Complied by staff@baseballhistorian.com

Well, here we go!

1985 American League Standings:

East: - Toronto Blue Jays 99-62 ... New York Yankees 97-64, 2 GB... Detroit Tigers 84-77, 15 GB... Baltimore Orioles 83-78, 16 GB... Boston Red Sox 81-81, 18.5 GB... Cleveland Indians 60-102, 39.5 GB

West: - Kansas City Royals 91-71 ... California Angels 90-72, 1 GB... Chicago White Sox 85-77, 6 GB... Oakland Athletics 77-85, 14 GB... Minnesota Twins 77-85, 14 GB... Seattle Mariners 74-88, 17 GB... Texas Rangers 62-99, 28.5 GB

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1985 National League Standings:

East: - St. Louis Cardinals 101-61 ... New York Mets 98-64, 3 GB... Montreal Expos 84-77, 16.5 GB... Chicago Cubs 77-84, 23.5 GB... Philadelphia Phillies 75-87, 26 GB... Pittsburgh Pirates 57-104, 43.5 GB

West: - Los Angeles Dodgers 95-67 ... Cincinnati Reds 89-72, 5.5 GB... San Diego Padres 83-79, 12 GB... Houston Astros 83-79... Atlanta Braves 66-96, 29 GB... San Francisco Giants 62-100, 33 GB

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American League Championship Series - 1985 ALCS

Royals beat Blue Jays, 4 Games to 3: ... although the Toronto Blue Jays won 3-of-the-first-4 games the Royals led by George Brett won the ALCS Series... Brett lined four hits including two homers to help the Royals win Game 3 and, he hit a game-winning homer to win Game 6. It was the second ever American League pennant for Kansas City - 1980 and 1985.

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National League Championship Series - 1985 NLCS

The Cardinals beat the Dodgers, 4 Games to 2: both teams praised for their pitching staffs, with the Dodgers ranked #1 in ERA in the majors and the Cards ranked #2, fought a thoroughly worthwhile Championship Series in 1985. Los Angeles' pitchers held St. Louis' hitters to just 3-runs total in the first two games, but the Cardinals scored 26 times in the next four games and won the final game on a three run, ninth inning homer by first baseman Jack Clark.

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1985 World Series - ROYALS WIN, ROYALS WIN!

Although, Kansas City's fans had their own flights of fancy about winning the World Crown, the rest of the baseball world did not except the Royals to provide much fireworks and knock-off the pitching rich St. Louis Cardinals.

However, after losing the first two Series games, the underdog Kansas City Royals knocked off the Red Birds in the seven game set.

Game 1, the Cardinals rode the pitching of John Tudor (10-8, 2.32 ERA) and reliever Todd Worrell (32 saves) to a 3-1 victory. In Game 2 it was more of the same. Cardinal starter Danny Cox (3-8, 3.98 ERA) out dueled Kansas City's Charlie Leibrandt (13-12, 3.19 ERA) to provide St. Louis a 4-2 win.

Game 3: Kansas City finally drew sufficient fireworks to score six times, aided by a two-run homer by second baseman Frank White and rolled behind the six-hit pitching of Royals' 2nd-year pitching ace Bret Saberhagen (14-16, 3.80 ERA) to win 6-0.

Game 4: Cards ace John Tudor, the winner of Game 1, spun his magic-ball again stopping the Royals 3-0. Tito Landrun and Willie McGee both homered. Game 5: Down three games to one, the Royals lined 11 hits, good for six runs, to win 6-0 behind the five-hit pitching of Danny Jackson (14-12, 3.42 ERA).

Game 6: A must-win for the Royals... last of the 9th, Cardinals up 1-0, Todd Worrell pitching and looking to close the barn door in relief of Danny Cox and middle reliever Ken Dayley. Then the barn door opened - Royals pinch hitter Jorge Orta was called safe on a close play at first base. First baseman Jack Clark misplayed an easy foul popup, and after a single and a walk loaded the bases, pinch-hitter Dane Iorg came through with line drive single, driving in two runs in a 2-1 Royals win.

Game 7: The Royals smashed 14-hits, 11-runs off seven Cardinal pitchers, and Bret Saberhagen hurled a nifty five-hitter, to win 11-0, and bring the Kansas City Royals their first-ever World Championship.

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Reviewing the Players - 1985

How many do you recall???

Willie Upshaw, Toronto Blue Jays, 1B/DH Left-handed - debuted in the majors with Toronto back in 1979... hit over 20 homers in 1982 and 1983, his best seasons. Upshaw powered 26 doubles, 7 triples, 27 home runs, scored 99 runs, 104 RBIs in '83... however his hitting has tailed off the last two years, in 1985, hit 15 hr, 65 RBIs.

