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[B]BBN - 1988 MLB Playoff Report[B]
While it was not as wild 1987, 1988 saw 2 of the divisions come down to the final week.
The New York Mets won 111 games and won the NL East by 25 games.
In the NL West, the Cincinnati Reds held off the San Diego Padres and won the division with a week left in the season.
In the AL East, Boston Red Sox had 2.5 game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays on September 23rd, with 10 games left. The Red Sox won their next 3 but followed that up with 5 straight losses. Meanwhile the Blue Jays won all 9 of their games from the 23rd on to win the division by 2 games. In true Boston fashion, after they were eliminated, they won their final 2 games
In the AL West, the Kansas City Royals trailed the California Angels by 2 games with 10 games left. They went 8-2 in that stretch. Unlike like year, they did not play the Angels, who went 9-1 to win the division by 1.
In the NLCS, the Reds easily took care of the Mets in a rematch of the 1987 NLCS. They won the series 4-1 with only loss a
1-0 loss to Dwight Gooden, who throw a no hitter. Gooden allowed onbe baserunner on a walk and he was erased on a double play. Reds SS Barry Larkin hit .353 with 1 HR and 2 RBI and was named Series MVP.
The ALCS was a much closer series with the Blue Jays and Angels spliting the 1st two games. Then Toronto won Games 3 and 4 to take a commanding lead and put them 1 win away from their 1st World Series appearance. California took the next two games to set up a win or go home Game 7. In Game 7, the Angels jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back, winning the game 7-3 and advancing to the World Series verse the Cincinnati Reds. Angels SP Mike Witt went 2-0, with 0.00 ERAm 4 hits, 5 BB and 12 Ks in 15.2 to win Series MVP.
The Cincinnati Reds took Game 1 of the World Series 2-1. In Game 2, the California Angels evened the series by winning 6-2. The Reds bounced back in Game 3 winning 6-3. The Angels turned thier pithcing up a notch, winning Game 4 (2-1), Game 5 (7-4) and Game 6 (1-0) to their first ever championship. CF Devon White, hit .318 with 1 HR and 3 RBIs to win the World Series MVP.
Congrats to the California Angels on their 1st World Series
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