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For the second straight season, the National Association’s best record belonged to New York. The defending NA champ Yankees won the Eastern League again, this time at 102-60. Chicago took the Midwest League title at 101-61, giving the Cubs back-to-back playoff berths. It was their first league title since winning the World Series in 1964. Five other teams had 90+ wins and fought for the four wild card spots. St. Louis at 95-67 and Toronto at 94-68 were second in their respective leagues. The Cardinals earned their fifth playoff berth in seven years, while the Timberwolves ended a six-year drought.

Columbus took the third spot with a 93-69 mark, giving the Chargers back-to-back berths. The other spot came down to Boston and Pittsburgh with both finishing the regular season at 90-72. The one game playoff went to the Red Sox, putting the 1967 World Series champs back in the field after a below .500 1968. The most notable drop was Ottawa, going from 102 wins the prior year down to 76, placing them ninth in the Eastern League.

Taking the MVP was 1B Kwang-Hoon Jang, a North Korean defector in his third season with New York after starting his career in Hiroshima. The 30-year old was the leader in home runs (46), RBI (131), runs (106), total bases (347), slugging (.589), OPS (.962), and wRC+ (185), adding 8.0 WAR. Buffalo’s Will Feliciano won back-to-back Pitcher of the Year awards. This gave the Argentine righty five awards in total counting his three from Beisbol Sudamerica. The 32-year old was the WARlord at 7.4, posting a 2.33 ERA, 13-12 record, and 230 strikeouts in 266.1 innings.

In the first round of the playoffs, Columbus edged Toronto 2-1 and St. Louis downed Boston 2-0. The Chargers stunned the Yankees with a road sweep in round two, while Chicago defeated the Cardinals in four. The National Association Championship Series went seven games for the first time since the Cubs won it in 1964. Columbus denied Chicago in the end, giving the wild card Chargers their first-ever NA title. Columbus had been to the NACS seven times prior, most recently in 1950, but had come up short each time.



The American Association’s best record in 1969 was San Diego at 103-59. The Seals won the Western League title and earned a sixth straight playoff berth. This became the longest active streak with San Francisco falling off a cliff in 1969; a bid for seven straight was dashed by a lousy 66-96 record. In the Southern League, Atlanta finished first at 101-61 for their second playoff spot in three years. It is the first SL title for the Aces since the 1937 campaign.

The wild card field ended up quite competitive. Vancouver had the first spot at 96-66 for their third wild card in five years. Three teams finished one behind at 95-67 in defending World Series champ Los Angeles, plus Phoenix, and San Antonio, putting each of them in the field. Missing out were 94-68 Oakland, 92-70 Tampa, and 92-70 New Orleans. The Firebirds and Angels earned back-to-back playoff appearances, while the Oilers had their first since 1966. The most noticeable drop apart from the previously mentioned Gold Rush was Houston, plunging from 91 wins to 65.

San Antonio DH Harris Carney was the American Association MVP. Nicknamed “Scar,” the 26-year old righty led in home runs (56), RBI (158), total bases (398), slugging (.652), OPS (1.043), and wRC+ (169), with 7.5 WAR. He had the first 150+ RBI season since 1961 with his 158 tied for the fifth most in MLB history to that point. Atlanta’s Raimundo Joaquin was the Pitcher of the Year in his sixth season with the club. The lefty from Costa Rica was the strikeout leader at 315 and WARlord at 11.1, only the tenth 11+ WAR season by a MLB pitcher to that point. He had a 23-9 record and 2.99 ERA over 274 innings. Joaquin also had the only no-hitter of the 1969 season, striking out 10 and walking two on May 10^th versus Portland.

In the first round, San Antonio swept Los Angeles and Phoenix swept Vancouver. The Firebirds kept rolling by upsetting San Diego 3-1, while Atlanta fended off the Oilers 3-1. This sent the Aces to the American Association Championship Series for the first time since 1937, while the Firebirds were going for their third title of the decade. Atlanta claimed the series in six games, sending the Aces to the World Series for only the second time (1927).



The 69^th World Series was guaranteed a first time MLB champion with Columbus having never gotten to the finale and Atlanta falling to Cleveland in their only appearance in 1927. The series ended up being unremarkable with the Aces sweeping the Chargers. Leading the way was 24-year old 1B Marc Frechette, who won both World Series MVP and AACS MVP. In 14 playoff games, he had 27 hits, 15 runs, 7 home runs, 20 RBI, and 1.6 WAR.



Other notes: Both Dominic David and Ayden Thomas would have 35-game hit streaks during the 1969 season. This tied them for the seventh-best streak in MLB history.

The American Association had the highest ERA of any baseball league in the 1960s with 4.10, slightly down from the 1950s and below the peak of 4.27 in the 1910s. This is still considered merely above average in the overall historical context of all baseball, but that and the .267 batting average for the AA were the highest of the 1960s. Without the DH, the National Association clocked in with a .252 average and 3.61 ERA for the decade, both considered very average in the grand scheme. The NA saw a slight decrease from the 1950s and had peaked with 3.82 in the 1930s. MLB would maintain similar stats until seeing a slight drop from the 1990s-2010s, followed by a big spike in the 2020s.