Some of you requested that I take a look at 1987, while others wanted 1998. I've also decided to look at seasons where the Blue Jays made the postseason in chronological order, so I'm gonna run with 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, and 2015 for now. 2016 was done in 2016, 2017 was done in 2017, and 2018 will be done somewhere in the playoffs or early in the offseason. Doing the fun historical seasons first gives us a chance to enjoy dessert, before we go wandering in the postseason desert(s) that this franchise has endured over the years. Remember that even in the deserts, great things do and have happened, albeit on an individual rather than a team basis.
I'll look at other seasons as requested, or as I please, but for now that's the order I'm hoping to do things in. The first four will be done on the remaining offdays in 2018, and sometime in the offseason, I should get around to the other four. I should also acknowledge that none of this stuff would be possible without Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs, which are incredible sources as most of you already know.
If you were to ask me what my favourite baseball season of all-time is, without hesitation my answer would be 1985. The reason for that is two-fold. For one thing, it was the first time our Blue Jays were able to shake off the demons that had dogged them previously. In 1983 and 1984, those demons were largely brought about by hand grenade brigade type bullpens, and playing in the ridiculously good 7-team AL East, back when there was no wildcard to bail you out for postseason inclusion. They finally reached the postseason in 1985, and after a couple of seasons of feeling what rooting for a better than .500 baseball team felt like, it was awesome for those of us that were lucky enough to be there. If you think this year's bullpen has been combustible, you should've seen the 1983 and 1984 versions. Imagine if the 2018 Blue Jays were actually in contention despite a leaky bullpen. That should give you a sense of the agony Jays' fans went through in those seasons. It was utter hell, and yet it was very cool to be in contention for the first time in franchise history.
Secondly, I went on the baseball trip of a lifetime that sealed the deal for me, and made me a fan for life. It was a trip that almost didn't happen thanks to yet another work stoppage. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but thanks to Baseball-Reference, I'd say we left Toronto either on August 16th or 17th and returned on August 24th, with six straight days at various stadia from August 18th to August 23rd. The strike started on August 6th, so if I could remember, I'd say we were probably pretty nervous, as the timing was horrible.
Fortunately, baseball was back on the 8th and off we went. Yankee Stadium, the sparsely attended dump that was Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Veterans' Stadium in Philadelphia, Shea Stadium in Queens, and Fenway were the stops made over the six days. Yes, I missed the beautiful stadia that would spring up in later years, but who cares? It was a baseball trip. The Cleveland stop featured the 73-44 Blue Jays against the 38-78 Clevelands, with Dave Stieb on the mound against some dude named Tom Waddell. No problem. We got this right? Wrong. Waddell, who went 15-11 with a 97 ERA+ in his abbreviated career, and made nine career starts among 113 appearances, decided to throw his only complete game ever that night. 5-3 Clevelands. What. The. Hell?
Other highlights included my best friend's dad diving into a frenzy of fans when the ball from a 1st inning grand slam by Dodger OF Mike Marshall landed two seats to our right in Philly. Unfortunately, he came up empty. Future Blue Jay Candy Maldonado would follow up Marshall's slam with a solo bomb of his own in a 15-6 rout of the hometown Phillies. This game would unfortunately mark the end of the very good career of lefty Jerry Koosman, then of the Phillies, but most remembered for his time with the Miracle Mets. Talk about going out with a whimper. Two-thirds of an inning, with 5 earned runs, and two bombs on the ledger. Not pretty. Even former Blue Jay Bob Bailor had four hits for the Dodgers. Fernando Valenzuela wasn't very good, but was good enough to get the win. It was an early lesson in the absolute and total uselessness of the pitching win as a measurement of pitching success.
Saving the best for last, my final highlight was catching a line drive in batting practice in Fenway. I like to think it was Kirby Puckett who absolutely smoked it, but I can't be sure. I was just a shy 15-year old apparently turning beet red at the standing ovation I got, so who knows who was in the cage. Within ten minutes of arriving home from the trip, I had lost said baseball in some very tall grass while playing catch in a park. Ugh.
