Revisiting my childhood baseball days (1980 Cubs) - PureSim 2007 1.86

[hoopsguy]

I've been obsessing over PureSim for the past couple of weeks since downloading it. I ran a mini-dynasty for fourteen seasons using the bare bones settings that came with the game. That one just crashed, but I'm hooked on the historical replay even if I thought the game was a long way from perfect.

Anyway, I'm going to reboot with the new 1.82 version that became available today. I'll also download some of the additional content that is available.

Hopefully those following along will get some sense of enjoyment about reading how their favorite baseball players turn out in this universe. I'm certainly willing to take feedback from others who have played this game a little more than I have on how to enhance the experience (mods, house rules, etc).

I'll be updating this post along the way to reflect the major happenings in this MLB universe.


1980
World Series: St. Louis over Detroit, 4-2
Division Winners: Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati
MVPs: Dale Murphy (Atl), Willie Wilson (KC)
Cy Youngs: Mario Soto (Cin), Jerry Koosman (Min)
Highest Paid: Mike Norris (Oak) 9.05 million

1981
World Series: Detroit over St. Louis 4-0
Division Winners: Detroit, Oakland, St. Louis, Houston
MVPs: Dave Winfield (SD), Tony Armas (Oak)
ROYs: Mike Witt (Chi), Andre Thornton (KC)
Cy Youngs: Mike Witt (Chi), Matt Keough (Oak)
Highest Paid: Mike Norris (NYY) $20,752,578

1982
World Series: Chicago Cubs over Detroit Tigers 4-1
Division Winners: Detroit, California, Chicago, San Diego
MVPs: Jack Clark (SF), Cal Ripken (Tex)
ROYs: Dave Dravecky (Phi), Tony Gywnn (Tex)
Cy Youngs: Bill Gullickson (Chi), Jack Morris (Det)
Highest Paid: Steve Rogers (Cal) $20,002,502

1983
World Series: Chicago Cubs over Oakland A's 4-3
Division Winners: Toronto, Oakland, Chicago, Cincinnati
MVPs: Jesse Barfield (Chi), Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
ROYs: Nick Esasky (LA), Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
Cy Youngs: Scott Sanderson (Mon), Chris Welsh (Bal)
Highest Paid: Doug Decinces (Sea) $17,596,656

1984
World Series: Detroit Tigers over Chicago Cubs 4-1
Division Winners: Detroit, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers
MVPs: Alvin Davis (LA), Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
ROYs: Alvin Davis (LA), Franklin Stubbs (Det)
Cy Youngs: Dwight Gooden (StL), Mark Gubicza (Tor)
Highest Paid: Doug Decinces (NYY) $17,596,656

1985
World Series: Chicago Cubs over Detroit Tigers 4-2
Division Winners: Detroit, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati
MVPs: Kent Hrbek (Mon), Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
ROYs: Oddibe McDowell (Cin), Dan Pasqua (Min)
Cy Youngs: Matt Young (Hou), Dave Stieb (Tor)
Highest Paid: Vida Blue (Atl) $20,125,000

1986
World Series: Texas Rangers over Chicago Cubs 4-2
Division Winners: Boston, Texas, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco
MVPs: Pete Incaviglia (Tex), Juan Samuel (Chi)
ROYs: Pete Incaviglia (Tex), Wally Joyner (StL)
Cy Youngs: Teddy Higuera (Tex), Mike Witt (Chi)
Highest Paid: 12 hitters, 4 pitchers $17,020,000

[hoopsguy]

I'll be starting in the year 1980 and using the following mods:
1.) 1980 MLB Template
2.) WrightWing Historical Facepack
3.) Was planning to add the CrashDavis add-ins, but this is already included with 1.81 so I don't need to do this. Nice.

Salaries will be set to 5% of current, which I think is fairly close given top salary of around 1 million then compared to 25 million now. If this turns out to royally screw stuff up I'll change this around pretty quickly.

I'll be playing the Chicago Cubs. I do not think that 1980 was a particularly good period for the club, so I'm expecting to make radical changes very quickly. I learned in my earlier 14 seasons that I'm not particularly loyal to players based on their "real life" performance. Sometimes to my detriment ...

[hoopsguy]

Unexpected Error 3265 upon first viewing my roster. Hmm, this may end up being a very short dynasty

[hoopsguy]

OK, I'm guessing the error came up because I copied over the WrightWing photos while the app was open. It does not come up again upon a restart.

Here are your 1980 Chicago Cubs:
Rotation: Reuschel, Krukow, Lamp, McGlothlen, Martz
Relief: Caudill, Tidrow, Capilla, W. Hernandez, L. Smith, Sutter (CL)
Lineup: Dejesus, Vail, Kingman, Martin, Foote, Buckner, Randle, Kelleher
Bench: Bittner, Dillard, Johnson, O'Berry, Ontiveros, Thompson

I'll use first names of players that stick around for awhile and actually do something I was 8 when this team was taking the field and I'm guessing I recall about 2/3 of the players.

[hoopsguy]

Couple of initial thoughts looking at the franchise:
1.) The finances show $101,566,106 available. Salaries for veteran players are all over one million. Hmm, this does not seem right for 1980 or for my 5% model. I'll see how this looks compared to other franchises, but this is not what I had bargained for when picking 5%.
2.) I've only got ten players in the minors, all in Triple A, and I'm not excited about a single one of them.
3.) Randy Martz is a terrible 5th starter. And he is our property for the next four seasons. If he is still on my team next year there is a problem.
4.) Overall, too many bad players with multi-year deals.

[hoopsguy]

I'm going to be simulating all of the games. This is a general manager simulation, not a manager simulation. I'll be looking to report on the state of our franchise as well as the league as a whole. So recaps will be provided week-by-week, with the exception of opening day and playoff games. Something tells me I will not be worrying about the latter for a little while ...

[hoopsguy]

The PSPN power rankings (weekly HTML newsletter) shows the Cubs at #14 in the preseason power rankings. The top five are listed below:
#1 Pittsburgh
#2 Los Angeles
#3 Detroit
#4 Houston
#5 Montreal

Cardinals are #13, White Sox are #18.

There is also a published list of "Most Feared Hitters". Usually these predictions are not worth a whole heck of a lot, but here are the five names and projected stats.
George Brett (KC) .372 BA 26 HR
Cecil Cooper (Mil) .347 BA 22 HR
Mike Schmidty (Phi) .243 BA 36 HR
Reggie Jackson (NYY) .293 BA 37 HR
Mike Easler (Pitt) .330 BA 25 HR

Easler seems like the name that is not like the others, at least in my mind.

Payrolls are listed as well. The top spenders are the Dodgers at $96,284,690 and the Twins are the cheapskates of the bunch at $64,198,145. The Cubs are near the bottom, ahead of only six teams, with a $72,498,894 payroll.

[hoopsguy]

In the ML opener, Mario Soto of the Reds throws a shutout in a 1-0 victory against the Braves. Phil Niekro was the opposing pitcher.

The Cubs head to New York for the opener and pick up a 4-3 win in ten innings. Dave Kingman hits his first of (presumed) many homers on the year and Bill Caudill picks up the win with 1 2/3 innings of work. The reason he was pitching in the 9th is that Bruce Sutter blew a 3-1 lead and Rick Reuschel's win. Kingman, CF Jerry Martin, and 3B Len Randle each had two hits on the day. RF Mike Vail was 0-5 with a pair of strikeouts.

