) 23, Reggie Jackson (California), Steve Kemp and Greg Luzinski (Chicago) and Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 22. WS leaders, pitchers; Dave Stieb (Toronto) 25, Dan Quisenberry (Kansas City) 22, Dan Spillner (Cleveland) 21, Jim Palmer (Baltimore), Bob Stanley (Boston), Rick Sutcliffe (Cleveland), Bill Caudill (Seattle) and Jim Clancy (Toronto) 20 each, Dan Petry (Detroit) 18, Dennis Eckersley (Boston), Goose Gossage (New York), Floyd Bannister (Seattle) and Luis Leal (Toronto) 17. WARP3: Yount 9.6, DeCinces 7.3, Evans 6.6, Murray 6.4, Downing and Whitaker 6.1, Molitor 5.8, Cooper, Wilson, and Ripken (rookie) 5.5, Alan Trammell (Detroit) 5.4, Parrish and Fred Lynn (California) 5.3, Brett 5.2, McRae and Frank White (Kansas City) 5.0, Bell and U.L. Washington (Kansas City) 4.9, Harrah 4.7 (last big year). Pitchers, Caudill 6.9 (career year), Stanley 6.2 (best year), Stieb 5.9, Spillner (career year) and Gossage 5.5, Sutcliffe 5.4, Quisenberry 5.2, Lamarr Hoyt (Chicago) 5.1, Eckersley 4.5, Mark Clear (California) 4.3. WAR, position players: Yount 10.5, DeCinces 7.9, Evans 7.1, Harrah 6.5, Henderson 6.4, Brett, Molitor, and Murray 6.3, Wilson 6.2, Downing 6.0, Bell and Brunansky 5.8, Cooper and Parrish 5.7, Murphy and Thomas 5.5, Ward 5.4, Whitaker 5.3, Lynn and Ripken 5.1, McRae 5.0. Pitchers: Barker 6.1, Hoyt 5.5, Stieb 5.4, Bannister and Clancy 4.8, Petry 4.3, Beattie 4.2, Guidry and Tudor 4.1, John and Leal 3.9, Eckersley and Koosman 3.8, Sutcliffe and Witt 3.7, Gossage 3.6, Haas and Lamp 3.5. Actual award voting: MVP (top 12) 1 Robin Yount MIL 27 385 2 Eddie Murray BAL 0 228 3 Doug DeCinces CAL 0 178 4 Hal McRae KCR 0 175 5 Cecil Cooper MIL 0 152 6 Reggie Jackson CAL 1 107 7 Dwight Evans BOS 0 57 8 Gorman Thomas MIL 0 44 9 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 39 10 Rickey Henderson OAK 0 38 11 Dave Winfield NYY 0 33 12 Paul Molitor MIL 0 29 Interesting, that guy who put Reggie #1. Can he be impeached? Cy Young 1 Pete Vuckovich MIL 14 87 2 Jim Palmer BAL 4 59 3 Dan Quisenberry KCR 4 40 4 Dave Stieb TOR 5 36 5 Rick Sutcliffe CLE 1 14 6 Geoff Zahn CAL 0 7 7 Bill Caudill SEA 0 4 7 Bob Stanley BOS 0 4 9 Dan Petry DET 0 1 Words cannot express. For the record, Vuckovich had 13 Win Shares and a WAR of 2.3 in his last good year. Rookie 1 Cal Ripken Jr. BAL 24 132 2 Kent Hrbek MIN 4 90 3 Wade Boggs BOS 0 10 4 Ed Vande Berg SEA 0 9 5 Gary Gaetti MIN 0 4 6 Dave Hostetler TEX 0 3 7 Von Hayes CLE 0 2 8 Jesse Barfield TOR 0 1 Best player: Robin Yount. Remember "M-V-P!" "M-V-P!"? Yount was terrific all-around in lifting his team to the title. He was the best by any definition you care to name. #1 Robin Yount, #2 Doug DeCinces, #3 Dwight Evans, #4 Eddie Murray, #5 Paul Molitor, #6 Cecil Cooper. Best pitcher: Dave Stieb. Pete Vuckovich won one of the worst award votes ever. Jim Palmer was the sentimental second choice. Quiz would have been a better pick than either, and Stieb was best of all. #1 Dave Stieb, #2 Dan Quisenberry, #3 Dan Spillner, #4 Bill Caudill, #5 Len Barker. The best pitchers in the league, other than Stieb, were relievers. Best rookie: Cal Ripken. Of course. Kent Hrbek was pretty good too. Best manager: Harvey Kuenn. He only managed the Brewers for 116 games, but he took over from Buck Rodgers and guided the team to the pennant.

1981 National League

The strike wiped out about 1/3 of the season, and the teams with the best records in each division did not make the playoffs: that about sums up the 1981 NL. The Cardinals and Reds sported the best records in their divisions, but did not win either half, and so did not qualify for the postseason. It is one of the biggest injustices in baseball history. Philadelphia and Los Angeles won the first halves, while Montreal and Houston won the seconds. For Montreal, it was the only postseason appearance in their history. Bill Madlock won the batting title at .341, while Mike Schmidt won the MVP leading in HR (31), RBI (91), OPS by a wide margin, and runs. Pete Rose was second in average at .325 and Dusty Baker at .320. Andre Dawson was secondin homers with 24, George Foster second in RBI with 90. Tim Raines led in steals with 71. Rose had 140 hits, Bill Buckner 35 doubles. Craig Reynolds and Gene Richards had 12 triples each. Tom Seaver led in wins with 14, Nolan Ryan in ERA at 1.69, and rookie Fernando Valenzuela in strikeouts with 180. Valenzuela and Steve Carlton had 13 wins, Carlton 179 strikeouts. Bob Knepper had a 2.18 ERA, Burt Hooton 2.28. Bruce Sutter had 25 saves. Valenzuela had 11 complete games, 8 of them shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players; Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 30, Andre Dawson (Montreal) 25, George Foster (Cincinnati) 24, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati) and Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 20, Ken Griffey (Cincinnati) and Gary Mathews (Philadelphia) 19, Tim Raines (Montreal) and George Hendrick (St. Louis) 18, Gary Carter (Montreal) and Pete Rose (Philadelphia) 17, Art Howe (Houston), Ron Cey and Dusty Baker (Los Angeles) 16, Ron Oester (Cincinnati), Bill Madlock (Pittsburgh) and Jack Clark (San Francisco) 15. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Tom Seaver (Cincinnati) and Fernando Valenzuela (Los Angeles) 17, Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 16, Nolan Ryan (Houston) 15, Rick Camp (Atlanta) 14, Bob Knepper (Houston), Burt Hooton and Jerry Reuss (Los Angeles) and Bruce Sutter (St. Louis) 13, Mario Soto (Cincinnati), Don Sutton (Houston), Gary Lucas (San Diego) and Doyle Alexander (San Francisco) 11. WARP3 scores: Schmidt 10.5, Dawson 9.3, Concepcion 7.5, Foster 7.2 (last big year), Hernandez 5.9, Madlock 5.6, Howe 5.4 (career year), Hendrick and Carter 5.2, Oester 5.0, Griffey and Cey 4.7, Pedro Guerrero (Los Angeles) 4.6, Craig Reynolds (Houston) 4.4, Raines 4.3 (rookie), Joe Morgan (San Francisco) 4.2, Tom Herr (St. Louis) 4.0, Rose and Baker 3.9. Pitchers, Valenzuela 6.4, Carlton 6.1, Ryan 6.0, Camp 5.4, Hooton (last good year), Reuss, Alexander, and Vida Blue (San Francisco) 4.7, Lucas 4.5 (career year), Seaver and Knepper 4.3. WAR, position players: Schmidt 8.0, Dawson 6.9, Hernandez 4.3, Carter and Foster 4.1, Raines 3.9, Concepcion 3.8, Madlock 3.6, Cey and Howe 3.5, Hendrick 3.4, Evans 3.3, Oester 3.2, Cruz 3.1, Clark and Guerrero 3.0. Pitchers: Carlton 5.7, Gullickson and Valenzuela 5.1, Sutton 4.0, Ryan 3.9, Soto 3.6, Rogers 3.5, Hooton and Sorensen 3.4, Perry 2.9, Knepper 2.8, Reuss 2.7, Krukow 2.6, Sanderson 2.5. Actual award winners: MVP (top 21): | 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 Mike Schmidt PHI 21 321 336 0.96 | 354 112 31 .316 1.080 12 2 Andre Dawson MON 2 215 336 0.64 | 394 119 24 .302 .918 26 3 George Foster CIN 0 146 336 0.43 | 414 122 22 .295 .892 4 4 Dave Concepcion CIN 0 108 336 0.32 | 421 129 5 .306 .767 4 5 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 1 90 336 0.27 | 64 16 0 .250 .543 0| 13-7 192 2.48 1.05 180 6 Gary Carter MON 0 77 336 0.23 | 374 94 16 .251 .756 1 7 Dusty Baker LAD 0 65 336 0.19 | 400 128 9 .320 .808 10 8 Bruce Sutter STL 0 59 336 0.18 | 9 0 0 .000 .100 0| 3-5 82 2.62 1.07 57 25 9 Steve Carlton PHI 0 41 336 0.12 | 67 9 0 .134 .383 0| 13-4 190 2.42 1.13 179 10 Bill Buckner CHC 0 35 336 0.10 | 421 131 10 .311 .829 5 10 Pete Rose PHI 0 35 336 0.10 | 431 140 0 .325 .781 4 10 Tom Seaver CIN 0 35 336 0.10 | 55 11 1 .200 .570 0| 14-2 166 2.54 1.12 87 13 Gary Matthews PHI 0 31 336 0.09 | 359 108 9 .301 .849 15 14 Jose Cruz HOU 0 25 336 0.07 | 409 109 13 .267 .745 5 14 George Hendrick STL 0 25 336 0.07 | 394 112 18 .284 .841 4 16 Nolan Ryan HOU 0 23 336 0.07 | 51 11 0 .216 .521 0| 11-5 149 1.69 1.12 140 17 Bill Madlock PIT 0 20 336 0.06 | 279 95 6 .341 .907 18 18 Art Howe HOU 0 16 336 0.05 | 361 107 3 .296 .770 1 19 Tim Raines MON 0 15 336 0.04 | 313 95 5 .304 .829 71 20 Rick Camp ATL 0 9 336 0.03 | 12 0 0 .000 .000 0| 9-3 76 1.78 1.05 47 17 20 Keith Hernandez STL 0 9 336 0.03 | 376 115 8 .306 .864 12 Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 8 70 120 0.58 | 13-7 192 2.48 1.05 180 2 Tom Seaver CIN 8 67 120 0.56 | 14-2 166 2.54 1.12 87 3 Steve Carlton PHI 5 50 120 0.42 | 13-4 190 2.42 1.13 179 4 Nolan Ryan HOU 3 28 120 0.23 | 11-5 149 1.69 1.12 140 5 Bruce Sutter STL 0 1 120 0.01 | 3-5 82 2.62 1.07 57 25 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 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 17 107 120 0.89 | 64 16 0 .250 .543 0| 13-7 192 2.48 1.05 180 2 Tim Raines MON 6 85 120 0.71 | 313 95 5 .304 .829 71 3 Hubie Brooks NYM 0 8 120 0.07 | 358 110 4 .307 .756 9 4 Bruce Berenyi CIN 0 5 120 0.04 | 42 8 0 .190 .484 0| 9-6 126 3.50 1.38 106 4 Juan Bonilla SDP 0 5 120 0.04 | 369 107 1 .290 .681 4 6 Tony Pena PIT 0 4 120 0.03 | 210 63 2 .300 .707 1 7 Mookie Wilson NYM 0 1 120 0.01 | 328 89 3 .271 .689 24 Top player: Mike Schmidt. For the second year in a row, no one was better. Schmidt was clearly the best player in the league at this point. #1 Mike Schmidt, #2 Andre Dawson, #3 George Foster, #4 Dave Concepcion, #5 Keith Hernandez, #6 Tim Raines. Top pitcher: Fernando Valenzuela. The Mexican rookie won the award in very close voting. #1 Fernando Valenzuela, #2 Nolan Ryan, #3 Steve Carlton, #4 Tom Seaver, #5 Rick Camp. Top rookie: Fernando again, although Raines was also impressive and drew significant voting. It was a pretty good year for NL rookies. Top manager: Tommy LaSorda got the Dodgers to another World Series crown.