The bottom line is that 1985 was an awesome season in baseball. Aren't they all? The Blue Jays fought off a late charge by the Yankees and reached the postseason with the best record in the American League at 99-62. I was there for the clincher against the Yankees and Game 1 of the ALCS against the Royals. The season did not end as we'd hoped, but the Jays had arrived, and more good things, on the heels of some heartbreak, were in store. Anyway, on with the show.
All-Stars:
AL:
Starting Pitchers:
Bret Saberhagen, KCR
Bert Blyleven, CLE/MIN
Mike Moore, SEA
Dave Stieb, TOR
Charlie Leibrandt, KCR
Oil Can Boyd, BOS
Relief Pitchers:
Bob James, CHW
Dan Quisenberry, KCR
Donnie Moore, CAL
Brian Fisher, NYY
Position Player Starters:
C: Rich Gedman, BOS
1B: Don Mattingly, NYY
2B: Lou Whitaker, DET
3B: Wade Boggs, BOS
SS: Cal Ripken, BAL
OF: Rickey Henderson, NYY
OF: Jesse Barfield, TOR
OF: Kirk Gibson, DET
Position Player Reserves:
C: Lance Parrish, DET
1B: Eddie Murray, BAL
1B: Darrell Evans, DET
2B: Toby Harrah, TEX
3B: George Brett, KCR
SS: Tony Fernandez, TOR
OF: Phil Bradley, SEA
OF: Mike Davis, OAK
OF: Dwight Evans, BOS
OF: Brett Butler, CLE
Unrepresented Team(s):
MIL: Paul Molitor, 3B (removing Brett)
NL:
Starting Pitchers:
Dwight Gooden, NYM
John Tudor, STL
Rick Reuschel, PIT
Orel Hershiser, LAD
Fernando Valenzuela, LAD
Dennis Eckersley, CHC
Relief Pitchers:
Lee Smith, CHC
Rich Gossage, SDP
Tom Niedenfuer, LAD
John Franco, CIN
Position Player Starters:
C: Gary Carter, NYM
1B: Keith Hernandez, NYM
2B: Ryne Sandberg, CHC
3B: Pedro Guerrero, LAD
SS: Ozzie Smith, STL
OF: Willie McGee, STL
OF: Tim Raines, MON
OF: Dave Parker, CIN
Position Player Reserves:
C: Mike Scioscia, LAD
1B: Mike Schmidt, PHI
2B: Tom Herr, STL
2B: Bill Doran, HOU
2B: Vance Law, MON
3B: Tim Wallach, MON
SS: Garry Templeton, SDP
OF: Dale Murphy, ATL
OF: Darryl Strawberry, NYM
OF: Tony Gwynn, SDP
Unrepresented Team(s):
SFG: Mike Krukow, SP (removing Eckersley)
I know what you're thinking...Y U NO LIKE BLUE JAYZZZ? Yes, I only had three of them on the AL team. The thing about that 1985 team was that its success was more about depth than star power. If I were to look at how many players on the roster were at least average big leaguers that season, I would say the Jays had at least twelve players in that category. Rance Mulliniks on his own would be there, but the production from the 3B duo that year was outstanding, and things wouldn't feel complete if I didn't include Garth Iorg's contributions as well.
In addition to the three all-stars and Rarth Mullinorg, you could also include SP Doyle Alexander, SP/RP Jimmy Key, OF George Bell, OF Lloyd Moseby, C Ernie Whitt, 1B Willie Upshaw, RP/SP Dennis Lamp, and a spectacular two months from RP Tom "The Terminator" Henke. The 1985 Blue Jays got contributions from a lot of different guys to get those 99 wins, but for me the three that I put on the team were the only ones that should've made it.
For comparison's sake, the Expos had 3 All-Stars in Raines, Wallach, and Law. I would say they had ten players who were at least average major leaguers. Raines, Wallach, Law, SP Bryn Smith, SP Joe Hesketh, SS Hubie Brooks, OF Andre Dawson, SP Bill Gullickson, RP Tim Burke, and RP Jeff Reardon.
In the AL, every player represented their primary position, but in the NL, I moved Pedro Guerrero from the OF to 3B. Guerrero started 44 games there that season, and I felt the OF was well stocked without him in it. I didn't shift any other position players for the All-Star teams.
