1992 National League

Atlanta won its second straight pennant, Pittsburgh their third straight division title even without Bobby Bonilla. The Braves won 98 to beat out Cincinnati by 8 games, San Diego was third at 82 wins, just ahead of Houston 4th with a .500 record, San Francisco lost 90 and Los Angeles lost 99. The Pirates' 96 wins were 9 more than Montreal, St. Louis won 83, and in the second division Chicago lost 84, New York lost 90, and Philadelphia lost 92. Gary Sheffield led in batting average with a .330 mark, outpacing Andy Van Slyke at .324, while John Kruk and Bip Roberts came in at .323. Van Slyke led with 45 doubles and tied with Terry Pendleton at 199 hits. Deion Sanders led with 14 triples, Marquis Grissom with 78 steals. Fred McGriff led with 35 homers, followed by Barry Bonds at 34 and Sheffield at 33. Darren Daulton led with 109 RBI, trailed by Pendleton at 105, McGriff at 104, and Bonds at 103. Bonds also led in on-base, slugging, and OPS, and runs with 109. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine each won 20 games. Next highest was 16. Bill Swift led with a 2.08 ERA, followed by Bob Tewksbury at 2.16 and Maddux at 2.18. John Smoltz had 215 strikeouts, David Cone 214. Maddux led with 268 innings. Lee Smith had 43 saves. Terry Mulholland pitched 12 complete games. Win Shares leaders, players; Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) 41, Terry Pendleton (Atlanta) and Andy Van Slyke (Pittsburgh) 35, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) 33, Barry Larkin (Cincinnati), Craig Biggio (Houston) and Gary Sheffield (San Diego) 32, Darren Daulton (Philadelphia) and Ray Lankford (St. Louis) 31, Jeff Bagwell (Houston) 29, Bip Roberts (Cincinnati), Steve Finley (Houston) and Will Clark (San Francisco) 28, Marquis Grissom (Montreal), Dave Hollins (Philadelphia) and Fred McGriff (San Diego) 27, Larry Walker (Montreal) 26, Mark Grace (Chicago) 25, Brett Butler (Los Angeles), John Kruk (Philadelphia) and Jay Bell (Pittsburgh) 24, David Justice (Atlanta) 23, Ken Caminiti (Houston) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Greg Maddux (Chicago) 27, Bob Tewksbury (St. Louis) 21, Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh) 20, Tom Glavine (Atlanta), Mike Morgan (Chicago) and Jose Rijo (Cincinnati) 19, John Smoltz (Atlanta) and Doug Jones (Houston) 18, Ken Hill and Dennis Martinez (Montreal) and Curt Schilling (Philadelphia) 17, Greg Swindell (Cincinnati), Mel Rojas (Montreal), Sid Fernandez (New York), Andy Benes (San Diego), Rod Beck and Bill Swift (San Francisco) 16. WARP3 scores: Bonds 12.3 (last season in Pittsburgh), Sandberg 9.9, Sheffield 9.3 (best season), Daulton 8.7 (best season), Van Slyke 8.3 (best season), Larkin 7.9, Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 7.8, Lankford 7.4 (best season), Walker 7.3, Pendleton 6.8, Bagwell 6.7, McGriff 6.6, Clark 6.5, Kruk 6.1, Justice 5.6, Grace (best season) and Bell 5.4, Hollins (best season) and Butler 4.9, Roberts 4.8, Caminiti 4.7, Finley 4.6, Grissom 4.5. Pitchers, Maddux 9.4, Fernandez 7.1 (best season), Schilling 6.4, Jones 6.3 (best season), Rijo 5.7, Swift 5.0, Glavine and Martinez 4.9, Tewksbury (best season), Drabek, and Benes 4.8, Hill 4.7, Tom Candiotti (Los Angeles) 4.6, John Franco (New York) 4.4, Smoltz and Rojas 4.3, Morgan (last good season) and Swindell 4.2. WAR leaders, position players: Bonds 9.8, Sandberg 7.6, Daulton 7.4, Sheffield 6.8, Van Slyke 6.7, Hollins 6.0, McGriff and Walker 5.8, Finley and Grissom 5.7, Larkin and Pendleton 5.5, O. Smith 5.4, Justice 5.3, Lankford 5.1, Butler and Roberts 5.0, Bagwell and Jackson 4.8, Grace, Gwynn, and Kruk 4.6. WAR leaders, pitchers: Maddux 7.3, Drabek and Smoltz 5.2, Rijo 5.1, Fernandez 5.0, Benes and Glavine 4.8, Schilling and Swindell 4.5, Cone 4.4, Mulholland 4.2, Tewksbury 4.1, Liebrandt 3.9, Avery and Martinez 3.7, Gooden 3.6, Morgan 3.5. Actual award winners: MVP (top 15): | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---+ 1 Barry Bonds PIT 18 304 336 0.90 | 473 147 34 .311 1.080 39 2 Terry Pendleton ATL 4 232 336 0.69 | 640 199 21 .311 .818 5 3 Gary Sheffield SDP 2 204 336 0.61 | 557 184 33 .330 .965 5 4 Andy Van Slyke PIT 0 145 336 0.43 | 614 199 14 .324 .886 12 5 Larry Walker MON 0 111 336 0.33 | 528 159 23 .301 .859 18 6 Darren Daulton PHI 0 100 336 0.30 | 485 131 27 .270 .908 11 6 Fred McGriff SDP 0 100 336 0.30 | 531 152 35 .286 .950 8 8 Bip Roberts CIN 0 64 336 0.19 | 532 172 4 .323 .826 44 9 Marquis Grissom MON 0 54 336 0.16 | 653 180 14 .276 .741 78 10 Tom Glavine ATL 0 18 336 0.05 | 77 19 0 .247 .557 0| 20-8 225 2.76 1.19 129 11 Greg Maddux CHC 0 14 336 0.04 | 88 15 1 .170 .418 0| 20-11 268 2.18 1.01 199 12 Barry Larkin CIN 0 12 336 0.04 | 533 162 12 .304 .831 15 12 Ryne Sandberg CHC 0 12 336 0.04 | 612 186 26 .304 .881 17 14 Doug Jones HOU 0 8 336 0.02 | 4 0 0 .000 .000 0| 11-8 112 1.85 1.01 93 36 14 John Kruk PHI 0 8 336 0.02 | 507 164 10 .323 .881 3 Bonds over Pendleton this time. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Greg Maddux CHC 20 112 120 0.93 | 20-11 268 2.18 1.01 199 2 Tom Glavine ATL 4 78 120 0.65 | 20-8 225 2.76 1.19 129 3 Bob Tewksbury STL 0 22 120 0.18 | 16-5 233 2.16 1.02 91 4 Lee Smith STL 0 3 120 0.02 | 4-9 75 3.12 1.17 60 43 5 Doug Drabek PIT 0 1 120 0.01 | 15-11 257 2.77 1.06 177 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 Eric Karros LAD 22 116 120 0.97 | 545 140 20 .257 .730 2 2 Moises Alou MON 0 30 120 0.25 | 341 96 9 .282 .783 16 3 Tim Wakefield PIT 2 29 120 0.24 | 28 2 0 .071 .175 0| 8-1 92 2.15 1.21 51 4 Reggie Sanders CIN 0 23 120 0.19 | 385 104 12 .270 .819 16 5 Donovan Osborne STL 0 12 120 0.10 | 58 7 0 .121 .276 0| 11-9 179 3.77 1.29 104 6 Mike Perez STL 0 2 120 0.02 | 4 0 0 .000 .000 0| 9-3 93 1.84 1.10 46 7 Ben Rivera TOT 0 1 120 0.01 | + 33 3 0 .091 .234 0|+ 7-4 117 3.07 1.23 77 7 Frank Seminara SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 34 4 0 .118 .261 0| 9-4 100 3.68 1.44 61 7 Brian Williams HOU 0 1 120 0.01 | 30 4 0 .133 .296 0| 7-6 96 3.92 1.39 54 7 Mark Wohlers ATL 0 1 120 0.01 | 2 0 0 .000 .000 0| 1-2 35 2.55 1.19 17 4 Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Jim Leyland PIT 20 109 120 0.91 | 96-66 1 2 Felipe Alou MON 3 65 120 0.54 | 70-55 2 3 Bobby Cox ATL 1 29 120 0.24 | 98-64 1 4 Art Howe HOU 0 9 120 0.08 | 81-81 4 5 Lou Piniella CIN 0 4 120 0.03 | 90-72 2 Top player: Barry Bonds. Bonds was clearly established as the best player in the league by this time. #1 Barry Bonds, #2 Andy Van Slyke, #3 Ryne Sandberg, #4 Gary Sheffield, #5 Darren Daulton, #6 Fred McGriff. Top pitcher: Greg Maddux stepped it up a notch this season, and would be the league's best for the next several seasons. #1 Greg Maddux, #2 Bob Tewksbury, #3 Jose Rijo, #4 Tom Glavine, #5 Doug Drabek. Top rookie: Reggie Sanders was the best of an unimpressive lot. Top manager: Bobby Cox edging Jim Leyland.

1992 American League

The Toronto Blue Jays won it all for the first time in their history! The Jays took the AL East with 96 wins, four ahead of Milwaukee. Baltimore was third with 89 wins. Cleveland and New York tied for 4th with 86 losses, Detroit was sixth with 87, and Boston last with 89 defeats. Toronto defeated Oakland in the ALCS, after the A's took the AL West with 96 victories also. Minnesota was next with 90 wins, and Chicago won 86 for third. Texas lost 85 and finished 4th, California and Kansas City lost 90, and Seattle lost 98 for the worst record in the league. Dennis Eckersley won the MVP and Cy Young in a season where he had a 1.91 ERA, but pitched just 80 innings. He got an MVP award for recording 240 outs. I have a problem with that. Sure, he pitched great, but...80 innings?!? Edgar Martinez won the batting title with a .343 mark. Kirby Puckett was second with a .329 figure. Puckett also led in hits (210) and total bases (313). Tony Phillips led with 114 runs scored. Martinez and Frank Thomas tied with 46 doubles. Thomas led in on-base and OPS. Lance Johnson had 12 triples. Juan Gonzalez had 43 homers, closely trailed by Mark McGwire at 42. McGwire led the loop in slugging percentage. Cecil Fielder led with 124 RBI, followed by Joe Carter at 119. Rookies topped the stolen base list, with Kenny Lofton nabbing 66 and Pat Listach 54. Kevin Brown and Jack Morris tied for the league lead with 21 wins, followed by Jack McDowell at 20. Roger Clemens led with a 2.41 ERA, and Kevin Appier was second with a 2.46 mark. Randy Johnson had 241 strikeouts, with Melido Perez next at 218. McDowell had 13 complete games, Clemens five shutouts. Eckersley led with 51 saves. Win Shares leaders, players; Roberto Alomar (Toronto) 34, Frank Thomas (Chicago) 33, Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) 31, Robin Ventura (Chicago) 30, Brady Anderson (Baltimore) and Mark McGwire (Oakland) 29, Tim Raines (Chicago), Carlos Baerga (Cleveland) and Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) 28, Shane Mack (Minnesota) and Dave Winfield (Toronto) 27, Rickey Henderson (Oakland) and Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle) 25, Kenny Lofton (Cleveland), Mickey Tettleton and Lou Whitaker (Detroit), Edgar Martinez (Seattle), Rafael Palmeiro (Texas) and Joe Carter (Toronto) 24, Tony Phillips (Detroit), Chuck Knoblauch (Minnesota) and Danny Tartabull (New York) 23, Mike Devereaux (Baltimore) and Mike Bordick (Oakland) 22. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Roger Clemens (Boston) 26, Mike Mussina (Baltimore) 24, Jack McDowell (Chicago), Charles Nagy (Cleveland) and Kevin Appier (Kansas City) 20, Frank Viola (Boston), Jim Abbott (Chicago), John Smiley (Minnesota), Dennis Eckersley (Oakland) and Kevin Brown (Texas) 18, Melido Perez (Chicago) and Juan Guzman (Toronto) 17. WARP3 scores: Thomas 8.9, Ventura 8.6 (best year), McGwire 7.8, Martinez 7.6, Anderson 7.5, Alomar 7.3, Baerga 7.1 (best year), Puckett, Henderson, and Pat Listach (Milwaukee) 7.0, Raines 6.8, Mack 6.5 (best year), Molitor 6.4, Tettleton and Phillips 5.7, Bordick 5.6 (best year), Knoblauch 5.4, Griffey 5.2, Winfield 5.1 (last big year). Pitchers, Clemens 8.8, Appier 7.8, Nagy 7.4 (best year), Mussina 7.3 (best year), Brown 6.9, Abbott and Eckersley 6.7, McDowell (best year) and Viola 6.1, Perez 6.0 (career year), Dave Fleming (Seattle) 5.7, Steve Olin (Cleveland) 5.6, Ju. Guzman 5.4, Jeff Montgomery (Kansas City) and Jose Guzman (Texas) 5.1, Smiley 4.9 (best year). WAR leaders, position players: Thomas 7.7, McGwire 6.8, E. Martinez and Ventura 6.7, Alomar 6.6, Puckett and White 6.4, Lofton 6.3, Raines 6.1, Baerga and Griffey 6.0, Anderson 5.9, Mack 5.6, Tettleton 5.5, Devereaux 5.3, Phillips 5.2, Knoblauch 5.0, Molitor and Whitaker 4.9, Fryman 4.7. WAR leaders, pitchers: Clemens 8.5, Nagy 7.4, Brown 6.6, M. Perez 5.9, Guzman, Langston, and Smiley 5.7, Appier 5.6, Mussina 5.5, Tapani 5.1, Guzman 5.0, McDowell 4.8, Abbott and Viola 4.7, Fleming 4.4, Navarro 4.3, Bosio 4.1, Morris 4.0. Eck was at 3.0. 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 Dennis Eckersley OAK 15 306 392 0.78 | | 7-1 80 1.91 0.91 93 51 2 Kirby Puckett MIN 3 209 392 0.53 | 639 210 19 .329 .864 17 3 Joe Carter TOR 4 201 392 0.51 | 622 164 34 .264 .808 12 4 Mark McGwire OAK 1 155 392 0.40 | 467 125 42 .268 .970 0 5 Dave Winfield TOR 2 141 392 0.36 | 583 169 26 .290 .867 2 6 Roberto Alomar TOR 3 118 392 0.30 | 571 177 8 .310 .832 49 7 Mike Devereaux BAL 0 109 392 0.28 | 653 180 24 .276 .785 10 8 Frank Thomas CHW 0 108 392 0.28 | 573 185 24 .323 .975 6 9 Cecil Fielder DET 0 83 392 0.21 | 594 145 35 .244 .783 0 10 Paul Molitor MIL 0 63 392 0.16 | 609 195 12 .320 .851 31 11 Carlos Baerga CLE 0 31 392 0.08 | 657 205 20 .312 .809 10 12 Edgar Martinez SEA 0 29 392 0.07 | 528 181 18 .343 .948 14 13 Jack Morris TOR 0 18 392 0.05 | | 21-6 241 4.04 1.25 132 14 Brady Anderson BAL 0 16 392 0.04 | 623 169 21 .271 .823 53 14 Roger Clemens BOS 0 16 392 0.04 | | 18-11 247 2.41 1.07 208 16 Juan Gonzalez TEX 0 15 392 0.04 | 584 152 43 .260 .833 0 17 Ken Griffey SEA 0 13 392 0.03 | 565 174 27 .308 .896 10 18 Pat Listach MIL 0 8 392 0.02 | 579 168 1 .290 .701 54| 19 Jack McDowell CHW 0 5 392 0.01 | | 20-10 261 3.18 1.24 178 20 George Bell CHW 0 3 392 0.01 | 627 160 25 .255 .712 5 The surprise was not so much that Eckersley, a guy that pitched but 80 innings, won the MVP, but that he won it so easily. It wasn't unanimous, but it was a clear victory. Of course, the lack of a clear favorite otherwise helped Eck. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Dennis Eckersley OAK 19 107 140 0.76 | 7-1 80 1.91 0.91 93 51 2 Jack McDowell CHW 2 51 140 0.36 | 20-10 261 3.18 1.24 178 3 Roger Clemens BOS 4 48 140 0.34 | 18-11 247 2.41 1.07 208 4 Mike Mussina BAL 2 26 140 0.19 | 18-5 241 2.54 1.08 130 5 Jack Morris TOR 1 10 140 0.07 | 21-6 241 4.04 1.25 132 6 Kevin Brown TEX 0 9 140 0.06 | 21-11 266 3.32 1.27 173 7 Charles Nagy CLE 0 1 140 0.01 | 17-10 252 2.96 1.20 169 Jack Morris, with an ERA over 4, got a first-place vote. Astonishing. 4 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 Pat Listach MIL 20 122 140 0.87 | 579 168 1 .290 .701 5 2 Kenny Lofton CLE 7 85 140 0.61 | 576 164 5 .285 .726 66 3 Dave Fleming SEA 0 23 140 0.16 | | 17-10 228 3.39 1.25 112 4 Cal Eldred MIL 1 22 140 0.16 | | 11-2 100 1.79 0.99 62 That Listach thing just didn't work out. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Tony LaRussa OAK 25 132 140 0.94 | 96-66 1 2 Phil Garner MIL 2 76 140 0.54 | 92-70 2 3 Johnny Oates BAL 0 27 140 0.19 | 89-73 3 4 Cito Gaston TOR 1 13 140 0.09 | 96-66 1 5 Mike Hargrove CLE 0 4 140 0.03 | 76-86 5 Top player: Roberto Alomar. A bit of a quirky pick, but it was one of those years with no clear favorite, no big standout, so it is a good year to give it to the best player on the best team. Alomar also led in Win Shares, although not in WARP. #1 Roberto Alomar, #2 Frank Thomas, #3 Kirby Puckett, #4 Robin Ventura, #5 Edgar Martinez, #6 Mark McGwire. Top pitcher: Roger Clemens. Yes, again. #1 Roger Clemens, #2 Mike Mussina, #3 Kevin Appier, #4 Charles Nagy, #5 Jack McDowell. Top rookie: Kenny Lofton had a strong season and a near-HOF career. Top manager: Cito Gaston finally got the Blue Jays over the top.

