1981 Reds-Tigers: The Differences

I had to momentarily slow down the Tigers' 1981 season, to catch up the Reds' side of the season. I have finished 19 games (Entire month of April) for the Tigers, while I am almost done with the Reds' month of April, with 15 games done through April 27th.

I am doing the exact 1981 MLB schedule with Strike included, whatever differences take place with the opponents that the Tigers & Reds face, can shakeup the 1st & 2nd Half Division races in each division of each league... got all that?!

• The effects of match-ups can be explained in this >>> article "1981 Revisited"

It's going to be interesting to see how it all finishes, it's already been a bit interesting for me....

For example, the Reds just finished a four-game series in Houston... In real-life, the Astros were slow out of the gate (3-12), but then would win 9 of their next 11 games (Houston would go on to win the 2nd Half N.L. West Division title).

I was amazed that Houston slumped out of the gate like that with an excellent APBA Baseball rotation of Nolan Ryan (A&C-X), Bob Knepper (A-Z), Don Sutton (B-YZ) & Joe Niekro (B-Z). Their lineup has pesky hitters in the top half, especially with Terry Puhl, Cesar Cedeno, Jose Cruz & Art Howe, who all gave the Reds' pitchers fits; The bottom part of the lineup definitely had its holes.

In real-life, the Reds took that series, 3-1 (pretty easily), while my APBA Reds, had to scratch back to win the Game 3 of that series, and walked out of the series with a 2-2 split.

I found the differences between the 1981 Tigers & 1981 Reds, to be night & day. The Tigers have multiple pieces in which the lineup usually alternates with a total of 12 players getting significant playing time -- while the Reds' lineup is pretty straight forward, it uses strictly 9 position players for its 8 player spots of the lineup.

Dave Collins, Ken Griffey, Dave Conception, George Foster, Ron Oester & Ray Knight play everyday, while the other two spots are either of these combinations...

• Johnny Bench ( C ) & Dan Driessen (1B)
• Joe Nolan (C) & Dan Driessen (1B)
• Joe Nolan (C) & Johnny Bench (1B)

There is not much strategy playing the Reds, just an occasional pinch-hitter late in games if I decide to yank the starter, I should not have to worry about bringing in the bullpen much, with Mario Soto (B-XZ) & Tom Seaver (A).

The Detroit Tigers have been much more fun to play with, plenty more to do with the lineup & with strategy, Lance Parrish has been a blast with 5 home runs in the month of April, well ahead of his actual HR pace of 1981 (finished with 10 total)... while getting acquainted with Steve Kemp's APBA card has been a lot of fun as well. Kemp is currently batting .319 with 2 HR & 10 RBI (.437 OBP) with .937 OPS for the season.

Richie Hebner has been over-producing for a season that only watched him hit .226 with a .656 OPS; His 1981 APBA numbers are currently reflecting .317 batting average, 7 RBI & a .751 OPS -- He has cooled off of late, 2-for-15 as of late.

This project has been a lot of fun so far & I certainly can't wait to see how this season plays out.