[Palaaemon]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

So it appears that the answer to number 1 is simply that 1976 in the WPK has proven to be a fairly low scoring environment thus far. Mah's 29 RBI on the season puts him in a 4th place tie in the SJL and his 23 runs scored isn't far behind the leaders in the league. He has hit quite well with runners in scoring position. He has a .422 OBP. He has hit in the 3rd slot in the lineup in all but 3 plate appearances. The upshot is, his numbers are quite good within the statistical context of the league. (Granted, the Mud Hens are middle of the league in runs scored in the SJL.)

Wow. I had no idea how anemic scoring was in the WPK this season. He does appear to be doing well all things considered.

Question #2: Jamel McNeil's best season in terms of WAR was his first season- 1965- when he put up 8 WAR. Jose Santos, who won the Pitcher of the Year award in the MGL that season put up 7.7. They were teammates on the L.A. Spinners and McNeil certainly could have beaten out his teammate for the award that season. But now that I look at the settings for the WPK it appears that relievers can win this award. So I'm not sure how close McNeil came and looking at the stats I'm kind of surprised he didn't win it. No reliever has yet won the award in either league but if it was going to happen it would have been McNeil in '65.

Now the only question is whether I actually want relievers to be eligible for the award. But given how hard it appears to be for them to actually earn the award, I'm not sure I feel the need to change this.

You know now that we have gone through these 11 complete years and awards and no closers/relievers won (although perhaps McNeil was the closest to winning it) I truly wonder if perhaps that they have weighted saves so heavily as to possibly bias the modern closer against the older stopper/reliever for a chance at the Cy Young award (or what ever name may be substituted). I have seen modern closers win the award before. Maybe the sample size is too small but surely with an outlier like McNeil (he is about as perfect as you can get as a closer/reliever for this era) and his results, we have enough to be fairly certain. What do you think?

Have a great day!

Palaaemon