1981 American League

It was a strike year, and baseball nearly struck out. The players walked out in early June, about 1/3 of the way into the season, and things weren't settled until August, and after hastily-held camps and an All-Star game to kick things off, the final 1/3 of the season got underway. Of course this was bungled, as the games played were declared to be a "first half" and those remaining to be a "second half" with half winners to play each other. Therefore, there was no incentive for first half winners, who couldn't even get a bye, to play hard in the second half. Worse, a couple of teams with the best overall records didn't even make the playoffs. They should've had the full-season winners play the second-set winners for a playoff. That would have made things meaningful for everyone. New York and Oakland won the first halves, Milwaukee and Kansas City the second halves, and Milwaukee and Oakland had the best overall records. New York won the two-tiered playoffs, the first ever. Six Eastern teams played above .500 for the year, three in the West. The Blue Jays had the worst overall record. The whole thing was a mess. Carney Lansford won the batting title at .336, while Dwight Evans led in OPS. Tom Paciorek hit .326, while Kirk Gibson hit .328 but did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the title. Evans was part of a four-way tie with Bobby Grich, Eddie Murray and Tony Armas for the home run lead at 22. Murray led in RBI with 78, Armas had 76. Rickey Henderson led in steals with 56. Henderson scored 89 runs and had 135 hits, Cecil Cooper had 35 doubles, Evans led in runs created. Wins was a four-way tie with Dennis Martinez, Jack Morris, Pete Vuckovich and Steve McCatty with 14 each. Dave Righetti led in ERA at 2.05, followed by Sammy Stewart at 2.32 and Steve McCatty at 2.33. Len Barker led in strikeouts with 127, and Rollie Fingers in saves. His 28 saves and 1.04 ERA got Fingers the MVP and Cy Young, in just 78 innings. Rick Langford had 18 complete games, Dennis Leonard 202 innings. Win Shares leaders, players; Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 27, Dwight Evans (Boston) 26, Cecil Cooper (Milwaukee) 22, Eddie Murray (Baltimore) and Bobby Grich (California) 21, Gorman Thomas and Robin Yount (Milwaukee) and Dwayne Murphy (Oakland) 20, Carney Lansford (Boston), Toby Harrah (Cleveland), Tony Armas (Oakland) and Buddy Bell (Texas) 18, Rick Burleson (California), Steve Kemp (Detroit), Tom Paciorek (Seattle) and Jim Sundberg (Texas) 17. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Steve McCatty (Oakland) 18, Rollie Fingers (Milwaukee) 17, Jack Morris (Detroit) 16, Dave Stieb (Toronto) 15, Bert Blyleven (Cleveland) and Dennis Leonard (Kansas City) 14, Milt Wilcox (Detroit) and Larry Gura (Kansas City) 13. WARP3 scores: Evans 8.9, Henderson 8.2, Grich 7.8, Bell and Burleson (best year) 6.7, Chet Lemon (Chicago) 6.2, Yount 6.1, Alan Trammell (Detroit) 6.0, Murray 5.5, Kemp 5.4, Cooper 4.8, Tony Bernazard (Chicago) 4.7, Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 4.6, Mike Hargrove (Cleveland) 4.5, Thomas, Sundberg, Bill Almon and Greg Luzinski (both Chicago) 4.4, Paciorek 4.2 (best year), Lansford and Ken Singleton (Baltimore) 4.1. Pitchers, Fingers 8.3, Blyleven 6.9, McCatty 6.3 (career year), Stieb 5.7, John Denny (Cleveland) and Goose Gossage (New York) 4.7, Doug Corbett (Minnesota) 4.5, Gura 4.3, Dave Righetti (New York) and Sammy Stewart (Baltimore) 4.2, Leonard 4.1 (last good year), Ken Forsch (California) 4.0. WAR leaders, position players: Henderson 7.0, Evans 6.9, Bell 5.7, Grich 5.5, Paciorek 4.9, Yount 4.8, Murphy 4.6, Burleson 4.3, Cooper and Lemon 4.2, Armas 4.1, Trammell and Wilson 3.9, Kemp and Murray 3.8. Pitchers: Barker 4.7, Blyleven and Leonard 4.0, Eckersley 3.5, Stieb 3.3, Forsch 3.0, Gura and Martinez 2.9, Guidry 2.8, Medich 2.7, Wilcox 2.6, Burns, Fingers, McCatty, and McGregor 2.5. 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 Rollie Fingers MIL 15 319 392 0.81 | | 6-3 78 1.04 0.87 61 28 2 Rickey Henderson OAK 12 308 392 0.79 | 423 135 6 .319 .845 56 3 Dwight Evans BOS 0 140 392 0.36 | 412 122 22 .296 .937 3 4 Tony Armas OAK 1 139 392 0.35 | 440 115 22 .261 .774 5 5 Eddie Murray BAL 0 137 392 0.35 | 378 111 22 .294 .895 2 6 Carney Lansford BOS 0 109 392 0.28 | 399 134 4 .336 .828 15 7 Dave Winfield NYY 0 98 392 0.25 | 388 114 13 .294 .824 11 8 Cecil Cooper MIL 0 96 392 0.24 | 416 133 12 .320 .858 5 9 Rich Gossage NYY 0 62 392 0.16 | | 3-2 47 0.77 0.77 48 20 10 Tom Paciorek SEA 0 46 392 0.12 | 405 132 14 .326 .888 13 11 Dwayne Murphy OAK 0 45 392 0.11 | 390 98 15 .251 .777 10 12 Kirk Gibson DET 0 40 392 0.10 | 290 95 9 .328 .848 17 13 Steve McCatty OAK 0 22 392 0.06 | | 14-7 186 2.33 1.08 91 14 Bobby Grich CAL 0 19 392 0.05 | 352 107 22 .304 .921 2| 15 Jack Morris DET 0 17 392 0.04 | | 14-7 198 3.05 1.17 97 Fingers won by a very slim margin over Henderson. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Rollie Fingers MIL 22 126 140 0.90 | 6-3 78 1.04 0.87 61 28 2 Steve McCatty OAK 6 84 140 0.60 | 14-7 186 2.33 1.08 91 3 Jack Morris DET 0 21 140 0.15 | 14-7 198 3.05 1.17 97 4 Pete Vuckovich MIL 0 8 140 0.06 | 14-4 150 3.55 1.30 84 5 Rich Gossage NYY 0 3 140 0.02 | 3-2 47 0.77 0.77 48 20 5 Dennis Martinez BAL 0 3 140 0.02 | 14-5 179 3.32 1.31 88 7 Britt Burns CHW 0 2 140 0.01 | 10-6 157 2.64 1.20 108 7 Ron Guidry NYY 0 2 140 0.01 | 11-5 127 2.76 0.99 104 9 Larry Gura KCR 0 1 140 0.01 | 11-8 172 2.72 1.01 61 Fingers more solidly here. 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 Dave Righetti NYY 23 127 140 0.91 | | 8-4 105 2.05 1.07 89 2 Rich Gedman BOS 5 64 140 0.46 | 205 59 5 .288 .751 0 3 Bob Ojeda BOS 0 36 140 0.26 | | 6-2 66 3.12 1.13 28 4 Mike Jones KCR 0 8 140 0.06 | | 6-3 76 3.21 1.35 29 5 Shooty Babitt OAK 0 4 140 0.03 | 156 40 0 .256 .615 5 5 Dave Engle MIN 0 4 140 0.03 | 248 64 5 .258 .703 0 5 Mike Witt CAL 0 4 140 0.03 | | 8-9 129 3.28 1.32 75 8 George Bell TOR 0 2 140 0.01 | 163 38 5 .233 .606 3 9 Brad Havens MIN 0 1 140 0.01 | | 3-6 78 3.58 1.28 43 9 Gary Ward MIN 0 1 140 0.01 | 295 78 3 .264 .684 5 First year of 1st, 2nd, 3rd balloting rather than one name. And yes, somebody (apparently a couple of somebodies) voted for Shooty Babitt. Top player: Dwight Evans. Dewey was robbed in the voting, finishing 3rd just ahead of Tony Armas. What!?! Ridiculous! #1 Dwight Evans, #2 Rickey Henderson, #3 Bobby Grich, #4 Eddie Murray, #5 Robin Yount, #6 Cecil Cooper. Top pitcher: Rollie Fingers is the best choice. He was truly a dominating closer, the last time he would be that. #1 Rollie Fingers, #2 Dennis Leonard, #3 Steve McCatty, #4 Dave Stieb, #5 Bert Blyleven. Top rookie: Dave Righetti had an exceptional year. Top manager: Billy Martin managed Oakland to the best record in the league.

