[BirdWatcher]

So let me first start with apologies to anyone (the one or two of you? ) who might be following along faithfully and are wondering what happened next and where I went.
Recently I found myself doing a bit of a cost/benefit analysis on this thread and for once things were balancing out in the wrong direction for me. It my not be apparent, but I have expended a great deal of energy and time in reporting on the WPK and it feels to me like the level of engagement from anyone other than me has been dropping for awhile, with very few people responding here- even when I asked very specific questions and made an appeal for feedback lately- and the number of views trending lower all the time. And please don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining or laying blame on anyone (other than myself, perhaps) but it is part of any calculation about whether the time and effort is worth it to me.

And I've decided it no longer is. I can move much faster with the league while staying fully immersed without reporting out about the league here.
But although my initial instinct was simply to step away (in all honesty, I find myself not really enjoying the forums on the whole as much these days) upon further reflection that feels a bit unfair and offers no closure.

Here is the context then: we have reached December 31st of 1979 on the WPK calendar.
Let's catch you up and wrap things up (for now, at least.)

The Pennant Race:

Well, in fact, there weren't pennant races in the WPK this season. The Denver Brewers essentially had the MGL in the bag by mid-August and just cruised to their fourth straight pennant with a 108-54 record, matching their second best win total also achieved in 1971. (They won 111 games in 1978.) They were led primarily by staff ace Sadahige Kawasaki who finished the season 20-7 with a league leading ERA of 2.07, winning the ERA crown the second year in a row. Jim Atwell led the league in wins, going 21-5 with a 3.43 ERA. The offense was led by young corner outfielder Antonio Acuna and Val Guzman. Acuna led the league in hitting with a .368 batting average. He also led the league in RBI with 110 while scoring 104 runs. He combined power and speed, hitting 23 home runs while also swiping 30 bases (being caught trying just 8 times.) Guzman also had a good power/speed season as his power bat heated up in the second half and he finished with 20 homers and 90 RBI while also stealing 29 bases (caught stealing 11 times). Acuna's 7.3 WAR was second in the league behind Detroit's John Hemmah and Guzman was third at 7.1. Joe McPhillips also had a fine season, finishing with a slash line of .298/.396/.514, scoring 103 runs while driving in 100, hitting a team-best 24 home runs and putting up 5.0 WAR. And veteran second baseman Bobby Erbakan accumulated 4.6 WAR while hitting .298/.348/.469 with 22 home runs, 87 runs scored, and 84 RBI. Tim Shore finished the season tied with L.A.'s Yu-bao Tong for the most saves in the MGL with 37 (Shore also had a fine 1.62 ERA.)
Danny Salvador of Brooklyn led the MGL in home runs with 33. Detroit's John Hemmah led in stolen bases with 79. Brooklyn's Joel Travino once again led among pitchers in strikeouts with 204.

Over in the SJL, the San Antonio Keys pulled away down the stretch and won a WPK record 115 games, led by superstar third baseman Bud Lindsay who hit .394 with 38 home runs, 131 RBI, collecting 222 hits and scoring 136 runs, while playing his usual Gold Glove defense at short, all of which added up to 12.2 WAR. Lindsay likely would have won the hitting Triple Crown had he not seen his season end on September 13th due to a strained rib cage muscle (he is Wrecked). At the time he was leading in all 3 Triple Crown categories but in the end Philly's Mike Lovett passed him in RBI with 139. The Columbus Whalers finished second with an impressive win-loss record also, going 107-55 and they saw four of their starting pitchers win at least 20 games, a first in WPK history (Luis Ramirez: 22-10, Kevin DeRouen: 20-6, Jay Crosby: 20-6, and Jim Norris: 20-9). And of course their revered young closer Jamar Clay shattered the WPK single-season saves record, finishing with 51. There were many other standout seasons in the SJL, many of them coming from San Antonio batters (John Mussaw: 11.0 WAR, John Freeman: 7.8 WAR, Zach McClelland: 7.2 WAR.) Some other usual suspects were also great, including Philly's Xiao-mei Mah (7.4 WAR), Boston's Justin Vargas (7.0 WAR) and Pittsburgh's Matt Van der Heyden (6.8 WAR.) Six SJL pitchers finished with at least 20 wins, with former Brewer Eric Johnson of Pittsburgh having a career year at age 32 going 20-4 and San Antonio veteran Jesse Hartong finishing the season with the best single season winning percentage of .909, going 20-2. (Kawasaki and Atwell were the only MGL pitchers to win 20 games this season.)