1991 National League

It was the beginning of a "Braves" new world: the first of a string of division championships by the Atlanta Braves. They went from worst to first, as their Series opponents, the Twins did. Things were worse in Atlanta: the Braves had finished last in the NL West the previous three seasons in a row, and hadn't won the division since 1982 under Joe Torre, and since 1969 before that. It had been a long dry spell in Atlanta. It wasn't easy for the Braves either, as they squeaked past the Dodgers by a one-game margin. San Diego was third with 84 wins. San Francisco lost 87, defending champs Cincinnati lost 88, and Houston lost 97. In the East, Pittsburgh easily repeated with 98 wins. Atlanta's 7-game victory in the NLCS was a big upset. St. Louis was 2nd with 84 wins, Chicago lost 83, Philadelphia and New York lost 84, and Montreal lost 90. Terry Pendleton led in batting average with a .319 mark, just ahead of Hal Morris at .318. Tony Gwynn was a close third at .317. Pendleton also led in hits (187) and total bases on his way to the MVP. Brett Butler led with 112 runs, Bobby Bonilla with 44 doubles, Ray Lankford with 15 triples. Howard Johnson had 38 homers, followed by Matt Williams with 34. Johnson also led with 117 RBI, closely followed by Barry Bonds and Will Clark at 116. Marquis Grissom edged Otis Nixon with 76 steals to 72. Clark led in slugging, Bonds in on-base and OPS. Tom Glavine and John Smiley were the big winners with 20 each. Dennis Martinez led with a 2.39 ERA while Jose Rijo was second at 2.51. David Cone led with 241 strikeouts, followed by Greg Maddux with 198. Lee Smith was an easy leader with 47 saves, Rob Dibble was second with 31. Glavine and Martinez had 9 complete games each, Martinez five shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players; Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) and Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) 37, Will Clark (San Francisco) 34, Bobby Bonilla (Pittsburgh) 31, Terry Pendleton (Atlanta) 27, Barry Larkin (Cincinnati) and Brett Butler (Los Angeles) 26, Ron Gant (Atlanta), Howard Johnson (New York), John Kruk (Philadelphia), Fred McGriff (San Diego), Felix Jose and Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 25, Darryl Strawberry (Los Angeles) 24, Jeff Bagwell (Houston) 23, David Justice (Atlanta), Chris Sabo (Cincinnati), Jay Bell and Andy Van Slyke (Pittsburgh), Tony Gwynn (San Diego), Robby Thompson and Matt Williams (San Francisco) and Todd Zeile (St. Louis) 22. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Tom Glavine (Atlanta) 23, Dennis Martinez (Montreal) and Mitch Williams (Philadelphia) 18, Greg Maddux (Chicago), Jose Rijo (Cincinnati), Mike Morgan (Los Angeles) and Tommy Greene (Philadelphia) 17, Steve Avery (Atlanta), Pete Harnisch (Houston) and Andy Benes (San Diego) 16, Tim Belcher (Los Angeles), David Cone (New York), Bruce Hurst (San Diego) and Lee Smith (St. Louis) 15. WARP3 scores: Bonds 9.7, Larkin 8.7, Pendleton 8.6, Sandberg 7.9, Clark and Bonilla 7.6, Smith 6.9, Butler and Bell 6.4, McGriff 6.0, Gant and Williams 5.9, Bagwell 5.7 (rookie), Thompson and Larry Walker (Montreal) 5.2, Paul O'Neill (Cincinnati), Tony Fernandez (San Diego), and Ivan Calderon (Montreal) 5.1, Johnson 4.9 (last good season), Kruk and Justice 4.8, Sabo and Luis Gonzalez (Houston) 4.8, Zeile 4.4 (best season), Hal Morris (Cincinnati) 4.3. Pitchers, Glavine 6.8 (best season), Williams 5.8 (career year), Martinez 5.7, Rijo 5.6, Harnisch 5.4 (best year), Maddux 5.3, Cone 5.0, Benes 4.9 (best year), Smith 4.8, Dwight Gooden (New York) 4.5, Greene 4.2, Morgan 4.1, Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh) 3.8, John Smiley (Pittsburgh) 3.6. WAR leaders, position players: Bonds 7.9, Sandberg 6.5, Pendleton 6.4, Larkin 5.6, O'Neill 5.4, Clark and Gwynn 5.2, O. Smith and Williams 5.1, Kruk 5.0, Butler 4.9, Bonilla and Thompson 4.8, Finley 4.6, Bell 4.5, Bagwell 4.4, Strawberry 4.3, Johnson and Morris 4.1, Walker 4.0. WAR leaders, pitchers: Cone 6.6, Maddux 6.3, Rijo 6.0, Glavine 5.7, Mulholland 4.8, Z. Smith 4.7, Morgan 4.5, Belcher 4.1, Gooden, D. Martinez, and Smoltz 4.0, Drabek, Hurst, and Liebrandt 3.9, Benes and Harnisch 3.6, Dibble and Smiley 3.4. 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 Terry Pendleton ATL 12 274 336 0.82 | 586 187 22 .319 .880 10 2 Barry Bonds PIT 10 259 336 0.77 | 510 149 25 .292 .924 43 3 Bobby Bonilla PIT 1 191 336 0.57 | 577 174 18 .302 .883 2 4 Will Clark SFG 0 118 336 0.35 | 565 170 29 .301 .895 4 5 Howard Johnson NYM 0 112 336 0.33 | 564 146 38 .259 .877 30 6 Ron Gant ATL 0 110 336 0.33 | 561 141 32 .251 .834 34 7 Brett Butler LAD 1 103 336 0.31 | 615 182 2 .296 .744 38 8 Lee Smith STL 0 89 336 0.26 | | 6-3 73 2.34 1.14 67 47 9 Darryl Strawberry LAD 0 76 336 0.23 | 505 134 28 .265 .852 10 10 Fred McGriff SDP 0 23 336 0.07 | 528 147 31 .278 .890 4 11 Tom Glavine ATL 0 16 336 0.05 | 74 17 0 .230 .531 1| 20-11 247 2.55 1.09 192 12 Jay Bell PIT 0 11 336 0.03 | 608 164 16 .270 .757 10 12 David Justice ATL 0 11 336 0.03 | 396 109 21 .275 .880 8 14 Andre Dawson CHC 0 5 336 0.01 | 563 153 31 .272 .790 4 14 John Smiley PIT 0 5 336 0.01 | 70 7 0 .100 .237 0| 20-8 208 3.08 1.15 129 Pendleton edges Bonds in a close race with Bonilla a solid third. I understand why the writers did go for Pendleton, what with his and the Braves' surprise seasons. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Tom Glavine ATL 19 110 120 0.92 | 20-11 247 2.55 1.09 192 2 Lee Smith STL 4 60 120 0.50 | 6-3 73 2.34 1.14 67 47 3 John Smiley PIT 0 26 120 0.22 | 20-8 208 3.08 1.15 129 4 Jose Rijo CIN 1 13 120 0.11 | 15-6 204 2.51 1.08 172 5 Dennis Martinez MON 0 4 120 0.03 | 14-11 222 2.39 1.12 123 6 Steve Avery ATL 0 1 120 0.01 | 18-8 210 3.38 1.21 137 6 Andy Benes SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 15-11 223 3.03 1.13 167 6 Mitch Williams PHI 0 1 120 0.01 | 12-5 88 2.34 1.34 84 30 John Smiley, the other 20-game winner, had 14 Win Shares. 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 Jeff Bagwell HOU 23 118 120 0.98 | 554 163 15 .294 .824 7 2 Orlando Merced PIT 1 53 120 0.44 | 411 113 10 .275 .772 8 3 Ray Lankford STL 0 28 120 0.23 | 566 142 9 .251 .693 44 4 Brian Hunter ATL 0 7 120 0.06 | 271 68 12 .251 .746 0 5 Bret Barberie MON 0 3 120 0.02 | 136 48 2 .353 .949 0 5 Wes Chamberlain PHI 0 3 120 0.02 | 383 92 13 .240 .700 9 5 Chuck McElroy CHC 0 3 120 0.02 | 10 3 0 .300 .700 0| 6-2 101 1.95 1.28 92 3 8 Mike Stanton ATL 0 1 120 0.01 | 6 3 0 .500 1.238 0| 5-5 78 2.88 1.06 54 7 Bags a deserving clear winner. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Bobby Cox ATL 13 96 120 0.80 | 94-68 1 2 Jim Leyland PIT 9 74 120 0.62 | 98-64 1 3 Joe Torre STL 2 41 120 0.34 | 84-78 2 4 Tommy Lasorda LAD 0 5 120 0.04 | 93-69 2 Surprising that Cox did not sweep this award. Top player: Barry Bonds. The writers look for fresh faces, and did not give Barry a repeat, but he deserved the award he narrowly lost. #1 Barry Bonds, #2 Ryne Sandberg, #3 Terry Pendleton, #4 Barry Larkin, #5 Will Clark, #6 Bobby Bonilla. Top pitcher: Tom Glavine deserved this award. #1 Tom Glavine, #2 Dennis Martinez, #3 Greg Maddux, #4 David Cone, #5 Jose Rijo. Top rookie: Jeff Bagwell made a stellar debut. Top manager: Bobby Cox built the team as GM, then managed it to greatness.