1980 National League

Two great division races ended in a year for the Phillies, with their first-ever World championship in their long existence. All the other teams dating back so far had won long before. The Phils didn't have it easy, outlasting Montreal by a single game, and defending champs Pittsburgh by eight. St. Louis, New York, and Chicago finished under .500. Houston got its first division title in the West, by a game over the Dodgers and 3.5 over the Reds. Atlanta, San Francisco, and San Diego trailed. Philadelphia then went the distance to beat Houston in the NLCS, and beat Kansas City in six to win the World Series. The Cardinals led the league in offense, and the Astros in pitching, but the Phillies gave up the fewest runs on the road. Mike Schmidt led the league in HR (48), RBI (121), total bases, slugging, and OPS. Bob Horner was second with 35 homers, George Hendrick with 109 RBI. Bill Buckner won the batting title with a .324 average, a bit ahead of Keith Hernandez's .321. Hernandez scored 111 runs. Steve Garvey had 200 hits. Pete Rose had 42 doubles, Omar Moreno and Tony Scott 13 triples. Ron LeFlore stole 97 bases to Omar Moreno's 96. Steve Carlton led the league in wins (24) and strikeouts (286), and was 2nd in ERA with 2.34 to Don Sutton's 2.20. Joe Niekro was the other 20-game winner with exactly that. Nolan Ryan was second with 200 strikeouts. Bruce Sutter led in saves with 28. Carlton led with 304 innings, Jerry Reuss had six shutouts, Steve Rogers 14 complete games. Win Shares leaders, players: Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 37, Gary Carter (Montreal) 30, Andre Dawson (Montreal) 29, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) and Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 28, Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 27, Cesar Cedeno (Houston) 26, Ken Griffey (Cincinnati) and Jose Cruz (Houston) 25, Dusty Baker (Los Angeles), Lee Mazzilli (New York) and Jack Clark (San Francisco) 24, George Foster (Cincinnati), Terry Puhl (Houston) and Ron Cey (Los Angeles) 23, Dave Collins (Cincinnati), Steve Garvey (Los Angeles), Mike Easler (Pittsburgh), Gene Richards and Dave Winfield (San Diego) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 22. WS leaders, pitchers: Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 29, Jerry Reuss (Los Angeles) 21, Rick Camp (Atlanta), Don Sutton (Los Angeles) and Steve Rogers (Montreal) 20, Tom Hume (Cincinnati) 19, Tug McGraw (Philadelphia) 18, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Jim Bibby (Pittsburgh) 17, Bruce Sutter (Chicago) and Vida Blue (San Francisco) 16, Rick Reuschel (Chicago), Vern Ruhle (Houston) and Rollie Fingers (San Diego) 15. WARP3: Schmidt 10.0 (best year), Carter 7.4, Hernandez 7.1, Dawson 6.7, Cey 6.6 (last big year), Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 6.3, Ozzie Smith (San Diego) 6.0, Evans 5.8, Murphy 5.7 (first big season), Simmons 5.6, Baker 5.4, Cruz 5.1, Foster and Puhl (best year) 4.9, Cedeno (last big season), Reggie Smith (Los Angeles) and Bob Horner (Atlanta) 4.6, Richards 4.5 (career year), Easler 4.4. Pitchers, Carlton 9.3, Rogers and Reuschel 6.0, McGraw 5.5, Blue 5.3, Camp and Hume (best year) 4.8, Sutter 4.6, Sutton 4.5, Scott Sanderson (Montreal) 4.3, Reuss and Bill Caudill (Chicago) 4.1, Ruhle (career year) 4.0. WAR, position players: Schmidt 9.1, Hernandez 7.1, Carter 6.2, Dawson 6.1, Murphy 6.0, Puhl 5.5, Cey 5.4, Simmons 5.3, Cedeno 5.0, Cruz 4.7, Baker 4.5, Evans and Foster 4.3, Clark, Morgan, Richards, and Smith 4.2, Hendrick 4.1, Templeton 3.9. Pitchers: Carlton 9.1, Reuschel 5.5, Reuss 4.5, Candelaria, Rogers, and Ryan 4.4, Blyleven 4.2, Forsch 4.1, Krukow 3.6, Niekro and Pastore 3.5, Blue and Whitson 3.4. Actual award voting: MVP (top 12) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Mike Schmidt PHI 24 336 2 Gary Carter MON 0 193 3 Jose Cruz HOU 0 166 4 Dusty Baker LAD 0 138 5 Steve Carlton PHI 0 134 6 Steve Garvey LAD 0 131 7 Andre Dawson MON 0 72 8 George Hendrick STL 0 50 9 Bob Horner ATL 0 42 10 Bake McBride PHI 0 32 11 Keith Hernandez STL 0 29 12 Dale Murphy ATL 0 23 Cy Young (top 4) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Steve Carlton PHI 23 118 2 Jerry Reuss LAD 1 55 3 Jim Bibby PIT 0 28 4 Joe Niekro HOU 0 11 Can we retroactively revoke the BBWAA membership of the guy who put Reuss 1st? Rookie (top 5) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Steve Howe LAD 12 80 2 Bill Gullickson MON 5 53 3 Lonnie Smith PHI 4 49 4 Ron Oester CIN 1 16 5 Dave Smith HOU 2 13 Top player: Mike Schmidt Top pitcher: Steve Carlton These are no-brainers. The Phillies won, and those two did most of the work. Players: #1 Mike Schmidt, #2 Gary Carter, #3 Andre Dawson, #4 Dale Murphy, #5 Keith Hernandez, #6 Darrell Evans. Pitchers: #1 Steve Carlton, #2 Jerry Reuss, #3 Steve Rogers, #4 Tug McGraw, #5 Tom Hume. Top rookie: Lonnie Smith. This one is tough. I think I would go for a Phillies clean sweep, as they won their first World Series. Jeff Reardon, Leon Durham, Al Holland, and Bob Walk also drew a vote each in the balloting. No clear winner. Top manager: Dallas Green, for guiding the Phillies to their very first World Series victory.