[hoopsguy]

Remainder of Week 1:
The next five games all involve shutouts. Chicago is 2-3 in those games, all on the road against NY (split the two games) and Pitt (1-1). Rick Reuschel gets one of the wins, giving him a pair of really strong outings to start the season.

Dan Driesen of the Reds is off to a torrid start, hitting .458 with 3 homers and 7 RBIs. I can't see him being a guy that I'm talking about at the end of the year. However, George Brett is a name that will likely come up a few more times. Mr. Brett is killing the ball early, to the tune of .478 with 3 homers and 6 RBIs.

[hoopsguy]

Week 2:
Mike Krukow wins the opener at Wrigley. 6-1 final. Krukow had a pair of hits, went the distance, and struck out 7.

A quick check of the standings has Chicago at 4-3, 3rd in the division and 1.5 games back of the Montreal Expos. Montreal and Cincinnati (7-2) are off to the fastest starts while Boston (1-7) and San Francisco (1-8) are digging themselves early holes.

The Cubs go on to sweep the Mets in Wrigley. But Randy Martz destroys that momentum in an 8-0 home loss to the Cardinals. The boys in blue pick up a win the next day to move to 7-4 after two weeks.

[hoopsguy]

PSPN reports that SS Ivan Dejesus is among the coldest hitters in the league, hitting .087 with 2 RBIs over the first two weeks. He could be finding himself headed out of town soon on the same bus as Randy Martz if he does not start giving me an average above the Mendoza line.

The Cubs end up taking two of three from St. Louis and welcome Pittsburgh to town. Another 2 out of 3 on the good side. One of the wins featured a walk-off three run bomb by Steve Ontiveros. Nice home stand to start the year. That moves us to 9-5 before heading to St. Louis. Good old Randy Martz and his 9.28 ERA will be taking the bump in the opener of that series.

Martz does fall to 0-3 in a 4-2 loss. Kingman hits his 4th homer of the year but it is not enough. We split the next two, getting terrific outings from both Reuschel and Krukow, but not much offense.

Tom Seaver throws a no-hitter for the Reds at Candlestick. As noted earlier, the Reds and Giants are teams headed in opposite directions early on.

Up and coming hitters, per PSPN: Kansas City's Jaime Quirk and Pittsburgh's Steve Nicosia. Both are hitting over .400 for their minor league teams.

[hoopsguy]

A trip to Cincinnati does not go well. Before the games started, it was billed as a match-up of division leaders (Cubs were up 0.5 games). But the final verdict was men against boys as the Reds swept Chicago in three straight.

Back home, we bounce back with a split against the Padres. But we now trail Pittsburgh by 3.5 games. Apparently the Pirates play pretty well against everyone besides the Cubs.

Remember back in Week 1 where I reported on a couple of guys hitting .450? Well, the Cardinal's Keith Hernandez is hitting .451 on May 7th. Johnny Bench and our own Dave Kingman lead the bigs with 7 homers apiece.

The Yankees are having some issues with injuries early on. Bobby Murcer was sidelined for 3 weeks with a hamstring injury and now Bob Watson has a groin that will keep him out of the lineup for 5 1/2 weeks.

[hoopsguy]

Randy Martz is gone. He picked up a home loss to the lowly Giants and fell to 0-6 at Los Angeles. Enough is enough, time to send this guy to the glue factory. The rest of our pitchers don't deserve to watch this guy take the bump every fifth day.

We ship him off to Philadelphia, getting Bob Boone in return. Boone adds about 1 million in salary, but both guys have contracts that expire at the end of 1980. Boone is good enough to start over most of the guys on our team, but maybe not Barry Foote who is the catcher. Foote is one of the few guys hitting over .250 on this team.

The move sends backup C Mike O'Berry (who?) down to the minors. He has a three year deal, but it is for less than a million per year so I'm not going to worry too much about it. Maybe he'll accidentally develop into some kind of a player (age 26, development 64/100) but I won't count on it.

The FA market is bone dry, which means we'll need to make another deal to have a 5th starter that we can trot out there. Hmm, it may be time to start re-making this team for the future. We're only three games out of the lead but this team does not have October baseball in its future.

Bruce Sutter goes to Baltimore in exchange for 25 year old Dennis "El Presidente" Martinez. Both players have hefty (4.5 million) contracts so that is a wash. But we improve our starting rotation and slide Lee Smith into the closer role. We have decent middle relief arms, so now we just need our hitters to give us a little more and maybe we can make something out of this year.

In actual baseball games (prior to the trades), we won the rubber game at home against San Diego and followed it up with 2 of 3 against San Francisco. But the Dodgers win a pair of one run games against us in Chez Ravine and we end up on the wrong end of a "2 out of 3" split.

[hoopsguy]

The team responds well to the deals in the following week. Smith picks up saves in his first four attempts and the Cubs win games on the West Coast against a winning Padres team and a hapless Giants team.

Martinez was a 1-0 winning in his Chicago debut. Somehow, I doubt that Martz would have won a game like that ... ever. Six innings of one hit ball; what a boost.

Minnesota's Ken Landreaux sees a sixteen game hitting streak come to an end against the White Sox.

The Cubs come home and win the first two against the Dodgers to move to 20-17, including a 5-1 mark since shaking up the roster.

[hoopsguy]

Naturally, Chicago loses the finale against the Dodgers. Starter Dennis Lamp falls to 2-4 despite a 2.54 ERA. Montreal, the division leader, is the next team to visit Wrigley. The Cubs win the opener but lose Jerry Martin (and his .221 average) for a month with a "moderate foot injury". Now, that average may sound like it sucks - and it does - but Martin batted in the middle of the order for this bunch. But it creates an opportunity for Scot Thompson, who has a hint of potential.

Reuschel completes the sweep against the Expos. This represents his 9th straight quality start, among the best in the league. Krukow also has 9 straight.

The sweep of Montreal puts the Cubs back atop the division, by a half game over Pittsburgh and Montreal, with a 23-18 mark. A split of games against the Phillies leaves our franchise five over .500 after two months of play.

[hoopsguy]

A look around the league:
- The Reds are now 34-13 and have a 9.5 game lead on the Braves. Detroit and Texas are the division leaders in the American League, by 4.5 and 2.5 games, respectively.
- Boston has the top two hitters, by batting average, in the game. Yaz is hitting .354 and Fred Lynn is right behind at .343. Jim Rice is tied for the AL lead (with Reggie Jackson) with 10 homers. But the Red Sox are 7.5 games behind Detroit, suggesting that they need a few arms.

Cubs notes:
- Kingman is 2nd in the majors in homes with 13, one back of Bench.
- Reuschel and Krukow are 4th and 8th in ERA.
- The Cubs have scored the fewest runs (125) of any team in the majors.
- The Cubs have allowed the fewest runs (105) of any team in the majors. Hmm, the standings show 132 runs. I'm guessing the discrepancy is tied to that bum that went 0-6 before we traded him.
- Smith has 7 saves since taking over the job, but has seen his ERA go up from 4.00 to 4.67. Guess the one blown save was a doozy.