1991 American League

Minnesota did a worst-to-first turn, although it wasn't quite that spectacular. They had won the World Series in 1987, and their 1990 record was 74-88. They improved to 95-67 and broke Oakland's stranglehold on the top spot. Chicago finished second, 8 games back, with Texas third at 85 wins, Oakland with 84, Seattle 83, Kansas City 82, and California 81. Yes, everyone finished at least .500. In the East division, Toronto won its second title in three year with 91 wins, Boston and Detroit tied for second with 84, Milwaukee was fourth with 83, New York lost 91 for 5th, Baltimore lost 95, and Cleveland brought up the rear with 105 losses. Julio Franco took the batting title with a .341 average. Wade Boggs was second at .332. Paul Molitor led with 133 runs and 216 hits. Rafael Palmeiro had 44 doubles. Molitor and Lance Johnson had 13 triples each. Rickey Henderson stole 58 bases. Jose Canseco and Cecil Fielder tied for the lead with 44 homers, and Fielder led with 133 RBI, followed by Canseco at 122. Danny Tartabull led in slugging, while Frank (Big Hurt) Thomas led in on-base, OPS, and runs created. Scott Erickson and Bill Gullickson each won 20 games for the lead. Roger Clemens and his 2.62 ERA edged Tom Candiotti at 2.65 for the lead. Clemens struck out 241, ahead of Randy Johnson at 228. Clemens also led with 271 innings. Bryan Harvey and his 46 saves finished ahead of Dennis Eckersley at 43. Win Shares leaders, players; Cal Ripken (Baltimore) and Frank Thomas (Chicago) 34, Jose Canseco (Oakland) 31, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (Seattle) 30, Danny Tartabull (Kansas City) and Julio Franco and Ruben Sierra (Texas) 28, Mickey Tettleton (Detroit) 27, Cecil Fielder and Lou Whitaker (Detroit) and Rafael Palmeiro (Texas) 26, Wade Boggs (Boston), Wally Joyner (California), Robin Ventura (Chicago), Dave and Rickey Henderson (Oakland) and Roberto Alomar (Toronto) 25 each, Steve Sax (New York) and Devon White (Toronto) 24, Tony Phillips (Detroit) and Joe Carter (Toronto) 23. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Roger Clemens (Boston) 26, Kevin Tapani (Minnesota) 21, Jim Abbott and Mark Langston (California) 20, Duane Ward (Toronto) 19, Bryan Harvey (California), Jack McDowell (Chicago), Scott Erickson and Jack Morris (Minnesota) 18, Jimmy Key (Toronto) 17, Mike Moore (Oakland) 16. WARP3 scores: Ripken 12.5 (likely his best season), Thomas 9.5 (first full season), White 7.6 (best year), Ventura 7.5, Griffey 7.4, Palmeiro, R. Henderson, and Alomar 6.8, Tettleton 6.7 (best season), Molitor 6.6, Boggs 6.3, Canseco 6.0, Whitaker and Willie Randolph (New York) 5.8, Shane Mack (Minnesota) 5.6, Phillips 5.3, Greg Vaughn (Milwaukee) 5.2, Franco 5.0 (peak year), Sierra, D. Henderson, and Edgar Martinez (Seattle) 4.8, Joyner 4.7, Fielder 4.6. Pitchers, Clemens 7.7, Abbott 6.6 (peak season), Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) 6.2, Langston 5.9, Moore and Greg Swindell (Cleveland) 5.5, Tapani 5.3 (peak season), Nolan Ryan (Texas) 5.2, Harvey 5.1, Steve Farr (New York) 5.0, Chris Bosio (Milwaukee) 4.8, Jose Guzman (Toronto) 4.7, Charles Nagy (Cleveland), Frank Tanana (Detroit), and Kevin Appier (Kansas City) 4.6. WAR leaders, position players: Ripken 11.1, Thomas 7.8, Griffey 7.4, D. White 6.9, Boggs and Whitaker 6.5, Franco and Palmeiro 6.4, E. Martinez 6.2, Tettleton and Ventura 6.0, Canseco and Molitor 5.8, D. Henderson, Phillips, and Sierra 5.3, Carter 5.1, Devereaux 5.0, Alomar and Tartabull 4.9. WAR leaders, pitchers: Clemens 9.4, Swindell 6.3, Candiotti 6.1, Abbott 5.6, Appier, Key, and Tapani 5.4, McDowell 5.2, Ryan 5.1, Morris and Saberhagen 5.0, Sanderson 4.4, Ward 4.1, Erickson 3.9, Hanson 3.8, Bosio and Nagy 3.5, Gullickson 3.4. 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 Cal Ripken BAL 15 318 392 0.81 | 650 210 34 .323 .940 6 2 Cecil Fielder DET 9 286 392 0.73 | 624 163 44 .261 .860 0 3 Frank Thomas CHW 1 181 392 0.46 | 559 178 32 .318 1.006 1 4 Jose Canseco OAK 0 145 392 0.37 | 572 152 44 .266 .915 26 5 Joe Carter TOR 1 136 392 0.35 | 638 174 33 .273 .833 20 6 Roberto Alomar TOR 2 128 392 0.33 | 637 188 9 .295 .791 53 7 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 78 392 0.20 | 611 195 15 .319 .812 11 8 Ruben Sierra TEX 0 63 392 0.16 | 661 203 25 .307 .859 16 9 Ken Griffey SEA 0 62 392 0.16 | 548 179 22 .327 .926 18 10 Roger Clemens BOS 0 57 392 0.15 | | 18-10 271 2.62 1.05 241 11 Paul Molitor MIL 0 51 392 0.13 | 665 216 17 .325 .888 19 12 Danny Tartabull KCR 0 32 392 0.08 | 484 153 31 .316 .990 6 13 Jack Morris MIN 0 29 392 0.07 | | 18-12 247 3.43 1.29 163 14 Chili Davis MIN 0 21 392 0.05 | 534 148 29 .277 .892 5 15 Julio Franco TEX 0 17 392 0.04 | 589 201 15 .341 .882 36 16 Devon White TOR 0 15 392 0.04 | 642 181 17 .282 .797 33 17 Scott Erickson MIN 0 12 392 0.03 | | 20-8 204 3.18 1.27 108 18 Rick Aguilera MIN 0 11 392 0.03 | | 4-5 69 2.35 1.07 61 42 19 Rafael Palmeiro TEX 0 6 392 0.02 | 631 203 26 .322 .922 4 20 Robin Ventura CHW 0 3 392 0.01 | 606 172 23 .284 .810 2 21 Dave Henderson OAK 0 1 392 0.00 | 572 158 25 .276 .811 6 Fielder was 2nd for the second year in a row. A lot of that was apparently carryover votes, as the Tigers did not win. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Roger Clemens BOS 21 119 140 0.85 | 18-10 271 2.62 1.05 241 2 Scott Erickson MIN 3 56 140 0.40 | 20-8 204 3.18 1.27 108 3 Jim Abbott CAL 0 26 140 0.19 | 18-11 243 2.89 1.21 158 4 Jack Morris MIN 3 17 140 0.12 | 18-12 247 3.43 1.29 163 5 Bryan Harvey CAL 0 10 140 0.07 | 2-4 79 1.60 0.86 101 46 6 Mark Langston CAL 0 7 140 0.05 | 19-8 246 3.00 1.16 183 7 Kevin Tapani MIN 1 6 140 0.04 | 16-9 244 2.99 1.09 135 8 Bill Gullickson DET 0 5 140 0.04 | 20-9 226 3.90 1.33 91 9 Jack McDowell CHW 0 3 140 0.02 | 17-10 254 3.41 1.16 191 9 Duane Ward TOR 0 3 140 0.02 | 7-6 107 2.77 1.05 132 23 Clemens won handily despite not leading in wins, a victory for the good guys. Not that Clemens is one of the good guys. 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 Chuck Knoblauch MIN 26 136 140 0.97 | 565 159 1 .281 .701 25 2 Juan Guzman TOR 1 68 140 0.49 | | 10-3 139 2.99 1.18 123 3 Milt Cuyler DET 1 22 140 0.16 | 475 122 3 .257 .672 41 4 Ivan Rodriguez TEX 0 10 140 0.07 | 280 74 3 .264 .630 0 5 Rich DeLucia SEA 0 7 140 0.05 | | 12-13 182 5.09 1.40 98 6 Mike Timlin TOR 0 2 140 0.01 | | 11-6 108 3.16 1.33 85 6 Mark Whiten TOT 0 2 140 0.01 | +407 99 9 .243 .685 4 8 Leo Gomez BAL 0 1 140 0.01 | 391 91 16 .233 .711 1 8 Doug Henry MIL 0 1 140 0.01 | | 2-1 36 1.00 0.83 28 15 8 Brent Mayne KCR 0 1 140 0.01 | 231 58 3 .251 .640 2 8 Charles Nagy CLE 0 1 140 0.01 | | 10-15 211 4.13 1.39 109 8 Phil Plantier BOS 0 1 140 0.01 | 148 49 11 .331 1.034 1 No idea how someone could vote for Milt Cuyler over Chuck Knoblauch. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+-------- 1 Tom Kelly MIN 27 138 140 0.99 | 95-67 1 2 Sparky Anderson DET 1 50 140 0.36 | 84-78 2 3 Cito Gaston TOR 0 17 140 0.12 | 72-57 1 4 Jim Lefebvre SEA 0 16 140 0.11 | 83-79 5 4 Joe Morgan BOS 0 16 140 0.11 | 84-78 3 6 Jeff Torborg CHW 0 6 140 0.04 | 87-75 2 7 Hal McRae KCR 0 3 140 0.02 | 66-58 6 7 Bobby Valentine TEX 0 3 140 0.02 | 85-77 3 9 Tony LaRussa OAK 0 2 140 0.01 | 84-78 4 10 Stump Merrill NYY 0 1 140 0.01 | 71-91 5 Top player: Cal Ripken. It may have been the finest year of an exemplary career. The Orioles could never seem to put a good team around him at this point. #1 Cal Ripken, #2 Frank Thomas, #3 Ken Griffey, Jr., #4 Paul Molitor, #5 Julio Franco, #6 Rafael Palmeiro. Top pitcher: Roger Clemens. We'll get this a lot now. #1 Roger Clemens, #2 Jim Abbott, #3 Kevin Tapani, #4 Mark Langston, #5 Jack McDowell, #6 Tom Candiotti. Top rookie: Chuck Knoblauch had a fine season, in the middle of a pennant race. Top manager: Tom Kelly did it without a superstar.

1990 National League

Cincinnati had one of the great all-time surprise seasons, leading wire-to-wire and sweeping the World Series over the favored A's. It was the season that really made manager Lou Piniella's reputation. After years as also-rans under Pete Rose, the Reds broke through. They won 91 games, ahead of Los Angeles by 5 and San Francisco by 6. Houston and San Diego tied for 4th, and Atlanta was last with 97 losses. Pittsburgh won the East as young Barry Bonds burst onto the scene, with New York four games behind. Montreal was 10 back with 85 victories. Chicago and Philadelphia tied for 4th, and St. Louis was last with 92 losses. Willie McGee won the batting title even though he was traded to Oakland at the end of August. He posted a .335 average by the end of August, and Eddie Murray couldn't catch him, finishing at .330. Brett Butler and Lenny Dykstra tied for the hits lead with 192. Ryne Sandberg led in runs (116), total bases (344) and home runs (40), Matt Williams led in RBI (122). Darryl Strawberry was second in homers with 37, Bobby Bonilla second in RBI with 120. Vince Coleman led in steals (77), and Bonds led in slugging and OPS. Doug Drabek led in wins with 22, while Ramon Martinez and Frank Viola won 20. Danny Darwin led in ERA with a 2.21 mark, followed by Zane Smith at 2.55. David Cone led in strikeouts with 233 and Dwight Gooden and Ramon Martinez were second at 223. John Franco led in saves at 33. Bonds won the MVP and Drabek the Cy Young. Win Shares, players: Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) 37, Lenny Dykstra (Philadelphia) 35, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) 34, Eddie Murray (Los Angeles) 31, Matt Williams (San Francisco) 28, Brett Butler (San Francisco) 27, Kal Daniels (Los Angeles), Tim Wallach (Montreal) and Darryl Strawberry (New York) 26, Barry Larkin (Cincinnati), Dave Magadan (New York) and Will Clark (San Francisco) 25, Howard Johnson (New York) 24, Darren Daulton (Philadelphia), Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke (Pittsburgh) 23, Andre Dawson and Mark Grace (Chicago) and Bip Roberts (San Diego) 22, Ron Gant (Atlanta) and Kevin McReynolds (New York) 21. WS, pitchers: Frank Viola (New York) and Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh) 20, Ed Whitson (San Diego) 19, Rob Dibble, Randy Myers and Jose Rijo (Cincinnati), Danny Darwin (Houston) and Ramon Martinez (Los Angeles) 17 each, Mike Harkey and Greg Maddux (Chicago), Dennis Martinez (Montreal), Jeff Brantley (San Francisco) and John Tudor (St. Louis) 15. WARP3: Bonds 10.8 in his first great season, Dykstra 10.0, Larkin 8.6, Murray 7.5, Wallach 7.3, Sandberg 6.5, Roberts 6.4 (best year), Kevin Mitchell (San Francisco) 6.1, Williams 5.9, Jay Bell (Pittsburgh) 5.7, Daniels and Magadan (best year) 5.6, Daulton and Bonilla 5.5, Butler 5.4, J. Clark and Bill Doran (Houston/Cincinnati) 5.3, Chris Sabo (Cincinnati) 5.2, Strawberry 5.0, Will Clark (San Francisco) 4.9, Van Slyke 4.7, Gant 4.5, Johnson 4.3. Pitchers, Viola 8.4, Whitson 6.7 (last good year), Drabek 5.4, Darwin 5.3, John Smoltz (Atlanta) 5.2, Brantley 4.9, Rijo, David Cone (New York) and Charlie Leibrandt (Atlanta) 4.8, Harkey (rookie, best year) and Greg Harris (San Diego) 4.5, Dibble and Tudor (last year) 4.4, Myers 4.3, Tom Glavine (Atlanta) 4.1. WAR leaders, position players: Bonds 10.1, Dykstra 9.3, Strawberry 6.7, Sandberg 6.6, Murray 6.2, Larkin and Magadan 5.6, Gant and Roberts 5.3, Williams 5.2, Butler 4.9, Daniels, Daulton, and Van Slyke 4.6, Mitchell and Sabo 4.4, McGee and Smith 4.3, Wallach 4.1, Bonilla 4.0. WAR leaders, pitchers: Gooden 6.9, Viola 5.9, Maddux 5.7, Whitson 5.3, Cone and R. Martinez 5.1, D. Martinez 4.7, Rijo 4.5, Dibble 4.4, Drabek 4.3, Hurst and Smith 4.1, Smoltz 4.0, Magrane 3.7, Leibrandt 3.5. Award voting: MVP (top 10) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Barry Bonds PIT 23 331 2 Bobby Bonilla PIT 1 212 3 Darryl Strawberry NYM 0 167 4 Ryne Sandberg CHC 0 151 5 Eddie Murray LAD 0 123 6 Matt Williams SFG 0 95 7 Barry Larkin CIN 0 82 8 Doug Drabek PIT 0 59 9 Lenny Dykstra PHI 0 41 10 Tim Wallach MON 0 36 Cy Young Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Doug Drabek PIT 23 118 2 Ramon Martinez LAD 1 70 3 Frank Viola NYM 0 19 4 Dwight Gooden NYM 0 8 5 Randy Myers CIN 0 1 Rookie Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 David Justice ATL 23 118 2 Delino DeShields MON 1 60 3 Hal Morris CIN 0 13 4 John Burkett SFG 0 12 5 Mike Harkey CHC 0 7 6 Todd Zeile STL 0 4 7 Marquis Grissom MON 0 1 7 Larry Walker MON 0 1 Best player: Barry Bonds, beginning a string. Broke out with a .301 average, 33 HR and 114 RBI. #1 Barry Bonds, #2 Lenny Dykstra, #3 Ryne Sandberg, #4 Eddie Murray, #5 Barry Larkin, #6 Darryl Strawberry. Best pitcher: Frank Viola, although Drabek had more wins and more votes. Frankie V. was better. #1 Frank Viola, #2 Doug Drabek, #3 Ed Whitson, #4 Ramon Martinez, #5 Jose Rijo, #6 Rob Dibble. Best rookie: David Justice burst onto the scene with a fine rookie season. Best manager: Lou Piniella. Wire-to-wire!

