Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

The 2nd year of our draft league is winding down and a lot is going on Here is where things stand:

East	Wins	Losses	Pct	GB	Wild Card GB
NY Yankees	81	59	.579	—-	+11 1/2
Seattle Pilots	67	73	.479	14	1 1/2
Baltimore Orioles	63	80		19 1/2	7

Barring an epic collapse the Yankees have a pretty solid lock on the AL East and are a solid seven games ahead of Cleveland for the best record in the AL. Their trades last season when the playoff door closed have paid off and holding the 2nd-4th leading hitters in the AL and Jim Hickman’s MVP caliber season all help . Seattle trading for Frank Howard who is has made a huge difference leading the AL in HR & RBI and puts the defending AL champs in a position to challenge Minnesota for that final wild card spot to end the year. Particularly with the two AL leaders in walks batting ahead of him. Despite a good year by Billy Williams and Orioles pitchers striking out everything in sight the team has surprisingly underperformed but even with only 19 games to go to rule them out is dangerous

Central	Wins	Losses	Pct	GB	Wild Card GB
Cleveland Indians	74	66	.529	—-	+4 1/2
Minnesota Twins	69	74	.483	6 1/2	—-
California Angels	58	85	.406	17 1/2	11

Cleveland has surged lately building up a 6 1/2 game lead but even with Tony Perez & Jim Perry outperforming all expectations and Sam McDowell being Sam McDowell they are not far enough ahead to avoid worry. Minnesota is clinging to that last wild card spot by their fingernails with Duke Sims and Killebrew doing their best to hold off the charge but also has the toughest schedule with five of their last seven series against teams with better records than them BUT 5 games vs Cleveland meaning the division is still in play. California despite an excellent expansion draft have underperformed all around.

West	Wins	Losses	Pct	GB	Wild Card GB
Boston Red Sox	71	72	.497	—-	+2
Oakland A’s	71	72	.487	—-	+2
California Angels	50	90	.357	19 1/2	17 1/2

The tightest division race in the majors remains deadlocked with only 19 to play. Add to that only a 2 game margin over the bottom wild card and this battle becomes do or die. Can Rico Carty’s bat, Gary Nolan’s arm and Pete Richert’s work in the pen overcome a disappointing year from knuckleballer Phil Niekro? Or will Sonny Siebert, Daryl Knowles be the difference to keep Reggie & company moving forward? Meanwhile the Washington Senators sitting with the #1 pick next year plus draft picks from trades are in a great position to rebuild and play spoiler.

East	Wins	Losses	Pct	GB	Wild Card GB
Atlanta Braves	86	54	.614	—-	+9 1/2
Philadelphia Phillies	84	59	.587	3 1/2	+6
Montreal Expos	55	88	.385	32 1/2	23 1/2

Only the Yankees rivaled the Braves in trades for draft picks and like the Yanks Atlanta has cashed in. Tony Oliva and Caesar Cedeno have ruled at the bat while Fergie Jenkins leads the majors in ERA with pitching help from Chuck Dobson, Mike Cuellar and Eddie Fisher saving the day. Philly the other expansion team with Luke Walker, Bob Robinson and Dick Selma saving the day don’t intend to make it easy for the Braves. Montreal was expected to be a contender this year

Central	Wins	Losses	Pct	GB	Wild Card GB
Cincinnati Reds	102	41	.713	—-	+27
NY Day Traders	63	77	.450	37 1/2	13 1/2
Montreal Expos	64	79	.448	38	14

The Reds haven’t just deiminated this division they’ve dominated the league, Carbo, Rettenmund, Bench, Morgan Tolan own the leaderboards at bat with Fritz Peterson and Steve Hargan doing it on the pitching side. The defending champ day traders are still alive in the wild card hunt thanks to Tom Seaver with help from Larry Brown & Terry Harmon but only just. St. Louis’ is right behind them and only a bad luck year from Bob Gibson have kept them from doing more.

West	Wins	Losses	Pct	GB	Wild Card GB
San Francisco Giants	82	58	.586	—-	+5 1/2
Pittsburgh Pirates	78	65	.545	5 1/2	—-
Los Angeles Dodgers	57	83	.407	25	19 1/2

The Giants under new management have been a Pitching machine with Dave McNally reversing last years bad luck and Tom Hall and John Lamb leading the way. Pittsburgh led by Luis Aparicio and Gaylord Perry having huge years seem a wild card lock but are still in striking distance for the division. The rest of the league has discovered the way to beat the LA Dodgers. Walk Willie McCovey because if you don’t he will beat you badly.