My brother Chris and I, have made it to June 1978, with 2 months in the books. In this blog post, I will be sharing the standings & statistical leaders, plus disappointments and surprises from both leagues. I am playing the American League, while Chris is playing the National League. I have been playing with real-life starters and starting pitchers, while he is playing with exact starting lineups and starting pitchers.
The current American League standings are as follows, through June 1st.
The Boston Red Sox (31-19) had themselves a little hiccup recently, losing 6 of their last 10 games, but have been the overall favorite in the American League. The team is solid in all areas: hitting, pitching, relief & fielding, there is not much to not like on this club.
Every time the New York Yankees get anything rolling their momentum would momentarily get tripped up, but I don't see them falling no lower than 2nd place. There seems to be a significant line in the sand in the A.L. East, in which Boston and New York are on one side, while the other teams in the division are on the other side. The other teams seem to have a serious flaw or two, that makes them hard to considerate a contender. Milwaukee, Baltimore & Detroit at times have their moments, but they certainly are not on the same level as the top two.
In the A.L. West, the Kansas City Royals are currently on a 6-game winning streak, winning 8 of their last 10 games, while the California Angels have been sliding as of late. The Angels burst out the gate at 7-0, while going 18-7 through their first 25 games. Since then, the Angels are 9-12, with their lineup going mute, while their arms lately have been toughed up a bit. The division also features two surprises, the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.
The Mariners between May 18th thru May 25th, had winning percentages ranging from .457 to .463, getting within a few games from a .500 record. They are still playing good compared to their real-life counterparts, who were 17-34 at the end of June 1st... In fact, I was 7 games ahead of the real team at one point. The Rangers in real-life finished in 2nd place tied with the Angels, and actually started out of the gate, 2-9... So when my Rangers started 4-7, it wasn't exactly the end of the world, but then right where the real Rangers woke up April 25th, my Rangers continued to struggle. On May 12th, the replay Rangers had an 8-18 record (compared to 14-12, 6 games behind real-life), before winning 7 straight games (winning 9 of their next 11), then lost 7 of 8 games. The Rangers still have time on their hands, and also a fairly newly acquired Bobby Bonds, while waiting on a later arrival in Johnny Grubb (who is currently playing with Cleveland).
The current National League standings, through June 1st.
Believe it or not Cub fans, but your real-life 1978 team was in first place at this point at 24-20. The Montreal Expos are right on track sitting in 2nd place, while the Philadelphia Phillies are shining early (compared to real team hovering at 22-21). The huge surprise in the National League are the St. Louis Cardinals (27-23), 9 games ahead of their real pace, while those Cards finished in 5th place at 69-93. The N.L. West is playing out the same, but the Atlanta Braves are playing even worse in the replay at 12-33 (.267 pct), all on pace for 43 wins if they don't improve at the rate that they are going.
Early on, the National League seems to have more teams that have the potential of making the playoffs, compared to that of the American League. Philadelphia, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Cincinnati & San Francisco all have a chance, compared to Boston, N.Y. Yankees, Kansas City and possibly California in the A.L.
In the statistical leaders, stars such as Jim Rice and Eddie Murray started slow out of the gate, while some surprises out of the gate in Bruce Bochte, Jerry Remy & Gary Alexander are still sticking around. Rice as predicted is among all the production numbers, while hitting 15 HR & 50 RBI. Alexander hit 12 home runs in April, but has slowed down a bit of late. Bochte has 43 RBI already, compared to his 1978 total of 51.
The National League hitters are as follows...
The Astros' Jose Cruz is having a solid all-around season, currently batting over .400 with a .410 mark, while also leading doubles (16), on-base percentage (.466) and OPS (1.112). The Reds' George Foster currently leads the majors with 18 HR & 52 RBI.
Now onto pitching leaders...
The San Francisco Giants are certainly happy on acquiring Vida Blue in March from the Oakland Athletics. Blue leads in most National League pitching categories.
I hope that you all enjoyed this 1978 update, we are now a third through and excited to get June rolling here, and hopefully, hopefully we still have baseball in our nearby future...
Until then keep rolling 66's to kill the time, stay safe my friends!
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