1990 American League

Oakland won its third straight pennant with a tremendous season from Rickey Henderson, acquired at midseason the previous year. The A's took 103 victories, 9 more than the White Sox. The rest of the West was Texas, California, Seattle, Kansas City, and Minnesota last with 88 losses. The East division was won by Boston for the second time in three years, but they managed only 88 victories, just ahead of Toronto with 86. Everyone else was under .500. Detroit was 3rd, followed by Cleveland, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and New York in last with 95 losses. The A's swept the Red Sox in the ALCS, then got swept in an upset by Cincinnati in the World Series. George Brett won the batting title with a .329 average, followed by Rickey Henderson at .325 and Rafael Palmeiro at .319. Palmeiro led in hits with 191, Brett tied Jody Reed with 45 doubles. Tony Fernandez had 17 triples. Cecil Fielder led with 51 HR and 132 RBI, with Mark McGwire second in HR with 39 and Kelly Gruber second in RBI with 118. Henderson led the league in steals with 65, runs with 119, and in on-base average and OPS. Bob Welch led the league with an impressive 27 wins, the most by a major league pitcher since Denny McLain's 31 in 1968. Dave Stewart won 22 and Roger Clemens 21. Clemens led in ERA with a 1.93 mark, second going to Chuck Finley at 2.40. Nolan Ryan's 232 strikeouts beat Mike Witt at 221. Stewart led with 267 innings. Bobby Thigpen set a new record with 57 saves. Win Shares leaders, players: Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 39, Cecil Fielder and Alan Trammell (Detroit) 29, Mark McGwire (Oakland) and Julio Franco (Texas) 27, George Brett (Kansas City), Jose Canseco (Oakland) and Fred McGriff (Toronto) 26, Tony Fernandez and Kelly Gruber (Toronto) 25, Wade Boggs (Boston), Lance Parrish (California) and Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle) 24, Jody Reed (Boston), Ivan Calderon and Carlton Fisk (Chicago), Tony Phillips (Detroit), Kirby Puckett (Minnesota), Jesse Barfield (New York) and Rafael Palmeiro (Texas) 22. WS leaders, pitchers: Roger Clemens (Boston) 28, Chuck Finley (California) 23, Bobby Thigpen (Chicago) and Dave Stewart (Oakland) 21, Mike Boddicker (Boston) and Dennis Eckersley (Oakland) 19, Bob Welch (Oakland), Erik Hanson (Seattle) and Dave Stieb (Toronto) 18. WARP3 scores: R. Henderson 12.0, Fernandez 7.8 (peak season), McGriff 6.8 (peak season), Trammell 6.6, Fielder and Canseco 6.1, McGwire 6.0, Parrish (last big season) and Cal Ripken (Baltimore) 5.7, Fisk 5.6, Brett 5.3 (last big year), Gruber and Randy Milligan (Baltimore) 5.1, Phillips 5.0, Dave Henderson (Oakland) 4.9, Franco and Barfield (last big year) 4.6, Lou Whitaker (Detroit) and Walt Weiss (Oakland) 4.4, Reed 4.3 (peak season), Kevin Seitzer (Kansas City) 4.2, Brook Jacoby (Cleveland) 4.0, Griffey 3.9. Pitchers, Clemens 10.4, Finley 7.9 (peak season), Eckersley 7.2, Steve Farr (Kansas City) 7.0, Thigpen 6.8 (career year), Boddicker 5.8, Kevin Appier (Kansas City) 5.6, Hanson 5.5 (peak season), Stieb 5.0, Stewart 4.8 (peak season), Gregg Olson (Baltimore) 4.7, Doug Jones (Cleveland) 4.6, Tom Henke (Toronto) 4.3, Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) 4.0. Welch was at 2.6. WAR leaders, position players: Henderson 10.5, Fielder 6.8, Ripken and Trammell 6.5, Franco 6.2, McGwire 6.0, Martinez and McGriff 5.8, Kelly 5.7, Canseco 5.4, Griffey 5.3, Fernandez and Fisk 5.2, Barfield and Parrish 4.9, Phillips 4.7, Gruber and Palmeiro 4.6, Brett 4.5. WAR leaders, pitchers: Clemens 8.7, Hanson 6.9, Ryan 5.4, Witt 5.3, Stewart 4.8, Boddicker and Finley 4.7, Langston 4.5, Stieb 4.3, Hibbard and Young 3.9, Perez and Wells 3.8, Appier 3.7, McDowell 3.3, Eckersley and Swindell 3.2. Actual award voting: MVP (top 14) Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Rickey Henderson OAK 14 317 2 Cecil Fielder DET 10 286 3 Roger Clemens BOS 3 212 4 Kelly Gruber TOR 0 175 5 Bobby Thigpen CHW 0 170 6 Dennis Eckersley OAK 1 112 7 George Brett KCR 0 60 8 Dave Stewart OAK 0 56 9 Bob Welch OAK 0 54 10 Fred McGriff TOR 0 30 11 Mark McGwire OAK 0 29 12 Jose Canseco OAK 0 26 13 Ellis Burks BOS 0 25 14 Rafael Palmeiro TEX 0 22 Cy Young (top 4) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Bob Welch OAK 15 107 2 Roger Clemens BOS 8 77 3 Dave Stewart OAK 3 43 4 Bobby Thigpen CHW 2 20 What's funny is, Clemens did better than Welch in the MVP, but lost to him in the Cy Young vote. Rookie (top 4) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Sandy Alomar Jr. CLE 28 140 2 Kevin Maas NYY 0 47 3 Kevin Appier KCR 0 31 4 John Olerud TOR 0 13 Best player: Rickey Henderson, and it's not close. 1990 in the AL was all Rickey, all the time. The BBWAA came close to swooning over Cecil's 51 homers, but cooler heads prevailed. #1 Rickey Henderson, #2 Cecil Fielder, #3 Alan Trammell, #4 Fred McGriff, #5 Mark McGwire, #6 Julio Franco. Best pitcher: Roger Clemens, and it's not close, but the glare of Bob Welch's 27 wins blinded the voters. #1 Roger Clemens, #2 Chuck Finley, #3 Bobby Thigpen, #4 Dave Stewart, #5 Dennis Eckersley. Best rookie: Sandy Alomar Jr. had the best season, though John Olerud would have the best career. Best manager: Jeff Torborg managed Chicago to a 33-win improvement.

1989 National League

Chicago won its second division title of the decade, but again fell short in the NLCS. The Cubs took 93 victories to best the Mets by six games. St. Louis was one behind that. Montreal was at .500, Pittsburgh lost 88, and Philadelphia lost 95. San Francisco won the pennant after winning the West with 92 victories, with San Diego at 89 and Houston at 86. Los Angeles lost 83, Cincinnati 87, and Atlanta 97. Tony Gwynn edged Will Clark for the batting title .336 to .333, and also led in hits with 203 to Clark's 196. Clark led in walks (132) and tied Howard Johnson and Ryne Sandberg for the lead in runs (104). Kevin Mitchell led in HR (47), RBI (125), slugging, and OPS. Pedro Guerrero and Tim Wallach had 42 doubles, Robby Thompson 11 triples. Vince Coleman led in steals with 65. Mike Scott led in wins with 20, followed by Greg Maddux at 19. Scott Garrelts led in ERA with a 2.28 mark that was just ahead of Orel Hershiser at 2.31. Jose DeLeon led in strikeouts with 201 to edge Tim Belcher at 200 and Sid Fernandez at 198. Mark Davis led in saves with 44. Belcher threw 8 shutouts, and Hershiser led in innings with 257. Win Shares leaders, players; Will Clark (San Francisco) 44, Howard Johnson (New York) and Kevin Mitchell (San Francisco) 38, Jack Clark (San Diego) 31, Glenn Davis (Houston), Pedro Guerrero (St. Louis) and Tony Gwynn (San Diego) 30, Bobby Bonilla (Pittsburgh) 29, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago) 28, Lonnie Smith (Atlanta) 27, Eric Davis (Cincinnati) 26, Mark Grace (Chicago), Ken Caminiti (Houston), Tim Raines (Montreal) and Von Hayes (Philadelphia) 25, Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) and Roberto Alomar (San Diego) 23, Jose Oquendo (St. Louis) 22, Eddie Murray (Los Angeles) and Kevin McReynolds (New York) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Orel Hershiser (Los Angeles) 21, Greg Maddux (Chicago) 20, Mark Davis (San Diego) 19, Bruce Hurst and Ed Whitson (San Diego) and Joe Magrane (St. Louis) 18, Tim Burke (Montreal) 17, Mike Bielecki (Chicago), Jay Howell (Los Angeles), Dennis Martinez (Montreal) and Sid Fernandez (New York) 16. WARP3: Mitchell 10.7, W. Clark 10.3, Bonilla 8.9, Johnson 8.7, L. Smith 7.7 (last big year), Sandberg 6.9, Gwynn 6.7, Bonds 6.6, Oquendo 6.2 (career year), J. Clark 6.1, Hayes 6.0 (last big year), Raines and Brett Butler San Francisco) 5.9, Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 5.7, G. Davis 5.5, E. Davis 5.4, Guerrero 5.3 (last good year), Grace, Milt Thompson (St. Louis) and Kevin Elster (New York) 4.9. Pitchers, Hershiser 8.1, Maddux and Howell 5.4, M. Davis 5.2, Jim Deshaies (Houston) and Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh) 5.1, John Smoltz (Atlanta) 5.0, Fernandez and Bryn Smith (Montreal) 4.8, Hurst, Whitson, Mark Langston (Montreal), Danny Darwin (Houston) and Rob Dibble (Cincinnati) 4.7, Martinez, Burke, and Mike Scott (Houston) 4.6, Magrane 4.3. WAR leaders, position players: L, Smith 8.4, W. Clark 8.3, Bonds and Johnson 7.3, Mitchell 7.1, O. Smith 6.9, Oquendo and Sandberg 5.9, Thompson 5.6, Hayes 5.1, Davis 5.0, Caminiti 4.7, Thompson 4.6, Bonilla and Strawberry 4.5, J. Clark, Pendleton, and Wallach 4.4, Raines 4.3. Pitchers: Hershiser 5.5, DeLeon, Hurst, and Magrane 4.9, Smoltz 4.3, Maddux and Sutcliffe 4.0, Howell 3.8, Dibble and Perez 3.7, Garrelts 3.5, Bielecki 3.4, Belcher and Cone 3.2, Fernandez 3.1, Mahler and Smith 3.0. 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 Kevin Mitchell SFG 20 314 336 0.93 | 543 158 47 .291 1.023 3 2 Will Clark SFG 3 225 336 0.67 | 588 196 23 .333 .953 8 3 Pedro Guerrero STL 1 190 336 0.57 | 570 177 17 .311 .868 2 4 Ryne Sandberg CHC 0 157 336 0.47 | 606 176 30 .290 .853 15 5 Howard Johnson NYM 0 153 336 0.46 | 571 164 36 .287 .928 41 6 Mark Davis SDP 0 76 336 0.23 | 13 0 0 .000 .000 0| 4-3 93 1.85 1.05 92 44 7 Glenn Davis HOU 0 64 336 0.19 | 581 156 34 .269 .842 4 8 Tony Gwynn SDP 0 57 336 0.17 | 604 203 4 .336 .813 40 9 Eric Davis CIN 0 44 336 0.13 | 462 130 34 .281 .908 21 10 Mitch Williams CHC 0 41 336 0.12 | 5 1 1 .200 1.000 0| 4-4 82 2.76 1.51 67 36 11 Lonnie Smith ATL 0 34 336 0.10 | 482 152 21 .315 .948 25 12 Jack Clark SDP 0 16 336 0.05 | 455 110 26 .242 .869 6 13 Jerome Walton CHC 0 14 336 0.04 | 475 139 5 .293 .721 24 14 Mark Grace CHC 0 9 336 0.03 | 510 160 13 .314 .862 14 15 Mike Scott HOU 0 6 336 0.02 | 75 10 1 .133 .327 0| 20-10 229 3.10 1.06 172 16 Bobby Bonilla PIT 0 5 336 0.01 | 616 173 24 .281 .848 8 17 Brett Butler SFG 0 3 336 0.01 | 594 168 4 .283 .703 31 17 Tim Raines MON 0 3 336 0.01 | 517 148 9 .286 .813 41 17 Milt Thompson STL 0 3 336 0.01 | 545 158 4 .290 .733 27 20 Scott Garrelts SFG 0 2 336 0.01 | 66 9 0 .136 .371 1| 14-5 193 2.28 1.01 119 They picked the wrong teammate on the pennant winner. Cy Young: Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Mark Davis SDP 19 107 120 0.89 | 4-3 93 1.85 1.05 92 44 2 Mike Scott HOU 4 65 120 0.54 | 20-10 229 3.10 1.06 172 3 Greg Maddux CHC 0 17 120 0.14 | 19-12 238 2.95 1.28 135 4 Orel Hershiser LAD 1 7 120 0.06 | 15-15 257 2.31 1.18 178 4 Joe Magrane STL 0 7 120 0.06 | 18-9 235 2.91 1.24 127 6 Tim Belcher LAD 0 4 120 0.03 | 15-12 230 2.82 1.14 200 1 6 Scott Garrelts SFG 0 4 120 0.03 | 14-5 193 2.28 1.01 119 8 Rick Reuschel SFG 0 3 120 0.02 | 17-8 208 2.94 1.20 111 9 Mike Bielecki CHC 0 1 120 0.01 | 18-7 212 3.14 1.26 147 9 Mitch Williams CHC 0 1 120 0.01 | 4-4 82 2.76 1.51 67 36 I can see why the writers were confused enough to choose Davis. There was no true standout. Rookie: 1st Max | Season Results Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Jerome Walton CHC 22 116 120 0.97 | 475 139 5 .293 .721 24 2 Dwight Smith CHC 2 68 120 0.57 | 343 111 9 .324 .875 9 3 Gregg Jefferies NYM 0 18 120 0.15 | 508 131 12 .258 .706 21 4 Derek Lilliquist ATL 0 6 120 0.05 | 63 12 0 .190 .397 0| 8-10 166 3.97 1.42 79 5 Andy Benes SDP 0 3 120 0.02 | 24 6 1 .250 .625 0| 6-3 67 3.51 1.23 66 5 Charlie Hayes TOT 0 3 120 0.02 | +304 78 8 .257 .671 3 7 Greg Harris SDP 0 2 120 0.02 | 19 1 0 .053 .195 0| 8-9 135 2.60 1.17 106 6 Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Don Zimmer CHC 23 118 120 0.98 | 93-69 1 2 Roger Craig SFG 1 62 120 0.52 | 92-70 1 3 Whitey Herzog STL 0 31 120 0.26 | 86-76 3 4 Art Howe HOU 0 4 120 0.03 | 86-76 3 5 Jack McKeon SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 89-73 2 Top Player: Will Clark. "The Natural" was the best player in the league, and on the top team, but a teammate led the league in RBI. That usually pulls voters' focus. Clark's Hall of Fame argument would be helped if he had rightfully won this award. #1 Will Clark, #2 Kevin Mitchell, #3 Howard Johnson, #4 Lonnie Smith, #5 Ozzie Smith, #6 Ryne Sandberg. Top pitcher: Orel Hershiser. By my count, this should be his 3rd in a row. That would help his Hall of Fame case, too. #1 Orel Hershiser, #2 Greg Maddux, #3 Mark Davis, #4 Mike Scott, #5 Joe Magrane. Top rookie: Jerome Walton. Not a good group, overall, partly because Craig Biggio had just a few too many ABs the year before. Top manager: Roger Craig. Got the Giants to the pennant.

