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Old 03-08-2019, 03:24 AM   #20
waittilnextyear
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1981 in Review

1981 Season





Now we're really starting to collect some history. Three years in the books in this "what if" type of experiment.

The Red Sox couldn't sustain their 126-win pace from the previous season and actually fell short of the playoffs altogether with a lackluster 103-win season in 1981. All of New England is in a tizzy. The upstart New York Yankees upended the Red Sox by posting 111 wins to take the AL East and advance to the World Series. Babe Ruth, now 21 years old, still hasn't quite burst onto the scene for New York. Ruth saw his ratings get a nice bump in preseason but is still just scratching the surface (.238/.322/.439, 10 HR, 41 RBI in 63 starts, mostly in LF). The engine that propelled the Yankees was a ruthless, malevolent pitching staff that allowed an AL-low 586 runs. OK, so they also scored the 2nd most runs in the AL and had the 3rd most efficient defense. A pretty decent squad if you ask me. Aaron Judge [.310/.429/.612, 44 HR, 124 RBI] led the league in bases on balls (120) and runs scored (129). He scored so many runs because Charlie Keller [.278/.390/.628, 54 HR, 151 RBI] and Joe Collins [.277/.371/.563, 46 HR, 134 RBI] were incessantly driving him in.

The Yankees' foe in the ALCS was the Minnesota Twins. The Twins won the 1979 World Series, but missed the playoffs last year. Minnesota was a much weaker team this time and posed little resistance to the more powerful Yankees. Third baseman Gary Gaetti had another boffo season [.269/.314/.517, 42 HR, 103 RBI], but the pitching staff was just ok--a 30-year-old Johan Santana [10-9, 4.86 ERA, 197:38 K:BB] is showing signs of breaking down as he allowed an AL-most 37 homers in 181.1 IP. Second baseman Jorge Polanco was arguably the team's MVP with a 6.7 WAR campaign [.309/.385/.534, 27 HR, 95 RBI, 28 SB].

In the National League, it was the Cubs' time to shine. The NL East champs turned in a 106-win season and then wiped out the Dodgers in the NLCS four games to two. Rookie right-hander Bill Lee [17-7, 3.00 ERA, 230:42 K:BB, 203.2 IP] was the ace of a staff that allowed an NL-low 593 runs. Lee was joined by two other double digit-winners in Matt Clement [15-5, 3.81 ERA, 226:58 K:BB, 172.1 IP] and Kyle Hendricks [14-6, 4.20 ERA, 191:37 K:BB, 182.0 IP]. In Clement's case, the 1981 season was like a beach vacation after making a combined 93 starts in the two years prior. Clement's 125 career games started (in 3 years) is baseball's all-time mark to date. The Cubbie offense was also quite potent, pacing the NL with 887 runs scored. The club's run differential (887-593 = +294) actually predicted them to be a 110-win team. Room for improvement.

The Dodgers won the NL West for the 3rd straight year, but couldn't make the World Series let alone repeat as champions. They were better than the Giants by 11 games, sucking a lot of juice out of that erstwhile rivalry. LA's stars of the 1981 season consisted of Clayton Kershaw [17-11, 2.66 ERA, 255:36 K:BB, 223.0 IP], who was merely excellent instead of otherworldly, Jim Lefebvre [.317/.395/.590, 39 HR, 126 RBI], and a 21-year-old Hanley Ramirez [.309/.388/.592, 38 HR, 107 RBI, 33 SB]. Even though he bagged a third consecutive Cy Young award, Kershaw's ratings have begun to slip at the ripe old age of 29. Very ominous. They might have to get by with only Johnny Podres, Don Sutton, Orel Hershiser, Hal Gregg, Curt Davis, Ramon Martinez, and Walker Buehler somehow. Poor franchise.





In the 3rd World Series ever played, the Yankees were just too much for the Chicago Cubs. New York prevailed in 5 games. It was a pretty classic affair, though, for being so short.

In Game 1, Ronald Torreyes hit a walk-off homer against Bruce Sutter to make it a 3-2 Yankee win. The Cubs actually held a 2-1 lead entering the 8th inning. Billy Williams homered and doubled for the North Siders.

Game 2 was a most heartbreaking reminder of Game 1 for Cubdom, as this time Yankee outfielder Ben Chapman hit a 2-run walk-off homer against Paul Assenmacher in the 12th inning of a 3-3 tie game.

Game 3 almost razed Wrigley Field to the ground after the Cubs came back from a 3-1 9th inning deficit to win 4-3. Lefty Gomez shut the Cubs down for 6.1 IP (as he is wont to do). But, Javier Baez smacked a 1-out single that was followed by a Sammy Taylor double. Manny Trillo subsequently reached on an E5 on Gil McDougald that scored both base runners to tie the game at 3. Pinch-hitter Heinz Becker hit a walk-off line drive against Myles Thomas to score Trillo. Pandemonium ensued.

The Yankees took a decisive 3-1 series lead in Game 4 when Aaron Judge and Charlie Keller hit back-to-back solo homers off of Bruce Sutter (yikes) in the 9th inning to win the game 2-1. Cub lefty Rich Hill pitched 6.2 IP of 2-hit ball that was ultimately wasted.

Game 5 was the only one in which there was no doubt how it would end. New York took a 10-1 lead and won 10-5. Ben Chapman bolstered his bid for World Series MVP by homering twice. Ronald Torreyes also homered again (go figure) and A.J. Burnett stymied the Cubs into the 7th inning. Chicago got a little bit of traction against the 44-year-old Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning before Billy Williams hit a 3-run dong off of Fred Beene. Wasn't nearly enough. Williams followed up his NL MVP season with some serious postseason fireworks--he batted .366 with 6 homers and 15 rib eye steaks in the playoffs.



