1976 Season

The 1976 season in brief

1976 belonged, by record, to the Cincinnati Reds: 102-60. The weakest record belonged to the Montreal Expos, 55-107. Group by group, the Kansas City Royals topped the American League West at 90-72, a few games clear of the Oakland Athletics, the Pittsburgh Pirates (92-70) finished a distant second to the Philadelphia Phillies (101-61) in the National League East, nobody in the National League West came near the Cincinnati Reds's 102-60, and the New York Yankees won the American League East going away, 97-62 against 88-74 for the Baltimore Orioles. The 1976 title went to the Cincinnati Reds, who defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series, 4 games to 0. Earlier rounds sent through the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals in the AL Championship Series (3-2) and the Cincinnati Reds over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series (3-0). The home run board is topped by Mike Schmidt at 38, ahead of Dave Kingman with 37. The qualified batting-average board starts with Bill Madlock at .339, with Ken Griffey next at .336. The board counts only hitters with 502 or more plate appearances, which is what 162 team games require. Mark Fidrych's 2.34 ERA led the qualified pitchers; Vida Blue followed at 2.35. Beyond the top five in each tile, the 1976 leaders page ranks the whole 1976 field.