Willie Upshaw career stats: .262 BA, 1,103 hits in 4,203 at bats, 199 Ds, 45 Ts, 123 Hr, 596 Runs, 528 RBIs, 88 SB, 642 Ks, 452 Ws. Toronto Blue Jays 1978-1987; Cleveland Indians 1988.

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Lloyd Moseby, Outfielder, Bats LH T RH, Toronto Blue Jays 1980-1989; Detroit Tigers 1990-1991; Japan 1992 - a speedster and center-field fly-hawk, Moseby stole 280 bases in his 12-year major league career.

- was picked second (in the first round) of the June 1978 draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. And, after playing the next two seasons in the minors in Medicine Hat, Dunedin and Syracuse the 6'3", 200-pounder debuted with Toronto in 1980.

Lloyd Moseby was picked to the 'Sporting News' American League All-Star team in '83 after he hit .315, stole 27 bases, lined 31 doubles, 7 triples, 18 home runs, 81 RBIs and became the first-ever Blue Jay to score 100 runs - 104.

In 1984, he led the AL with 15 triples and hit .280, stole 39 bases of 48 attempts, scored 97 runs, 92 RBIs with 61 extra bases, gathered 78 walks, while striking out 122 times.

Moseby helped Toronto win the AL East Division in 1985 and again in 1989... he drove in 4 runs in the 1985 ALCS and hit .313 in the '89 ALCS... and then, signed as a free agent with the Detroit... after his numbers slipped in 1991, he played 1992 in Japan.

Lloyd Moseby career numbers:.257 BA, 1,494 hits in 5,815 at bats, 273 Ds, 66 Ts, 169 Hr, 869 Runs, 737 RBIs, 280 SB, 616 Walks, 1,135 Ks.

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Moose Haas, Milwaukee Brewers, Pitcher RH - was No. 2 pick by the Brewers in June '74 draft... broke into the majors with Brewers in 1976... in his first full season (1977) went 10-12, 4.32 ERA in 198 innings... posted a outstanding 13-3 mark in 1983. As one of the league's workhorses, Haas worked over 150 innings, seven times and in 1980 pitched 252 innings while posting a 16-15 W/L record. After going 8-8, 3.64 ERA in 1985, Haas was traded to Oakland. Career Stats: 100-83 W/L, 4.01 ERA, 252 GS, 56 GC, 8 Shutouts, 1717 hits allowed in 1655 innings - Milwaukee Brewers 1976-1985; Oakland A's 1986-1987.

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Dan Gladden, San Francisco Giants, Outfielder RH - after he set the Phoenix team (Class-AAA) record with 50 stolen bases in 1983, he was brought up by San Francisco in early September and lined three hits on 9/8/83... with the Giants in 1984, Gladden hit a sterling .351, stole 31 bases, and scored 71 runs in just 86 games... rates 5-Stars for aggressive base running and playing hustling baseball. Career stats: .270 BA, over 1,200 hits, and lined over 200Ds, 40 Ts, 74 Hr, scored over 650 Runs and stole over 200 bases. San Francisco Giants 1983-1986; Minnesota Twins 1987-1991; Detroit Tigers 1992-1994

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Pitching and Defense ruled the majors in the middle-1980s, before the smaller ballparks and moved in outfield stands brought the rapid ball of the late 1990s.

1985 TEAM ERA: Toronto 3.31 ERA... NY Yankees 3.69... Detroit 3.78 ... Baltimore 4.38... Boston 4.06... Milwaukee 4.39... Cleveland 4.91

Kansas City 3.49 ERA... California 3.91... Chic White Sox 4.07... Minnesota 4.48... Oakland 4.41... Seattle 4.68... Texas 4.56

NL: - St. Louis 3.10 ERA... NY Mets 3.11... Montreal 3.55... Chic Cubs 4.16... Philadelphia 3.68... Pittsburgh 3.97

Los Angeles 2.96... Cincinnati 3.71... San Diego 3.40... Houston 3.66... Atlanta 4.19... San Francisco 3.61

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The Los Angeles pitching staff produced a compelling team earned run average of 2.96 in 1985 - the best in the majors.