1980 American League

A magical season for George Brett and the Royals, as they won the West and then beat the Yankees in the ALCS, with Brett hitting .390 for the year (in 117 games, due to injury). The dream ended in a six-game World Series loss, but the sweep over the New York team that had beaten them in three playoff series 1977-79 was sweet. KC took an easy division win with 97 victories, 14 more than the surprise A's, who went from 54-108 to 83-79 in one year to place second. The rest were under .500, with Minnesota 3rd, Texas 4th, Chicago 5th, California slipping from 1st to 6th, and Seattle last with 103 losses. New York took the East title in a dogfight with Baltimore, 103 wins to 100. Milwaukee placed third with 86 victories, Boston 4th just ahead of Detroit, Cleveland 6th and Toronto last again. The Jays showed incremental improvement with 95 losses, their first season (of 4) with less than 100. Brett led hitters in the percentage categories like batting average and OPS. Teammate Willie Wilson led in runs with 133 and hits with 230. Reggie Jackson and Ben Oglivie tied with 41 HR. Cecil Cooper led in RBI with 122, and Rickey Henderson stole 100 bases. Brett and Oglivie tied for second in RBI with 118. Robin Yount had 49 doubles while Wilson and Alfredo Griffin had 15 triples. In spite of his limited playing time, Brett led the league in Runs Created. Steve Stone led in wins with 25, Rudy May had the ERA lead at 2.46, and Len Barker led in strikeouts with 187. Mike Norris was 2nd in all those categories with 22, 2.53, and 180 respectively. Goose Gossage and Dan Quisenberry tied for the saves lead with 33. Rick Langford had an astounding (for the era) 28 complete games and pitched 290 innings. Tommy John tossed six shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players: George Brett (Kansas City) 36, Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 34, Al Bumbry (Baltimore) 33, Willie Wilson (Kansas City), Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph (New York) 31, Ken Singleton (Baltimore), Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie (Milwaukee) and Dwayne Murphy (Oakland) 27, Eddie Murray (Baltimore) 26, Mike Hargrove (Cleveland) and Robin Yount (Milwaukee) 25, Chet Lemon (Chicago) 24, Toby Harrah (Cleveland) 23, Tony Armas (Oakland) 22, Miguel Dilone (Cleveland), Alan Trammell (Detroit), Rick Cerone (New York), Buddy Bell and Al Oliver (Texas) 21. WS leaders, pitchers: Mike Norris (Oakland) 25, Doug Corbett (Minnesota) 24, Larry Gura (Kansas City) 22, Britt Burns (Chicago) 21, Steve Stone (Baltimore) 20, Dan Quisenberry (Kansas City), Tommy John (New York), Rick Langford (Oakland) and Jim Clancy (Toronto) 19, Scott McGregor (Baltimore), Dennis Leonard (Kansas City), Goose Gossage (New York) and Matt Keough (Oakland) 18. WARP3: Brett 9.2, Bumbry 7.6 (a career year), Henderson 6.6 (first full year), Oglivie 5.9 (career year), Wilson and Yount 5.8, Bobby Grich (California) 5.7, Cooper 5.5, Randolph 5.4, Bell 5.2, Jackson 5.0, Rick Burleson (Boston) 4.9, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) 4.6, Murphy (best year) and Cerone 4.2 (career year), Lance Parrish (Detroit) 4.1, Bucky Dent (New York) 4.0, Trammell 3.9. Pitchers, Corbett 6.9 as a rookie, Burns 6.3 as a rookie, Norris 5.9 in his career year, Rudy May (New York) 5.0, Gura (best year) and Clancy 4.7, Dave Stieb (Toronto) 4.6, Moose Haas (Milwaukee) 4.5, Danny Darwin (Texas) 4.4, Tom Burgmeier (Boston) 4.3, John and Bob Stanley (Boston) 4.1, Quisenberry, Gossage, and Floyd Bannister (Seattle) 4.0, Fergie Jenkins (Texas) 3.9. WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Brett 9.5, Henderson 8.3, Wilson 7.6, Cooper 7.1, Oglivie 7.0, Randolph 6.9, Murphy 6.7, Bumbry and Yount 6.6, Bell 6.3, Armas 5.9, Jackson 5.4, Grich 4.8, Murray and Trammell 4.7, Singleton 4.6, Cerone 4.5, Lemon 4.4. Pitchers: Norris 6.0, Barker and Matlack 5.6, McGregor 5.2, Stieb 5.0, Gura and John 4.9, Burns 4.8, Koosman 4.7, Haas 4.5, Zahn 4.4, Bannister 4.3, Leonard and May 4.2, Guidry and Perry 4.0, Clancy and Erickson 3.9, Morris and Tanana 3.8. Actual award voting: MVP (top 14) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 George Brett KCR 17 335 2 Reggie Jackson NYY 5 234 3 Rich Gossage NYY 4 218 4 Willie Wilson KCR 1 169 5 Cecil Cooper MIL 0 160 6 Eddie Murray BAL 0 106 7 Rick Cerone NYY 1 77 8 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 70 9 Steve Stone BAL 0 53 10 Rickey Henderson OAK 0 51 11 Al Oliver TEX 0 31 12 Tony Armas OAK 0 29 13 Al Bumbry BAL 0 27 13 Ben Oglivie MIL 0 27 Cy Young Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Steve Stone BAL 13 100 2 Mike Norris OAK 13 91 3 Rich Gossage NYY 2 37 4 Tommy John NYY 0 14 5 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 7 6 Larry Gura KCR 0 1 6 Scott McGregor BAL 0 1 Rookie Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Joe Charboneau CLE 15 102 2 Dave Stapleton BOS 3 40 3 Doug Corbett MIN 3 38 4 Damaso Garcia TOR 3 35 5 Britt Burns CHW 4 33 6 Rick Peters DET 0 3 7 Richard Dotson CHW 0 1 Best player: George Brett. Brett, Rickey and Bumbry are all deserving to some extent, but George's team won. Even with just 118 games played, it was George's year. #1 George Brett, #2 Rickey Henderson, #3 Willie Wilson, #4 Al Bumbry, #5 Ben Oglivie, #6 Cecil Cooper. Best pitcher: Mike Norris. Stone won a split BBWAA decision, but Norris was the best in 1980. Billy Martin overworked him, and he was never the same again. #1 Matt Norris, #2 Doug Corbett, #3 Britt Burns, #4 Larry Gura, #5 Dan Quisenberry. Best rookie: Doug Corbett. Charboneau won on the basis of press clippings, but Burns and Corbett both had better years. Neither lasted very long, either, but they did last a bit longer than "Super Joe." Best manager: Billy Martin. He blew out a pitcher's arm or two, but going from 108 losses to 79 is impressive

1979 National League

It was a "back to the future" year as the Pirates and Reds returned to the top of their respective divisions. Then, a reversal, as the Pirates won the NLCS and then the World Series. Both won in tight two-team races, as the Pirates outlasted the surprising Expos by 2 games, and the Reds beat out the Astros by 1.5. Pittsburgh won 98, Montreal 95, St. Louis 86, Philadelphia 84, and Chicago 80, while New York lost 99 games for last. In the West, the Reds won 90, Houston 89, and the Dodgers slipped below .500 to 79-83. San Francisco, San Diego, and Atlanta all trailed, losing at least 90.

Keith Hernandez led in batting average, doubles and runs, and won half the MVP. Hernandez had a .344 average to beat Pete Rose (now with Philadelphia) at .333. Ray Knight, Rose's replacement in Cincinnati, was third at .318. Hernandez had 48 doubles, followed by Warren Cromartie at 46, while at 116 runs Hernandez was followed by Omar Moreno at 110. Moreno led in steals with 77. Dave Kingman led in HR with 48,and also in slugging and OPS. Pete Rose led in on-base, edging Hernandez. Garry Templeton had 19 triples. Dave Winfield led in total bases, RBI and OPS+. Winfield's 118 RBI was followed by Kingman at 115 and Mike Schmidt at 114.

Brothers Phil and Joe Niekro tied for the lead in wins with 21. J.R. Richard led in ERA and strikeouts in his last full season. Richard had a 2.71 ERA, followed by Tom Hume at 2.76 and Dan Schatzeder at 2.83. Richard's 313 strikeouts outdistanced Steve Carlton's second-place 213. Bruce Sutter led in saves with 37, while Kent Tekulve kept busy pitching in 94 games. Phil Niekro had 44 starts and 23 complete games.

Win Shares leaders, players: Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) and Dave Winfield (San Diego) 33, Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 31, Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 29, Larry Parrish (Montreal) 28, Jose Cruz (Houston), Davey Lopes (Los Angeles), Gary Carter (Montreal) and Pete Rose (Philadelphia) 27 each, Gary Mathews (Atlanta), Ron Cey (Los Angeles), Lee Mazzilli (New York) and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 25 each, Dave Kingman (Chicago), Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Andre Dawson (Montreal) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 24, Terry Puhl (Houston), Phil Garner and Omar Moreno (Pittsburgh), Jack Clark and Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 23. co-MVP Willie Stargell had 18.

WS leaders, pitchers: Phil Niekro (Atlanta) 24, J.R. Richard (Houston) 23, Bruce Sutter (Chicago) 22, Kent Tekulve (Pittsburgh) 20, Joe Niekro (Houston) 19, Tom Hume (Cincinnati), Joe Sambito (Houston) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 18, Rick Reuschel (Chicago) 17, Tom Seaver (Cincinnati), Rick Sutcliffe (Los Angeles), Bill Lee, Steve Rogers and Elias Sosa (Montreal) and Gaylord Perry (San Diego) 16.

WARP3: Winfield 9.3 (best year), Templeton 8.6 (best year), Schmidt 8.4, Concepcion 7.9, Hernandez 7.6, Cey 7.3, Tenace 6.6, Carter 6.5, Cruz and Bench (Cincinnati) 5.6, Lopes 5.3, Parrish 5.2 (career year), Parker 5.1, Kingman (best year) and Garner (best year) 4.8, George Foster (Cincinnati) 4.7, Rose, Ted Simmons (St. Louis), and Craig Reynolds (Houston) 4.7, Steve Garvey (Los Angeles) 4.4.

Pitchers, P. Niekro 7.7, Reuschel 6.2, Sutter 5.9, Sambito 5.7, Richard 4.7, Sosa 4.5 (career year), Hume and Gary Lavelle (St. Louis) 4.4, Tekulve 4.3, Craig Swan (New York) and Dick Tidrow (Chicago) 4.2.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Winfield 7.9, Schmidt 7.6, Hernandez 7.4, Carter 6.0, Parker 5.8, Cey and Tenace 5.5, Bench and Foster 5.3, Parrish 4.9, Cruz and Mazzilli 4.8, Concepcion and Lopes 4.7, Templeton 4.5.

Pitchers: Richard 8.8, Sutter 5.1, Reuschel 4.7, Carlton 4.6, Rogers 4.5, Hooton and Swan 4.3, Perry 4.2, Niekro 4.0, Lamp and Seaver 3.9, Vuckovich 3.7, Blyleven 3.6.

Actual award voting:
MVP
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Keith Hernandez STL 10 216
1 Willie Stargell PIT 4 216
3 Dave Winfield SDP 4 155
4 Larry Parrish MON 0 128
5 Ray Knight CIN 2 82
6 Joe Niekro HOU 1 75
7 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 69
8 Kent Tekulve PIT 1 64
9 Dave Concepcion CIN 0 63
10 Dave Parker PIT 0 56
11 Dave Kingman CHC 0 53
12 George Foster CIN 0 34
13 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 32
14 Steve Garvey LAD 0 30
15 Omar Moreno PIT 0 23
15 Pete Rose PHI 0 23
17 Gary Carter MON 1 15
18 Bill Madlock TOT 1 14
19 J.R. Richard HOU 0 12
20 Phil Niekro ATL 0 11
21 Joe Sambito HOU 0 9
21 Tom Seaver CIN 0 9
23 Johnny Bench CIN 0 7
24 Andre Dawson MON 0 6
25 Garry Templeton STL 0 5
26 Gary Matthews ATL 0 4
27 Dave Collins CIN 0 3
28 Bob Horner ATL 0 1

A very interesting year for MVP voting, as 8 different players received 1st place votes, including Bill Madlock whose only vote was a 1st place vote. Gary Carter got two votes: a first and a tenth. Wllie Stargell got named as a nice gesture on a lot of ballots, and snuck up to the top spot. Balloting was all over the place with no clear favorite. Hernandez had far more first-place votes, but Stargell more overall support.

Cy Young
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Bruce Sutter CHC 10 72
2 Joe Niekro HOU 9 66
3 J.R. Richard HOU 4 41
4 Tom Seaver CIN 0 20
5 Kent Tekulve PIT 1 14
6 Phil Niekro ATL 0 3

More of the same in the Cy Young, as four pitchers got 1st place votes. Phil Niekro should have sued.

Rookie
Place Name Team Points
1 Rick Sutcliffe LAD 20
2 Jeffrey Leonard HOU 3
3 Scot Thompson CHC 1

Best player: Dave Winfield. His best year, and he led in OPS+ by 10 points over George Foster. The Padres still lost 93 games, which is probably why he didn't win.
#1 Dave Winfield, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Keith Hernandez, #4 Gary Carter, #5 Dave Parker, #6 Ron Cey.