Reliever of the Year Award:
AL:
Bob James, CHW
Dan Quisenberry, KCR
Donnie Moore, CAL
NL:
Lee Smith, CHC
Rich Gossage, SDP
Tom Niedenfuer, LAD
Bob who? Exactly. Bob James emerged from MLB reliever obscurity in 1985, and returned to abject mediocrity for the rest of his career. In 1985 though, he was the bomb, going 8-7, 32 SV, with a 2.13 ERA (203 ERA+), and a 2.36 FIP (58 FIP-, where 100 is league average, and lower is better) over 110.0 IP. He posted a 1.03 WHIP, allowing 7.4 H/9, 0.4 HR/9, 1.9 BB/9, 7.2 K/9, and a 3.83 K/BB rate. Just so we get our bearings straight, the 1985 MLB average ERA and FIP were both 3.89, the WHIP was 1.34, and the average rates were as follows: 8.8 H/9, 0.9 HR/9, 3.3 BB/9, 5.4 K/9, and 1.62 K/BB. He also put up an excellent 3.6 pitching fWAR, 4.3 pitching bWAR, 3.24 pitching WPA, and 2.37 pitching REW. No matter how you slice it, James had a brilliant season, absolutely worthy of the AL Rolaids Relief Man Award (as it was known back then). However, that honour went to Dan Quisenberry of the Royals. Not a bad choice, just not the one I would've made.
My National League guy does not suffer from being an unknown commodity. You couldn't miss him. According to Baseball-Reference, he was 6'5", 220 lbs, and was one dude you didn't want to mess with. As I recall, he would trudge in from the bullpen extremely slowly, raising the intimidation factor for the hitters to 11. For me, it was close between him and Rich Gossage in 1985, but I gave the nod to Lee Smith. In 97.2 IP, he was 7-4, with 33 SV, a 3.04 ERA, 2.60 FIP, 1.22 WHIP, 8.0 H/9, 0.8 HR/9, 2.9 BB/9, 10.3 K/9, and a 3.50 K/BB rate. See the average MLB numbers above for comparison. The K/9 rate is downright frightening considering the average K/9 rate that year. He also managed a 2.7 pitching fWAR, 2.6 pitching bWAR, and a 4.15 pitching WPA. Perhaps it says something about the real life All-Star Game that neither James nor Smith were there that year. Also, the NL Rolaids Relief Man that year was Jeff Reardon of the Expos, which I'm not sure I understand, except that it was all about the savezzz, just as the Cy Young Award was all about the winzzz, back then.
Jackie Robinson Award:
AL:
Teddy Higuera, MIL
Brian Fisher, NYY
Stew Cliburn, CAL
NL:
Tom Browning, CIN
Joe Hesketh, MON
Chris Brown, SFG
What is it with me and diminutive, portly, left handed Mexican starting pitchers? In 1981, I felt Fernando Valenzuela was not only the NL's best rookie, but MLB's best rookie, and in 1985, I felt Teddy Higuera was the AL's best rookie. Higuera made his debut as a 27 and a half year old on April 23rd, 1985. He went 15-8, with a 3.90 ERA. Not much attention was paid to innings limits for rookies at the time, as he pitched 212.1 innings, with a 107 ERA+, 3.77 FIP, 1.17 WHIP, 7.9 H/9, 0.9 HR/9, 2.7 BB/9, 5.4 K/9, and a 2.02 K/BB rate. All are very solid numbers for a rookie, well, sort of a rookie. He had pitched in the Mexican League from age 21 in 1979. His more saberish stats included a 3.0 fWAR, 3.2 bWAR, and a 2.95 WPA. The real life ROY was Ozzie Guillen, which...OK...I guess...Um...Yeah. He was number eight for me.
