April
This season gets off to a mediocre start as he compiles a 2-2 record and 4.91 ERA over 4 starts this month. His WHIP is also 1.64 for the month.
May
An improvement this month as he posts an ERA of 3.56 ERA and a record of 3-1 over 6 starts. His WHIP is down to 1.21 this month as well. In addition, he strikes out 19 batters and walks 12.
June
For this month The Bird's ERA is down to 3.18 but he as a worse month overall. He posts a record of 1-2 and for the first time in his major league career walks more batters than he strikes out in a month.
July
Just a phenomenal month for him. In 6 starts he posts a record of 5-0, an ERA of 2.68 and strikes out 21 batters and only walks 8. Another interesting observation is that his ERA+ has gone up every month this season.
August
A fairly unremarkable month for him. He starts 7 games, compiling a 2-3 record and a 3.33 ERA to go along with a WHIP of 1.24. This month he walked and struck out batters at a fairly even clip.
September
Fidrych closes out the season with a somewhat terrible month. To go along with a 4.61 ERA, he posts an 1-3 record and walks more batters than he strikes out. His WHIP for the month is also 1.71.
It was a tight race for the AL East title for most of the season, but as they always have the Red Sox pulled away in the last month of the season to snag the playoff spot. It was still a competitive division as the Tigers finished third yet again. Here are the final MLB season standings:
Playoffs
The Red Sox atone for last season's failure by sweeping the Rangers in the ALCS while the Mets earn their second trip to the Fall Classic in as many years. The Sox steamroll over the Mets in four games to earn their second World Series title in 3 years.
Here is Fidrych's career stats at the end of this season:
Nothing much to write home about this season, which was his first as a full-time starter. His BABIP was down this year, which is good. This is not the kind of season you'd expect from a pitcher on a team stack with talent. It is again possible he may enter free agency this year, but that remains to be seen.
And now, on to the offseason!