[hoopsguy]

The Cubbies lose the finale against the Phillies. Losing 2 of 3 at home to that team, currently 10 under .500, is not good for business. On the road, Reuschel picks up wins at Montreal and Philadelphia, but the rest of the boys can't match his efforts. We split a four game set against the Expos but lose two of three again to Philadelphia.

The Cardinals rattled off seven wins in a row, which is good enough to take over sole possession of the division lead. Hernandez and Ted Simmons are both hitting above .300 but the key to their success seems to be a starting rotation with 4 pitchers that are getting the job done: Bob Forsch (5-4, 2.37 ERA), Pete Vukovich (5-4, 3.46), John Fulgam (6-2, 1.90), and Silvio Martinez (5-2, 2.60).

[hoopsguy]

Houston is the next stop. Kingman hits his 15th in the opener but that solo shot is the only run in a 3-1 loss. Krukow just does not get any run support. J.R. Richard is the opposing pitcher in the following game - that is not going to be a win very often and we slide to 0-2 in Houston. Lynn McGlothlen salvages the finale to put us at 4-6 on this road trip.

Around the league, Al Woods of Toronto is having an All-Star quality first half. He is hitting .363 with 6 homers and 27 RBIs. We'll see if he makes the team when it is announced in two weeks.

[hoopsguy]

The Cubs are not able to find any traction back in the friendly confines. Sure, we take two of three from Atlanta but then Houston comes into town and smacks us around in a two game set.

PSPN once again highlights Rick Reuschel as one of the hottest pitchers in baseball. He doesn't get many strikeouts, but 6-2 with a 1.57 ERA are results that speak for themselves. He should be an All-Star, with Kingman possibly joining him depending on just how many Reds get put on that roster.

Rod Beck was famous for once saying "you can't pull fat". Well, Reuschel just proved him wrong as he heads to the DL for a month with a moderate hamstring injury. Stop trying to beat out the bunt, dude. We need you on the bump every fifth day.

This will be a tough one for us to overcome. I've allowed myself to consider this team being in the postseason due to the lack of a runaway team in our division but we could fade quickly in this two month stretch.

[hoopsguy]

Andy Rincon, a 21 year old right hander, is signed for three years at the league minimum. He is going to be the short-term answer for Reuschel although he is in no way a replacement. But I do want to start putting some warm bodies down in Iowa so that we don't have to go sifting through the free agent garbage with every injury.

Reshuffling the rotation shows that Martinez has moved up ahead of McGlothlen for the role of 3rd starter (4th when Reuschel is healthy). This is good, because Dennis is one of the assets I'm planning to build around while McGlothlen most likely is not.

I guess the good news coming out of the Reuschel injury is that we actually beat the mighty Reds that day. Rick went out without retiring a batter, but the bullpen was awesome on that day and the offense picked up two runs in the 8th to get a 2-1 win. Hopefully this is something that we can point to over the next month.

The guys come out inspired, going to Atlanta and winning three in a row. Two of them were shutouts, with Lamp and McGlothlen picking up the victories. That puts us at 34-30, but we find ourselves 2.5 back and in 4th place. Apparently Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Montreal have all decided that now is a good time to get hot.

The win streak hits four as we pick up a 3-2 victory in Rincon's first start. Dick Tidrow is the winning pitcher, moving to 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA. He has been stellar out of the pen this year. The 25th includes a double-header against the Mets, with us winning the opener but dropping the night cap (in 13 innings) to end our five game win streak. Looking at the boxscore I'm displeased with how our bullpen was used. Lee Smith picked up the loss after 5 innings of work. Considering our closer has an endurance of 3/100 this just should not ever happen. You could argue that he should not have allowed the run in the 9th to force extra innings, but that manage must be one bitter old man to leave him out there for that long as punishment.

[hoopsguy]

Jerry Martin is back from his earlier injury and we send Scot Thompson back down to Iowa to develop a bit further.

We finish off the four game set with the Mets by picking up another win, moving to 37-31 as we welcome St. Louis to town. The Cards are now 39-29, so this is a big series by June standards. The bad news is that we have the back of our rotation lined up to face them to start this four game series.

Game #1 - McGlothlen is good in the opener, Martin gets back in the swing with a homer, and Smith picks up his 15 save of the year in a 3-2 win where we overcame 3 errors.

Game #2 - Rincon doesn't have a chance against Fulham. 7-3 loss.

Game #3 - Ugh. Mike Krukow joins Reuschel on the disabled list. In the words of Dave Wannestadt, "he's got a knee". Well, only one functional one for the next 5 1/2 weeks. Krukow at least lasts to the second inning but once again the bullpen performs admirably under duress as we pick up a second win against the Cards. Martin had two hits and two RBIs in this one, moving his average up to .250.

Game #4 - we sign Al Olmsted to a one year deal to replace Krukow for a few weeks. Then lose a very disappointing game, 10-9. Martinez did not give a good effort in this one. We score 9 runs in a game about once a month and just have to win when that happens, particularly with one of our front-line starters on the mound. Against the division leader.

[hoopsguy]

New York is the destination and I'm not feeling good about a series where I'm starting Rincon and Olmsted. But Rincon does the job again in a 2-1 win at Shea. It turns out this was only a two game series so we sweep the Mets.

But Olmsted leaves in the 2nd with a minor toe injury in Pittsburgh and I'm left wondering what the heck is going on with the injury bug? We take a pair of 2-1 games in a July 4th doubleheader to move to 42-35. Lamp and Martinez pick up wins and Smith moves to 20 saves on the year. Bert Blyleven and Jim Bibby shut us out back to back to close out a five game series that brings us to the All Star break. I'm expecting to see Bibby pitch in that game.


Around the league, Texas Rangers starter Fergie Jenkins is on the DL for a month with a knee injury that sounds similar to the one sustained by Krukow.

The Yankees shipped Reggie Jackson to Cleveland in exchange for Gary Gray. Who? I can only guess that the Yankees wanted to get a little younger. Gary has some pop in his bat, but does not look like much of a prospect. Just bizarre that the Yankees would ship "Mr October" off for the equivalent of a bag of balls.

Jim Norris of Texas had a 17 game hitting streak, the longest of the majors this year. He looks like a spot starter for the Rangers, as he only has 109 at bats on the season. Given that the guy is hitting .358 with 21 RBIs in that limited playing time I would think they have to consider putting him in the lineup a bit more regularly.

[hoopsguy]

Standings at the break:
St Louis 45-35
Pittsburgh 45-36 0.5
Chicago 42-37 2.5
Montreal 41-39 4.0
Philadelphia 33-45 11.0
New York 30-51 15.5

Detroit leads the AL East with a 48-32 mark, despite losing 8 straight games. They still hold a 5.5 game lead over the Yankees. Toronto, who has won five straight to get to 40-41, is 8.5 behind the pace.

Kansas City is atop a tightly packed AL West race with a 44-37 record. Seattle is a half game back, followed by the Angels (2 back), Oakland (2.5), Texas (4) and Minnesota (4.5).

Cincinnati still has the best record in baseball at 52-29 but is only 3.5 ahead of the streaking Dodgers. San Francisco has recovered from their woeful start to approach .500 but the rest of this division is getting trampled, trailing the Reds by 15+ games.

