1991
The big news through the summer of 1991 came from Oakland where Mark McGwire chased Roger Maris' homerun mark all season before ending up two dingers shy with 59. Of course, later on this number would certainly be tainted but at the time it was greeted with great fanfare when McGwire hit 2 homers in his final 3 games but ultimately fell short. His Athletics did not fall short in the AL West, winning their fourth straight division title.
The Yankees won 92 games, their highest total since a 103 win season in 1980, but it was not enough as a dominant Baltimore team, led by Cal Ripken (.289,24,103) and a career year out of Pete Harnisch (21-7, 2.67) won an MLB best 106 games to finish 14 ahead of second place New York.
New York did secure a long term committment from Will Clark, as the 27 year old first basemen avoided free agency by agreeing to a 6-year, $16.9 million extension. Clark would win his second straight American League batting title, slashing .351/.405/.600 and leading the AL in hits with 221. New York's 3-4-5 of Clark (.331,34,134), Strawberry (.286,36,122) and Calderon (.279,25,109) rivalled any team in the league. Their pitching was also solid thanks in a big part to an otherworldly season from Ken Hill (21-6, 1.98). The 25 year old Hill was acquired from St Louis just before Opening Day in exchange for 1B Hal Morris.
The Cardinals would have loved to have Hill back as he might have been the difference to finally push them past the Mets, but the two-time defending World Champions won 102 games- one more then St Louis- to claim the NL East. Despite losing Strawberry and Dykstra in successive seasons to the Yankees, the Mets kept on winning with deadline pickup Rob Deer (.206,37,83) plus free agent signings Carlton Fisk (.264,14,56) and Jose Rijo (18-10, 2.50) playing important roles.
The NL West went to the Reds with a 2-game bulge on the second place Padres, who had the three top hitters in the National League in John Kruk (.345), Shane Mack (.329) and Roberto Alomar (.328). The Giants finished 5th, 11 games out with a 77-85 record. After a solid spring, the now 30 year old Mattingly struggled at the plate once again, slashing .265/.300/.367 although he did appear in all 162 games and his .265 batting average led their anemic offense.