One of the nice things about the blog being a business was that when I wrote about the various Dynasty leagues it gave me deductions.
Well the deductions are now gone but the leagues continue. With about 50 games left to our 1973 season here is where we stand by division today the AL Alpha:
Al Alpha Division.
| Team | Wins | Losses | Percentage | GB | WCGB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles | 70 | 48 | .593 | —– | +12 |
| Kansas City Royals | 69 | 49 | .585 | 1 | +11 |
| Cleveland Indians | 58 | 57 | .504 | 10 1/2 | + 1 1/2 |
| California Angels | 51 | 67 | .432 | 19 | -8 1/2 |
| New York Yankees | 47 | 68 | .409 | 21 1/2 | 11 |
Baltimore Orioles:
The Orioles have been in a dogfight for 1st place with Kansas City from week one and have traded the spot at the top all season. Amos Otis in his 3rd season with the O’s has managed a career season his 24 HR is equal to his entire total since 1969 Add to that a .303 avg 5 triples 83 RBI’s and a .997 fielding percentage and he has been a team leader but he’s not along in power. The Birds lead the majors in home runs by a LOT (157 vs 129) six other Orioles are in double digits in Homers and three others Gene Tenace (22) Davey Johnson (24) and Doug Raider leading the team with 25 are in the 20 plus club with plenty games to play. They also lead the league in triple with young Al Bumbry adding 13 along with 6 homers 10 steals (in 12 tries) and 71 runs scored topped only by Otis’ 92.
The team has been even more impressive on the left side of the infield Rader has only 8 errors in over 1000 innings and 3rd and even more incredibly Roger Metzger has only 4 errors and a fielding percentage of .994 in 1013 innings at shortstop.
That’s important because other than Bob Locker (19 saves in 20 chances) Baltimore’s rotation Dave Roberts, Andy Messersmith , rookie Jim Slanton (acquired for a 5th round pick last season from Milwaukee) ,Steve Renko with Juan Marichal have been good but not world beaters.
Alas while the left side of the infield has been zipper tight Davey Johnson’s 24 HR and 80 RBI’s are offset by 20 errors at second, almost as much as the rest of the infield combined which is why the pitching.
Item of interest: The Orioles are 10 games over .500 on the road and 12 games over .500 at home so if they hold onto the division lead or not, they’ll spell trouble for whoever they face but they have faltered in close games with a record of only 9-19 in one run games.
Kansas City:
The 1972 Royals GM saw doom before him and made a lot of trades to build up draft capital for this year and while he is no longer with the club it has paid off handsomely for the team
Kansas City has allowed the fewest runs in an AL boosted by the new DH rule while leading the AL in batting and being 2nd in Doubles. They are constantly putting the ball in play striking out only 602 times in the league 3rd in the majors and fewer than every NL team (where the pitchers are still hitting) except for St. Louis. Meanwhile their 3.46 ERA leads the AL and is led by their star Bert Blyleven who after a workhorse season with 335 innings and a 12-21 record for a bad club is now 18-8 with a career low ERA (2.49), WHIP (1.03) and a big drop in HR’s allowed giving up only 8 so far this season. Amazingly no other starter has over 9 wins and two relievers (Bob Reynolds 8-2 and Eddie Watt 8-3) are both threatening the number. At the plate veteran Frank Robinson has been key, his 23 HR & 78 RBI are big but the fact that he’s hitting .346 with runners in scoring position and two outs and .500 with the bases loaded means he’s getting the big hit when needed. Bobby Murcer an MVP candidate for the world champion yanks while productive: (.274 13 HR 65 RBI) is having his worst season since 1970 at the plate with avg, slugging and OBP all below his career averages untill there are runners in scoring position. Seven of his HR and 53 of his RBI are with runners in scoring position and with RISP and two outs he’s hitting .302
Amazingly this team has won without stars. Dick Allen had contributed 12 HR and 44 RBI before injury put him down and he was packaged in a deal with pitcher Joe Decker to Atlanta for Norm Cash and Mike Cuellar who have both been a disappointment since their arrival in the bullpen Ramon Martinez has saved 14 but blown 4 with an ERA over five and opponents hitting .302 against him yet the team still manages to win and stay right in the fight.
Items of Interest. The royals love the night life a full 14 games over .500 at night and particularly love left handed pitching 24-13 vs lefty starters they have also been strong in one run games 18-13 and have absolutely dominated AL teams going 47-26 vs the AL while only playing .500 ball vs the NL but the big difference is at home. KC is 41-14 at home but 28-35 on the road meaning, if nothing changes winning this division is VITAL for their playoff run.