[hoopsguy]

AL All Stars (listed in order of votes received):
Starters:
3B George Brett (KC) - .289 BA, 14 HR, 41 RBI, 10 SB. Brett is on DL for 3 weeks dealing with a knee injury.
LF Carl Yastrzemski (Bos) - .313/13/40. Bringing it at 41 years of age.
RF Leon Roberts (Sea) - .306/11/43
CF Clint Hurdle (KC) - .290/8/41
1B Bruce Bochte (Sea) - .302/9/38
2B Bump Wills (Tex) - .325/1/32. 29 steals are added bonus.
C Bo Diaz (Cle) - .252/9/32
SS Alan Trammell (Det) - .270/1/31. Just 22, he looks like he will develop into a really good player (96/100 potential).
Reserves:
RF Reggie Jackson (Cle) - .264/21/55. Why did NY deal him again? He is only 34 years old, so not like he is Yaz or something ...
LF Al Woods (Tor) - .318/7/37
LF Kirk Gibson (Det) - .325/3/35. Another young player, only 23 years of age. Not as much potential as Trammell (63/100).
3B Wayne Gross (Oak) - .278/14/49. Wow, he is killing the ball for a guy who does not have off-the-charts power (67/100).
1B Jason Thompson (Cal) - .275/12/34
1B Otto Velez (Tor) - .279/10/32
3B Toby Harrah (Cle) - .274/7/33
Pitchers:
Jerry Koosman (Min) - 11-4 2.15 ERA, 80:42 K/BB, 5 CG, .229 BAA, 1.17 WHIP.
Floyd Bannister (Sea) - 10-4 1.91 ERA, 93:35 K/BB, 4 CG, 1 SO, .202 BAA, 0.98 WHIP
Steve McCatty (Oak) - 11-5 2.75 ERA, 71:44 K/BB, 4 CG, .246 BAA, 1.26 WHIP
Mike Norris (Oak) - 10-9 3.00 ERA, 91:61 K/BB, 10 CG, 1 SO, .210 BAA, 1.18 WHIP (making 9 million per year!)
Aurelio Lopez (Det) - 1-1 1.55 ERA, 28 saves, 2 blown, 23:8 K/BB, .224 BAA, 1.10 WHIP
Dave LaRoche (Cal) - 4-1 1.18 ERA, 1 save, 0 blown, 30:11 K/BB, .166 BAA, 0.79 WHIP
Dennis Leonard (KC) - 10-6 3.00 ERA, 67:38 K/BB, 6 CG, 2 SO, .239 BAA, 1.20 WHIP
Dewey Robinson (CWS) - 3-1 1.01 ERA, 1 save, 1 blown, 26:10 K/BB, .231 BAA, 1.15 WHIP
John Montague (Cal) - 4-1 1.17 ERA, 2 saves, 1 blown, 15:9 K/BB, .225 BAA, 1.07 WHIP
Dave Tobik (Det) - 3-0 1.46 ERA, 1 save, 0 blown, 22:15 K/BB, .180 BAA, 0.94 WHIP

[hoopsguy]

NL All Stars (listed in order of votes received):
Starters:
CF Dale Murphy (Atl) - .295/22/52. 38 steals as well. Also looks like a Gold Glove contender. Just 24 years of age, if he continues to develop (64/100) he will be an All-Decade type performer.
LF George Foster (Cin) - .308/13/42
1B Willy Stargell (Pit) - .303/13/40. NL version of Yaz.
3B Bob Horner (Atl) - .274/20/36. Another young (23) power hitter in Atlanta.
CF Reggie Smith (LA) - .294/11/35. Pretty much a perfect defensive player (99 range, 99 arm, 94 hands).
C Johnny Bench (Cin) - .245/17/34
2B Manny Trillo (Phi) - .303/2/26
SS Dave Concepcion (Cin) - .268/3/31
Reserves:
LF George Hendrick (StL) - .309/10/26
LF Pedro Guerrero (LA) - .278/14/36
1B Keith Hernandez (StL) - .316/5/34
CF Andre Dawson (Mon) - .288/10/49. Plus 28 steals.
3B Darrell Evans (SF) - .290/7/28
3B Ray Knight (Cin) - .276/9/41
1B Dan Driessen (CIN) - .263/11/39. I doubted him in first week, but he has put up solid (if not sure-fire All Star) numbers.
Pitchers:
John Fulgam (StL) - 9-3 1.44 ERA, 44:39 K/BB, 0 CG, .188 BAA, 1.01 WHIP. Hard to believe that a pitcher dominating like this does not have one complete game. 60/100 Endurance rating. I don't think this is a guy who is going to emerge as a consistent performer at this level. 24 years of age, but only 22/100 potential.
Don Sutton (LA) - 10-3 2.29 ERA, 80:20 K/BB, 1 CG, .229 BAA, 1.03 WHIP.
Tom Hume (Cin) - 0-3 4.14 ERA, 33 saves, 5 blown. 17:13 K/BB, .241 BAA, 1.30 WHIP.
Bob Knepper (SF) - 8-4 1.51 ERA, 60:22 K/BB, 1 CG, 1 SO, .220 BAA, 1.01 WHIP. Good looking 26 year old who still has some development left (68/100), he will sustain performance better than Fulgam.
Jim Bibby (Pit) - 10-4 2.85 ERA, 71:39 K/BB, 1 CG, .239 BAA, 1.20 WHIP.
Tom Seaver (Cin) - 8-3 1.87 ERA, 76:39 K/BB, 1 CG, 1 SO, .206 BAA, 1.05 WHIP. Plus the no-hitter.
J.R. Richard (Hou) - 4-5 1.91 ERA, 72:41 K/BB, .176 BAA, 1.10 WHIP. Somehow listed as a reliever for Houston? 14 starts, but 6 other appearances? What the heck is going on in Houston?
Dave Smith (Hou) - 2-3 1.55 ERA, 22:11 K/BB, .219 BAA, 1.08 WHIP.
Steve Howe (LA) - 5-2 1.67 ERA, 1 blown save, 24:8 K/BB, .208 BAA, 0.95 WHIP.
Tom Griffen (SF) - 2-1 1.81 ERA, 1 save, 2 blown, 36:21 K/BB, .210 BAA, 1.21 WHIP.

[hoopsguy]

OK, a couple of thoughts coming out of the All-Star break:
1.) No All-Stars for the Cubs. Reuschel was denied by injury, although he would have needed to keep picking up wins because that is a good group of starters to beat out.

Kingman's BA is down to .234 so hard to get too angry about him not being there. He is 4th in the majors with homers at 18, but 42 RBI's is nothing special. He needs to hit more and have more men on base in the second half.

2.) All Star snubs:
- Mario Soto (Cin) 8-0, 1.52 ERA, 3 CG, 1 SO, 81:27 K/BB, .162 BAA, 0.85 WHIP. He should have been the starter for the NL. Not being on the team is a joke. Of course, there were already 7 Reds on the team so hard for their fans to be too outraged with the process.
- Scott Sanderson (Mon) 7-3, 1.79 ERA, 1 CG, 1 SO, 78:28 K/BB, .199 BAA, 0.96 WHIP. Just a lot of good starters in the NL, but he should have been there.