1989 American League

It was the year of the "Earthquake Series," the only World Championship of the A's mini-dynasty. The Canseco/McGwire version of the Oakland team took 99 victories, seven more than Kansas City and eight more than California. Texas was 4th with 83 wins, Minnesota was 5th, Seattle lost 89 and Chicago lost 92. Toronto won the East, the second playoff appearance in franchise history as Cito Gaston took over for Jimy Williams in mid-season. Toronto edged resurgent Baltimore by two games, as the Orioles improved by 33 wins. Boston was 3rd with 83 wins and Milwaukee 4th at .500. New York lost 87, Cleveland 89, and Detroit 103. Robin Yount won an unusual MVP, in that he did not lead in any offensive categories and his team did not place first in any standings. Kirby Puckett edged Carney Lansford in batting average .339 to .336. Wade Boggs led in on-base, Ruben Sierra in slugging, Fred McGriff in OPS. Boggs and Rickey Henderson tied for the runs lead at 113. Kirby Puckett had 215 hits. Boggs had 51 doubles. McGriff led with 36 home runs, just ahead of Joe Carter's 35. Ruben Sierra led in triples with 14, and in RBI with 119, ahead of Don Mattingly at 113. Henderson had 77 steals. Bret Saberhagen led in wins with 23 and ERA with a 2.16 mark. Dave Stewart won 21, while Chuck Finley was second in ERA at 2.57 followed by Mike Moore at 2.61. Nolan Ryan led with 301 strikeouts and Roger Clemens was second with 230. Jeff Russell was tops with 38 saves. Saberhagen had 12 complete games, while Bert Blyleven had 5 shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players; Robin Yount (Milwaukee) and Ruben Sierra (Texas) 34, Rickey Henderson (New York/Oakland), Julio Franco (Texas) and Fred McGriff (Toronto) 30, Wade Boggs (Boston) 29, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) and Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) 27, Cal Ripken (Baltimore), Don Mattingly (New York) and Alvin Davis (Seattle) 26, Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 25, Nick Esasky (Boston) 24, Chili Davis (California), Kevin Seitzer (Kansas City) and George Bell (Toronto) 22, Dwight Evans (Boston), Jim Eisenreich (Kansas City), Steve Sax (New York), Carney Lansford and Mark McGwire (Oakland) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) 28, Bert Blyleven (California) 22, Chuck Finley (California), Mark Gubicza and Jeff Montgomery (Kansas City) and Mike Moore (Oakland) 19, Gregg Olson (Baltimore), Roger Clemens (Boston), Kirk McCaskill (California) and Nolan Ryan (Texas) 18, Chris Bosio (Milwaukee) 17. WARP3 scores: Boggs 8.0, Ripken 6.6, McGriff 6.4, Sierra 6.1, Molitor 5.9, Yount 5.8, Henderson 5.6, Puckett 5.3, Tony Fernandez (Toronto) 5.4, Franco 5.1, Harold Reynolds (Seattle) and Mickey Tettleton (Baltimore) 4.8, A. Davis 4.7, Evans (last big year) and Kelly Gruber (Toronto) 4.6, Sax and Ellis Burks (Boston) 4.3. Pitchers, Saberhagen 9.4 (best year), Montgomery 5.9, Clemens 5.6, Blyleven 5.5 (last big year), Gubicza and Bosio 5.4, Moore, Olson (rookie), and Tom Henke (Toronto) 5.4, Doug Jones (Cleveland) 4.9, Finley 4.8, McCaskill and Tom Candiotti (Cleveland) 4.7, Jeff Russell (Texas) 4.6, Dennis Eckersley (Oakland) 4.4, Dan Plesac (Milwaukee) 4.3, Ryan 4.1. WAR leaders, position players: Henderson 8.9, Boggs 8.8, McGriff 6.9, Ripken 6.3, Sierra 6.0, Franco 5.9, Yount 5.8, Molitor 5.6, Whitaker 5.5, Puckett 5.2, Lansford 4.9, Sax 4.8, McGwire 4.7, Esasky, D. Henderson, and Reynolds 4.6, Barfield and Davis 4.5. WAR leaders, pitchers: Saberhagen 8.4, Ryan 7.6, Gubicza 7.2, Bosio 6.2, Clemens 6.0, Blyleven 5.4, Candiotti 5.0, Key 4.9, Moore 4.7, Black 4.1, Bankhead, Farrell, Swindell, and Viola 3.9, Finley 3.8, Boddicker and Henke 3.7. 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 Robin Yount MIL 8 256 392 0.65 | 614 195 21 .318 .896 19 2 Ruben Sierra TEX 6 228 392 0.58 | 634 194 29 .306 .889 8 3 Cal Ripken BAL 6 216 392 0.55 | 646 166 21 .257 .718 3 4 George Bell TOR 4 205 392 0.52 | 613 182 18 .297 .788 4 5 Dennis Eckersley OAK 3 116 392 0.30 | | 4-0 58 1.56 0.61 55 33 6 Fred McGriff TOR 0 96 392 0.24 | 551 148 36 .269 .924 7 7 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 84 392 0.21 | 635 215 9 .339 .843 11 8 Bret Saberhagen KCR 0 82 392 0.21 | | 23-6 262 2.16 0.96 193 9 Rickey Henderson TOT 0 67 392 0.17 | +541 148 12 .274 .810 77 10 Bo Jackson KCR 0 46 392 0.12 | 515 132 32 .256 .805 26 11 Dave Parker OAK 0 44 392 0.11 | 553 146 22 .264 .741 0 12 Gregg Olson BAL 0 35 392 0.09 | | 5-2 85 1.69 1.21 90 27 13 Bert Blyleven CAL 0 32 392 0.08 | | 17-5 241 2.73 1.12 131 14 Dave Stewart OAK 0 30 392 0.08 | | 21-9 258 3.32 1.28 155 15 Don Mattingly NYY 0 25 392 0.06 | 631 191 23 .303 .828 3 16 Joe Carter CLE 0 23 392 0.06 | 651 158 35 .243 .757 13 17 Carney Lansford OAK 1 20 392 0.05 | 551 185 2 .336 .803 37 18 Nick Esasky BOS 0 19 392 0.05 | 564 156 30 .277 .855 1 19 Tony Fernandez TOR 0 9 392 0.02 | 573 147 11 .257 .680 22 20 Mike Moore OAK 0 6 392 0.02 | | 19-11 242 2.61 1.14 172 A very divided election, with six players getting first-place votes, including one for Carney Lansford. Well, at least he won the batting title. Cy Young (top 5): Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Bret Saberhagen KCR 27 138 140 0.99 | 23-6 262 2.16 0.96 193 2 Dave Stewart OAK 1 80 140 0.57 | 21-9 258 3.32 1.28 155 3 Mike Moore OAK 0 10 140 0.07 | 19-11 242 2.61 1.14 172 4 Bert Blyleven CAL 0 9 140 0.06 | 17-5 241 2.73 1.12 131 5 Nolan Ryan TEX 0 5 140 0.04 | 16-10 239 3.20 1.09 301 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 Gregg Olson BAL 26 136 140 0.97 | | 5-2 85 1.69 1.21 90 27 2 Tom Gordon KCR 1 67 140 0.48 | | 17-9 163 3.64 1.28 153 1 3 Ken Griffey SEA 1 21 140 0.15 | 455 120 16 .264 .748 16 4 Craig Worthington BAL 0 16 140 0.11 | 497 123 15 .247 .718 1 5 Jim Abbott CAL 0 10 140 0.07 | | 12-12 181 3.92 1.46 115 6 Kevin Brown TEX 0 2 140 0.01 | | 12-9 191 3.35 1.24 104 Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Frank Robinson BAL 23 125 140 0.89 | 87-75 2 2 Cito Gaston TOR 3 62 140 0.44 | 77-49 1 3 Tony LaRussa OAK 2 51 140 0.36 | 99-63 1 4 Doug Rader CAL 0 13 140 0.09 | 91-71 3 5 John Wathan KCR 0 1 140 0.01 | 92-70 2 Top player: Robin Yount. Another great season to spice up his career. Yount had a very broad range of skills. #1 Robin Yount, #2 Ruben Sierra, #3 Fred McGriff, #4 Wade Boggs, #5 Cal Ripken, #6 Rickey Henderson. Top pitcher: Bret Saberhagen at his peak. The odd/even paradox was mostly because they would wear him out during the good odd-numbered years, leaving him hurt for the even numbers. #1 Bret Saberhagen, #2 Mike Moore, #3 Bert Blyleven, #4 Nolan Ryan, #5 Chris Bosio. Rookie: Gregg Olson had an outstanding season, but hindsight shouldn't be required to see that the class of this class would be Junior Griffey. Manager: Frank Robinson's Orioles managed a tremendous comeback.