Best Pitcher; Phil Niekro. The knuckleballer both won and lost 20, but he was the most dependable pitcher in the league, and when you look at 2nd place J. R. Richard in the context of the Astrodome, while Niekro toiled in the Launching Pad, the ERA gap decreases substantially. Sutter and Tekulve both had great years in relief, but Niekro did more. Knucksie was robbed for the second year in a row.
#1 Phil Niekro, #2 Bruce Sutter, #3 J.R. Richard, #4 Steve Carlton, #5 Rick Reuschel.

Best rookie: Rick Sutcliffe. Wasn't really close, he was by far the best.

Best manager: Chuck Tanner on the best team in the league.

1979 American League

A change in the power structure, as the Yankees slipped to 4th in the East (but still won 89 games) and Baltimore took the division and the pennant. Kansas City finished 2nd to California in the West, even though the Angel's 88 wins were fewer than the 4th-place Yankees. Following the Angels were KC with 85 wins, Texas with 83, and Minnesota with 82, with Chicago 5th, Seattle 6th, and Oakland hitting bottom with 108 losses. The Orioles beat out Milwaukee by 8 games and Boston by 11.5. Detroit was 5th with 85 wins. Cleveland was 6th, one game over .500 at 81-80, while everyone beat up on Toronto as the Jays lost 109 times.

Fred Lynn won the batting title at .333, followed by George Brett at .329. The race had a lot of contenders, like Brian Downing third at .326 and Jim Rice fourth at .325. Brett led with 212 hits followed by Rice at 201. Buddy Bell had 200 exactly. Cecil Cooper and Chet Lemon tied with 44 doubles. Brett had 20 triples. Gorman Thomas led with 45 homers, followed by Rice and Lynn with 39. Willie Wilson led in steals with 83 followed by Ron LeFlore with 78. Jim Rice led in total bases, but Don Baylor won the MVP leading in runs with 120 and RBI with 139. I think the shiny RBI total distracted the voters. Brett scored 119 runs, Rice 117, Lynn 116. Rice had 130 RBI, Thomas 123 and Lynn 122. Lynn led in on-base, slugging, OPS, and runs created.

Ron Guidry led in ERA with a 2.78 mark, followed by Tommy John at 2.96 and Dennis Eckersley at 2.99. Nolan Ryan paced in strikeouts with 223 followed by Guidry at 201. Mike Marshall led in saves with 32 followed by Jim Kern at 29. Dennis Martinez led with 39 starts, 292 innings, and 18 complete games. Mike Flanagan took the Cy Young as the wins leader with 23. John won 21 and Jerry Koosman 20.

Win Shares leaders, players; Fred Lynn (Boston) 34, George Brett (Kansas City) 33, Ken Singleton (Baltimore) 32, Darrell Porter (Kansas City) 31, Don Baylor (California) 29, Jim Rice (Boston) and Bobby Grich (California) 28, Sixto Lezcano (Milwaukee) 27, Chet Lemon (Detroit), Paul Molitor and Gorman Thomas (Milwaukee) 26, Eddie Murray (Baltimore), Brian Downing (California) and Steve Kemp (Detroit) 25, Toby Harrah (Cleveland), Willie Wilson (Kansas City), Cecil Cooper (Milwaukee) and Roy Smalley (Minnesota) 24, Amos Otis (Kansas City), Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph (New York) 23.

WS leaders, pitchers; Jim Kern (Texas) 25, Dennis Eckersley (Boston) 24, Mike Flanagan (Baltimore), Jerry Koosman and Mike Marshall (Minnesota), and Tommy John (New York) 23 each, Ron Guidry (New York) 22, Sid Monge (Cleveland) 21, Mike Caldwell (Milwaukee) 20, Aurelio Lopez (Detroit) 19, Dennis Martinez (Baltimore) 18, Rick Wise (Cleveland), Jack Morris (Detroit) and Mike Parrott (Seattle) 17.

WARP3: Brett 7.9, Porter 7.8 (career year), Lynn 7.3 (best season), Molitor 6.3, Grich 6.2, Singleton 5.5, Wilson 5.2, Jackson and Buddy Bell (Texas) 5.0, Rick Burleson (Boston) 4.9, Lemon and Kemp 4.7, Lezcano and Smalley 4.4, Rice, Randolph and Gary Roenicke (Baltimore) 4.1, Murray 4.0, Baylor and Lance Parrish (Detroit) 3.8, Thomas and Ron LeFlore (Detroit) 3.7.

Pitchers, Marshall 7.4, Monge 7.3 (career year), Koosman 6.7, Eckersley 6.6, Kern 6.3 (career year), Guidry 5.8, John 5.6, Parrott (career year) and Lopez (also career year) 4.9, Wise 4.7 (last good year), Rick Langford (Oakland) 4.6, Caldwell 4.5, Morris 4.0, Dave Goltz and Geoff Zahn (Minnesota) 3.9. Still no Flanagan.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Lynn 9.0, Brett 8.8, Porter 8.0, Bell 7.1, Rice and Wilson 6.3, Lemon 6.2, Singleton 6.1, Grich 6.0, Randolph 5.8, Lezcano and Molitor 5.6, Downing and Thomas 5.4, Murray 5.2, Kemp 4.6, Parrish 4.5.

Pitchers: John 7.1, Koosman 6.4, Guidry 6.3, Flanagan 6.1, Goltz 5.5, Ryan 5.3, Eckersley and Kern 5.2, Caldwell 4.8, Stanley 4.7, Martinez 4.4, Parrott 4.2, Frost and Torrez 4.1.

Actual award voting-
MVP (top 15):
Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Don Baylor CAL 20 347
2 Ken Singleton BAL 3 241
3 George Brett KCR 2 226
4 Fred Lynn BOS 0 160
5 Jim Rice BOS 0 124
6 Mike Flanagan BAL 3 100
7 Gorman Thomas MIL 0 87
8 Bobby Grich CAL 0 58
9 Darrell Porter KCR 0 52
10 Buddy Bell TEX 0 48
11 Jim Kern TEX 0 25
11 Mike Marshall MIN 0 25
11 Eddie Murray BAL 0 25
14 Brian Downing CAL 0 24
15 Sixto Lezcano MIL 0 18
Baylor was the clear winner, for no other reason than that he led the league in RBI for a division-winning team. He's not the worst award winner in history, but this is nowhere near a good selection. Baylor was probably not even the best player on his team.

Cy Young:
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Mike Flanagan BAL 26 136
2 Tommy John NYY 1 51
3 Ron Guidry NYY 1 26
4 Jim Kern TEX 0 25
5 Mike Marshall MIN 0 7
6 Jerry Koosman MIN 0 5
7 Dennis Eckersley BOS 0 1
7 Aurelio Lopez DET 0 1
Flanagan was the clear winner, even though he got a lot of help from his team. This is a couple of very poor award selections, with voters distracted by RBI and by wins. Not very good ways to pick the best players.

Rookie:
Place Name Team Points
1 John Castino MIN 7
1 Alfredo Griffin TOR 7
3 Mark Clear CAL 5
4 Ross Baumgarten CHW 3
4 Ron Davis NYY 3
4 Pat Putnam TEX 3

Not much of a rookie field.

Best player: Fred Lynn. His team was 3rd, but won 91 games, 3 more than Baylor's Angels. As hitters, they were about even, but Lynn was much more valuable defensively. George Brett and even Darrell Porter has a case here, but the Royals missed the division after three years on top, so that's hard to award.
#1 Fred Lynn, #2 George Brett, #3 Darrell Porter, #4 Bobby Grich, #5 Ken Singleton, #6 Don Baylor.

Best pitcher: Jim Kern. He's a reliever, but pitched 143 innings with a 1.57 ERA, finishing second to Marshall with 29 saves and posting 13 wins. Marshall also had a good year, but his ERA was a run higher and he lost 15 games. Dennis Eckersley was the best overall starter.
#1 Jim Kern, #2 Dennis Eckersley, #3 Jerry Koosman, #4 Mike Flanagan, #5 Tommy John.

Best rookie: I'll take John Castino, but it's not much of a choice.

Best manager: Earl Weaver as the Orioles broke through the Yankee dynasty.

1978 National League

Mostly a rerun of 1977, as the Dodgers beat the Phillies in the NLCS, then lost to the Yankees in the World Series. The division races were both close, with the Phillies edging the Pirates by 1.5 games, and the Dodgers besting the Reds by 2.5 games. The Dodgers and Reds both won more games than the Phils, as LA won 95 and Cincy 92, while Philly won 90. LA led in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed. San Francisco was third in the West with 89 wins, and San Diego fourth with 84. Houston was 5th and Atlanta 6th. The East Division also-rans were Chicago, Montreal, St. Louis, and New York, in that order.

Dave Parker won the batting title at .334, followed by Steve Garvey at .316 and Jose Cruz at .315. Parker also led in OPS and total bases and was the MVP, while George Foster again led in HR (40) and RBI (120). Greg Luzinski was second with 35 HR and Parker second with 117 RBI. Garvey had 202 hits, Pete Rose 51 doubles, and Garry Templeton 13 triples. Omar Moreno led in steals with 71. Ivan DeJesus had 104 runs, followed by Rose with 103 and Parker with 102.

Gaylord Perry led in wins with 21 and took the Cy Young. Ross Grimsley was the other 20-game winner with exactly that. Craig Swan led in ERA with a 2.43 mark, followed by Steve Rogers at 2.46 and Pete Vuckovich at 2.54. J.R. Richard led in strikeouts with 303, followed by Phil Niekro at 248. Rollie Fingers led in saves with 37 followed by Kent Tekulve at 31. Niekro had 22 complete games and Bob Knepper six shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 37, George Foster (Cincinnati), Jack Clark (San Francisco) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 30, Dave Winfield (San Diego) 28, Jeff Burroughs (Atlanta), Pete Rose (Cincinnati) and Greg Luzinski (Philadelphia) 27, Jose Cruz (Houston), Dave Lopes (Los Angeles) and Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 26, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Ron Cey and Steve Garvey (Los Angeles) and Bill Madlock (San Francisco) 25, Reggie Smith (Los Angeles) and Gene Richards (San Diego) 24, Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 23, Ken Griffey (Cincinnati), Gary Carter and Ellis Valentine (Montreal), John Stearns (New York), Larry Bowa (Philadelphia), Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Phil Niekro (Atlanta) 30, Vida Blue and Bob Knepper (San Francisco) 22, Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) and Kent Tekulve (Pittsburgh) 20, Tom Seaver (Cincinnati), J.R. Richard (Houston) and Burt Hooton (Los Angeles) 19, Rick Reuschel (Chicago), Doug Bair (Cincinnati) and Gaylord Perry (San Diego) 18, Steve Rogers (Montreal), Craig Swan (New York) and Rollie Fingers (San Diego) 17.