[hoopsguy]

Statistical Leaders - Batting:
BA:
.325 Bump Wills (Tex) and Kirk Gibson (Det)
.262 Mike Vail (Chi) - #67 overall
HR:
22 Dale Murphy (Atl)
18 Dave Kingman (Chi) - #4 overall
RBI:
55 Reggie Jackson (Cle)
42 Dave Kingman - tied #10 overall
Runs:
56 Willie Wilson (KC)
30 Dave Kingman - tied #86 overall
Hits:
105 Chet Lemon (CWS)
74 Mike Vail - tied #67 overall
Stolen Bases:
58 Willie Wilson (KC) - 19 steals lead over #2
12 Ivan DeJesus - tied #30 overall
On Base Percentage:
.393 Kirk Gibson (Det)
.305 Mike Vail - tied #102 overall
On Base + Slugging:
.917 George Brett (KC)
.757 Dave Kingman - tied 39 overall


This is the reason that there has not been more discussion about our hitters.

[hoopsguy]

Statistical Leaders - Pitching:
ERA:
1.40 Dave Goltz (LA)
1.67 Rick Reuschel - 5th
Wins:
11 Steve McCatty (Oak), Jerry Koosman (Min)
6 Rick Reuschel - tied 52nd
Saves:
33 Tom Hume (Cin)
20 Smith - tied 16th
Innings Pitched:
159 Mike Norris (Oak)
110.1 Dennis Lamp - 68th
Complete Games:
10 Mike Norris (Oak), Larry Gura (KC)
1 multiple Cubs pitchers
Shutouts:
2 multiple pitchers
1 Lynn McGlothlen - tied 6th
Strikeouts:
107 Steve Carlton (Phi)
65 Lynn McGlothlen - tied 41st
Walks:
63 Jim Palmer (Bal), Jim Clancy (Tor)
36 Lynn McGlothlen, Dennis Lamp - tied 56th
Run Support:
85 Ron Guidry (NYY)
44 Dennis Lamp - tied 57th

[Izulde]

Just curious, where do you have Boone at? You said he was good enough to start over most guys on your team, but then didn't say where you put him

[hoopsguy]

Oh, Boone is a catcher and the AI put him in front of Barry Foote. I've let this play out for now without doing a position change for either one of them. But this is probably something that I should explore if I'm going to keep them both around beyond this year.

Foote - 28 years old, signed for 3 years at 2,293,604 per season.
Boone - 33 years old, signed for 1 year at $2,001,175 per season.

So if I'm giong to explore a position change then it should be Boone. As it turns out Boone would be pretty solid in RF (Vail is current starter). He could also be a serviceable corner infielder, where we list Buckner (1B) and Len Randle. Randle is terrible, and only inked through this year, so I'll move him to the bench and start Boone at 3B the rest of the way.

Thanks for asking the question!

[hoopsguy]

The All-Star break is usually the time that I start looking at contracts. I'll also use this as an opportunity to identify needs for both the trade deadline and for next years FA class.

We have a ton of cash to play with, nearly 90 million. So signing our own is not going to be an issue. In fact, I'm likely to go looking for teams trying to shed payroll at the trade deadline and see if I can upgrade our talent that way.

25 man roster:
Larry Bittner - hitting .361 off our bench, he is a serviceable utility player but not a core guy at all. Especially since he is 35 and likely to get worse fast. He is signed through this season at about 2 million. No extension forthcoming.

Bob Boone - talked about in post above. The fact that he can play a bunch of positions mean that I might keep him around if his salary demands are not outrageous. In fact, they are really tame. A 2-4 year extension will come for less than 900K per season.

Bill Buckner - I expected more than the .241 we have gotten from him up to this point. He is signed for three years and, at 31, a guy that I don't think is part of the long-term solution here. Consider him trade bait later this month if anyone wants a no-power, modest glove defender at 1B.

Doug Capilla - mediocre reliever that is probably being asked to take the ball a little too much relative to who he is. He is signed for two years at almost 2.5 million. I don't see him as a long-term guy either.

Bill Caudill - #2 reliever, 24 year old that is still developing (52/100) so I'm probably going to try and keep him around. He is inked for 3 more years at 3.7 million so not something I have to worry about yet.

Ivan DeJesus - well, he plays good D and can run a little. But a five year deal is a little much for a guy hitting .195. I would be just fine with this guy as a backup and his rate of 1.6 million means that I can keep him in that capacity. But we definitely need an upgrade at SS over him. That is near the top of my wish list right now.

Steve Dillard - fringe roster player under contract for 1 million over three years. I would love to get him out of the organization, or at least banish him to the minors next year. After that, I'm hoping we have enough depth in the organization that the 10 minor league spots can't be wasted on someone like him.

Barry Foote - I would like him to develop into a little better hitter, but at age 28 that probably is not happening. Still, unless I'm getting an elite catcher I could do worse than this guy for the next three years at 2.2 million per.

Ken Henderson - defensive outfielder, no other value. We'll wave goodbye at the end of the year and never think of him again.

Willie Hernandez - 26 year old reliever who is good now and could become great (73 potential). He is signed for three years and I think we'll look at resigning him when the time comes.

Cliff Johnson - if Buckner is going to suck I should get this guy at bats this year. He has 79 power, 61 contact, and 68 eye. But at the age of 33 I think I'll probably dangle him to see if I can get parts for the future instead.

Mick Kelleher - Terrible starting 2B, he is signed through next year at 1.6 million a season. I want him gone yesterday. Our middle infield is really poor. On top of being a lousy hitter he has limited range in the field, no speed, and a pop gun arm.

Dave Kingman - at 32 years of age, he probably is what he is. But I'm hoping that is a .250 hitter instead of a .220 hitter. He is a free agent after this season. He isn't looking to break the bank, so we'll resign him for another four seasons at a little less than 2.5 million per. That is a bargain if he can hit .250. And it is a manageable contract if he needs to get dumped as our talent gets better. Kingman has other ideas, only signing on for three more years at 2.675 million. I can live with that as well.

Mike Krukow - a guy that has shown me that he belongs in the rotation. He is signed for four seasons at a little over 4 million per year. If we draft well we might not want to resign him at the end of that time. He is 28 years old now, which means he could be an effective 4th/5th starter for us when we are good. As opposed to competing for a playoff spot with a bunk roster like we are doing this year.

Dennis Lamp - I'm OK with him as a spot starter, but not playing the kind of role he has this year. He is 28 and making 4.5 million this year in the final year of his deal. He, like Boone, is willing to take a much lesser deal for some long-term security. I could get him for 2 years and 2.2 million. I'll come back to this after seeing the rest of the team.

Jerry Martin - 31 years of age, solid backup but marginal starter for an outfielder. I'll worry about him next year when his contract is up.

Dennis Martinez - 25 year old making 4.5 million. We need him to grow up some more, as we think he could develop somewhere between where Krukow and Reuschel are right now. That is a guy that we would extend when this contract is up. Otherwise, I'm hoping to develop a stable of arms that push him for playing time and reasonable salary demands.

Lynn McGlothlen - 30 year old making 4 million per season. He has been an under-appreciated asset on this team. But I'm going to let him go in pursuit of better players in the off-season. However, since we are in contention right now I'm probably going to ride him out and not get any compensation when he leaves. The free agency model here is not sophisticated enough to include things like compensatory picks for losing free agents.

Al Olmsted - roster filler, going to be cut before the end of the month when we get Reuschel back.

Steve Ontiveros - 4 years an 1 million per. I feel like he is robbing us blind. Should be in the minors this year, out of the organization next year but realistically we'll be one year behind that timetable.

