The 2nd of our reviews of the upcoming wild card series. (Best of 3) the winner of this series will face the SF Giants in the Divisional Round (best of 5) The AL Writeup is here.
Cincinnati Reds 88-74 10 GB 3rd Wild Card
Offense: Last year the Reds underperformed this year this year they were 4th in the NL in HR (128) 3rd in Slugging (,383) 2nd in OBP (.325) & 1st in triples (53) led by Johnny Bench who was 2nd in both HR (34) and RBI (114) to Triple crown winner Billy Williams. Of course being 2nd in RBI’s is easy when you have Joe Morgan (135 walks) and Dick Allen (115) walks on base constantly. Morgan would lead the league with 122 runs and finish 2nd to Lou Brock with 53 stolen bases. Dick Allen would have 99 runs scored along with 30 HR of his own. Bobby Tolan would also score 102 runs thanks to 186 hits while stealing 30 more and young Bill Buckner would hit .307 with 10 triples (7th in league) only one behind teammate Ted Martinez tied for 3rd with 11. This is a big Red Offensive Machine.
Defense: The Reds were part of a 4 way tie for the best fielding percentage at .987 like Boston & St. Louis only comitting 83 errors all year. As much as Bench contributed offensively his record behind the plate was incredible 15 caught stealing in 15 attempts and only one passed ball and two errors in 912 chances over 1255 innings. In fact no person not even Lou Brock would steal a single base against the Reds this season. With no stolen bases against and only two passed balls you had to earn your bases against the Reds. Bobby Tolan who saved the 1969 WS for the Mets by robbing Pete Rose of a 9th inning double was excellent in Center. Meanwhile Al Kaline and Dick Allen would both put up great range factors at 1B Allen would move to 3B with the Ron Santo Trade to the Yankees putting up comparable numbers .961 Fielding over 920 innings. Joe Morgan’s .993 fielding percentage at 2nd kept the infield tight.
Pitching: This was the weak link of the team. Cincy’s 3.56 ERA was 12th in the Majors just ahead of the Washington Senators 3.64. Their 904 strikes were in the bottom 5 of the majors and teams hit .262 against them, only the Orioles and Cubs and KC were more generous with their total hits. On the bright side their 406 walks allowed were 2nd lowest in the NL and 4th best in the majors. Fritz Peterson was a legit ace going 22-8 with a 2.90 ERA in 282 innings his 1.28 walks per 9 innings 2nd best in the NL. Spaceman Lefty Bill Lee did fine work in the Bullpen saving 18 in 20 chances while going 6-5 and Pedro Borbon 8 saves in 11 chances wasn’t bad but Fred Gladding’s 4-9 and Bucky Brandon’s 1-6 and Steve Mingori’s 0-3 in saves is why the Reds didn’t clinch against StL till the final two weeks of the season.
Pittsburgh Pirates 91-71 2nd place NL Beta 17 GB 2nd Wild Card
Offense: Pittsburgh .256 team avg (2nd in NL 4th in majors) and .328 OBP (tops in NL 2nd in majors) meant a lot of men on base which is why Pit was 3rd in the NL in RBI’s 676 and just behind Cincy in HR (126). Hank Aaron’s 31 HR led a team that has six players with double figures in HR. He added 101 walks to allow others to drive him in. Rod Carew’s .341 avg (2nd in league) and .400 OBP (4th in league) on 201 hits and meant there was usually someone on base. Rennie Stennett’s .319 Avg didn’t hurt there either.
Defense: Defense was not a strong point for Pittsburgh winning 91 games despite the 3rd worst defense in the NL and the 3rd most past balls and errors in the Majors a bit of a surprise with a man as steady as Bill Freehan behind the plate but age caught up to him in the field as it did Aaron (19 errors) and George Scott (27 errors). Young Bill Russell’s 23 errors and .967 fielding at short was below avg but both Johnny Briggs (6 errors in LF) and young Jose Cruz (5 errors in center) made up for this by throwing out 7 and 9 runners from the OF respectively but Joe Lahoud surpassed them all throwing out 11 runners while committing no errors in 750 2/3 innings to augment his power at the plate.
Pitching: Pittsburgh gave up the 4th fewest hits and their teams 1.20 WHIP was tied for 4th best in the majors. This was due to Gaylord Perry being practically unbeatable going 22-10 in 302 1/3 innings (5th in NL) with an ERA below 2 (1.97 1st in NL). Bruce Kison (11-10 2.99) and Bill Singer (10-6 3.05) put up respectable numbers but it was Perry who carried the rotation. Meanwhile Mike Marshall came into his own saving 25 in 29 chances. In all Pittsburgh pen saved 44 games while blowing 15 just below 3/4
Season Series
Series 1 May at Cincy
In Game one Cincy got all they needed in the 1st on a Tolan leadoff single to start the inning and a Morgan double, Bench single and Rudi double off Bill Singer with two outs. A solo shot by George Scott off Milt Wilcox in the 2nd made it 3-1 and a two out 9th inning single by Davey Johnson put the Bucks within one but Don Gullett came in for Bill Lee and Struck out pinch hitter Ron Woods to solidify the victory.