Let's look at the final standings:
SJL:



MGL:



Single-season records broken:

As previously mentioned, a new single-season team win record was set by San Antonio this season.

Also mentioned but worth repeating: Jamar Clay of Columbus set a new single-season saves mark with 51. The previous record was 38 so he just demolished the former record.

The only other new pitching record set is the also aforementioned .909 winning percentage of Jesse Hartong. The previous best was .887 set by the great Jim Norris in 1971. It should be noted that actually two pitchers broke that record this year, with Philly's Jeff Tribble finishing with an .889 winning percentage.

Bud Lindsay set three new records: best batting average, with .394 (previous best was Travis Johnson's .385 in 1966), best slugging percentage, at .667 (previously Jesus Casiano, 1970, at .655), and OPS with 1.111 (again, besting Casiano's 1970 season, when he had 1.078).

Lindsay's teammate Zach McClelland set a new single-season runs scored record with 144, the previous best having been shared by three players who all had 138 runs scored (Josh Jenkins in 1970, Nate Bennett in 1977, and Matt Van der Heyden in 1978).

And finally, Detroit's speedy young center fielder John Hemmah set a new single-season stolen base record with his 79 stolen bases (he did also lead the MGL in caught stealing with 24), besting the previous mark of 72 which was set by Jeremy Brigatti in 1976.

The Kinsella Classic Series:

The KCS featured two teams with deep and fearsome lineups. Even with Bud Lindsay watching from the dugout and on the IL, San Antonio's lineup is the envy of everyone. In Lindsay's absence John Mussaw, the veritable second coming of Lindsay, moves over to shortstop, which is his natural position, and veteran great Jared Hancock was able to reclaim the starting second baseman role. And all Hancock did down the stretch was hit .367 for the month of September and win the SJL Player of the Week award for the final full week of the regular season. Denver probably had a bit of an edge in terms of starting rotation but the San Antonio bullpen was clearly superior to the Brewers 'pen.

But Denver struck first with two big wins on the road, taking the first game 9-5 with Sadahige Kawasaki getting the win in spite of allowing 4 runs on 8 hits (over 8 innings) and Rich White powering the offense with 2 for 4 game, hitting a double and a home run and driving in a pair of runs.
The Brewers won game 2 by a score of 10-3. Jim Atwell pitched a strong 7 2/3rds innings, giving up 3 runs on just 5 hits. Bobby Erbakan was the Player of the Game, going 2 for 5 and hitting a pair of homers, scoring 3 runs and driving in 3 as well. Joe McPhillips also came up big, going 3 for 4, hitting a double and a triple and driving in 3 runs.

The scene shifted to Denver with the Brewers club feeling confident. Perhaps a bit too confident. San Antonio took Game 3 with left-handed starter Michael Noland pitching a strong game, allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits over 6 innings and then turning it over to the fine Keys bullpen. San Antonio wins 7-2, with the bullpen giving up 4 of the runs (Bryant Cox allowed 3 runs while recording just 2 outs) and Sekien Hamasaki took a bit of a tough loss, having allowed 3 runs on 7 hits over 6 1/3rd innings. Rich White went 2 for 5 in the loss.
And the Keys evened the series with a 5-3 Game 4 victory. John Freeman was the Player of the Game, going 3 for 5 with a home run and 3 RBI for San Antonio. Steve Green gave up 5 runs on 8 hits in taking the loss. Antonio Acuna and Jake DiCesare each went 2 for 4 in this one.

The Brewers finally got a win at home, taking Game 5 by a score of 7-2 behind a strong start from Sadahige Kawasaki, who allowed 1 run over 8 innings in spite of giving up 10 hits to the potent San Antonio lineup. Val Guzman went 3 for 4 with a double and scored 3 runs and Brett Taranto was also 3 for 4, scoring a pair of runs in the win.

Needing just one win to take the series, the Brewers headed back to San Antonio feeling good knowing that 21-game winner Jim Atwell would be on the mound for Game 6. But of course the Keys had their own agenda and their 20-game winner Jesse Hartong on the mound and they managed to get a 6-4 win to send the series to a 7th and final game. Atwell was not sharp, giving up 6 runs (5 earned) on 11 hits over his 6 innings pitched. Although the Brewers lost, center fielder Joe McPhillips was named Player of the Game, having gone 2 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI.