WARP3 scores: Clark 6.9, Lopes and Madlock 6.4, Foster 6.3, Cey 6.2, Simmons and Smith (last regular year) 6.1, Carter 6.0, Parker 5.9, Winfield 5.4, Bowa (career year) and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 5.2, Concepcion, Garvey, and Schmidt 5.1, Ozzie Smith (San Diego) 5.0 in his rookie year, Stearns (career year), Tenace, Garry Maddox (Philadelphia), and Warren Cromartie (Montreal) 4.9, Burroughs (last good year), and Chris Speier (Montreal) 4.7, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 4.6, Cruz, Evans, and Bill Russell (Los Angeles) 4.5, Luzinski 4.4.

Pitchers, Niekro 10.3, Blue and Knepper (career year) 7.3, Hooton 7.0 (best year), Seaver and Bair (career year) 6.6, John Denny (St. Louis) 6.5, Reuschel 5.8, Swan 5.7, Pete Vuckovich (St. Louis) 5.5, Carlton and Tekulve 5.4, Richard and Rogers 5.3, Fingers 5.1, Bert Blyleven (Pittsburgh) 5.0, John Candelaria (Pittsburgh) 4.9, Dennis Lamp (Chicago) 4.7, Perry 4.6.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Parker 7.1, Simmons 6.1, Cey and Clark 6.0, Stearns 5.9, Foster and Schmidt 5.8, Luzinski 5.7, Valentine 5.6, Lopez 5.4, Carter 5.3, Burroughs 5.2, Cruz, Garvey, and Tenace 5.1, Bowa, Maddox, and Smith 4.9, Cromartie 4.8.

Pitchers: Niekro 9.4, Richard 6.6, Blue 6.2, Perry 5.8, Blyleven 5.6, Reuschel 5.4, Knepper 5.2, Christenson and Vuckovich 5.0, Seaver 4.8, John 4.4, Rogers 4.2, Jones 4.0.

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 Dave Parker PIT 21 320 336 0.95 | 581 194 30 .334 .979 20
2 Steve Garvey LAD 0 194 336 0.58 | 639 202 21 .316 .852 10
3 Larry Bowa PHI 3 189 336 0.56 | 654 192 3 .294 .689 27
4 Reggie Smith LAD 0 164 336 0.49 | 447 132 29 .295 .942 12
5 Jack Clark SFG 0 107 336 0.32 | 592 181 25 .306 .895 15
6 George Foster CIN 0 104 336 0.31 | 604 170 40 .281 .906 4
7 Greg Luzinski PHI 0 48 336 0.14 | 540 143 35 .265 .914 8
8 Gaylord Perry SDP 0 45 336 0.13 | 87 8 0 .092 .227 0| 21-6 261 2.73 1.178 154
9 Willie Stargell PIT 0 39 336 0.12 | 390 115 28 .295 .949 3
10 Dave Winfield SDP 0 37 336 0.11 | 587 181 24 .308 .866 21
11 Pete Rose CIN 0 35 336 0.10 | 655 198 7 .302 .783 13
12 Vida Blue SFG 0 33 336 0.10 | 79 6 1 .076 .366 0| 18-10 258 2.79 1.174 171
13 Kent Tekulve PIT 0 23 336 0.07 | 21 2 0 .095 .232 0| 8-7 135 2.33 1.259 77 31
14 Rollie Fingers SDP 0 16 336 0.05 | 12 2 0 .167 .333 0| 6-13 107 2.52 1.053 72 37
15 Burt Hooton LAD 0 15 336 0.04 | 67 10 0 .149 .394 0| 19-10 236 2.71 1.089 104
16 Davey Lopes LAD 0 12 336 0.04 | 587 163 17 .278 .776 45
17 Bill Buckner CHC 0 8 336 0.02 | 446 144 5 .323 .765 7
17 Phil Niekro ATL 0 8 336 0.02 | 120 27 0 .225 .506 0| 19-18 334 2.88 1.188 248 1
19 Jeff Burroughs ATL 0 7 336 0.02 | 488 147 23 .301 .961 1
20 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 5 336 0.01 | 13 1 0 .077 .277 0| 8-10 99 3.18 1.172 106 27
21 Garry Maddox PHI 0 4 336 0.01 | 598 172 11 .288 .741 33
22 Enos Cabell HOU 0 2 336 0.01 | 660 195 7 .295 .720 33
23 Bob Boone PHI 0 1 336 0.00 | 435 123 12 .283 .772 2|
Parker was a clear winner, although Bowa mustered surprising support. One of the most ridiculous things to happen in award voting ever was Bowa getting, not one rogue first-place vote, but THREE!

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Gaylord Perry SDP 22 116 120 0.97 | 21-6 261 2.73 1.178 154
2 Burt Hooton LAD 0 38 120 0.32 | 19-10 236 2.71 1.089 104
3 Vida Blue SFG 1 17 120 0.14 | 18-10 258 2.79 1.174 171
4 J.R. Richard HOU 1 13 120 0.11 | 18-11 275 3.11 1.210 303
5 Kent Tekulve PIT 0 12 120 0.10 | 8-7 135 2.33 1.259 77 31
6 Phil Niekro ATL 0 10 120 0.08 | 19-18 334 2.88 1.188 248 1
7 Ross Grimsley MON 0 7 120 0.06 | 20-11 263 3.05 1.156 84
8 Rollie Fingers SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 6-13 107 2.52 1.053 72 37
8 Tommy John LAD 0 1 120 0.01 | 17-10 213 3.30 1.329 124 1
8 Don Robinson PIT 0 1 120 0.01 | 14-6 228 3.47 1.139 135 1
A true heist, as Perry was not nearly the best pitcher in the league, merely the biggest winner. One of the worst award selections ever.

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 Horner ATL 12 12 24 0.50 | 323 86 23 .266 .852 0
2 Ozzie Smith SDP 8 8 24 0.33 | 590 152 1 .258 .623 40
3 Don Robinson PIT 3 3 24 0.12 | 85 20 0 .235 .494 0| 14-6 228 3.47 1.139 135 1
Power-hitter Horner edged glove man Ozzie.

Top player: Dave Parker. The clear winner in Win Shares, though WARP knocks him down on defense. At the time, he sure looked like the best player in the league.
#1 Dave Parker, #2 Jack Clark, #3 Ted Simmons, #4 George Foster, #5 Dave Winfield, #6 Davey Lopes.

Top pitcher: Phil Niekro, and not by a small margin. Pitching for the lowly Braves through his career cost Niekro some awards. His 19-18 record would have been much better with even a .500 team.
#1 Phil Niekro, #2 Vida Blue, #3 J.R. Richard, #4 Gaylord Perry, #5 Tom Seaver.

Top rookie: Bob Horner, I'd have to say at the time. Ozzie Smith had the Hall of Fame career.

Top manager: Tommy LaSorda had the best team in the league. And he played a part in that.

1978 American League

Yankees and Red Sox in a one-game playoff to determine the AL East winner---it was the climax of a great season. The Yankees won on Bucky Dent's homer, then took the ALCS in four games and the World Series in six. The Yankees won 100 games, the Bosox 99, Milwaukee 93, Baltimore 90, and Detroit 86, in a wild race. Cleveland was 6th, and second-year team Toronto lost 102 games for last. In the AL West, Kansas City won again with 92 victories, five games ahead of the Angels and Rangers. Minnsota, Chicago, and Oakland followed, with second-year Seattle last with 104 losses.

Jim Rice won the MVP with a terrific season, leading the league in hits (213), total bases (406), triples (15), homers (46), RBI (139), and OPS (970). Rod Carew won the batting title at .333, followed by Al Oliver at .324, and Ron LeFlore led in steals with 68 as well as runs with 126. George Brett led with 45 doubles.

Ron Guidry swept to the Cy Young leading in wins (25) and ERA (1.74) and finishing second in strikeouts (248). Nolan Ryan led in Ks with 260, as Goose Gossage did in saves with 27. Mike Caldwell had a fine year of his own with 22 wins (second place) and a 2.36 ERA (third) while leading the league with 23 complete games. Jon Matlack was second with a 2.27 ERA. Guidry tossed an amazing nine shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Jim Rice (Boston) 36, Carlton Fisk (Boston) 31, Amos Otis (Kansas City) 29, Eddie Murray and Ken Singleton (Baltimore) 28, Doug DeCinces (Baltimore) and Fred Lynn (Boston) 27, Graig Nettles (New York) 26, Andre Thornton (Cleveland) 25, Ron LeFlore (Detroit) 24, Don Baylor (California), George Brett and Darrell Porter (Kansas City), Sal Bando and Larry Hisle (Milwaukee) and Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph (New York) 23 each, Jason Thompson (Detroit), Rod Carew and Roy Smalley (Minnesota) and Al Oliver (Texas) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Ron Guidry (New York) 31, Mike Caldwell (Milwaukee) 28, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 27, Jon Matlack (Texas) 25, Dennis Eckersley (Boston) 24, Fergie Jenkins (Texas) 21, Lary Sorensen (Milwaukee) and Goose Gossage (New York) 20, Larry Gura and Dennis Leonard (Kansas City), Dave Goltz (Minnesota) and Ed Figueroa (New York) 19.

WARP3 leaders: Rice and Otis 6.2, Smalley 6.1, Singleton 5.6, Nettles 5.5 (last big year), DeCinces and Brett 5.4, Randolph 5.3, LeFlore 5.2, Thornton 5.1 (best year), Fisk, Bando (last good year) and Chet Lemon (Chicago) 5.0, Hisle (last good year) and Carew 4.8, Murray and Robin Yount (Milwaukee) 4.7, Bobby Grich (California) 4.6, Jim Sundberg (Texas) 4.5.

