Well it’s playoff time again in our Dynasty 1973 league and we begin with the best of 3 series Wild card games
Indians 80-82 vs Twins 80-82 (Twins won season series 7-5)
For a while it wasn’t sure that the Indians would make the playoffs, the Yankees, Senators and A’s all made runs but they finished strong to secure a playoff spot.
As always they are led by their bash brothers Tony Perez (23 HR 114 RBI’s) and Sal Bando (28 HR 93 RBI’s) but they had a lot of help from Catcher George Mitterwald and Dave May who who both managed to add over 20 HR each (25 & 20) to be part of the power supply hit not to mention Mitterwald’s glove behind the plate and May’s 14 outfield assists to help things out. Their strength isn’t just the long ball. The team’s .261 avg lead the junior circuit. With Mark Belanger and Dave McAuliffe up the middle the defense is pretty solid. Of playoff teams only Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have better fielding stats than Cleveland.
On the Mound Jon Matlack has been the leader (22-11) but after that it becomes very ordinary with Mickey Lolich (10-15 5.17) , Bob Moose (6-12 4.83) and Steve Busby acquired from Cincy (4-8 4.89) all being very average. Only Alan Foster has an ERA below 4 and didn’t manage a winning record (9-11 3.82) On the plus side no AL team gave up less Home runs (102)
Secret Weapon: Dick McAuliffe who hit .556 with 17 RBI with the bases loaded
The Job is for Matlack to win his game and for the bats to come through for someone else can they do that vs the Twins?
Minnesota Twins 80-82
The Twins have one great bat in Al Oliver .300 27 HR 108 RBI and one very good bat in Richie Hebner (.282 21 HR 91 RBI) who have spent a lot of time driving in Bob Watson (91 Runs scored 90 walks). Oliver has also provided great defense with Bobby Grich taking plenty of hits away from left handed batters and Catcher Ray Fosse throwing out 14 of 21 trying to steal.
But the real strength of the Twins comes from their killer closer Sparky Lyle (7-1 0.86 ERA with 33 saves in 39 chances. Their starting rotation Ross Grimsley (11-10 3.63) , Dave McNally (15-15 3.92 ) and Doyle Alexander (11-9 4,28) have been very average but if they can get the ball to Lyle it’s pretty much all over. He has gotten some help from Cecil Upshaw who spent a fair time on the DL has come back to hold batters to a .214 avg with a WHIP of 0.94
Secret Weapon Lou Pinella who batted .314 with 6 HR and 21 RBI vs LHP
Peter’s Pick On paper the Indians offense outdoes the Twins particularly when facing avg pitching, They hit 50% more homers but Because Matlock pitched game 162 we’re not likely to see him for the opener and that means the twins get a shot against the tribe’s B team. Their pitching overall is practically equal other than the tribe being HR adverse. Logic and the overall stats says Cleveland takes the day but my gut tells me the Twins are able to get leads which means Sparky Lyle ends the discussion, if however they get to a game 3 then the Indians ace gives them an advantage but their closer Ray Corbin is 18 of 24 but I suspect the twins won’t let it get that far and their park doesn’t favor the long ball. Again all logic says otherwise but I’m going with my gut.
Twins in 2
Chicago Cubs 79-83 at Atlanta Bravos (Braves) (86-76) Season Series Even at 5-5
Chicago Cubs
Jeff Buroghes has come in to his own and Rusty Staub put up the best numbers of his career last season Danny Cater managed to hit .356 in 100 games. Meanwhile Steve Garvey put up solid numbers at the plate but exceptional numbers in the field (.994) but however good Garvey and Patek did in the field it pales before Tito Fuentes who has only committed a single error in over 1400 innings and 700+ chances. Everyone knows Freddie Patek is best known for his glove and only hit .210 but he also managed 10 triples to make his a danger to any pitcher and stole 11 bases in 13 chances.
On the mound Burt Hooton (14-10 3.10) and Rich Reuschel (13-10 3,13) have put up pretty good numbers for playing half the season in a hitter’s park and left Jerry Koosman’s 10-11 3.57 has been more than adequate but the bottom pair in the rotation Dick Tidrow (3-15) & Milt Pappas (6-10) have been horrible. Closer John Hiller has managed 26 saves in 34 chances holding hitters to a .199 avg. have combined fore a 9-25 record.
As for their fielding, the less said about the Cubs defense the better, the bad news is they were the 2nd worst fielding team in the majors, the good news is Atlanta was the worst.
Secret Weapon: Long ball averse. Desipte playing in one of the ultimate HR parks and playing all day games Cubs pitchers gave up only 108 HR this season. Only 3 teams gave up fewer
It’s a short series so the Cubs can keep Tidrow & Pappas for garbage time, will that be enough to win?
Atlanta Bravos (Braves)
Last season Atlanta was favored to go to the series but was eliminated early. While they weren’t able to repeat the division they had a strong season despite Dick Allen spending most of it on the DL or on KC. Caesar Cedeno picked up the slack with a triple crown quality line .324 39 HR 110 RBI but after him while many players had respectable number from Al Kaline: (.275 12 HR 58 RBI) to Dusty Baker (.254 19 HR 87 RBI) nobody else brought star power at the bat although Paul Schaal hit .294 and scored 94 runs
The stars were on the mount with Catfish Hunter (16-11 3.25) & Fergie Jenkins (21-16 3.45) giving a powerful 1-2 punch with Rollie Fingers picking up 18 saves and 8 wins with an ERA of 2.80 (along with starting two games). Despite blowing 5 of 7 save chances workhorse reliever Tom HIlgendorf went 11-5 and put in over 100 innings on the mound.
In the field the Bravos were the single worst fielding team in all the majors which makes the performances of Hunter and Jenkins even more impressive.
Secret weapon: Norm Cash hit .294 with runners in scoring position and two outs alas he now plays for KC.
Peter’s pick. At first glance the Braves would seem to have the advantage based on their overall record and their 1-2 punch on the mound but the Cubs top 3 are almost as good and managed to give up over 50 fewer HR’s as a team. Combine this with Dick Allen not expected to be back until late in the next series and it seems to me we’re going to have at least one more day playoff game once this series is over.
Cubs in 3.
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