1988 National League

The LA Dodgers won one of the most improbable World Series ever, with seemingly half their roster out with injuries. The world did not reckon with the heroics of Kirk Gibson, the incredible season of Orel Hershiser, and the unstoppable force that was.....Mickey Hatcher? At any rate, the Dodgers took the West with 94 victories, seven more than the Reds (who were getting tired of finishing second), San Diego, San Francisco and Houston all just over .500, and Atlanta at 106 losses. New York won the East with 100 victories, 15 ahead of the Pirates. Montreal, Chicago, St. Louis and Philadelphia straggled behind. No one gave the Dodgers much chance in the NLCS, but they beat the Mets in 7 games. They were seriously overmatched against the powerful young A's in the World Series....but won in 5 games. It was a year of destiny for the Dodgers. Tony Gwynn won the batting title with an unimpressive mark of .313. Rafael Palmeiro was second at .307. Darryl Strawberry led in HR (39) and OPS. Will Clark led in walks and RBI (109). Vince Coleman led in steals (81). Andres Galarraga led in hits, doubles and total bases. Brett Butler led in runs. Kirk Gibson won a "leadership" MVP. Hershiser and Danny Jackson tied with 23 victories. David Cone won 20. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts (228), followed by Cone with 213 and Jose DeLeon with 208. Joe Magrane topped the ERA list at 2.18, Cone was at 2.22, Hershiser 2.26 with his record-breaking scoreless innings streak. Hershiser had 8 shutouts and tied Jackson with 15 complete games. John Franco led in saves with 39. Hershiser took the Cy Young. The Win Shares envelope, please: Players; Will Clark (San Francisco) 37, Kirk Gibson (Los Angeles), Kevin McReynolds (New York) and Bobby Bonilla (Pittsburgh) 31, Darryl Strawberry (New York) 30, Barry Larkin (Cincinnati) and Andy Van Slyke (Pittsburgh) 28, Eric Davis (Cincinnati) and Brett Butler (San Francisco) 27, Kal Daniels (Cincinnati) and Barry Bonds (Pittsburgh) 26, Andres Galarraga (Montreal) 25, Steve Sax (Los Angeles) 24, Glenn Davis (Houston) and Tony Gwynn (San Diego) 23, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago), Roberto Alomar (San Diego) and Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 22, Gerald Young (Houston) and Howard Johnson (New York) 21. Pitchers; Orel Hershiser (Los Angeles) 25, Danny Jackson (Cincinnati) 22, Greg Maddux (Chicago) and John Franco (Cincinnati) 20, David Cone (New York) and Mark Davis (San Diego) 19, Tim Leary (Los Angeles) 17, Tom Browning (Cincinnati) 16, Jose Rijo (Cincinnati), Dennis Martinez (Montreal), Doug Drabek (Pittsburgh), Rick Reuschel (San Francisco) and Todd Worrell (St. Louis) 15 each. WARP3: Gibson 8.9, Clark, Strawberry, and Van Slyke 8.7, Butler 8.3, Bonds 7.3, Larkin 7.2, O. Smith 7.2, Bonilla 6.7, Galarraga 6.5, Daniels 6.1, E. Davis 6.0, Chris Sabo (Cincinnati) 5.5, G. Davis 5.3, McReynolds and Sandberg 5.2, Alomar, Johnson, Bill Doran (Houston) and Tom Brunansky (St. Louis) 4.9. Pitchers: Hershiser 9.2, Franco 6.5, Cone 6.1, Maddux 6.0, Davis 5.9, Jackson 5.4, Randy Myers (New York) 4.8, Leary and Rick Sutcliffe (Chicago) 4.6, Kevin Gross (Philadelphia) 4.4, Rijo 4.3, Jamie Moyer (Chicago) and Mike Scott (Houston) 4.2. WAR, position players: Larkin and Van Slyke 6.5, Gibson 6.3, Butler and Smith 6.0, Clark 5.9, Galarraga 5.8, Bonds 5.5, Strawberry 5.4, Bonilla 5.3, Daniels 5.2, Sabo 4.9, Davis, Dawson, and Sandberg 4.4, McReynolds 4.1, Alomar and Davis 4.0. Pitchers: Gooden 5.9, Jackson 5.3, Cone 5.2, DeLeon and Ojeda 5.0, Leary 4.7, Mahler 4.6, Maddux 4.2, Belcher 4.1, Hershiser 4.0, Scott 3.9, Rijo and Ryan 3.8, Reuschel 3.7, Sutcliffe 3.6, Smith 3.5. Actual award voting: MVP (top 13) Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Kirk Gibson LAD 13 272 2 Darryl Strawberry NYM 7 236 3 Kevin McReynolds NYM 4 162 4 Andy Van Slyke PIT 0 160 5 Will Clark SFG 0 135 6 Orel Hershiser LAD 0 111 7 Andres Galarraga MON 0 105 8 Glenn Davis HOU 0 72 9 Danny Jackson CIN 0 41 10 David Cone NYM 0 37 11 Tony Gwynn SDP 0 29 12 John Franco CIN 0 23 13 Eric Davis CIN 0 14 Cy Young Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Orel Hershiser LAD 24 120 2 Danny Jackson CIN 0 54 3 David Cone NYM 0 42 Rookie Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Chris Sabo CIN 11 79 2 Mark Grace CHC 7 61 3 Tim Belcher LAD 3 35 4 Ron Gant ATL 1 22 5 Roberto Alomar SDP 2 11 6 Damon Berryhill CHC 0 3 6 Gregg Jefferies NYM 0 3 8 Ricky Jordan PHI 0 2 Best Player: the voting gave Gibson a narrow margin over Strawberry; WS likes Clark, and WARP gives Gibson a small advantage. Kirk Gibson was who I thought at the time, and he was 3rd in OPS+ behind Strawberry and Clark. I'll go with the "inspirational leader." #1 Kirk Gibson, #2 Will Clark, #3 Darryl Strawberry, #4 Andy Van Slyke, #5 Brett Butler, #6 Barry Larkin. Best Pitcher: Hershiser by a mile. It is hard to be more dominating. #1 Orel Hershiser, #2 Danny Jackson, #3 David Cone, #4 Greg Maddux, #5 Tim Leary. Best Rookie: Roberto Alomar led rookies with 22 Win Shares, based on his defensive prowess. Best Manager: Tommy LaSorda. Got to be.

1988 American League

1988 was the first of three straight pennants for the Oakland A's. The A's won 104 games and were the talk of the baseball world. "The Bash Brothers" were the biggest thing in baseball, and Jose Canseco won the MVP with a 40-40 season: 40 HR and 40 SB. If we had known then what we know now..... The A's beat Minnesota for the West by 13 games, even though Minnesota won more games than the year before, when they won the pennant. Kansas City was third at 84 wins. Following were California, Chicago, Texas and Seattle. The East featured a superb race to the finish, with Boston winning 89 to edge Detroit by one game, Milwaukee and Toronto by two, and New York by 3.5. Cleveland was 6th, and Baltimore lost 107 games, the first 21 in a row. That's in spite of having two Hall of Famers in their primes on the roster. Wade Boggs won another batting title with a .366 average, followed by Kirby Puckett at .356. Boggs also led in on-base and OPS, as well as runs with 128 and doubles with 45. Jose Canseco led in home runs with 42 and RBI with 124, was second in runs with 120, and led in slugging and OPS+. Tougher hitting home park for Jose. Puckett had 234 hits, Rickey Henderson 93 steals, and there was a three-way tie for triples. Frank Viola had 24 wins, Dave Stewart 21 and Mark Gubicza 20. Allan Anderson edged Teddy Higuera by a fraction of a point of ERA, both registering at 2.45. Viola was third at 2.64. Roger Clemens led with 291 strikeouts, followed by Mark Langston at 235. Dennis Eckersley had 45 saves and Jeff Reardon 42. Stewart and Clemens had 14 complete games each, Clemens eight shutouts. This Win Shares news just in: Players; Jose Canseco (Oakland) 39, Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) 32, Wade Boggs (Boston), Robin Yount (Milwaukee) and Dave Winfield (New York) 31, Mike Greenwell (Boston) 30, Rickey Henderson (New York) and Mark McGwire (Oakland) 28, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) 27, Joe Carter (Cleveland), George Brett (Kansas City) and Dave Henderson (Oakland) 26, Cal Ripken (Baltimore) and Tony Fernandez (Toronto) 25, Ellis Burks (Boston), Don Mattingly (New York) and Fred McGriff (Toronto) 24, Dwight Evans (Boston), Alan Trammell (Detroit) and Kelly Gruber (Toronto) 23. Pitchers; Frank Viola (Minnesota) 25, Mark Gubicza (Kansas City) 24, Roger Clemens (Boston) and Teddy Higuera (Milwaukee) 22, Greg Swindell (Cleveland), Allan Anderson (Minnesota) and Mark Langston (Seattle) 19, Doug Jones (Cleveland) and Dave Stewart (Oakland) 18, Tom Candiotti (Cleveland), Mike Henneman (Detroit), Charlie Leibrandt (Kansas City) and Charlie Hough (Texas) 17. WARP3: Canseco 8.7 (his career year), Boggs 8.1, Greenwell 6.8 (his career year), Gruber 6.2, Puckett and Trammell 6.0, R. Henderson and McGriff 5.9, Yount and D. Henderson 5.8 (best year), Molitor and Fernandez 5.4, Gary Gaetti (Minnesota) 5.3, Ripken 5.2, Scott Fletcher (Texas) 5.1, Brett 5.0, Kent Hrbek (Minnesota) 4.6, Eddie Murray (Baltimore) 4.5, McGwire, Terry Steinbach (Oakland) and Kevin Seitzer (Kansas City) 4.2. Pitchers, Viola 8.1, Gubicza 7.8, Clemens 7.5, Swindell 6.3 (best year), Higuera 6.2 (last big year), Anderson 5.8 (career year), Langston 5.6, Candiotti 5.5, Leibrandt 5.4, Henneman 5.0 (best year), Dave Stieb (Toronto) 4.2, Jones, Bruce Hurst (Boston) and Jeff Reardon (Minnesota) 4.1, Mike Moore (Seattle) 4.0. WAR leaders, position players: Boggs 9.3, Greenwell 8.4, Canseco 8.2, Puckett 7.7, McGriff 7.2, D. Henderson 6.9, R. Henderson and Yount 6.1, Brett and Molitor 5.9, Gruber 5.8, Burks and Trammell 5.7, Ripken 5.6, Winfield 5.5, Fernandez 5.0, Gaetti, Hrbek, and Seitzer 4.8, Fletcher 4.4. Pitchers: Clemens 10.0, Gubicza and Viola 7.1, Swindell 6.9, Higuera 6.4, Saberhagen 6.3, Stewart 5.3, Candiotti and Moore 5.0, Hurst 4.6, Langston and Witt 4.4, Anderson and Boddicker 4.3, Leibrandt 4.2, Blyleven and Morris 4.0, D.Jones 3.9. Actual award voting: MVP (top 13) Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Jose Canseco OAK 28 392 2 Mike Greenwell BOS 0 242 3 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 219 4 Dave Winfield NYY 0 164 5 Dennis Eckersley OAK 0 156 6 Wade Boggs BOS 0 107 7 Alan Trammell DET 0 62 8 Paul Molitor MIL 0 50 9 Dwight Evans BOS 0 49 10 Frank Viola MIN 0 39 11 Robin Yount MIL 0 34 12 George Brett KCR 0 29 13 Dave Henderson OAK 0 28 Cy Young Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Frank Viola MIN 27 138 2 Dennis Eckersley OAK 1 52 3 Mark Gubicza KCR 0 26 4 Dave Stewart OAK 0 16 5 Bruce Hurst BOS 0 12 6 Roger Clemens BOS 0 8 Note: Eckersley had 15 Win Shares. Rookie Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Walt Weiss OAK 17 103 2 Bryan Harvey CAL 3 49 3 Jody Reed BOS 6 48 4 Don August MIL 0 22 5 Dave Gallagher CHW 2 18 6 Melido Perez CHW 0 9 7 Mike Schooler SEA 0 2 Best player: Jose Canseco. Boggs has some stats that are stellar, but Canseco's are just as good and his team was a bigger surprise. Both Win Shares and WARP like him. #1 Jose Canseco, #2 Wade Boggs, #3 Kirby Puckett, #4 Mike Greenwell, #5 Dave Henderson, #6 Robin Yount. Best pitcher: Sweet Music had a stellar year. Can't see how Hurst beat out Clemens in the BBWAA voting, though. #1 Frank Viola, #2 Mark Gubicza, #3 Roger Clemens, #4 Teddy Higuera, #5 Greg Swindell. Best rookie: No clear favorite. Weiss won since he was a regular for a winner. I'll go with Walt too. Best manager: Tony LaRussa, who brought home the top team in the league.