Pitchers: Guidry 9.2, Caldwell 7.8, Matlack 7.2 (last big year), Palmer 6.9, Eckersley 6.8, Goltz 6.4, Jenkins 6.0, Mike Marshall (Minnesota) 5.6, Geoff Zahn (Minnesota) 5.3, Luis Tiant (Boston) and Goose Gossage (New York) 5.0, Bob Stanley (Boston) 4.9, Rick Waits (Cleveland) 4.8, Gura 4.6, Sorensen 4.5 (career year).

WAR leaders from Fangraphs, position players: Rice 8.1, Otis 7.5, DeCinces 6.9, Nettles 6.4, Fisk 6.1, Smalley 6.0, Bando 5.9, Randolph 5.6, Sundberg and Thornton 5.5, Thompson 5.4, Hisle 5.3, Brett 5.2, Bonds 4.9, Carew, Singleton, and Porter 4.8.

Pitchers: Guidry 9.2, Matlack 7.4, Caldwell 6.9, Jenkins 5.8, Sorenson 5.5, Leonard 5.3, Ryan 5.1, Goltz 4.9, Eckersley 4.8, Erickson and Flanagan 4.5, Palmer 4.3, Torrez 4.1, Zahn 4.0.

Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20): | 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 Jim Rice BOS 20 352 392 0.90 | 677 213 46 .315 .970 7
2 Ron Guidry NYY 8 291 392 0.74 | | 25-3 274 1.74 0.946 248
3 Larry Hisle MIL 0 201 392 0.51 | 520 151 34 .290 .906 10
4 Amos Otis KCR 0 90 392 0.23 | 486 145 22 .298 .905 32
5 Rusty Staub DET 0 88 392 0.22 | 642 175 24 .273 .782 3
6 Graig Nettles NYY 0 86 392 0.22 | 587 162 27 .276 .803 1
7 Don Baylor CAL 0 51 392 0.13 | 591 151 34 .255 .804 22
8 Eddie Murray BAL 0 50 392 0.13 | 610 174 27 .285 .836 6
9 Carlton Fisk BOS 0 49 392 0.12 | 571 162 20 .284 .841 7
10 Darrell Porter KCR 0 48 392 0.12 | 520 138 18 .265 .802 0
11 Rod Carew MIN 0 46 392 0.12 | 564 188 5 .333 .853 27
12 Mike Caldwell MIL 0 41 392 0.10 | | 22-9 293 2.36 1.064 131 1
13 Rich Gossage NYY 0 39 392 0.10 | | 10-11 134 2.01 1.087 122 27
14 Al Oliver TEX 0 26 392 0.07 | 525 170 14 .324 .848 8
15 Jim Sundberg TEX 0 24 392 0.06 | 518 144 6 .278 .739 2
16 Ron LeFlore DET 0 21 392 0.05 | 666 198 12 .297 .766 68
17 Reggie Jackson NYY 0 18 392 0.05 | 511 140 27 .274 .834 14
18 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 17 392 0.04 | 523 145 17 .277 .790 4
19 George Brett KCR 0 14 392 0.04 | 510 150 9 .294 .809 23
20 Andre Thornton CLE 0 12 392 0.03 | 508 133 33 .262 .893 4
There was some disagreement, but voters went for Rice over Guidry, with Hisle a strong third.

Cy Young (top five):| Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Ron Guidry NYY 28 140 140 1.00 | 25-3 274 1.74 0.946 248
2 Mike Caldwell MIL 0 76 140 0.54 | 22-9 293 2.36 1.064 131 1
3 Jim Palmer BAL 0 14 140 0.10 | 21-12 296 2.46 1.159 138
4 Dennis Eckersley BOS 0 10 140 0.07 | 20-8 268 2.99 1.226 162
5 Rich Gossage NYY 0 4 140 0.03 | 10-11 134 2.01 1.087 122 27
Guidry, then Caldwell, then a mash.

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 Lou Whitaker DET 21 21 28 0.75 | 484 138 3 .285 .718 7
2 Paul Molitor MIL 3 3 28 0.11 | 521 142 6 .273 .673 30
3 Carney Lansford CAL 2 2 28 0.07 | 453 133 8 .294 .746 20
4 Rich Gale KCR 1 1 28 0.04 | | 14-8 192 3.09 1.409 88
4 Alan Trammell DET 1 1 28 0.04 | 448 120 2 .268 .675 3|
Whitaker was a clear winner.

Top player: Jim Rice. It wasn't a complete slam dunk, as Rice had little defensive value, but it was an excellent season. The 15 triples were pretty cool.
#1 Jim Rice, #2 Amos Otis, #3 Ken Singleton, #4 Carlton Fisk, #5 Graig Nettles, #6 Doug DeCinces.

Top pitcher: Ron Guidry was excellent, nearly every time on the mound.
#1 Ron Guidry, #2 Mike Caldwell, #3 Jim Palmer, #4 Jon Matlack, #5 Dennis Eckersley.

Top rookie: Lou Whitaker leads a strong field.

Top manager: George Bamberger breathed life into the Brewers franchise.

1977 National League

The NL kept its lineup while the AL expanded. The Reds fell from the top spot, as the Dodgers returned to the top of the NL West with 98 victories. The Reds were second with 88. Houston went 81-81 to finish third, followed by San Francisco, San Diego, and finally Atlanta with 101 losses. Philadelphia won the East again with 101 wins, with Pittsburgh just behind at 96 victories. St. Louis was 3rd, Chicago 4th, Montreal 5th and the Mets last. The Dodgers then beat the Phillies in the NLCS.

Dave Parker won the batting title with a .338 average, just ahead of teammate Rennie Stennett at .336. However, Stennett played just 114 games before going down with a leg injury (which helped cost Pittsburgh the division) and was never the same player again. George Foster had a monster year with 52 HR, 149 RBI,led in slugging and OPS, and won the MVP. Parker had 44 doubles, Garry Templeton 18 triples, Frank Taveras led in steals with 70. Jeff Burroughs was second in homers with 41, Greg Luzinski third with 39. Luzinski had 130 RBI. Reggie Smith, playing in the pitchers' park of Dodger Stadium, led in on-base, was second in OPS, and had a small lead on Foster for OPS+.

Steve Carlton led in wins with 23, followed by Tom Seaver with 21. Bob Forsch, John Candelaria, Tommy John, and Rick Reuschel each won 20. Candelaria led in ERA with a 2.34 mark, followed by Seaver at 2.58. Phil Niekro had 262 strikeouts, followed by J.R. Richard at 214. Niekro led in innings, starts, and complete games. Rollie Fingers led in saves with 35, followed by Bruce Sutter at 31. Carlton won the Cy Young.

Win Shares leaders, NL, 1977:

Players, Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) and Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 33, George Foster (Cincinnati) 32, Greg Luzinski (Philadelphia) and Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 30 (Bull's were all offensive, I bet), Reggie Smith (Los Angeles) 29, George Hendrick (San Diego) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 28, Gary Carter (Montreal) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 25, Jose Cruz (Houston), Davey Lopes (Los Angeles), Dave Winfield (San Diego) and Keith Hernandez and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 24, Ken Griffey and Pete Rose (Cincinnati) and Cesar Cedeno and Bob Watson (Houston) 23, Jeff Burroughs (Atlanta) and Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 22.

For pitchers, it was Bruce Sutter (Chicago) 27, Rick Reuschel (Chicago), John Candelaria and Goose Gossage (Pitsburgh) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 26, Tom Seaver (New York/Cincinnati) 25, J.R. Richard (Houston) and Steve Rogers (Montreal) 21, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Ed Halicki (San Francisco) 20, Burt Hooton and Tommy John (Los Angeles) 19, Gary Lavelle (San Francisco) 18.

WARP3, players: Foster 9.1, Schmidt 8.7, Smith 8.2, Parker 8.0, Morgan 7.5, Carter 6.7, Simmons 6.5, Bench 6.3, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Lopes, and Tenace 5.9, Watson 5.2, Cedeno, Joe Ferguson (Los Angeles) and Lenny Randle (New York) 5.1, Hendrick and Rennie Stennett (Pittsburgh) 5.0, Phil Garner (Pittsburgh) 4.9, Winfield and Dusty Baker (Los Angeles) 4.8.

WARP3, pitchers: Reuschel 9.2, Niekro 8.5, Gossage 8.1, Carlton 8.0, Richard 7.1, Sutter 7.0, Halicki 6.9, Candelaria 6.8, Lavelle and Seaver 5.7, Hooton 5.2, Rogers and John 5.0, Rollie Fingers (San Diego) 4.7.

WAR leaders from Fangraphs: position players; Schmidt 9.6, Foster 9.3, Parker 8.1, Smith 6.8, Morgan 6.2, Simmons 6.0, Carter 5.7, Hendrick 5.5, Bench and Luzinski 5.3, Lopes and Watson 5.2, Cruz and Tenace 5.0, Cedeno and Ferguson 4.9, Cey and Griffey 4.7.

Pitchers, Rogers 7.6, Reuschel 7.1, Seaver 6.5, Niekro 6.4, Carlton and Sutter 5.4, Hooton 5.1, John 5.0, Richard 4.9, Bonham 4.7, Koosman 4.6, Gossage and Rau 4.3, Reuss 4.2.

