The 2020 Yankees Bear a Striking Resemblance to the 1981 Club
What will go down as one of the strangest regular seasons in baseball history is in the books. Now an equally wacky post-season begins and despite their Jekyll and Hyde routine to close out the season, the Yankees are a part of it. The last time Major League Baseball was forced to go off-script with both the regular season and playoff schedule was in 1981 due to a mid-season strike. That year, a similarly streaky Yankee team reached the playoffs - and ultimately the World Series where they lost to the Dodgers - by finishing the "first half" of the season with the best record in the AL East. Never mind that they were below .500 in the second half and actually finished with only the fourth best overall record in the division. The slapdash playoff system was far from perfect.
The similarities between the 1981 and 2020 Yankees go well beyond team streakiness, though. As they embark on another playoff journey, let's dig into a comparison between the current Yankees and their spiritual predecessors.
Feast
The Bronx Zoo Yankee lineup was missing a few key members, but still going strong in 1981. That strength came in the form of six guys who feasted on AL pitching in the short season. The group was a good mix of established stars and pleasant surprises.
A powerful lineup is the biggest strength of the current Yankee team and again there is a group of six bats that have been clearly a cut above the rest. Included in that group are two players who came to the Yankees with very little fanfare, but have been a much needed complement to the familiar group of sluggers. Without further ado, here is the cast of characters:
Dave Winfield came to the Yankees on a record-breaking contract in 1981 and he didn't disappoint as he paced the offense - until the World Series, that is. A trio of familiar faces - all 35 or older - were effective in support of Winfield despite their dwindling ability to make a ton of solid contact. Bobby Murcer, Lou Piniella, and Reggie Jackson all played the old man game to perfection, adding value via patience and a little but of pop.
After thriving as a bench player in the season prior, journeyman slugger Oscar Gamble was thrust into a more regular role in 1981 to positive results. Like any wise lefty playing for the Yankees, he took advantage of his home field, slugging .531 at Yankee Stadium and just .370 elsewhere.
The biggest surprise in the 1981 lineup was Jerry Mumphrey. Another journeyman, he was acquired just before the season to hold down center field, and he did just that. He also rewarded the Yankees with a career year at the plate. In a rare down year for Willie Randolph (more on that later), Mumphrey served as a key table-setter for all those big bats behind him in the order.
With sweet mustaches and hairstyles that scream "early 80's", Jerry Mumphrey (left) and Oscar Gamble (right) played big roles for the Yankees in 1981.
tradingcarddb.com/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
The 2020 Yankee lineup is spearheaded by MVP candidate and AL batting title winner DJ LeMahieu. His contributions were no surprise considering his stellar 2019 campaign and career .305 batting average. Equally unsurprising were the robust stat lines put up by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Even if their disturbing injury trends continued, when they did play they provided value in the middle of the lineup as expected.
When the Yankees acquired Clint Frazier in 2016, he instantly became the best hitting prospect in the organization. Over the next three seasons he showed flashes of fulfilling that potential, but injuries and a crowded Yankee outfield prevented him from getting an everyday role. Frazier may have finally broken that barrier in 2020. Eventually playing everyday, his plate discipline has improved significantly and he truly looks like a star in the making.
Now for the fun part. Like Mumphrey and Gamble nearly 40 years ago, the Yankees have featured two journeyman this year that became indispensable down the stretch. When Gio Urshela was picked up in 2018 he was a below replacement-level player destined to be nothing more than minor league infield depth. Last year, injuries forced him into the major league lineup and something snapped. He exploded for 21 home runs and 74 RBI's with a .314 batting average and 132 OPS+. Relying on that kind of production again this year would have been foolish, but Urshela proved us all fools. Based on his 2020 season, and a game-changing grand slam in Game Two of the Wild Card Series against the Cleveland Indians, he's here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Which brings us to Luke Voit. Another scrap heap pick-up in 2018, he was supposed to serve as depth as well. All he's done since then is nearly single-handedly will the Yankees to the playoffs that season, play through an injury to hold down the fort while Aaron Judge got healthy in 2019, and lead the AL in home runs with 22 this season. In a bizarre season filled with injuries for the Yankees, Voit was the lone constant, playing everyday and slugging away as he has his whole Yankee career to this point. It seems that we should start expecting Voit to be a Yankee hero.
Honorable Mention: Aaron Hicks was not included here as his batting average fell at least 10 points for the third straight year. However, he really did have a solid season at the plate. His 41 walks ranked second in the AL and he struck out only 38 times. While quality contact was a challenge, he still put up a 121 OPS+.
Famine
As is bound to happen in a short season, both in 1981 and 2020 some Yankee bats that had high hopes heading into the season just couldn't get it going. In most cases, the player was coming off of a career year but came crashing back down to earth.
In 1980 Willie Randolph had the best season of his criminally underappreciated career. A year later, his offensive production dropped significantly across the board. Being the consummate professional that he was, all was not lost for Randolph though. His 57 walks ranked ninth in the AL despite posing very little threat with the bat, and he turned things around in the Fall Classic. He led the team in that series with an OPS of 1.187, two home runs, and nine walks (with no strikeouts). Randolph's batting eye was nothing short of a superpower.
