1988 MVP, CY YOUNG AND FIREMAN OF THE YEAR AWARDS ***********************************MVP AWARD********************************* 1988 MVP 2nd runner up: Fred McGriff, 1B, DC Riots AVG OBP SPC G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB K HB IW SB CS .296 .442 .541 158 479 142 31 4 26 88 86 127 117 2 42 2 2 McGriff was a walk-machine in his breakout 1988 season. McGriff led the league in walks with 127, on base average with .442, and had a league record 42 intentional walks. McGriff was pretty good with the bat too, smacking 26 homers, a .541 slugging average, 31 doubles and 86 RBI's. Plus, he helped the Riots win their division. 1988 MVP 1st runner up: Dwight Evans, OF, Hurdle Mills Hurdlers AVG OBP SPC G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB K HB IW SB CS .320 .390 .583 162 635 203 41 9 36 103 119 71 109 7 2 1 1 Evans has been one of the best performing hitters since the league's inception with the 1984 season. 1988 may have been his best yet. Evans hit .320 (4th best in league with 36 homers (5th in league), a .583 slugging percentage (1st), with 103 runs (6th) and 119 RBI (2nd). Evans also put up top-10 stats in hits, doubles and triples. 1988 MVP: Jose Canseco, OF, San Mateo Traffic AVG OBP SPC G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB K HB IW SB CS .292 .360 .566 162 627 183 39 2 43 109 114 61 128 10 5 42 13 The #1 overall pick in the 1985 draft had the breakout year management expected all along. Canseco became the only player in CDBL history to hit at least 40 homers (43, 2nd best in league) and steal at least 40 bases (42, good for 10th in league). Canseco finished 3rd in RBI's with 114, 2nd in runs with 109 and 2nd in slugging with .566. Canseco was probably also the deciding factor in getting the Traffic into the playoffs this year in the tightly-contested GT conference wildcard races. ******************************CY YOUNG AWARD******************************* 1988 Cy Young 2nd runner up: Frank Viola, SP, Milwaukee Mashers ERA W L S G GS CG SH IP H R ER BB K BF HR WP DP 2.21 20 7 0 33 33 6 4 252.2 212 74 62 34 200 998 17 3 17 Just about everybody on the Masher team pitched wonderfully, and Frank Viola got the most out of it in the win column. Viola tied for 2nd in the league with 20 wins, and finished 5th in the league in ERA (2.21). Viola's 200 strikeouts were good enough for an 8th place finish in the strikoue race, while his 4 shutouts tied for 4th in the league. His 8.98 runners per 9 innings was good enough for 4th best in the league. Plus, Viola's contribution helped Milwaukee post the best regular season record in the league. 1988 Cy Young 1st runner up: Rick Reuschel, SP, Milwaukee Mashers ERA W L S G GS CG SH IP H R ER BB K BF HR WP DP 2.09 18 8 0 33 33 12 4 249.1 222 82 58 33 97 998 13 2 22 Longtime Masher ace Rick Reuschel certainly didn't disappoint the fans this year. Reuschel finished 4th in the ERA race with a 2.09 ERA, tied for 5th in wins with 18, and finished 5th in complete games with 12. His 4 shutouts tied for 4th in the league. All this while helping the Mashers post the best regular season record and set a new league record for team ERA. 1988 Cy Young winner: Mark Gubicza, SP, Forth Worth Cats ERA W L S G GS CG SH IP H R ER BB K BF HR WP DP 1.96 17 11 0 33 33 13 6 262.1 194 68 57 60 188 1025 12 6 19 Imagine competing in the same division as a team who posted the best league record by 8 games. Now imagine your supporting hitting staff is near league lows, on par with 113 loss teams. For most of the season, Mark Gubicza was fighting an uphill battle, and yet he helped carry the Cats to a winning record. Gubicza had the 9th worst run support of any starter in the league, (3.18 runs/game) but counteracted that with a 1.96 ERA, good for 2nd best in the league. Gubicza's 17 wins put him in a tie (with legions of pitchers) for 9th place overall. Gubicza's 6 shutouts led the league, and his 13 complete games were good enough for 3rd in the league. his 8.82 runners per 9 innings was 2nd best in the league. Gubicza had quality starts 84.8% of the time, 3rd best in the league. High quality workhorse innings, what more could you ask for? ************************FIREMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD**************************** 1988 Fireman of the Year 2nd runner up: Mark Davis, RP, Surfers ERA W L S G GS CG SH IP H R ER BB K BF HR WP DP 2.15 9 5 31 64 0 0 0 75.1 57 21 18 28 79 309 3 9 3 The Surfers may have been downright mediocre this year, but you couldn't blame it on Davis. Mark Davis posted a 2.15 ERA, with 31 saves and won 9 games as well. His save percentage of 83.8% was 4th best in the league, and finished the most games in the league with 56. 1988 Fireman of the Year 1st runner up: Todd Worrell, RP, Mules ERA W L S G GS CG SH IP H R ER BB K BF HR WP DP 2.05 6 6 38 61 0 0 0 70.1 44 17 16 24 66 273 5 3 8 Worrell pitched about as good as you can get. Worrell sported a 2.05 ERA, a sub 1.00 WHIP (0.97), and led the league in saves with 38. Worrell converted 38 of 44 saves, 2nd best in the league. He also placed 3rd in the league in inherited runners scored percentage with a tiny 0.154. 1988 Fireman of the Year: Dennis Eckersley, RP, Riots ERA W L S G GS CG SH IP H R ER BB K BF HR WP DP 1.56 6 5 32 62 0 0 0 75.0 67 16 13 14 67 294 2 0 8 The DC Riots finished comfortably in 1st place in the Paige division, and one big factor in that was the closer performance of one Dennis Eckersley. Eckersley finished 2nd in the league in saves with 32, but converted 32 of 36 opportunities for a 88.9% save percentage, best in the league. Eck also finished 2nd in games finished with 52. Eckersley's 1.56 ERA was 2nd best for relievers with at least 60 innings pitched, and best for those with 70+ innings.