Speaking of the Expos...

No doubt the Expos were very, very good -- but they seemed to be a team that would win a "quiet" 90 games.

In 1982, that should have been The Year for the Expos.

Except the Cardinals had three things going for them:
- They were stealing bases all over the place. Even Ken Oberkfell, who looked like one of the Allman Brothers, was a threat. Looking back now, in a league still following the 3-run Home Offensive Philosophy, that had to mess with pitchers. Once L. Smith, O. Smith, Landrum, Oberkfell or McGee got on base, the pitchers had to worry about a hitter AND a runner. Not too many teams were like that. Can't tell you the number of times the 1982 Cardinals would put up a run or two in the first inning. You knock out the starter in the first two games at the start of a series, the opponent will eventually have a spent bullpen within a week. The Cardinals may not have seen it but I'm convinced that could have "kept the other teams down". No one jumped up in the East and came that close to St. Louis.

- Willie McGee blossomed out of nowhere in that trade with the Yankees in 81 (Bob Sykes?). Not a HOFer but in the tier below.

- Bob Forsch and Joaquin Andujar were never HOF pitchers but they had superb years.

Also, with the Cardinals' speed was also excellent defense. Watching them against some of the other infielders, they hardly were ever weaker, position by position (Hernandez 1B, O. Smith SS, Oberkfell 3B, Herr 2B).

The downside to a team like that is, once it gets a little out of place, it gets sideways in a hurry.

Herzog got rid of Hernandez for Neil Allen (yes, Gas Can Neil) and then dealt Oberkfell to make room for Terry Pendleton in 1984. The amazing part was that, by 1985, the team was fully remade except for a tight core of HOF and legit stars (Ozzie, McGee and Herr had fantastic years) plus a bunch of over the hillers on their "last run" (Forsch and Porter). Also, I'll never whine about the 1985 W.S. (I'm a Royals fan anyway). St. Louis should have hit better than .188 for the seven games and scored more than 13 runs.

 

Bill Gullickson, Charlie Lea and Scott Sanderson were serviceable MLB pitchers. The Expos had a quality starter in Steve Rogers, a solid reliever in Reardon, and a bunch of average MLB pitchers.

They didn't win, even with an exceptional 1-8 lineup, for the same reason the Williams-era Red Sox could never consistently finish ahead of the Yankees. Pitching wins.

 

I think ERAs in the low to mid 3's is a little better than "servicable." But, then again, in '82 those numbers are pretty average. Bob Feller (the crabbiest former player in history) once said "If a pitcher's ERA is over 3 he is not doing his job." I find that a bit extreme, but I think Rogers led the league in '82 at 2.40. ERAs in the 3's were pretty good, even then. I think the 12 games under .500 in one-run games that someone pointed out is probably the reason they didn't win the division.

 

Seattle beat Cleveland in the first round in five games, coming back from a 2-1 deficit.

Darndest series, too. Cleveland was up 2-1 and beat Seattle 17-2 in Game 3 -- with Bartolo Colon in their pocket -- and couldn't seal the deal. Not that it mattered. The Yankees were better than Seattle and Cleveland that year.

 

Teams that never reached their potential...

The 1987 Mets
The 1988 Mets
The 1989 Mets

The 1989 Mets had Cone, Gooden, Viola, Darling and Fernandez all in their prime and Ojeda at 31. The bullpen had Myers, Aguilera and McDowell all in their prime.

The lineup had Strawberry, Jefferies, Magadan, Johnson, Elster, McReynolds, Samuel with Carter, Dykstra, Hernandez and Wilson all getting more than 160 ABs each coming off the bench.

The other Met squads were just as loaded, but this pitching staff should have won 120 games in their sleep.

 

From 1984 through 1990, the Mets finished first or second every year. That is one of the best runs in baseball history pre-1995. They averaged 99 wins a year in the regular season (actually, they won 666 games...for Mets haters, I am not making that up)

However, they won only one World Series, and one other division title.

 

Imagine how good they could have been without the coke and booze.

 

I've heard stories about Lonnie Smith doing some blow in his car in the parking lot on the way into the stadium for that night's game.

 

I think the lesson here (and this would be the worst thing ever to tell children) is coke won't hurt you for one season ala the 82 Cards and 86 Mets, but overtime you won't win as much.

Nancy Reagan weeps for me.

 

And it took an act of God, almost, for them to beat the Sox in the one Series they won.

In 1989 Strawberry hit about .225. He should have been thrown in jail for hitting only .225 with all that talent and that being that young.

 

Could have won the division 4 straight years from 85-88 except for two epic pennant races in 85 and 87 with the Cardinals where they lost the division by 3 games each time.

 

True. And a lot of their guys had career years all at the same time. When that happens, you can win more than expected. I never expected them to beat the Yankees in the ALCS that year. Reality finally set in.