1987 National League

The St. Louis Cardinals won their third division title and third pennant of the 1980s with their familiar brand of "Whiteyball," a run-and-gun offense styled by manager and de facto GM Whitey Herzog. Whitey had first say over all player moves, and something was working. In their big park, the Cardinals went for speed and defense, with one power hitter on hand, in this case Jack Clark. Clark would have been the hands-down MVP, but he was hurt and missed the last month. That may have helped lead to some of the oddest award choices ever seen. The Cardinals outlasted their two rivals, New York and Montreal, for the division flag. St. Louis won 95 games, the Mets 92, and the Expos 91. It was a good race all year. The Phillies and Pirates were just under .500 in a tie for fourth, and the Cubs last with 85 losses, mediocre but not bad. The bad teams were in the West. San Francisco won the division with 90 victories, and the Reds were second with just 84. Houston ran third but posted 86 losses, more than any Eastern team. LA lost 89, Atlanta 92, and San Diego, just three years removed from their 1984 pennant, lost 97. Tony Gwynn won the batting title for the last-place Padres with a .370 average. Pedro Guerrero was second at .338. Jack Clark, his season truncated, still led in on-base and slugging and, of course, OPS. Tim Raines led with 123 runs, followed by Vince Coleman at 121. Gwynn had 218 hits. Tim Wallach had 42 doubles, Juan Samuel 15 triples. Andre Dawson led with 49 HR and 137 RBI. Dale Murphy was next in homers with 44, Wallach next in RBI with 123. Coleman stole 109 bases. Murphy and Gwynn tied for the lead in runs created. No pitcher won 20 games; Rick Sutcliffe led with 18, and Shane Rawley won 17. Nolan Ryan led with 270 strikeouts and a 2.76 ERA, though his record was just 8-16. It was a weird year. Mike Dunne (yes, Mike Dunne) was second in ERA at 3.03. Mike Scott was second in strikeouts at 233. Steve Bedrosian led with 40 saves and ended up taking the Cy Young. Orel Hershiser led with 265 innings, Fernando Valenzuela and Rick Reuschel tied with 12 complete games. Win Shares leaderboard: Players; Tim Raines (Montreal) 34, Jack Clark and Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 33, Eric Davis (Cincinnati) and Darryl Strawberry (New York) 30, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) and Tony Gwynn (San Diego) 29, Pedro Guerrero (Los Angeles) and Tim Wallach (Montreal) 28, Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 26. Andre Dawson had 20 WS. Pitchers; Orel Hershiser (Los Angeles) 21, Tim Burke (Montreal) 20, Rick Sutcliffe (Chicago) and Bob Welch (Los Angeles) 19, Mike Scott (Houston) 18, Todd Worrell (St. Louis) 17, Andy McGaffigan (Montreal) and Steve Bedrosian (Philadelphia) 16, Lee Smith (Chicago), John Franco (Cincinnati), Nolan Ryan and Dave Smith (Houston), and Rick Reuschel (Pittsburgh) 15 each. WARP3 scores: Gwynn 9.4, Davis 8.8, Ozzie 8.5, Murphy 8.4, Raines 7.7, Schmidt 7.6, Strawberry 6.5, Randy Ready (San Diego, career year) 6.3, Clark, Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke (both Pittsburgh) 6.2, Juan Samuel (Philadelphia) 5.6, Guerrero and Wallach 5.4, Bill Doran (Houston) 5.3, Benito Santiago (San Diego) 5.2, Will Clark (San Francisco) 4.9. Pitchers; Hershiser 7.1, Sutcliffe 6.8, Welch 6.6, Scott 5.6, Ryan 5.0, Burke and Worrell 4.8, L, Smith 4.6, Franco 4.4, D. Smith 4.1, Dwight Gooden (New York) 4.0, Fernando Valenzuela (Los Angeles) 3.5, Bedrosian 3.4. WAR leaders, position players: Gwynn 7.6, Murphy 7.3, Davis 7.2, Raines 6.9, Smith 6.4, Schmidt 6.2, Clark 5.8, Strawberry 5.6, Bonds 5.5, Van Slyke 5.3, Guerrero 5.1, Doran and Johnson 4.4, Clark and Wallach 4.3, Hayes 4.0. Pitchers: Ryan 6.8, Scott 5.9, Hershiser 5.6, Reuschel 4.9, Welch 4.5, Gooden 4.4, Z. Smith 4.1, Sutcliffe 3.9, Sebra 3.7, Magrane 3.2, Downs 3.1, Darwin and L. Smith 3.0. Actual award voting: MVP (top 15): Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Andre Dawson CHC 11 269 2 Ozzie Smith STL 9 193 3 Jack Clark STL 3 186 4 Tim Wallach MON 1 165 5 Will Clark SFG 0 128 6 Darryl Strawberry NYM 0 95 7 Tim Raines MON 0 80 8 Tony Gwynn SDP 0 75 9 Eric Davis CIN 0 73 10 Howard Johnson NYM 0 42 11 Dale Murphy ATL 0 34 12 Vince Coleman STL 0 20 13 Juan Samuel PHI 0 19 14 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 13 15 Pedro Guerrero LAD 0 12 Oy vey. Cy Young: Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Steve Bedrosian PHI 9 57 2 Rick Sutcliffe CHC 4 55 3 Rick Reuschel TOT 8 54 4 Orel Hershiser LAD 2 14 5 Dwight Gooden NYM 1 12 5 Nolan Ryan HOU 0 12 7 Mike Scott HOU 0 9 8 Bob Welch LAD 0 3 Double oy vey. Rookie (top 5) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Benito Santiago SDP 24 120 2 Mike Dunne PIT 0 66 3 Joe Magrane STL 0 10 4 Casey Candaele MON 0 9 5 Gerald Young HOU 0 7 A unanimous pick here. Best Player: Ozzie Smith. I thought Ozzie deserved the MVP at the time, and I still do today. Raines tops the Win Shares, Gwynn the WARP3, but Ozzie does well both places and he played for the winners. Dawson was a big whiff by the BBWAA, one of the worst selections ever. 1. Ozzie Smith; 2. Tony Gwynn; 3. Tim Raines; 4. Eric Davis; 5. Darryl Strawberry; 6. Jack Clark. Best Pitcher: Orel Hershiser, although "none of the above" might be fitting here. Hershiser was 16-16 on the eve of his monster season, but was 3rd in wins, 3rd in ERA, 4th in strikeouts, 1st in innings. It's easy to see how Bedrosian snuck in and stole this award. 1. Orel Hershiser; 2. Bob Welch; 3. Nolan Ryan; 4. Mike Scott; 5. Dwight Gooden. Best rookie: Benito Santiago, although this was his best season. Best manager: Whitey Herzog of the Cardinals, rebounding from a below .500 season to win the pennant.

1987 American League

The AL East put on a marvelous race, with Toronto leading most of the way only to fold at the end as Detroit won the division, taking 98 victories to Toronto's 96. Milwaukee was close behind with 91, while New York had 89. Boston lost 84, Baltimore 95, and Cleveland 101. The West division was ho-hum, with everyone struggling just to stay above .500. But like 1985, when Kansas City trudged through the season only to win it all at the end, Minnesota came up big in the postseason. The Twins won 85 games to take a close race with the Royals by two games. Oakland, at .500, was 4 games out. Seattle lost 84, Chicago 85, Texas and California 87 as the Angels slid to last one year after winning the West. Toronto led the league in pitching, Detroit in offense, both were good the other way too, while Minnesota was middle-of-the-pack all over. But they were obviously clutch. Wade Boggs won the batting title at .363, followed by Paul Molitor at .353 and Alan Trammell at .343. Boggs also led in on-base and OPS. Molitor scored 114 runs, followed by George Bell at 111, while Kevin Seitzer and Kirby Puckett tied at 207 hits closely followed by Trammell at 205. Molitor had 41 doubles, Willie Wilson 15 triples, and rookie Mark McGwire swatted 49 home runs and led the league in slugging. Bell led in RBI with 134 and won the MVP in spite of Toronto's late collapse. Dwight Evans was second in RBI at 123. Bell was second in homers at 47. Harold Reynolds led with 60 steals, one ahead of Wilson. Dave Stewart and Roger Clemens each won 20 games, followed by Mark Langston at 19. Langston led with 262 strikeouts and Clemens was second with 256. Jimmy Key paced the loop with a 2.76 ERA and Frank Viola was second at 2.90, with Clemens third at 2.97. Tom Henke led with 34 saves, followed by Dave Righetti and Jeff Reardon with 31. Charlie Hough led with 285 innings, while Clemens had 18 complete games and seven shutouts. Win Shares leaderboard: Players; Alan Trammell (Detroit) 35, Wade Boggs (Boston) 32, Mark McGwire (Oakland) 30, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) and Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) 29, Don Mattingly (New York) 27, Robin Yount (Milwaukee) and George Bell (Toronto) 26, Dwight Evans (Boston) and Kent Hrbek (Minnesota) 25, Danny Tartabull (Kansas City) and Tony Fernandez (Toronto) 24, Brian Downing (California), Kevin Seitzer (Kansas City) and Carney Lansford (Oakland) 23, Wally Joyner (California), Brook Jacoby (Cleveland), Darrell Evans (Detroit), Willie Randolph (New York) and Lloyd Moseby (Toronto) 22. Pitchers; Roger Clemens (Boston) 28, Frank Viola (Minnesota) 24, Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) and Jimmy Key (Toronto) 23, Jack Morris (Detroit) and Mark Langston (Seattle) 21, Charlie Leibrandt (Kansas City) and Teddy Higuera (Milwaukee) 20, Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) and Tom Henke (Toronto) 18, Floyd Bannister (Chicago), Dave Stewart (Oakland), Charlie Hough (Texas) and Jim Clancy (Toronto) 17. WARP3, players: Trammell 10.0, Boggs 7.6, Fernandez 7.3, McGwire 5.6, Molitor 5.5, Bell 5.4, Randolph 5.3, Rickey Henderson (New York) and Ernie Whitt (Toronto) 4.8, Lansford, Mattingly, and Jesse Barfield (Toronto) 4.7, Jacoby 4.4. WARP3, pitchers: Clemens 9.7, Viola 7.1, Saberhagen 6.9, Liebrandt and Higuera 5.7, Key 5.5, Morris and Mark Gubicza (Kansas City) 5.0, Langston and Bruce Hurst (Boston) 4.9, Stewart 4.7, Blyleven 4.6. WAR position players: Boggs 9.2, Trammell 7.9, Molitor 6.3, Bell and Mattingly 5.6, McGwire 5.4, Seitzer 5.3, Evans and Fernandez 5.1, Randolph 5.0, Jacoby, Lansford, and White 4.9, Evans 4.8, Barfield 4.6, Murray 4.4. Pitchers: Clemens 9.3, Higuera 7.4, Langston 6.5, Viola 6.2, Key 6.1, Saberhagen 5.8, Clancy 5.4, Leibrandt 5.0, Jackson and Stewart 4.9, Gubicza 4.4, Hurst 4.3, Hough 4.2, Bosio 4.1. Actual voting: MVP (top 10): Place Name Team 1st place Points: 1 George Bell TOR 16 332 2 Alan Trammell DET 12 311 3 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 201 4 Dwight Evans BOS 0 127 5 Paul Molitor MIL 0 125 6 Mark McGwire OAK 0 109 7 Don Mattingly NYY 0 92 8 Tony Fernandez TOR 0 79 9 Wade Boggs BOS 0 64 10 Gary Gaetti MIN 0 47 Cy Young: Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Roger Clemens BOS 21 124 2 Jimmy Key TOR 4 64 3 Dave Stewart OAK 2 32 4 Doyle Alexander TOT 1 8 5 Mark Langston SEA 0 7 6 Teddy Higuera MIL 0 5 6 Frank Viola MIN 0 5 8 Jeff Reardon MIN 0 4 9 Jack Morris DET 0 3 Rookie: Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Mark McGwire OAK 28 140 2 Kevin Seitzer KCR 0 64 3 Matt Nokes DET 0 32 4 Mike Greenwell BOS 0 9 5 Devon White CAL 0 5 6 Mike Henneman DET 0 1 6 Nelson Liriano TOR 0 1 Best Player: It was obvious to everyone at the time, except 16 members of the BBWAA and RBI numnuts, that Alan Trammell was the top player, MVP, and whatever else. Wade Boggs might have outplayed him a bit, but for me; 1. Alan Trammell; 2. Wade Boggs; 3. Paul Molitor; 4. Mark McGwire; 5. George Bell; 6. Tony Fernandez. Best Pitcher: Roger Clemens. Another great Rocket year. Not quite as dominating as other seasons, but still ahead of the crowd. 1. Roger Clemens; 2. Frank Viola; 3. Bret Saberhagen; 4. Jimmy Key; 5. Teddy Higuera. Best rookie: Mark McGwire, easily. 49 homers! Seitzer a solid second. Best manager: props to Sparky Anderson.

