Series Wrapup

Story

After falling just one game short of capturing the N.L. West title one year earlier, the Los Angeles Dodgers turned the tables on the Atlanta Braves in 1983, edging them out in another extremely close pennant race.  Los Angeles finished the regular season with a record of 91-71, three games ahead of the runner-up Braves.  Houston placed third in the division, six games off the pace.

The Dodgers managed to replace the Braves atop the division standings even though they lost the services of veterans Ron Cey and Steve Garvey due to free agency during the off-season.  Cey joined the Chicago Cubs, while Garvey remained on the West Coast as a member of the San Diego Padres.  Although the Dodgers topped the senior circuit with 146 home runs, the departures of Cey and Garvey hurt their offense considerably since they finished just eighth in the league with 654 runs scored.  Steve Sax and Pedro Guerrero did their best to pick up the slack on offense.  Sax batted .281, scored 94 runs, and finished third in the league with 56 stolen bases.  Guerrero scored 87 runs and led the club with 32 home runs, 103 runs batted in, and a .298 batting average.

The Dodgers’ greatest strength lay in their pitching staff, which compiled a league-leading 3.10 team ERA.  Although no Dodger hurler won more than 15 games, four of the team’s starters posted double-digit win totals.  Fernando Valenzuela and Bob Welch led the way with 15 victories apiece, and Welch also finished third in the league with a 2.65 ERA.  Jerry Reuss and Alejandro Pena each won 12 games and posted an ERA well below 3.00.  Meanwhile, Steve Howe and Tom Niedenfuer excelled out of the bullpen.  Howe saved 18 games and compiled an ERA of 1.44, while Niedenfuer saved 11 games, won eight others, and compiled a mark of 1.90.   

The Dodgers’ outstanding team balance enabled them to overcome another MVP performance by Atlanta’s Dale Murphy, who hit 36 home runs, batted .302, finished second in the league with 131 runs scored, and topped the circuit with 121 runs batted in.

Over in the N.L. East, the Philadelphia Phillies returned to the top of the division standings for the first time since winning the world championship three years earlier.  The Phillies finished the regular season with a record of 90-72, six games ahead of the runner-up Pittsburgh Pirates, and eight games in front of the third-place Montreal Expos.  The defending-champion St. Louis Cardinals slipped to fourth in the division, 11 games off the pace.

The third-place Expos featured two of the league’s best players in Tim Raines and Andre Dawson.  Raines batted .298 and topped the circuit with 133 runs scored and 90 stolen bases.  Dawson batted .299, scored 104 runs, led the league with 341 total bases and 189 hits, and placed among the leaders with 32 home runs and 113 runs batted in.

However, strong performances by John Denny and Mike Schmidt enabled an aging Phillies’ team that acquired the nickname “the Wheeze Kids” to finish first in the division.  Denny earned N.L. Cy Young honors by going 19-6 with a 2.37 ERA.  Schmidt knocked in 109 runs, scored 104 others, and topped the circuit with 40 home runs.  Although 38-year-old Steve Carlton finished just 15-16, he pitched extremely well, compiling a 3.11 ERA and leading all N.L. hurlers with 275 strikeouts and 284 innings pitched.   

The Phillies made surprisingly quick work of the Dodgers in the NLCS, defeating them in four games and outscoring them by a combined margin of 16-8.  Gary Matthews earned NLCS MVP honors by batting .429, with three home runs and eight runs batted in.

Philadelphia proved to be no match for the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, though, losing to the Birds in five games.  After winning Game One by a score of 2-1, the Phillies dropped the next four contests, scoring only seven runs in the process.  They ended the Series with a team batting average of just .195.  Oriole catcher Rick Dempsey was named Series MVP for batting .385.

Other outstanding performers, notable events, and points of interest from around the league follow:

• April 5 - Tom Seaver made his first Shea Stadium appearance in a Mets uniform since 1977.  Pitching before 46,687 enthusiastic fans, the man once known as “The Franchise” worked six scoreless innings against the Phillies in gaining a no-decision.

• June 15 - The New York Mets acquired first baseman Keith Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.

• September 23 - Steve Carlton recorded his 300th career win, defeating the Cardinals 6-2 in St. Louis.

• Steve Garvey's National League record streak of 1,207 consecutive games played ended when he broke his thumb.

• Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton both surpassed Walter Johnson's career strikeout record of 3,509.

• Pittsburgh’s Bill Madlock won his fourth and final batting title with a mark of .323.

• New York's Darryl Strawberry (26 home runs, 74 RBIs, .257 batting average) earned N.L. Rookie of the Year honors.

• Cardinal Bob Forsch threw a no-hitter against the Expos on September 26.

• Montreal’s Tim Raines set a National League record by scoring 19.6 percent (133) of his team's runs.

• San Francisco’s Atlee Hammaker led all N.L. pitchers with a 2.25 ERA.

• Cincinnati's Mario Soto led the National League with 18 complete games and finished second in the circuit with 17 wins and 274 innings pitched.

• The Phillies won the National League flag despite having the oldest team in the majors and posting a sub-par team batting average (.249) and fielding average (.976).

Seasons of the National League

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