Acquired shortly after Thurman Munson's tragic death, Rick Cerone became the Yankees' starting catcher in 1980 and thrived in his new role. He even garnered some MVP consideration. As evidenced by his anemic stat line above, he didn't come close to that kind of production in the abbreviated 1981 season. This was the first step of an even steeper decline for Cerone, who never approached that level of play again.
If asked before the 2020 season who the best everyday player on the Yankees is, a fair amount of baseball fans would have pointed to Gleyber Torres. The 2018 Rookie of the Year reached new heights in 2019 with 38 home runs and 90 RBI's as a shortstop. While battling injuries, he took a major step backwards in 2020. However, if Game One of the Wild Card Series was any indication, Torres may be poised for a Randolph-esque turnaround this fall.
Back in April, I made the point that the 2020 season could make or break the rest of Gary Sanchez's career. This season turned out to be even briefer than was expected back then, but one look at that nauseating stat line from Sanchez would seem to indicate that his career is on the verge of breaking. To make matters worse, Gary was riding the pine for Game One of the 2020 playoffs as Kyle Higashioka started for his new homeboy, Gerrit Cole. No matter what happens for the rest of the playoffs, the debate on whether or not Sanchez should start at catcher next season will be a hot one throughout the offseason. I hope Gary comes back with a vengeance in 2021.
The future of Gary Sanchez as the Yankees' everyday catcher is in question after 2020.
Arturo Pardavila/Wikimedia Commons
Three-headed monster on the mound
One of the biggest reasons for the Yankees' success in 1981 was a trio of left-handers that formed a dynamic three-headed monster at the top of the rotation. Crafty old veteran Tommy John was an effective workhorse at 38 years old. Former Cy Young Award winner Ron Guidry was still firmly in his prime and pitched like the ace that he was in that abbreviated season. Rounding out the trio was rookie Dave Righetti who earned AL Rookie of the Year honors with his dazzling stuff.
Two-thirds of this group continued their success through the postseason as John and Guidry pitched to a sub-2.00 ERA across four starts in the World Series. The rookie just didn't hold up against the Dodgers. In his lone World Series start, Righetti surrendered five hits, two walks, and three runs over just two innings of work.
The old man of the current Yankee triumvirate comes in the form of J.A. Happ. As recently as August, the 37-year old Happ was on the brink of falling out of the rotation entirely before a huge win over the Red Sox saved his season. He was needed down the stretch while the Yankees dealt with the loss of James Paxton.
J.A. Happ quickly went from dud to stud in 2020.
DR. Buddie/Wikimedia Commons
The veteran-in-his-prime role went to Masahiro Tanaka. A cornerstone of the rotation since signing with the Yankees in 2014, Tanaka was no different in 2020. His splitter/slider combination is still keeping hitters frustrated - well, until his rain-interrupted start in Game Two of the Wild Card Series where the Indians lit him up for four runs in the first inning.
Gerrit Cole may not be a rookie, but he is a first-year Yankee and his stuff is just as dazzling as Righetti's was in 1981. He was brought to the Bronx to be the dominant force of the rotation, especially in the playoffs. Based on his regular season and subsequent Game One gem over the Indians, so far so good on that mission.
One of these things is not like the others
Perhaps the biggest strength of the 1981 Yankees was their otherworldly bullpen. Closer Goose Gossage was the star of the show. In jut under 47 innings he saved 20 games with a 0.77 ERA, good for an absurd 465 ERA+. In the playoffs he was even better as he hurled nearly 15 innings of shutout ball.
The main righty as part of the bridge to Gossage was Ron Davis who struck out over 10 batters per nine innings. Lefty Dave LaRoche was more than just a LOOGY as he was effective in his 47 innings of work. Rounding out the middle relief were George Frazier and Doug Bird who turned in superb seasons. Each member of this group had an ERA of 2.71 or better.
Alas, the bullpen was their undoing in the World Series. Before they were able to get the ball to Gossage, Davis and Frazier got torched for 15 runs off Dodger bats in just 6 combined innings pitched.
The 2020 Yankee bullpen was supposed to be a team strength. Flame-throwing Aroldis Chapman was still on board as the closer with last year's elite group of setup men - Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, and Zach Britton - backing him up.
Just as the season started, Chapman was forced out of action when he tested positive for COVID-19. After just one appearance, Kahnle needed Tommy John surgery, ending his season. Ottavino, who struggled in October of 2019, carried those struggles over and never got on track in 2020 (5.89 ERA). That left Britton as the last man standing to hold down the closer job, which he did admirably.
When Chapman returned to the lineup he did pitch well down the stretch, but this group was simply not the elite one that carried the Yankees through the 2019 season, or that magical bullpen that kept the 1981 team afloat. If the Yankees want to make a deep run in October this year, that will have to change.
All numbers for this article were obtained from Baseball Reference.
Comments
Post a Comment