1981 Chicago Cubs




Didn't quite get to the mountain top, but this is turning into a nice little team for the denizens of Chicago. GM Harry Caray must be doing something right. The club has gone from 77 wins in 1979 to 96 wins in 1980 to 106 wins this past season. Caray, who owns a 279-207 lifetime mark, also won GM of the year in 1981.

Center fielder Adolfo Phillips was written off in the preseason after the ratings boogeyman got to him, but he shook it off like nothing happened. One could hardly tell a difference in performance [.309/.402/.571, 36 HR, 95 RBI, 15 SB, 7.9 WAR].

First baseman Bill Buckner set a bunch of new career highs: .337 batting average, 19 HR, 93 RBI, 26 SB, and 118 runs scored to name a few. Buckner led the National League in at bats (688) and hits (232). He also holds the longest hitting streak ever at 31 games--a mark that will likely never be broken. Javier Baez continued to blossom as well [.289/.331/.522, 34 HR, 117 RBI].

But, the 1981 Cub season will be forever remembered for the Billy Williams show. Williams was an All-Star, won the silver slugger, and the NL MVP award. He led the NL in batting average (.359), RBI (157), OPS (1.112), and WAR (10.1). Williams also had a pretty decent game on October 2nd where he went 4-4 with 3 BBs, hit 3 homers, scored 6 times, and drove in 10 runs as the Cubs thrashed the Phillies 27-2.

Billy L Williams sets the CHC regular season game record for RBI with 7. Billy L Williams ties the NL regular season game record for RBI with 8. Billy L Williams ties the CHC regular season game record for runs with 4. Billy L Williams ties the NL regular season game record for runs with 5. Billy L Williams ties the NL regular season game record for home runs with 3. Billy L Williams sets the NL regular season game record for runs with 6. Billy L Williams sets the NL regular season game record for RBI with 10.



Awards and Anomalies







NL MVP: Billy Williams (CHN) [.359/.446/.666, 46 HR, 157 RBI]

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw (LAN) [17-11, 2.66 ERA, 223.0 IP]

NL Reliever of the Year: Jonny Venters (ATL) [2-5, 2.41 ERA, 26 SV]

NL Rookie of the Year: Frank Robinson (CIN) [.339/.424/.679, 40 HR, 110 RBI]


NL Silver Sluggers:

P - Alex Wood (ATL), 1st
C - Javy Lopez (ATL), 2nd
1B - Bill Buckner (CHN), 1st
2B - Jeff Kent (SFN), 1st
3B - Jim Lefebvre (LAN), 3rd
SS - Hanley Ramirez (LAN), 1st
LF - Billy Williams (CHN), 1st
CF - Jim Edmonds (STL), 1st
RF - Chuck Klein (PHI), 2nd

NL Gold Gloves:

P - Matt Clement (CHN), 1st
C - Austin Hedges (SDN), 1st
1B - Mark Sweeney (SDN), 1st
2B - Ken Oberkfell (STL), 2nd
3B - Jeff Branson (CIN), 1st
SS - Brandon Crawford (SFN), 3rd
LF - Emilio Bonifacio (ATL), 2nd
CF - Bake McBride (PHI), 1st
RF - Dave Parker (PIT), 1st


As for the junior circuit...






AL MVP: Reggie Smith (BOS) [.333/.427/.635, 46 HR, 121 RBI]

AL Cy Young: Lefty Gomez (NYA) [19-6, 1.94 ERA, 213.0 IP]

AL Reliever of the Year: Ed Vosberg (TEX) [3-2, 1.62 ERA, 28 SV]

AL Rookie of the Year: John Jaha (MIL) [.288/.382/.562, 44 HR, 120 RBI]


AL Silver Sluggers:

DH - Charlie Keller (NYA), 2nd
C - Darrell Porter (KCA), 1st
1B - John Jaha (MIL), 1st
2B - Jorge Orta (CHA), 2nd
3B - Ed Charles (OAK), 1st
SS - Carlos Baerga (CLE), 1st
LF - Pat Seerey (CLE), 2nd
CF - Reggie Smith (BOS), 3rd
RF - Aaron Judge (NYA), 1st

AL Gold Gloves:

P - Mike Mussina (BAL), 1st
C - Darrell Porter (KCA), 3rd
1B - John Jaha (MIL), 1st
2B - Aaron Hill (TOR), 1st
3B - Buddy Bell (TEX), 2nd
SS - Chico Carrasquel (CHA), 1st
LF - Mike McCoy (TOR), 2nd
CF - Paul Blair (BAL), 2nd
RF - Russ Snyder (BAL), 2nd


The most anomalous anomaly in 1981 was once again Lefty Gomez. After last year's 22-K game where he spun a perfect game thru 26 outs and Rod Barajas broke it up with 2 outs in the 9th inning, Gomez went out and got his this season. He didn't throw a perfecto, but he did spin a pair of no-hitters for the 2nd and 3rd such outings in league history (that is, if you count the rain-shortened Cy Moore affair in 1979). On April 27th, Gomez no-hit the Tigers in Detroit by striking out 15 and walking 3. A month and a half later, Gomez got the Twins to go without a base knock in Minneapolis. "Goofy" went on to win the AL pitching Triple Crown (19 wins, 1.94 ERA, 316 K) as he led the Yanks to their first World Series title. For his career so far, Gomez has struck out 900 batters and given up 424 hits in 636.2 IP.





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