Actual award voting:
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 George Foster CIN 15 291 336 0.87 | 615 197 52 .320 1.013 6
2 Greg Luzinski PHI 9 255 336 0.76 | 554 171 39 .309 .988 3
3 Dave Parker PIT 0 156 336 0.46 | 637 215 21 .338 .927 17
4 Reggie Smith LAD 0 112 336 0.33 | 488 150 32 .307 1.003 7
5 Steve Carlton PHI 0 100 336 0.30 | 97 26 3 .268 .684 0| 23-10 283 2.64 1.124 198
6 Steve Garvey LAD 0 98 336 0.29 | 646 192 33 .297 .834 9
7 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 68 336 0.20 | 20 3 0 .150 .377 0| 7-3 107 1.34 0.857 129 31
8 Ron Cey LAD 0 60 336 0.18 | 564 136 30 .241 .797 3
9 Ted Simmons STL 0 58 336 0.17 | 516 164 21 .318 .908 2
10 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 48 336 0.14 | 544 149 38 .274 .967 15
11 Bill Robinson PIT 0 34 336 0.10 | 507 154 26 .304 .862 12
12 Tommy John LAD 0 33 336 0.10 | 79 14 1 .177 .433 0| 20-7 220 2.78 1.248 123
13 Garry Templeton STL 0 20 336 0.06 | 621 200 8 .322 .786 28
14 Rollie Fingers SDP 0 17 336 0.05 | 20 1 0 .050 .100 0| 8-9 132 2.99 1.202 113 35
15 Pete Rose CIN 0 15 336 0.04 | 655 204 9 .311 .809 16
Foster by a fairly small margin over Luzinski. Parker ran a strong third, and the rest were also-rans.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Steve Carlton PHI 17 104 120 0.87 | 23-10 283 2.64 1.124 198
2 Tommy John LAD 3 54 120 0.45 | 20-7 220 2.78 1.248 123
3 Rick Reuschel CHC 1 18 120 0.15 | 20-10 252 2.79 1.218 166 1
3 Tom Seaver TOT 2 18 120 0.15 |+21-6 261 2.58 1.014 196
5 John Candelaria PIT 1 17 120 0.14 | 20-5 231 2.34 1.071 133
6 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 5 120 0.04 | 7-3 107 1.34 0.857 129 31
Carlton followed by a full comeback season by Tommy John from the surgery that now bears his name. Sutter and Gossage got little attention from their terrific years in relief.

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 Andre Dawson MON 10 10 24 0.42 | 525 148 19 .282 .800 21
2 Steve Henderson NYM 9 9 24 0.38 | 350 104 12 .297 .852 6
3 Gene Richards SDP 4 4 24 0.17 | 525 152 5 .290 .754 56
4 Floyd Bannister HOU 1 1 24 0.04 | 48 9 0 .188 .392 0| 8-9 143 4.04 1.444 112

Top player: George Foster. Foster had a year, with 52 HR and 149 RBI, that hadn't been seen in some years. He had by far the most impressive season.
#1 George Foster, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Dave Parker, #4 Reggie Smith, #5 Joe Morgan, #6 Ted Simmons.

Top pitcher: Rick Reuschel for a terrific year. He won 20, and was 2nd in ERA+ behind Candelaria, but Candy pitched for a much better team.
#1 Rick Reuschel, #2 Tom Seaver, #3 Bruce Sutter, #4 Steve Carlton, #5 Steve Rogers.

Top Rookie: with the benefit of hindsight, I'll choose Dawson.

Top manager: Tommy Lasorda was successful in his first year as skipper of the Dodgers.

1977 American League

New York's Yankees won their first World Series since 1962, and started a modern version of their dynasty. The Yanks first had to survive a dogfight in the East Division, besting Boston and Baltimore each by a mere 2.5 games in a race to the end. The Yankees won 100 games, the Red Sox and Orioles 97 each. The rest of the division was under .500, even with the presence of two expansions teams, as Toronto and Seattle entered the league. Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee were the also-rans, and Toronto brought up the rear in the East with 107 losses.

The West was won by Kansas City for the second straight year, as the Royals won 102 games. Texas was 2nd, eight back, while Chicago surged to 3rd after a disastrous season in 1976. Bill Veeck tried shorts, giveaways, and big hitters in their walk years to boost his team. It worked. Minnesota was 4th, California 5th, and Seattle edged Oakland, which looked like an expansion team after being riddled by free agency. Charlie Finley's high-handed tactics came back to haunt him.

Rod Carew led in average, on-base, OPS, and won the MVP as he hit .388, the highest average Ted Williams hit the same in 1957. No one had been higher since Williams' .406 in 1941. Second to Carew in average was teammate Lyman Bostock, all the way back at .336. Carew also led with 239 hits and 128 runs. He was even a surprising second in slugging. Jim Rice led in slugging, and in homers with 39, followed by Bobby Bonds and Graig Nettles at 37. Larry Hisle led in RBI with 119, followed closely by Bonds at 115 and Rice at 114. Hal McRae had 54 doubles and Carew 16 triples. Freddy Patek led in steals with 53, followed by Mitchell Page at 42.

Reliever Sparky Lyle won the Cy Young, while Frank Tanana led in ERA with a 2.54 mark, followed by Bert Blyleven at 2.72. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts with 341; second was Dennis Leonard with 244. Dave Campbell led in saves with 31, followed by Lyle at 26 and Larrin LaGrow at 25. Dave Goltz, Dennis Leonard and Jim Palmer tied with 20 wins. Tanana had seven shutouts while Palmer and Ryan each had 22 complete games.

The Win Shares leaderboard looks like this:

Players: Rod Carew (Minnesota) 37, Ken Singleton (Baltimore) 36, Carlton Fisk (Boston) and Mitchell Page (Oakland) 30, George Brett (Kansas City) 29, Al Cowens (Kansas City), Lyman Bostock (Minnesota) and Reggie Jackson (New York) 27, Jim Rice (Boston) and Hal McRae (Kansas City) 26, Graig Nettles (New York), Mike Hargrove and Toby Harrah (Texas) 25, Al Bumbry (Baltimore), Carl Yastrzemski (Boston), Bobby Bonds (California) and Larry Hisle (Minnesota) 24, Chet Lemon (Chicago) and Ron LeFlore (Detroit) 23.

Pitchers: Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 29, Dennis Leonard (Kansas City) 24, Bill Campbell (Boston) 23, Nolan Ryan (California) and Dave Goltz (Minnesota) 22, Bert Blyleven (Texas) 21, Frank Tanana (California) and Sparky Lyle (New York) 20, Dennis Eckersley (Cleveland), Dave Rozema (Detroit) and Ron Guidry (New York) 18.

WARP3 leaders, players: Carew 9.4, Singleton 9.0, Brett and Page 8.5, Fisk 8.2, Jim Sundberg (who was not much of a hitter, but a marvelous defensive catcher) 7.8, Nettles 7.0, Hargrove 6.7, Bump Wills (Texas) and Willie Randolph (New York) 6.5, Harrah, Bostock, and Bert Campaneris (Texas) 6.3, Don Money (Milwaukee) 5.9, Hisle 5.8, Andre Thornton (Cleveland) 5.7, Bonds and Jackson 5.6, Rice, Lemon, and Thurman Munson (New York) 5.5.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Tanana 7.5, Ryan 6.9, Campbell and Palmer 6.5, Eckersley 6.0, Leonard 5.7, Rozema 5.6, Wayne Garland (Cleveland) 5.0, Jerry Garvin (Toronto) 4.9, Blyleven and Larrin LaGrow (Chicago) 4.7.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Carew 8.6, Fisk 7.7, Brett 7.2, Page 6.3, Hargrove 5.8, Harrah and Singleton 5.7, Nettles 5.5, Bostock, Cowens, and Lemon 5.2, Bonds, Rice, and Yastrzemski 5.1, Jackson and Money 5.0, Sundberg and Wills 4.8.

Pitchers: Leonard 8.7, Ryan 6.8, Goltz 6.7, Tanana 6.0, Guidry and Perry 5.8, Blyleven and Palmer 5.4, Eckersley 4.7, Blue 4.6, Splittorff 4.4, Flanagan 4.3, Garland 4.2, Lemanczyk 4.0.

The actual voting results:

MVP (at least 10 points only):
Finish Name Team First-place Votes Total points
1 Rod Carew MIN 12 273
2 Al Cowens KCR 4 217
3 Ken Singleton BAL 3 200
4 Jim Rice BOS 1 163
5 Graig Nettles NYY 2 112
6 Sparky Lyle NYY 1 79
7 Thurman Munson NYY 1 70
8 Carlton Fisk BOS 1 67
8 Reggie Jackson NYY 1 67
10 Bill Campbell BOS 0 65
11 Mickey Rivers NYY 0 59
12 Larry Hisle MIN 1 54
13 George Brett KCR 0 51
14 Richie Zisk CHW 0 34
15 Jim Sundberg TEX 0 30
16 Bobby Bonds CAL 0 28
17 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 1 25
18 Ron Guidry NYY 0 11

The voting was much like 2003, as a player from an also-ran team won a split decision when no one from the top team stood out. The Series champ Yankees had six players listed here, but none higher than 5th.

Cy Young:
Place Name Team First-place votes Points
1 Sparky Lyle NYY 9 56
2 Jim Palmer BAL 6 48
3 Nolan Ryan CAL 6 46
4 Dennis Leonard KCR 5 45
5 Bill Campbell BOS 1 25
6 Dave Goltz MIN 1 19
7 Ron Guidry NYY 0 5
8 Dave Rozema DET 0 4
9 Frank Tanana CAL 0 3

The voters assuaged their non-winner MVP guilt by going for Yankees reliever Lyle. Lyle wasn't even the best reliever in the league, although he had a good year.

Rookie:
Place Name Team First-place votes Points
1 Eddie Murray BAL 12 12
2 Mitchell Page OAK 9 9
3 Bump Wills TEX 4 4
4 Dave Rozema DET 2 2

Top player: Rod Carew, in his best year. Fisk and Singleton were also terrific, but Carew was the best. The .388 average lost its place in folklore when George Brett hit .390 three years later, but it was a terrific season for the Panamanian.
#1 Rod Carew, #2 Ken Singleton, #3 Carlton Fisk, #4 George Brett, #5 Mitchell Page, #6 Lyman Bostock.

Top pitcher: Dennis Leonard had a terrific year leading the Royals staff. It's a close race, but I'll go with him.
#1 Dennis Leonard, #2 Nolan Ryan, #3 Jim Palmer, #4 Frank Tanana, #5 Ron Guidry.

Top rookie: Mitchell Page had a great year, although Eddie Murray would have the Hall of Fame career.

Top manager: Credit Billy Martin here, managing a real team without a big star through a tough pennant race.