The Pirates struck 1st in game two with a Hank Aaron 2 run shot off Paul Splitoff but Bench answered with a solo shot in the 2nd and the Reds took the lead in the 5th when Buckner stroked a 2 out single scoring Kaline & Martinez and grew the lead in the 7th with an RBI single from Splittorff and an RBI double by Buckner but Ron Woods made up for his failure in game one with a 3 run HR in the top of the 8th to tie it and Carew followed in the 9th with a 2 out two on single to give Pittsburgh the 6-5 lead off George Culver and MIke Marshall held the Reds to a single in the ninth thanks to a nice play by Ron Woods, not known for his range on a flare to Right
In the Rubber match Pit scored to in the 2 and 1 in the fourth off Dick Bosman while the Reds could only manage two unearned runs one off winner Bruce Kison and one off Closer Mike Marshall both made possible by Jose Cruz Miscues but that was all as the Pirates won 4-2
2nd Series June
The Reds took their revenge in Pittsburgh beginning with a pair of shutouts Splitorff in game one of a 5-0 route while 4 Reds pitchers kept the Pirates off the Board for 10 innings and finally scored 3 off of Mike Marshall in Relief of Gaylord Perry who had answered them scoreless inning for scoreless inning. A Tolan Triple and a Kaline Sac to score him made the 3-0 final. The Reds jumped to a 3-0 early lead off Bill Singer thanks to an Allen Homer But Woods, Aaron and Bill Russell all went deep in the 7th to tie things at four until Dick Allen doubled in one run and Rookie George Foster pinch hitting drove in a 2nd off of Mike Marshall for a 6-4 win
3rd Series Aug
Bill Singer finally managed a win off Cincy in game one when he shut out the reds over 8 1/3 on two hits while 2 RBI’s from Woods and another by Rennie Stennett in the first off Reds ace Friz Peterson were more than enough in their 5-0 win. Three Cincy Pitchers returned the favor in game two blanking the bucks who had to use five pitchers after Starter Brian Johnson had to be pulled in the 2nd with arm stiffness. Homers by Dick Allen and Joe Morgan added to the 8-0 rout for their 4th win in their last five meetings but the Pirates had the last laugh in game 3 as they blanked the Reds right Back with Ross Grimsley pitching five, Gary Ross pitching three and Mike Marshall getting his 3rd save vs the reds vs 2 losses. It was a 3rd inning solo shot off Wilcox by Scott and an RBI damage by Aaron off off off Mingori that accounted for the 2-0 win.
Series 4 Sept
The final series of year was the most competitive with Mike Marshall getting saves in game 1 & 3 neither Friz Peterson and Bill Singer batted it out to a 2-2 tie before Hank Aaron just beat Bench’s tag on a throw from Dave Martinez after a Rennie Stennett 8th inning single. In game 3 it was the Pirate bats bailing out Jim Barr who left the Reds with a 5-2 lead in the 2nd. A two out Carew single tied the game 5-5 while Hank Aaron’s three runs on the very next pitch from Mike Caldwell finished the job. In the middle game however the Bucks Ace failed in his 2nd attempt to get a win against the Reds as the Big Red Machine scored 3 in the first and then after Pittsburgh fought back to tie it in the bottom of the 9th they took advantage of a Bill Russell error in the 10th allowing Dick Allen and Joe Morgan to single in the winning runs off a game Gaylord Perry who went the 10 inning distance and a final rally which got the tying runs on with two outs in the 10th fell short.
Season Series even 6-6
This series I suspect will come down to who wins the Perry/Peterson Duel. Neither Ace managed a win vs the other team during the season. Both have good offenses but Cincinnati’s is so overwhelming that it’s hard to pick against them, but Pittsburgh has a legitimate closer so if they can get a lead they might hold it. However while Marshall had four saves vs the Reds he also lost a par. Despite this I have no faith in the Reds holding leads once acquired. I suspect as I said it will all come down to the first meeting between Peterson & Perry? Will one or both rise to the occasion? I really don’t know but I have to pick a winner so I’m going to give the edge to the team managed by the winningest manager in Dynasty history (2665 tournaments wins) and the player #1 ranked #1 all time in the game.
Pit 2-1