1986 National League

Meet the Mets, meet the Mets. A talented team broke through and won the NL East, then the NLCS and finally a 7-game Series against the Red Sox. The Mets won 108 games, while second-place Philadelphia won 86. St. Louis dropped from the pennant to 82 losses, Montreal lost 83, Chicago lost 90, and Pittsburgh was last with 98 losses. Houston's Astros took the West with 96 wins, and went to Game 6 of the NLCS. Cincinnati was second with 86 wins, San Francisco third with 83 wins, while San Diego lost 88, Los Angeles lost 89, and Atlanta the same but with one less win. Tim Raines edged Steve Sax and Tony Gwynn for the batting title, as Raines batted .334, Sax .332, and Gwynn .329. Vince Coleman had triple-digit steals again, swiping 107 followed by Eric Davis with 80. Mike Schmidt won the MVP by leading in HR, RBI and OPS. Schmidt's 37 HR were followed by Glenn Davis and Dave Parker at 31, while his 119 RBI were trailed by Parker at 116 and Gary Carter at 105. Gwynn led in hits with 211 and tied with Von Hayes in runs at 107. Hayes had 46 doubles, Mitch Webster 13 triples. Fernando Valenzuela led in wins with 21, and Mike Krukow had 20. Mike Scott in ERA and strikeouts (and won the Cy Young). Scott's 2.22 ERA was trailed by Bobby Ojeda at 2.57 and Ron Darling at 2.81. Scott at 306 strikeouts was followed by Valenzuela at 242. Todd Worrell edged Jeff Reardon in saves 36 to 35. Valenzuela pitched 20 complete games. Win Shares leaders, players; Tim Raines (Montreal) 32, Steve Sax (Los Angeles) and Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 31, Keith Hernandez (New York) and Tony Gwynn (San Diego) 29, Kevin Bass (Houston) 27, Von Hayes (Philadelphia) and Kevin McReynolds (New York) 26, Eric Davis (Cincinnati) and Darryl Strawberry (New York) 25, Glenn Davis (Houston) 24, Buddy Bell (Cincinnati), Gary Carter and Lenny Dykstra (New York) and Ozzie Smith (St. Louis) 23, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) and Mitch Webster (Montreal) 22, Chili Davis (San Francisco) 21, Ryne Sandberg (Chicago), Dave Parker (Cincinnati) and Bob Brenly (San Francisco) 20. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Mike Scott (Houston) 27, Fernando Valenzuela (Los Angeles) 21, Rick Rhoden (Pittsburgh) 20, Todd Worrell (St. Louis) 19, Bob Ojeda (New York) 18, Lee Smith (Chicago), Bob Knepper (Houston), Ron Darling and Dwight Gooden (New York) 17, Bill Gullickson (Cincinnati), Roger McDowell (New York), Mike Krukow (San Francisco), Bob Forsch and John Tudor (St. Louis) 16. WARP3 scores: Raines 8.6, Gwynn 8.4, Schmidt 7.4, Hernandez 6.8, Bass 6.3 (career year), Smith and Dykstra 6.0, Sax (best year) and Carter (last really big year) 5.9, Johnny Ray (Pittsburgh) 5.2, G. Davis 5.1, E. Davis, Webster (career year), and Denny Walling (Houston) 5.0, Hayes and Tony Pena (Pittsburgh) 4.9, Robby Thompson (San Francisco) 4.8, McReynolds 4.7, Strawberry 4.4, C. Davis and Mookie Wilson (New York) 4.3, Bell and Hubie Brooks (New York) 4.1. Pitchers, Rhoden 7.7, Scott 7.5, Valenzuela 7.2 (last year), Worrell 5.2 (rookie), L. Smith 4.8, Bob Welch (Los Angeles) 4.5, Gene Garber (Atlanta) 4.4, Ojeda and Lance McCullers (San Diego) 4.1, Gullickson, David Palmer (Atlanta) and Kent Tekulve (Philadelphia) 4.0. WAR leaders, position players: Gwynn 6.4, Raines 6.2, Hernandez and Schmidt 5.9, Bass 5.4, Hayes and Smith 5.0, Ray 4.7, Sax 4.6, G. Davis, J. Davis, and McReynolds 4.3, Webster 4.2, Pena 4.1, Davis 4.0, Carter 3.9. Pitchers: Scott 8.9, Valenzuela 6.3, Welch 5.6, Gooden 4.8, Rhoden 4.7, Ojeda 4.2, Eckersley, Fernandez, and Krukow 4.0, Knepper 3.8, Hershiser and Smith 3.7, Cox, Gullickson, and Yeomans 3.5. Actual award winners: MVP (top 15): | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+--+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Mike Schmidt PHI 15 287 336 0.85 | 552 160 37 .290 .937 1 2 Glenn Davis HOU 6 231 336 0.69 | 574 152 31 .265 .837 3 3 Gary Carter NYM 1 181 336 0.54 | 490 125 24 .255 .776 1 4 Keith Hernandez NYM 2 179 336 0.53 | 551 171 13 .310 .859 2 5 Dave Parker CIN 0 144 336 0.43 | 637 174 31 .273 .807 1 6 Tim Raines MON 0 99 336 0.29 | 580 194 9 .334 .889 70 7 Kevin Bass HOU 0 73 336 0.22 | 591 184 20 .311 .842 22 8 Von Hayes PHI 0 41 336 0.12 | 610 186 19 .305 .859 24 9 Tony Gwynn SDP 0 34 336 0.10 | 642 211 14 .329 .848 37 10 Mike Scott HOU 0 33 336 0.10 | 95 12 0 .126 .292 0| 18-10 275 2.22 0.92 306 11 Bill Doran HOU 0 32 336 0.10 | 550 152 6 .276 .741 42 12 Eric Davis CIN 0 21 336 0.06 | 415 115 27 .277 .901 80 13 Steve Sax LAD 0 13 336 0.04 | 633 210 6 .332 .830 40 14 Ray Knight NYM 0 9 336 0.03 | 486 145 11 .298 .775 2 15 Mike Krukow SFG 0 8 336 0.02 | 82 12 0 .146 .345 1| 20-9 245 3.05 1.06 178 Schmidt won a close race with no clear front-runner. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Mike Scott HOU 15 98 120 0.82 | 18-10 275 2.22 0.92 306 2 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 9 88 120 0.73 | 21-11 269 3.14 1.15 242 3 Mike Krukow SFG 0 15 120 0.12 | 20-9 245 3.05 1.06 178 4 Bob Ojeda NYM 0 9 120 0.08 | 18-5 217 2.57 1.09 148 5 Ron Darling NYM 0 2 120 0.02 | 15-6 237 2.81 1.20 184 5 Rick Rhoden PIT 0 2 120 0.02 | 15-12 254 2.84 1.13 159 7 Sid Fernandez NYM 0 1 120 0.01 | 16-6 204 3.52 1.23 200 1 7 Dwight Gooden NYM 0 1 120 0.01 | 17-6 250 2.84 1.11 200 Scott edged Fernando. 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 Todd Worrell STL 23 118 120 0.98 | 7 1 0 .143 .571 0| 9-10 104 2.08 1.23 73 36 2 Robby Thompson SFG 0 46 120 0.38 | 549 149 7 .271 .698 12 3 Kevin Mitchell NYM 1 22 120 0.18 | 328 91 12 .277 .811 3 4 Charlie Kerfeld HOU 0 17 120 0.14 | 9 1 0 .111 .311 0| 11-2 94 2.69 1.21 77 7 5 Will Clark SFG 0 5 120 0.04 | 408 117 11 .287 .787 4 6 Barry Bonds PIT 0 4 120 0.03 | 413 92 16 .223 .746 36 7 Jim Deshaies HOU 0 1 120 0.01 | 43 2 0 .047 .210 0| 12-5 144 3.25 1.27 128 7 John Kruk SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 278 86 4 .309 .828 2 7 Barry Larkin CIN 0 1 120 0.01 | 159 45 3 .283 .722 8 7 Bruce Ruffin PHI 0 1 120 0.01 | 55 4 0 .073 .164 0| 9-4 146 2.46 1.24 70 Worrell was a clear winner, but it was a talented field. There are two or three Hall of Famers here. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 Hal Lanier HOU 19 108 120 0.90 | 96-66 1 2 Davey Johnson NYM 3 62 120 0.52 | 108-54 1 3 Roger Craig SFG 2 42 120 0.35 | 83-79 3 4 John Felske PHI 0 3 120 0.02 | 86-75 2 5 Jim Leyland PIT 0 1 120 0.01 | 64-98 6 Top player: Tim Raines. There are three clear favorites based on performance, and neither played for a winner. The award could go to either Raines, Schmidt or Gwynn, all are deserving. I'll bypass Schmidt because he's won before, and take Raines over Gwynn. #1 Tim Raines, #2 Tony Gwynn, #3 Mike Schmidt, #4 Keith Hernandez, #5 Kevin Bass, #6 Ozzie Smith. Top pitcher: Mike Scott was clearly the best, although having 18 wins vs. Fernando's 21 almost cost him the writers' vote. #1 Mike Scott, #2 Fernando Valenzuela, #3 Bobby Ojeda, #4 Mike Krukow, #5 Dwight Gooden. Top rookie: Todd Worrell, although others would have better careers. Top manager: Dave Johnson, guiding the contentious Mets to the World Series.

1986 American League

Boston's Red Sox were the story of the year, winning the AL East with 95 victories, then taking 7 games to defeat the Angels in the ALCS. Boston won the division over New York at 90 victories, Detroit at 87, Toronto at 86, Cleveland at 84, and 84-loss Milwaukee and 89-loss Baltimore. It was a very strong and competitive division. California had a relatively easy time of it in the West, with only Texas joining them over .500 at 87 victories. Defending champs Kansas City lost 86 and tied for third with Oakland, Chicago lost 90, Minnesota lost 91, and Seattle lost 95. The Angels gave a surprisingly good showing in the playoffs until closer Donnie Moore's meltdown. Boston had a meltdown of their own in the World Series, blowing Game 6 and losing in 7. Wade Boggs edged out Don Mattingly for the batting title .357 to .352. Jesse Barfield led in homers with 40, followed by Dave Kingman at 35. Joe Carter led in RBI with 121, followed by Jose Canseco with 117 and Mattingly at 113. Rickey Henderson led in runs with 130, trailed by Kirby Puckett at 117, and steals with 87, followed by John Cangelosi and Gary Pettis at 50. Brett Butler had 14 triples. Mattingly led in hits, doubles, total bases and OPS. Roger Clemens won the MVP and Cy Young as he led in wins and ERA, and was 2nd in strikeouts to Mark Langston. Jack Morris was second to Clemens' 24 wins with 21, and Teddy Higuera won 20. Following Clemens in ERA at 2.48 was Higuera at 2.79 and Mike Witt at 2.84. Dave Righetti led in saves with 46. Morris tossed six shutouts, and Tom Candiotti had 17 complete games. Win Shares leaders, players; Wade Boggs (Boston) 37, Don Mattingly (New York) 34, Cal Ripken (Baltimore), Jim Rice (Boston), Joe Carter (Cleveland) and Jesse Barfield (Toronto) 28, Alan Trammell (Detroit), Kirby Puckett (Minnesota) and Rickey Henderson (New York) 26, Tony Bernazard (Cleveland) 25, Dwight Evans (Boston), Pete O'Brien (Texas) and Tony Fernandez (Toronto) 24, Brian Downing (California), Robin Yount (Milwaukee), Gary Gaetti (Minnesota) and George Bell (Toronto) 23, Marty Barrett (Boston) 22, Wally Joyner (California), Brook Jacoby (Cleveland) and Jose Canseco (Oakland) 21. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Roger Clemens (Boston) 29, Teddy Higuera (Milwaukee) 25, Mike Witt (California) 23, Mark Eichhorn (Toronto) 21, Jack Morris (Detroit) and Dave Righetti (New York) 20, Kirk McCaskill (California) and Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 18, Tom Candiotti (Cleveland) 17, Bruce Hurst (Boston) 16. WARP3 scores: Barfield 8.5 (best year), Mattingly and Ripken 8.3, Trammell 7.9, Boggs 7.4, Henderson 7.0, Lou Whitaker (Detroit) 5.7, Fernandez 5.6, Bernazard 5.4 (best year), Carter 5.2 (best year), Rice 5.1 (last good year), Dick Schofield (California) 5.0, Gary Pettis (California) 4.9, Gaetti 4.8 (best year), Scott Fletcher (Texas) 4.6, Frank White (Kansas City) 4.3, Tony Phillips (Oakland) and Lance Parrish (Detroit) 4.1. Pitchers, Clemens 9.0, Higuera 8.6 (career year), Eichhorn 8.1 (career year), Righetti 6.0 (career year), Witt 5.7 (career year), Blyleven and Hurst 5.4, Mike Moore (Seattle) 4.8, Candiotti and Jimmy Key (Toronto) 4.6, Oil Can Boyd (Boston) 4.5, Morris 4.2, Greg Harris (Texas) 4.1, McCaskill 4.0 (best year). WAR leaders, position players: Boggs 8.2, Barfield 7.9, Mattingly 7.7, Ripken 7.4, Henderson 6.9, Trammell 6.1, Rice 5.9, Gaetti and Puckett 5.7, Carter 5.3, Fernandez 5.0, Evans and Whitaker 4.9, O'Brien 4.7, White 4.6, Fletcher, Murray, and Pettis 4.5. Pitchers, Clemens 8.0, Witt 6.8, Higuera 5.7, McCaskill 5.6, Eichhorn 5.3, Candiotti and Hurst 4.8, Leibrandt 4.3, Langston 4.3, Key, Moore, and Morris 3.9, Blyleven and Correia 3.8, Henke and Viola 3.7, Clancy 3.5. Actual award winners: MVP (top 15): | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Roger Clemens BOS 19 339 392 0.86 | | 24-4 254 2.48 0.97 238 2 Don Mattingly NYY 5 258 392 0.66 | 677 238 31 .352 .967 0 3 Jim Rice BOS 4 241 392 0.61 | 618 200 20 .324 .874 0 4 George Bell TOR 0 125 392 0.32 | 641 198 31 .309 .881 7 5 Jesse Barfield TOR 0 107 392 0.27 | 589 170 40 .289 .927 8 6 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 105 392 0.27 | 680 223 31 .328 .903 20 7 Wade Boggs BOS 0 87 392 0.22 | 580 207 8 .357 .939 0 8 Wally Joyner CAL 0 74 392 0.19 | 593 172 22 .290 .805 5 9 Joe Carter CLE 0 72 392 0.18 | 663 200 29 .302 .849 29 10 Dave Righetti NYY 0 71 392 0.18 | | 8-8 107 2.45 1.15 83 46 11 Doug DeCinces CAL 0 56 392 0.14 | 512 131 26 .256 .784 2 12 Mike Witt CAL 0 34 392 0.09 | | 18-10 269 2.84 1.08 208 13 Don Baylor BOS 0 32 392 0.08 | 585 139 31 .238 .783 3 14 Tony Fernandez TOR 0 17 392 0.04 | 687 213 10 .310 .766 25 15 Teddy Higuera MIL 0 7 392 0.02 | | 20-11 248 2.79 1.21 207 Clemens a clear winner over Mattingly and Rice. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Roger Clemens BOS 28 140 140 1.00 | 24-4 254 2.48 0.97 238 2 Teddy Higuera MIL 0 42 140 0.30 | 20-11 248 2.79 1.21 207 3 Mike Witt CAL 0 35 140 0.25 | 18-10 269 2.84 1.08 208 4 Dave Righetti NYY 0 20 140 0.14 | 8-8 107 2.45 1.15 83 46 5 Jack Morris DET 0 13 140 0.09 | 21-8 267 3.27 1.16 223 6 Mark Eichhorn TOR 0 2 140 0.01 | 14-6 157 1.72 0.96 166 10 Easy victory for Clemens 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 Jose Canseco OAK 16 110 140 0.79 | 600 144 33 .240 .775 15 2 Wally Joyner CAL 12 98 140 0.70 | 593 172 22 .290 .805 5 3 Mark Eichhorn TOR 0 23 140 0.16 | | 14-6 157 1.72 0.96 166 10 4 Cory Snyder CLE 0 16 140 0.11 | 416 113 24 .272 .799 2 5 Danny Tartabull SEA 0 4 140 0.03 | 511 138 25 .270 .836 4 6 Ruben Sierra TEX 0 1 140 0.01 | 382 101 16 .264 .779 7 Canseco by a slim margin over Joyner. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+ 1 John McNamara BOS 13 95 140 0.68 | 95-66 1 2 Bobby Valentine TEX 12 90 140 0.64 | 87-75 2 3 Gene Mauch CAL 2 44 140 0.31 | 92-70 1 4 Pat Corrales CLE 1 18 140 0.13 | 84-78 5 5 Lou Piniella NYY 0 5 140 0.04 | 90-72 2 Top player: Wade Boggs takes the crown for the pennant winners. Mattingly had a bit more offensive value, but Boggs at 3B adds more on defense. #1 Wade Boggs, #2 Don Mattingly, #3 Jesse Barfield, #4 Cal Ripken, #5 Rickey Henderson, #6 Alan Trammell. Top pitcher: Roger Clemens. Clemens had all the stats and led a winner. #1 Roger Clemens, #2 Ted Higuera, #3 Mark Eichhorn, #4 Mike Witt, #5 Jack Morris. Top rookie: Wally Joyner was just a bit better than Jose Canseco. Top manager: John McNamara brought the Red Sox home in a tough field.