1983 WORLD SERIES PREVIEW


CATCHERS AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB OSBP
Carlton Fisk – HLW .265 .338 .470 140 453 66 120 31 4 18 61 7 70.8
Lance Parrish – FWP .250 .293 .489 138 513 74 128 35 2 28 99 0 43.8

Fisk has the edge in average, on base, and stolen bases while Parrish leads in slugging, homers, and opponent’s stolen base percentage. Parrish not only has the ability to hit the big homer he’s capable of shutting down the Vampires running game. For the 1983 season the Vampires stole 296 bases with a 77.5 percentage success rate, but Parrish was the best at throwing out runners in the MWWL. Advantage FWP

 

FIRST BASEMEN AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Eddie Murray – HLW .295 .387 .519 156 563 101 166 36 3 28 109 7
Keith Hernandez – FWP .299 .395 .431 146 561 102 168 35 6 9 59 7

Two evenly matched first basemen. With his power Murray comes out a little above Hernandez, but Hernandez does play big in big games. Advantage HLW

 

SECOND BASEMEN AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Jim Gantner – HLW .256 .303 .390 155 567 54 145 27 8 11 91 3
Juan Bonilla – FWP .250 .312 .340 154 523 65 131 33 4 2 50 3

 

Both players known more for their defense than their offense. Gantner leads in slugging, homers, and RBI and Bonilla leads in on base, runs, and doubles. Advantage HLW

 

SHORTSTOPS AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Garry Templeton – HLW .253 .314 .317 150 438 41 111 22 3 0 34 6
Roy Smalley – FWP .243 .329 .429 132 445 58 108 18 1 21 58 1

 

Overall the two shortstops are about even. Templeton is the better defender while Smalley is the better power hitter. Advantage FWP

 

THIRD BASEMEN AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Pedro Guerrero – HLW .269 .356 .481 155 576 102 155 32 3 28 96 24
Carney Lansford – FWP .340 .380 .497 89 300 41 102 17 0 10 62 1

 

The two third basemen are actually pretty close if Lansford had played a full season and had as many at bats as Guerrero did. Guerrero’s power and speed advantage is still big even if Lansford had 600 at bats, but equally as big is Lansford’s average and on base. Advantage EVEN

 

OUTFIELDER AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Rickey Henderson – HLW .255 .354 .344 140 518 105 132 22 6 4 41 101
Rudy Law – HLW .315 .353 .438 120 352 60 111 16 6 5 49 54
Dale – Murphy – HLW .292 .381 .489 160 607 120 177 20 2 32 93 37
Willie McGee – FWP .288 .331 .449 157 566 94 163 35 10 12 79 33
Jerry Mumphrey – FWP .291 .356 .446 118 419 68 122 27 4 10 66 5
Barry Bonnell – FWP .303 .344 .451 106 386 53 117 14 2 13 58 5

 

Panther outfielders have a slight edge in batting average while the Vampires slightly lead in on base. Hollywood outfielders score more runs while Ft. Worth’s are a little better in slugging. The big difference is in stolen bases where Hollywood outfielder’s had 192 stolen bases during the 1983 season compared to only 43 for the Panthers. Advantage HLW

 

POSSIBLE DH AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Alan Wiggins – HLW .240 .322 .283 132 421 53 101 14 2 0 46 54
Rusty Staub – HLW .220 .304 .293 45 41 1 9 3 0 0 4 0
Leon Durham – FWP .281 .431 .416 35 89 21 25 5 2 1 12 3
Oscar Gamble – FWP .263 .338 .434 59 175 17 46 9 0 7 30 0
Ricky Peters – FWP .330 .356 .416 65 185 13 61 10 0 2 24 0

 

Hard to figure here as Wiggins is more of a 4th OF than DH and Staub didn’t hit as expected during the season. Durham and Gamble will probably be limited to pinch hitting duties since the Vampires project to start 3 lefties for the 3 games in Ft. Worth, but the switch hitting Peters is no slouch and is probably a better hitter than the other two anyway. Advantage FWP

 

HLW STARTERS W-L ERA GS CG SHO QS IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Mike Madden L 4-7 4.58 13 0 0 5 74.2 70 39 38 7 4.1 3.9
Moose Haas R 15-9 2.33 31 3 1 23 208.2 165 66 54 14 4.5 2.2
Larry McWilliams L 19-5 2.24 30 1 0 25 216.2 137 59 54 18 7.7 2.5
Matt Young L 9-9 2.79 20 1 0 14 132.1 100 49 41 10 5.8 3.5
FWP STARTERS W-L ERA GS CG SHO QS IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Mario Soto R 27-4 3.10 36 7 3 26 276 214 98 95 21 6.6 3.6
Charles Hudson R 13-6 2.73 24 4 1 16 158 130 53 48 6 5.2 2.2
John Stuper R 13-11 3.27 31 1 1 18 198 195 84 72 11 3.3 3.3
Dave LaPoint L 12-8 4.46 30 6 3 12 193.2 218 101 96 14 6.2 3.1

The Panthers have arguably MWWL’s best pitcher in Soto, but Hollywood’s top 3 starters are a little better overall. How the 4th starter pitches may be the difference, but its unknown if the Vampires will pitch Madden twice in the series where as Ft. Worth figures to only use LaPoint in game 4.  Advantage FWP – if Madden pitches twice, otherwise Advantage HLW

HLW TOP 4 RELIEVERS W-L-SV BS ERA HLD G GF IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Lee Smith R 4-4-18 3 1.39 23 84 42 90.1 51 18 14 4 6.2 2.1
Gary Lucas L 7-2-4 5 1.67 13 61 21 64.2 42 16 12 4 5.8 3.1
Al Holland L 6-5-22 6 2.19 9 64 46 70 56 18 17 4 9.3 3
George Frazier R 2-1-2 2 3.54 12 55 12 73.2 65 33 29 7 7 3.3
FWP TOP 4 RELIEVERS W-L-SV BS ERA HLD G GF IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Pat Zachry R 1-4-42 8 2.75 0 60 54 68.2 54 23 21 4 3.9 3.1
Dave Gumpert R 2-2-1 2 2.36 18 48 13 45.2 40 19 12 3 3.7 3.2
Bob L Gibson R 2-0-0 0 3.06 9 30 11 35.1 29 14 12 2 4.1 3.8
Sid Monge L 2-0-2 2 3.86 16 55 18 63 66 30 27 7 3.1 3.3

 Although Zachry leads in saves the Vampires top 3 relievers have a lower ERA than the Panthers best reliever. Going into the season Monge was considered more the 2nd lefty in the pen behind Van Ohlen, but Van Ohlen struggled mightily during the regular season with a 6.02 ERA. He did manage to pitch pretty good in the first round of the playoffs with a 3.86 ERA. If the games are close it will harder for the Panthers to come back against a tough Vampire bullpen. Advantage HLW

 In summary it looks like Hollywood is the better team, but if the Panthers can shut down the Vampires running game and if their starting pitchers can pitch like they did in the ALCS (ERA of 1.84 with only 5 pitchers) then Ft. Worth will be able to repeat as champions.

FIRST GAME FILE
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