Len Randle - he won't be here next year. We left him starting a month longer than he should have been at 3B.

Rick "Big Daddy" Reuschel - his contract, for 5 million, is up at the end of the year. I'll resign him for as many years as I can since he is not looking for a higher base salary. Well, upon further review I just go out three more years at 4.1 million per. Still, he will be a Cub longer than most of this riff-raff. Yes, I'm calling my gutsy, over-achieving squad riff-raff.

George Riley - has no business being on a big league roster. Signed for 3 years at 800K per, we'll have better options next season.

Andy Rincon - will look good in his Iowa Cubs uniform in the next very near future.

Lee Smith - signed for 3 million a year through 1981. He is a 23 year old power pitcher who is still developing. A keeper. I extend him two more years at the same number now.

Dick "Dirt" Tidrow - 33 year old who has done good work as our #1 reliever. I want him for another couple of years but realize that he will be heading to the glue factory sometime in the near future. He realizes it too, and is thrilled when we extend him three more years at 1.2 million apiece.

Mike Vail - four years at 2.1 million for a 5th outfielder, in my mind.


OK, so that brings me back to Boone and Lamp. I'll go ahead and take the cheap two year options on each. Boone pushes for a third year and I give it to him. It won't be hard moving (or dumping) an 800K player if it gets down to it.

[hoopsguy]

I take a look at Houston to see what is going on with J.R. Richard in the bullpen. Perhaps they are looking to get younger or shed salary? Alas, there is no one on our roster that they would trade straight-up for J.R. They would take Reuschel + McGlothen for him. Maybe later this month if we fall out of contention ... Richard is a flat stud and I would love to put him in a Cubs uniform for 4-7 years.

Steve Carlton beats the Cubs in Philadelphia to start the second half. Honestly, him vs Al Olmsted - we should have just forfeited. But Jerry Martin connects off Tug McGraw in the 9th the following night to steal a win. He has homers in back-to-back games and had 4 RBIs in this 6-5 win.

Next up is a double-header at Montreal. We are 1.5 games in front of the Expos right now (2.5 back of the Cards) so this is a pretty big series. We pick up a split, with McGlothlen beating Scott Sanderson in the second game. Rincon picks up a 3-2 decision in the 3rd game of the series, an unexpected bonus.

It doesn't get an easier upon arriving in Wrigley, as the 51-34 Dodgers await us. ERA leader Dave Glotz vs Olmsted ... seriously, Reuschel is one day away from coming off the DL and we have to trot this clown out again against a top opponent? Olmsted acquits himself well in his final outing, but we still lose 3-1.

Big Daddy wins 5-0 in his return and there is much joy in the bleachers. Kingman hits his 20th homer of the year and the club looks like it just might be able to hang with St. Louis and Pittsburgh down the stretch.

Rod Carew has suffered a major shoulder injury and is probably out the rest of the year. Meanwhile, there seems to be a rise is 2+ month injuries around the league as a host of marginal players are showing up on the 60 day disabled list.

[hoopsguy]

The Cubs lose the following day (7/17) to Don Sutton and the Dodgers, then fall 1-0 at home to the Padres, despite only allowing two hits. Dennis Martinez was the tough luck loser. The Padres give us another one run loss on the way out of town 8-7. Four Cubs homered in that loss. Puke.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals have moved to 54-37. They have just been on fire over the last two months. At 6.5 games back we have to win this week or else start making moves for next year. I'm not going to go chasing two good teams when being 5+ games back when I have a chance to build something at the trade deadline - like picking up J.R. Richard, for example.

The team gets the message, taking it to the San Francisco Giants on back-to-back day games. The second win is over All-Star Bob Knepper. Kingman hits his 22nd homer. But the Cards keep winning; they own a nine game winning streak now.

Dennis Martinez falls in the finale against the Giants. We just can't sweep teams ... period. We are now 7.5 back of the Cards and 2 back of the Pirates with a week to go until the trade deadline.

[hoopsguy]

Off to Los Angeles, where Dave Glotz beats us for the second time in a week. We get Krukow back, giving us a competitive starting five for the stretch run. But the Cards and Pirates win again and it is time to wave the white flag on 1980. We had zero realistic hope at the start of the year, so winning this year has been fun. But we just are not good enough as currently constructed and might as well start ramping up for 1981 when there is talent to be claimed.

Houston - still interested in trading J.R. Richard? Well, they are looking to get younger and are looking for starting pitching. Lets see if I can somehow keep Reuschel while acquiring Richard. Yep, Krukow + McGlothlen gets the job done. Hmm, wonder if I can sneak in a scabby starter back so I don't have to dredge someone off the waiver wire? Nope, I'll take my heist as currently constructed and be on my way.

J.R. Richard, by the numbers:
Age: 30
Salary: 6.7 million for two years
Stuff: 98
Velocity: 100
Control: 72
Endurance: 57
Hold Runners: 60
Potential: 1 (finished product)

4-6 1.96 ERA, 78:46 K/BB, .190 BAA, 1.15 WHIP. He is slotted as our #1 starter ahead of Reuschel. Rincon stays in the rotation instead of being sent down to the minors. We'll see if this can actually help for this year but it is big for next season and beyond.

One last note - Richard is going to be expensive to resign. He is asking for 13-15 million right now. I'll wait until next year to do that contract.

[hoopsguy]

We lose the following day, with Don Sutton once again picking on the back of our rotation. On a somewhat amusing note, the White Sox are inquiring about Andy Rincon. Really? Give me something with a pulse and he is yours. But they can't even meet that minimal standard.

Los Angeles sweeps us, taking a 5-4 decision in Richard's Cub debut. Richard got a no decision when the offense scored three runs late, but we lost in 10. The game-by-game reporting will go by the wayside from here on out as I work to get through the regular season.

[hoopsguy]

The Cubs losing streak falls to 7 games while the Cards extend their winning streak to 14. Wow, we hit the double digit deficit quickly. I guess the clubhouse was not happy with the deal.

The Angels come calling for Steve Dillard and are willing to offer a bunch of elderly or bad players for him. Including the gimpy Rod Carew. I'm not looking to trade garbage for garbage. So we'll stick with our original plan of minimizing his role over the next couple of seasons.

Milwaukee and Texas pull a pretty big deal:
Milwaukee gets Bump Wills, who is hitting .310 with 31 steals.
Texas gets Paul Molitor, who has just as much speed and a ton of upside.

Montreal loses Gary Carter for 6 1/2 week with an undisclosed (but serious) leg injury. Seems like they have a hockey mentality when it comes to disclosing injuries.

[hoopsguy]

Our losing streak ends at 8. The Cards winning streak ends at 17. They have put the Pirates back 9 games and are now contending with the Reds for the best record in baseball and home field in the playoffs.

PSPN shows the top 15 paid pitchers and position players. It is interesting to me to learn that the #15 pitcher (Bob Knepper) is making a little more than the top paid position player (George Brett). Both of those guys are around 6.8 million per year. The top paid player in the game is Mike Norris of Oakland, who is pulling in just over 9 million. That is a lot of scratch for 1980.

8/9 - Dennis Martinez falls to 2-8, despite a 3.14 ERA. I tell him that this will never happen to him again in his Chicago Cub career, however long that goes. We will find some hitters in the offseason.

