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.