Cleveland Indians
The Indians are a mystery. The team is playing .500 ball, but has scored 50 runs more than their foes. They are 3rd in the majors and 2nd in the AL in Home runs (127) but have only one player Sal Bando (22) with over twenty HR although I dare say George Mitterwald (18) and Tony Perez (17) will get there soon. If you look at the top 10 in the majors in any category the only Indian you will find is Pitcher Jon Matlack with his 15 wins and 175 strikeouts and Bob Moose who has given up a mere 0.34 HR per nine innings tying Blyleven. The Indians don’t have speed they have stolen one base in 4 tries as a TEAM. Nor will they dominate you on the mound other than Matlack (15-9 3.07 ERA) and Mel Stottlemyre (8-5 3.25 ERA) but they have been in the wild card race the entire season and currently have risen to the 2nd wild card. They are capable of beating any team, particularly at home (32-23) but are within .500 against every division in the league
Any team that takes them lightly is likely to be burned.
Item of interest. Right now there are three teams chasing them for either a wild card spot or a better wildcard spot, Minnesota and Washington and Boston. They are 4-2 vs Washington 4-3 vs Boston and almost .500 vs Minnesota ( 4-5 ). That bodes well for making the playoffs. If they do make the playoffs their opponent of choice is Baltimore who they have a winning record against.
Kansas City and Milwaukee have owned them in the AL and LA, the Reds and Pirates have owned them in the NL. Against the right opponent they will be trouble.
California Angles
The Angles have gone 7-3 in the last 10 Jose Cardenal has managed 139 hits and 28 Doubles both top 10 in the majors and 5th in the AL leading the team and Clay Carroll with 16 saves and the DH rule has been good for Orlando Cepeda giving him the chance to hit 19 Home Runs and Manny Mota hitting .330 in part time play. On the Mound Jim Rooker is 10-6 with a 2.90 ERA and Tommy John has managed a 9-8 record with an ERA a run over last season. If California gets a lead Clay Carroll has for the 3rd year straight proved is capable of keeping it with 16 saves in 18 chances despite a 3.12 ERA more than double last of last season
The bad news has been the rest of the starting pitching. Clay Kirby who went 15-13 with a 3.15 ERA in 1971 and 18-12 with a 3. 33 last season has had the worst season of his life currently 1-14 with a 5.64 ERA and 26 home runs given up so far this season. Steve Arlin has been almost as bad with a 2-12 record with a 4.38 ERA and 19 HR given up in 100 innings making the 2nd straight year that his stock has dropped (19-7 as a rookie in 71 with the Daytraders and 9-13 with Philly last year).
With a slugging percentage at the bottom of the AL it’s unlikely that their current surge will be enough to allow them to make up the 8 1/2 games they need to catch Boston for the final spot while passing both the Twins and Senators.
New York Yankees
Like most World Series champs the Yankees are in a rebuilding year which included big trades with Cincinnati which sent Thurman Munson and Johnny Mayberry to the Reds for Johnny Bench Jim Longborg and Bill Buckner but thanks to Rennie Stennett (.291 14 HR 59 RBI) and Reggie Smith (.290 13 HR 59 RBI) a respectable season from Oscar Gamble ( .278 12 HR 63 RBI) and good seasons from Wilbur Wood 14-12 3.97 and Rookie Doc Medich 10-12 3.78 without a supporting cast combined with the trades the Yanks have managed middle of the road stats on offense enough to be a danger to any team that plays them.
Alas the same can’t be said for the pitching staff overall. Their 4.50 ERA is dead last in the AL partially from playing in the HR friendly Polo Grounds which boosts power stats fierce for pull hitters but mostly from an inability to throw strikes 2nd to last in strikeouts in the majors and 3rd in the AL in walks adds up to a 1.49 team WHIP worst in the AL and only slightly better than Philly’s 1.52, Their 15 saves in 22 chances is horrible for a bullpen.
The biggest disappointment of the season has to be Cesar Geronimo. While he’s been perfect in the field with six assists and no errors in over 900 innings in the OF primarily in center he’s only managed to hit .197 with an OBP of .255 both 90 points behind the previous season in Milwaukee and while the short fences down the line have boosted his HR total to 3 from last years 2 he’s down 6 triples despite the very deep cavernous center field for balls to roll.
The Yanks might play spoiler for teams that don’t pay them proper respect and don’t get them into extra innings because that’s the only category where they have a winning record (5-3).
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