Tom Browning made his debut at age 24 on September 9th, 1984, but was still rookie eligible in 1985, due to pitching just 23.1 innings over three starts. He went 20-9, with a 3.55 ERA (106 ERA+, 95 ERA-), 3.81 FIP (102 FIP-, which is not great, but he was a rookie), over 261.1 innings in 38 starts with 6 CG, and 4 SHO. His peripheral numbers showed up at 8.3 H/9, 1.0 HR/9, 2.5 BB/9, 5.3 K/9, and 2.12 K/BB. So right around league averageish with everything, but nice and low with the walks. League averageish over 261.1 innings (which is a lot of innings particularly for a rookie) is fabulous for a freshman season, and in my estimation no rookie was better in the National League or MLB than Browning. He had a 3.4 fWAR, with a 4.1 bWAR, and was right around average with his WPA, and REW (-0.03, and 0.23, I believe 0 is league average as opposed to replacement level with this stat, but please correct me if that's wrong). These numbers include every pitchers kryptonite: batting.
I look at batting, pitching, fielding, and baserunning for all players, including position players (I figure pitching is just as foreign to them as hitting is to most pitchers) when deciding the MVP and ROY awards, but not the All-Star teams, Reliever of the Year, or Cy Young. I do this because in both MVP and ROY you're comparing hitters against pitchers, whereas with the All-Star teams I want the best pitchers period, regardless of their hitting skills, and with the other two awards, pitchers are going up against pitchers exclusively. The real life rookie of the year was Vince Coleman, which had everything to do with triple digit stolen base totals, and nothing to do with how much value he actually brought to the Cardinals. Coleman came fourth in my opinion.
Cy Young Award:
AL:
Bret Saberhagen, KCR
Bert Blyleven, CLE/MIN
Mike Moore, SEA
Dave Stieb, TOR
Charlie Leibrandt, KCR
NL:
Dwight Gooden, NYM
John Tudor, STL
Rick Reuschel, PIT
Orel Hershiser, LAD
Fernando Valenzuela, LAD
The National League Cy Young race was a blowout of epic proportions. John Tudor might've won it in any other year, but it was not close, and the writers unanimously agreed with me.
The American League was tighter, and Bret Saberhagen emerged as my choice, matching the writers'. In just his second full season in the big leagues, and his age 21 season to boot, he led the AL in FIP (2.89), WHIP (1.06), fewest BB/9 (1.5), and K/BB (4.16). He also had the shiny win totals that writers and some fans love (20-6), a nice round number of complete games (10), and a sub-3.00 ERA (2.87), along with a 143 ERA+, a 69 ERA-, a 72 FIP-, 8.1 H/9, 0.7 HR/9, and 6.0 K/9. He placed second in the AL to Blyleven in pitching fWAR (6.2), first in pitching bWAR (7.3), first in pitching WPA (4.49), and second in pitching REW (3.63). Strangely enough, 10-4 with a 2.78 ERA, and an opponent slash line of .244/.276/.337/.613 at the break didn't cut it for that year's AL All-Star team. Weird.
It was also Dwight Gooden's second full season in the big leagues, and he did one better than Saberhagen in the age department. At the tender age of 20, "Dr. K" led the majors in wins (24), ERA (1.53), K (268), ERA+ (229), and FIP (2.13). He also paced the National League in CG (16), and IP (276.2). His peripherals included a 0.97 WHIP, 6.4 H/9, 0.4 HR/9, 2.2 BB/9, 8.7 K/9, and a K/BB rate of 3.88. His K/9 rate dropped from 11.4 in 1984, which today would be alarming, and cause for concern about too many innings at such a young age. He also had an opponents batting average of .199, a 44 ERA-, and a FIP- of 58. He led the majors in pitching fWAR (8.9), pitching bWAR (12.2), pitching WPA (9.46), and pitching REW (7.88). Insert eye bulging, stunned emoji here.
The phrase "a season for the ages" probably gets overused in sports today, but that was not the case with Gooden in 1985. The man was must see TV at a time when there weren't many games on TV. When the Mets were on, and he was pitching, you made damn sure you watched, because you knew you were watching something special.
Gooden and Saberhagen had the big leagues by the tail in their age 20 and 21 seasons respectively. Though they had very different styles, they had put up Hall of Fame-like seasons very early in their careers. Often, things get in the way of that ambition. That's why the Hall is so special, because it's damn difficult to maintain excellence in baseball over a 10, 15, or 20 year period. For Gooden, battles with addiction caught up with him, and for Saberhagen it was injuries. I still think Saberhagen deserves another look for the Hall due to his fantastic peak, but I will admit his career does lack the volume that tends to get pitchers elected, and if he's worthy of the honour, he's most definitely at the floor level of the Hall of Fame for the same reason.