Dodgers Pitchers: Orel Hershiser 19-3, 2.03 ERA... Fernando Valenzuela 17-10, 2.45... Jerry Reuss 14-10, 2.92... Bob Welsh 14-4, 2.31... Carlos Diaz 6-3, 2.61... Rick Honeycutt 8-12, 3.42...Tom Niedenfuer 7-9, 2.71... Ken Howell 4-7, 3.77... Steve Howell 1-1, 4.91... Bobby Castillo 2-2, 5.43... Alejando Pena 0-1, 8.31... Brian Holton 1-1, 9.00... Dennis Powell 1-1, 5.22... Tom Brennan 1-3, 7.39

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1985 Home Run Leaders:

American League: - Darrell Evans, Tigers 40... Carlton Fisk, White Sox 37... Steve Balboni, Royals 36... Don Mattingly, Yankees 35... Gorman Thomas, Mariners 32... Eddie Murray, Orioles 31... George Brett, Royals 30... Dave Kingman, Athletics 30

National League: - Dale Murphy, Braves 37... Dave Parker, Reds 34... Mike Schmidt, Phillies 33... Pedro Guerrero, Dodgers 33... Gary Carter, Mets 32... Darryl Strawberry, Mets 29... Mike Marshall, Dodgers 28... Bob Horner, Braves 27

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Pat Tabler, Cleveland Indians, 1B/OF, 3B/DH RH - the 6'2", 200-pounder, a native of Ohio was voted Cincinnati's high school Player of the Year and was drafted by the Yankees in June of '76... traded to the Indians in 1983, where he hit .291 and drove in 65 runs... an outstanding clutch hitter, Tabler in '83 hit .579, with 25 RBIs in just 19 bases loaded at bats... in 1984 batted .556 with 15 RBIs in 9 bases loaded attempts... and this year (1985) hit a phenomenal .857 in bases loaded situations. Career Stats: .282 BA, 1,101 hits in 3,911 at bats, 190 Ds, 25 Ts, 47 Hr, 512 RBIs, a .379 slg/pct. Cubs 1981-82; Indians 1983-88; Royals 1989-91; Blue Jays 1991-92.

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Rudy Law, Chicago White Sox, IF/OF Left-handed - Born in Waco, Texas on 10/7/56... debuted with the Dodgers in '78... traded to White Sox in 1982 and hit a robust .318 and stole 36 bases in 122 games... in 1985 whacked 21 Ds, 6 Ts, 4 Hr and batted .259 in 125 games... a contact hitter, Rudy Law struck out just 42 times in 1984 in 487 at bats. Career Stats: .271 BA, 656 hits in 2,421 at bats, 101 Ds, 37 Ts, 18 Hr, 379 Runs, 184 Walks, 210 Ks, 228 SB. Dodgers 1978, 1980; White Sox 1982-85; Royals 1986

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1985 RBI Leaders:

AL: - Don Mattingly, Yankees 145... Eddie Murray, Orioles 124... Dave Winfield, Yankees 114... Harold Baines, White Sox 113... George Brett, Royals 112... Bill Buckner, Red Sox 110... Cal Ripken, Orioles 110... Carlton Fisk, White Sox 107... Jim Rice, Red Sox 103... Cecil Cooper, Brewers 99

NL: - Dave Parker, Reds 125... Dale Murphy, Braves 110... Tom Herr, Cardinals 110... Keith Moreland, Cubs 106... Glenn Wilson, Phillies 102... Gary Cater, Mets 100... Hubie Brooks, Expos 100... Mike Marshall, Dodgers 95... Mike Schmidt, Phillies 93

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Jody Davis, Chicago Cubs, Catcher RH - one of the most popular players for the Cubs during the 1980s... made his major league debut in 1980... in 1983 the power-packed catcher smashed a career high 31 doubles hit 24 home runs, batted .271and collected 84 RBIs... an outstanding defensive backstop - in 1984, was named to the NL All-Star game...

In 1985, Jody Davis lined 30 doubles, 17 Hr in 142 games... a worker behind home plate, he's played in over 130 games the last four seasons. Career Stats: .245 BA in 3,585 at bats, 164 Ds, 127 Hr, 490 RBIs, and a nice .403 slg/pct. Cubs 1981-1988; Braves 1989-90

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Ken Oberkfell, Atlanta Braves, 3B, 2B, 1B, Bats LH, T RH - a sterling fielding performer, he led the NL in fielding percentage at two different positions during the 1980s... played third base on the 1982 World Champions St. Louis Cardinals...

An excellent, slashing hitter, Oberkfell hit .301 in his first year in the biggies back in '79, and followed with a .303 in '80... in his first six years he's never hit below .289. In June of 1984 he was traded to Atlanta and hit .272 in 134 games in 1985.

He's one of baseball's best contact hitters - in 1983, he walked 61 times and fanned just 27 times. Career Stats: .278 BA, 1,354 hits in 4,874 at bats, 237 Ds, 44 Ts, 29 Hr, 558 Runs, 446 RBIs, 546 Walks, 356 Ks, and a compelling .353 on-base-pct.

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