A quick look at Bruce Sutter, who we traded earlier in the year, shows him with 20 saves on the year. That is fewer that his replacement, Lee Smith. I guess Baltimore just is not giving him all that many opportunities.

[hoopsguy]

8/14 - "I'm Keith Hernandez!" leads all of baseball with a .329 average, 18 points ahead of Kirk Gibson and 20 points ahead of his teammate George Hendrick.

Atlanta LF Gary "Sarge" Matthews will miss three weeks with a hamstring pull. Can't be too careful when you have speed like that guy ...

Kansas City 1B Willie Aikens has a broken finger and will miss a month. That is a big injury in a tight AL West race.

I noted Yankee injuries earlier in the year; well, they have not stopped. C Rick Cerone broke his leg and is out for the year. Ditto Lou Pinella, who dislocted his elbow in a nasty home plate collision. But I don't think this matters, as the Tigers have a 9.5 game lead in that division.

[hoopsguy]

8/16 Richard shuts out the Cardinals in Busch stadium. We had lost the two previous days but that is not important for purposes of this journal. Mike Vail hit a pinch-hit grand slam, his 6th homer on the year.

8/19 The Cubs score 20 runs at Atlanta. Two homers each for Kingman (29 on year) and Boone.

Kirk Gibson sees his 19 game hitting streak coming to an end. This is the first time that the hitting streak mark has been in what I would consider good hands this season.

PSPN shows that Kingman is currently 6th in baseball in slugging percentage at .497. Bob Horner tops the list at .530. Kingman is up to .253 with 29 homers and 67 RBIs. When he goes home at night he prays for a leadoff man that is not named Ivan DeJesus.

[hoopsguy]

Dave Rozema of Detroit has the most serious injury that I've seen - severe hip injury, out 6 months. Ouch.

Gary Gray, the man traded for Reggie Jackson, is hitting .315 with 2 homers and 15 RBIs for the Yankees. I wonder if he was sent to the minors or has just been rotting on their bench? Either way, hard to fathom that guy for Reggie. I'm still struggling to understand that one.

8/22 - Kingman with another two-homer game against the Braves.

8/24 - we sweep the Astros in Houston. That is a bad team, but we did have our #1 - #3 starters pitching. Kingman moves to 32 homers on the year. That is tops in the league, two ahead of Horner.

Another injury in KC, as Amos Otis goes on the 15 day disabled list. My scouts keep telling me "Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps" and I can see why as he earns Player of the Week honors for the Royals. He looks like a Kingman-lite (.236 20 HR 58 RBI) right now but at 26 years of age could grow into something more.

The Cubbies close out August with another couple of wins against the Astros. Richard has looked great all month, and the team is 3 above .500 again. If it wasn't for that pesky 8 game losing streak we could be ... well, we could be 8 games back instead of 12 games back of the Cards.

Bob Boone sustains a rib injury and will miss two weeks. Huh, we take him out from behind the plate and then he gets a rib injury? Go figure.

[hoopsguy]

I said before that Richard had been good in August. Well, PSPN reports that he now leads the league in ERA with a mark of 1.57. He is also 4th in WHIP at 1.02. He is neck-and-neck with Mario Soto, among others, in both categories.

Smart money right now for the MVP awards would go on the following guys:
NL - Dale Murphy .283 36 homers, 77 RBIs, 53 SB. The voters seem to love the guys who blend speed/power and he is the best in the game right now by that measure.

AL - Kirk Gibson .325 10 homers, 67 RBIs. Pretty soft power numbers, but has a great shot at batting title, plays for a first place club, and is the best of the bunch in a league that doesn't really have a five tool standout this year.

Somewhat interesting note - although Kingman has the lions share of Cubs homers on the year, the longest one by a Cub was by Jerry Martin. He trucked one 452' on 6/27.

Mike Schmidt, who is hitting .246 has eeked out an 18 game hitting streak.

[hoopsguy]

The early September schedule is brutal, with a home series against Cincinnati and a road series in St. Louis. We split the six games, helping push the Reds a half game behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

Other races:
AL East - the Yankees have battled through injuries and dumb management to cut into the Tiger lead. Detroit is up 4 games, with an 84-54 record that is by far the best in the American League.

AL West - Kansas City, at 80-59, is up a half game on Oakland. Everyone else has fallen back to the pack.

NL East - Cards are up 11 on the Cubs, with the Pirates and Expos right around the same level as Chicago.

[hoopsguy]

9/10 - D. Martinez is now 2-11 with a 3.02 ERA after losing 1-0 in Montreal. This is a bad, long-running joke.

Schmidt's hitting streak ends at 19, leaving him tied with Gibson for the best mark.

Oakland has three starters - Rick Langford (14), Mike Norris (11), and Matt Keough (10) with double digit complete games. Steve McCatty has 8 as well. Guess they aren't buying the whole pitch count argument out west.

Ivan DeJesus - 24 stolen bases, caught 15 times. He is so on the bench next year.

John Tudor of the Red Sox is out for the rest of the year with a hip injury.

9/18 - Dale Murphy is the first to 40 homers and is likely the only guy getting there. Kingman is 2nd with 33 homers.

[hoopsguy]

9/20 - Mick Kelleher suffers a serious knee injury that will end his season and, hopefully, his Cubs career. He performed above his skill level this year, hitting .275 with 6 homers and 34 RBIs in 389 at bats. That is about 300 more at bats than he would get on a championship quality team.

Mike Schmidt hit 3 homers in that game, but the Cubs won 8-5 in 12 innings by virtue of a 3 run walk-off job by Cliff Johnson.

One more injury for the Yankees - Ron Guidry is having pains in his elbow and is shut down for the year.

It is a race to finish above .500 down the stretch. A late three game losing streak puts us right at even, but we never dip below. Big Daddy is on the hill in the finale looking to put us at 82-80 but it does not go our way. A 5-1 loss leaves the 1980 Cubs as an 81-81 team. Thirteen back of the Cardinals, tied for 3rd place with Montreal.

[hoopsguy]

The Reds and Dodgers finished the season tied at 96-66, which is the best mark in all of baseball. But one of these teams will be staying home from the post season.

The pitching matchup is Seaver (15-8, 2.12 ERA) vs Jerry Reuss (14-10 2.94) in Los Angeles. But Seaver is a late scratch and Mike LaCoss (12-3 3.09 ERA) is the replacement and he is terrific. The Reds scratch out a run in the 8th to break the tie and add an insurance run in the 9th to earn a 3-1 victory and a date with St. Louis. Tom Hume nails down his 55th save of the year.

Detroit won the AL East with a 95-67 mark, two games better than the Yankees. Hmm, wonder if Reggie would have been worth those two games? In the West, Kansas City edged out Oakland by a game with a 96-66 mark. KC closed the season out with 5 straight wins; both teams were 8-2 over their final 10. It looks like that was a really terrific race.

St. Louis was the only team to run away and hide, as they won the division by 8 games over Pittsburgh.