MVP Award:
AL:
Rickey Henderson, NYY
Wade Boggs, BOS
George Brett, KCR
Bret Saberhagen, KCR
Bert Blyleven, CLE/MIN
Jesse Barfield, TOR
Don Mattingly, NYY
Mike Moore, SEA
Eddie Murray, BAL
Dave Stieb, TOR
NL:
Dwight Gooden, NYM
Pedro Guerrero, LAD
Willie McGee, STL
John Tudor, STL
Tim Raines, MON
Gary Carter, NYM
Rick Reuschel, PIT
Orel Hershiser, LAD
Ozzie Smith, STL
Ryne Sandberg, CHC
I could've gone with another picture of Dwight Gooden here because he blew away the field in MLB, but that would be boring. So I went with the guy I consider to have been the most valuable position player in MLB in 1985.
Rickey Henderson had a slash line of .314/.419/.516/.934, which was good for an OPS+/wRC+ of 157/159. He led the majors in runs scored with 146 in 143 games, and the AL in SB with 80, against just 10 CS. He also hit 24 HR, knocked in 72 and drew 99 walks (15.1% BB%) against just 65 strikeouts (9.9% K%). He only hit into 8 DP, and some manager was foolish enough to intentionally walk him once. Probably with one or more runners on base ahead of him, but still. He provided excellent defense almost exclusively in CF, and his baserunning was spectacular, as one would expect given his blazing speed, but blazing speed does not always translate to excellent baserunning. He had the highest fWAR (9.7), and bWAR (9.9) among MLB position players, and was third in the AL in both WPA (5.02), and REW (5.61) for position players.
The writers picked Henderson's teammate Don Mattingly for this award, who paced the majors in 2B (48), RBI (145), TB (370), and SF (15), and slashed .324/.371/.567/.939, with 35 HR, and just 41 strikeouts (5.6% K%). Mattingly put up a 156/151 OPS+/wRC+, and had a very good season, but Henderson's was absolutely elite, and he was a CF, whereas Mattingly was a 1B. Not sure what the writers were looking at...Oh yeah...Ribbies!!!
I've already raved about Dwight Gooden above, so I'm going to go with the player I consider to have been the most valuable position player in the National League that year. For Pedro Guerrero of the Dodgers, defense was never his forte, but this year was the rare exception to that rule, as he was right around average defensively while shuttling between LF, 3B, 1B and CF with one start in RF mixed in. He was an average baserunner throughout his career, and the same was true in 1985.
What was special about him was always his bat. He slashed .320/.422/.577/.999, leading the NL in OBP, SLG, and OPS. His major league leading 182 OPS+, and 181 wRC+ are mindboggling, considering that 100 is league average. He belted 33 HR, while walking 83 times and striking out 68 times. I'm seeing a trend with more walks than strikeouts among the elite hitters of that era. They didn't have to face the explosive velocities, the parade of flame throwing max effort relievers and max effort starters, and the wide assortment of pitches that today's hitters face though. Guerrero led the NL in fWAR (7.8), placed 2nd in bWAR (8.0), 1st in WPA (6.47), and 2nd in REW (6.28) among position players. He was an absolute beast that year, and it showed in the 14 intentional walks that he was granted. Oh yeah, he missed 25 games in 1985, and lost quite a bit of time to injury over his career. Imagine what he could've done with a full season that year. Oof! Willie McGee was a decent choice by the writers, but Dr.K was absolutely ridiculously dominant, and deserved it.
That's the way it was in MLB in 1985. Up next 1987, and the year of the greatest regular season Blue Jays team ever assembled, with the possible exceptions of the blunge brigade of 2015, and the 1985 squad, at least going by run differential. Unfortunately, 1987 ended with a resounding, excruciating thud. What a sombre, uninspiring way to promote it, but if you lived through it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Hope you enjoyed reading, as much as I enjoyed putting together, my recap of my favourite all-time season in baseball.
