#1/2 Seeded Teams
#1 2016 Cleveland Indians
Original Season Record: 94-67, .584, 1st place in AL Central, def Bos & Tor in playoffs, then lost to Cubs in WS
Star Attractions: Corey Kluber finished 3rd in the AL Cy Young race, going 18-9 with a 3.14 ERA. Pitching in hitter friendly Progressive Field, he also led the league in ERA+ at 144. SS Francisco Lindor anchored a stellar infield, leading the team's position players with 5.2 WAR, while hitting .301 with 15 HR, 19 SB and a team best 99 runs scored.
Also Featuring: The DH/1B combo of Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli supplied the power with 34 HR apiece, a combined 188 RBI and 181 R. Jose Ramirez was the Jack of all trades, playing three infield positions and LF, while leading the team with a .312 BA and finishing 2nd in OPS at .825 and OPS+ at 117. Dan Otero had about as good a season as a middle reliever could with a 1.53 ERA in 70.6 innnings, while by the end of the season, the tribe had two legitimate closer options in Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.
Potential Pitfalls: Injuries limited the team's second and third best starting pitchers, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar to fewer than 150 innings apiece, meaning that for big chunks of the season, Cleveland was depending on middling pitchers for a large proportion of their starting pitching. The Indians also did not hit for a lot of power, leading to a lot of tense, nail biter games. The outfielders, especially, struggled to supply much power, leaving a disproportionate amount of the responsibility on the shoulders of Santana and Napoli.
#2 1977 Philadelphia Phillies
Original Season Record:101-61, .623 1st place,NL East, lost NLCS
Star Attractions: The Phillies featured a tremendous 1-2 punch in the form of 3B Mike Schmidt and LF Greg Luzinski who combined for 117 HR, 231 RBI, and 213 runs scored. Schmidt was the NL leader in WAR at 8.9 in no small part thanks to his gold glove defence at the hot corner. Luzinski was a nearly unstoppable hitting force, leading Philly with a .309 BA, 394 OBP, 594 slugging percentage, 988 OPS and 156 OPS+, and finished runner up in NL MVP voting. Steve Carlton, meanwhile, won the NL CY Young award, going 23-10 with a 2.64 ERA, logging 283 innings and racking up 17 complete games.
Also Featuring: Philadelphia had an impressively deep bullpen with four pitchers with ERAs of 2.75 or better in more than 70 innings each. Gene Garber led the team with 19 saves, allowing a meager 82 hits in 103.3 innings. 1B Richie Hebner was an underrated hitter, 3rd on the team with 18 HR and an impressive .381 on base percentage. Gary Maddox was an excellent defensive CF and was 3rd on the team with both 74 RBI and 85 R, and was 2nd in steals with 22.
Potential Pitfalls: The starting pitching beyond Carlton is a dicey proposition with two of the rotation regulars with ERAs above 5 and the other two with marks in the low 4s. A lights out bullpen mitigates some of the weakness of the starters, but if the rotation is not at least halfway respectable, the Phillies could be in danger of disappointment.
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