[hoopsguy]

Statistical Leaders - Batting:
BA:
AL Champ - Al Woods (Tor) .315
NL Champ - George Foster (Cin) .318
Top Cub - Mike Vail .278 (28th)

HR:
AL Champ - Reggie Jackson (Cle) 33
NL Champ Dale Murphy (Atl) 40
Top Cub - Dave Kingman 34 (5th)

RBI:
AL Champ - Reggie Jackson (Cle) 93
NL Champ - Mike Schmidt (Phi) 110
Top Cub - Dave Kingman 91 (7th)

Runs:
AL Champ - Willie Wilson (KC) 113
NL Champ - Dale Murphy (Atl) 101
Top Cub - Dave Kingman 61 (tied 69th)

Hits:
AL Champ - Willie Wilson (KC) 197
NL Champ - Keith Hernandez (StL) 185
Top Cub - Bill Buckner 147 (tied 52nd)

Stolen Bases:
AL Champ - Willie Wilson (KC) 97
NL Champ - Omar Moreno (Pit) 75
Top Cub - Ivan DeJesus 26 (35th)

On Base Percentage:
AL Champ - Richie Zisk (Tex) .379
NL Champ - George Foster (Cin) .361
Top Cub - Mike Vail .318 (tied 80th)

On Base + Slugging:
AL Champ - George Brett (KC) .884
NL Champ - George Foster (Cin) .935
Top Cub - Dave Kingman .777 (25th)

[hoopsguy]

Statistical Leaders - Pitching:
ERA:
AL Champ - Tom Underwood (NYY) 1.83
NL Champ - J.R. Richard (Chi) 1.63

Wins:
AL Champ - Dennis Leonard (KC) 22
NL Champ - Don Sutton (LA) 17
Top Cub - Dennis Lamp 12 (tied 44th)

Saves:
AL Champ - Aurelio Lopez (Det) 52
NL Champ - Tom Hume (Cin) 55
Top Cub - Lee Smith 34 (tied 21st)

Innings Pitched:
AL Champ - Mike Norris (Oak) 300.1
NL Champ - John Candelaria (Pit) 255.2
Top Cub - Dennis Lamp 209.1 (tied 69th)

Complete Games:
AL Champ - Rick Langford (Oak), Britt Burns (CHW) 17
NL Champ - John Candelaria (Pit) 6
Top Cub - Rick Reuschel, Dennis Martinez, Dennis Lamp 1 (tied 69th)

Shutouts:
AL Champ - Britt Burns (CHW), Scott McGregor (Bal), Dennis Leonard (KC) 4
NL Champ - John Candelaria 4
Top Cub - Rick Reuschel 1 (tied 21st)

Strikeouts:
AL Champ - Len Barker (Cle) 202
NL Champ - Steve Carlton (Phi) 214
Top Cub - J.R. Richard 160 (11th)

Walks:
AL "Champ" - Jim Clancy (Tor) 112
NL "Champ" - Pat Zachry (NYM) 87
Top Cub - J.R. Richard 64 (tied 62nd)

Run Support:
AL Champ - Dennis Leonard (KC) 165
NL Champ - Don Sutton (LA) 118
Top Cub - Dennis Lamp 103 (tied 33)

[hoopsguy]

Both playoff series begin at the park of the team with fewer wins - maybe I do not understand the mechanic to calculate the home field advantage?

October 12th:
Jack Morris throws a four hit shutout, final score 6-0.
Bob Forsch outduels Mario Soto 1-0. Keith Hernandez hit a solo shot for the only score.

October 13th:
Detroit overcomes 22 game winner Dennis Leonard in a hard-fought 3-2 win. Champ Summers hit a three run homer in the 8th to stun the Royals.
The Cardinals survived a Johnny Bench grand slam and some shaky pitching by Pete Vukovich by scoring a bunch in an 8-5 victory.
Both the Tigers and Cards are up 2-0 in their series.

October 15th:
Paul Splittorff was dealing in a make or break game for the Royals at Kaufmann Stadium. He held the Tigers to just two hits while Darrell Porter supplied the offense. Porter's three run homer in the 8th sucked all the tension out of the building. 2-1 Tigers series lead.
All star starter John Fulgam wasn't able to deliver win #3 of the series for the Cardinals. Bench hit a two run homer in the first and the Reds clawed their way to two more runs in a 4-3 win driven by 3 2/3 innings of flawless work by the bullpen. 2-1 Cardinals series lead.

October 16th:
Lance Parrish hit a two run homer in a deciding four run sixth inning as the Tigers advanced to the World Series with a 4-2 win.
The Cardinals shook off an early 2-0 deficit, putting up three runs in the top of the 8th to win 4-2 and set up a meeting with the Tigers. Gary Templeton had a pair of hits and a steal, while maintaining his .500 average for the series.

[hoopsguy]

World Series - the Tigers have home field advantage.

Game #1 - St. Louis goes on the road, beats Jack Morris, and earns a 3-2 win in 10 innings. The Cards put runners on all game before breaking through with a pair of runs in the top of the 8th to tie the score. Morris left after nine and the Cards immediately scored on reliever Dave Tobik.

Game #2 - John Wockenfuss, who hit into a double play in the bottom of the 10th in Game One, went 3-3 with a home run and three RBI's in a 5-4 Detroit win. The Cards led 4-2 in the top of the 7th, with a man on 3rd and no outs when Leon Durham flied out to LF Dave Stegman. Stegman, 312' from home plate, threw out Ted Simmons attempting to tag up. In the bottom of the inning the Tigers scored three to take the lead on a two run homer by Wockenfuss. Tobik, the loser in Game One, pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win.

Game #3 - John Fulgam pitched eight strong innings to get the win, delighting the Cardinal fans that packed Busch Stadium. The Cards scored four runs in the bottom of the 6th to help erase an early 2-0 deficit. Ted Simmons had two hits and two RBIs.

Game #4 - In a "where the heck did that come from" moment, Silvio Martinez threw eight shutout innings to help the Cardinals assume a 3-1 series lead. The Cards got an RBI triple from Leon Durham, who later scored on a sacrifice fly, in the bottom of the 6th.

Game #5 - The Cardinals failed to close out the series at home, falling 10-4 to a spirited Tigers team. Lance Parrish, Champ Summers, and Alan Trammell each homered against Cards starter Bob Forsch. George Hendrick knocked in all four of the Cardinal runs.

Game #6 - Pete Vukovich and the Cards earn a 5-2 road win and take home the hardware. Keith Hernandez has three hits, three RBIs, and finishes the playoffs hitting .372. Closer George Frazier got saves in all seven Cardinal playoff wins. Cubs fans everywhere are displeased.

[hoopsguy]

AL Cy Young + RPOY (same since this is first year of league) - Jerry Koosman (Min) 21-8 2.03 ERA
AL MVP + ROY (same since this is first year of league) - Willy Wilson (KC) .293 4 HR 66 RBIs

AL Gold Glove Winners:
P Len Barker (Cle)
C Jim Sundberg (Tex)
1B Cecil Cooper (Mil)
2B Rob Wilfong (Min)
3B John Castino (Min)
SS Bucky Dent (NYY)
LF Hal McRae (KC)
CF Dwayne Murphy (Oak)
RF Sixto Lezcano (Mil)

AL Silver Sluggers:
C Jim Sundberg (Tex)
1B Dave Revering (Oak)
2B Bobby Grich (Cal)
3B Wayne Gross (Oak)
SS Roy Smalley (Min)
LF Joe Charboneau (Cle)
CF Al Oliver (Tex)
RF Reggie Jackson (Cle)
DH Kirk Gibson (Det)