So naturally, in a back-and-forth series between two powerhouse clubs, Game 7 could not be decided in the regulation 9 innings. The Brewers staked starter Sekien Hamasaki to a 2-run lead in the first inning on the strength of a Bobby Erbakan 2-run homer off lefty Michael Noland. But the Keys came back with 2 of their own in the bottom of the frame, putting together 4 singles, drawing a pair of walks, and seeing Hamaski uncork a costly wild pitch. The Brewers then scored 3 runs in the top of the 4th to take the lead again with Hamasaki himself getting a big run-scoring single and Bobby Erbakan driving in another run with a 2-out single. San Antonio got back to within 1 run when they plated 2 in the bottom of the 6th (the big hit a 2-out 2-run double by catcher Damian Lopez, theoretically one of the weakest links in this scary lineup). And then they tied it with a run in the 7th off reliever Javy Bermudez. A rare error by Bobby Erbakan at second got things started and the run eventually scored on a sacrifice fly out by Joe Brodeur, now in the game because left fielder John Freeman suffered an injury while running the bases back in the 1st inning. The Brewers once again took the lead in the top of the 8th when Joe McPhillips led off with a double and scored when right fielder Jose Melecio threw the ball away trying to throw out McPhilips at third base on a Brett Taranto flyball out.
And the game went to the bottom of the 9th in San Antonio with Denver holding a 6-5 lead and for the first time in the series Denver's veteran closer Tim Shore took the mound. And having blown just 4 save opportunities during the regular season including one on the final day of the regular season, Shore blew this one, giving up 3 singles and allowing the tying run before finally working out of the jam. To Shore's credit he then worked the next 3 innings, nearly flawlessly, having rarely worked more than an inning in a game during the regular season. The respective bullpens were excellent from the 10th through the 12th innings. And then, in the top of the 13th inning, the Brewers offense broke through. In a pinch-hit at-bat, Jose Figueroa led the inning off with a 5-pitch walk. Joe McPhillips, still with great foot speed at age 30, got an infield hit, pushing Figueroa to second. Brett Taranto flew out, harmlessly, to center for out number one. But then Bobby Erbakan hit a seeing-eye groundball single up the middle to load the bases. Antonio Acuna, the Brewers MVP of 1979, was up next and he hit the first pitch he saw into the air, deep into the gap in right center. Although the Keys right fielder was able to track it down for the 2nd out, it was far too deep to throw out runner Figueroa from third base and the Brewers had the 7-6 lead. That would be all they would get though as Val Guzman also hit a fly out to deep right having battled to a 3-2 count on 6 pitches.

The Brewers 28-year old side-arming power pitching righty Walter Hackler then took the mound for the bottom of the 13th with a narrow 1-run lead. One can only imagine the pressure on the shoulder's of the young man who has been up and down between AAA and the bigs the past several years and only recently solidified his role in the bullpen going into next season. Hackler had the advantage of the Keys bench being depleted, meaning if he could get the first three batters he would face he wouldn't have to pitch to any left-handed hitters, who can give him fits. Hackler dropped his shoulders a bit in resignation when veteran Jared Hancock got to him for a line-drive single to center on the second pitch of the inning to lead things off. And Brewers fans thought, oh no, here we go again. But then things went Hackler, and Denver's, way, when Damien Lopez hit a sharp groundball to shortstop Rich White. 6-4-3, double play. Hackler then faced the San Antonio closer Morgan Esker, with no batters left to pinch-hit, and Esker made it a tough at-bat, seeing 7 pitches, including fouling 3 of them off, before finally hitting a meek pop up to first baseman Brett Taranto to end the game and the series.



And for the 4th time in the team's history, the Brewers are the WPK Champions! With 3 home runs in the series and a 4 for 7, 4 RBI game in Game 7, Bobby Erbakan is named the MVP of the KCS. (I probably should have noted earlier that Bobby, who is injury prone, was suffering from a back strain at the end of the season, sidelining him for the final week and had only just returned to health as the KCS began.)


In Part 2 of 3 (likely later today): Awards Season, Fond Farewells, Re-alignment, Expansion, and the Expansion Draft.