We took a step back this year finishing with an 84-78 record, finishing in 4th place, 9 games back of the division leading Minnesota Twins, who repeat at AL West Champions. The season started out strong as we went 14-7 in April to jump out to a 1.5 game lead. May went well also as I dropped to 1.5 games out of first with a 27-21 record, little did I know that I would only play .500 ball for the rest of the season. By June I was 3 games out of first and then the bottom fell out as I endured a horrid 9-16 July and got to the trading deadline 5 games under .500, 10 games out of first place. We got hot in September but by then it was too late.
My team MVP was Bill Buckner. Buckner finished the season on a 24-game hitting streak when he pulled a hamstring legging out an infield single for his 4th hit of the day. When Buckner went out with 5 games to go, he was tied with Jim Gantner for the batting title with a .325 batting average. Gantner ended up raising his average to .327 before he got injured for the rest of the season with 3 games to go. So Buckner lost the batting title but he did lead the AL in hits (215), edging out teammate Paul Molitor, and doubles (50). I had other leaders in Rupert Jones (ML leading WAR of 8.7), Dave Winfield (AL leading 131 RBI's), and Paul Molitor (AL leading 125 runs). Our offense led the AL in slugging %, on-base %, extra-base hits, and runs scored. So obviously offense wasn't the problem. The pitching was the weak point of the team as the staff was 8th or worse in all major pitching categories except for strikeouts. The team ERA of 4.19 was 9th out of 14 AL teams.
As for my Mariners, here's how the season ended up for my position players.
- C: Bob Stinson (.290, 12 HR, 52 RBI's)
- 1B: Andre Thornton (.258, 22 HR, 83 RBI's after a horrific start)
- 2B: Paul Molitor (.300, 17 HR, 86 RBI's, 67 SB's)
- 3B: Steve Braun (.268, 9 HR, 64 RBI's, 103 BB's)
- SS: Craig Reynolds (.206, 4 HR, 35 RBI's)
- LF: Richie Zisk (.312, 15 HR, 81 RBI's)
- CF: Rupert Jones (.286, 23 HR, 104 RBI's)
- RF: Dave Winfield (.281, 32 HR, 131 RBI's)
- DH: Bill Buckner (.325, 19 HR, 108 RBI's)
So, I had a strong offense with 3 players with 100+ and 3 more with 80+ RBI's. I had 3 All-Star starters in Molitor, Zisk, and Jones. We didn't get much help from our bench so we're lucky we didn't lose any significant time from our starters.
My rotation did so-so this year and my bullpen took a step back. My starters are below.
- Don Gullett: 14-12, 3.73
- Floyd Bannister: 14-12, 3.88
- Dennis Lamp: 10-6, 4.80
- Brian Kingman: 10-13, 4.39
- Wayne Twitchell: 8-10, 5.49
Rich Gossage only collected 22 saves while blowing 6 saves and earning 7 losses.