1970 American League

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1970 American League
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The 1970 season of the American League was the seventieth season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
Eastern Division
1	Baltimore Orioles	162	108	54	0	.667	-.-	792 (4.89)	574 (3.54)	0.257	0.342	0.401	3.15	0.981
2	New York Yankees	163	93	69	1	.571	15.0	680 (4.17)	612 (3.75)	0.251	0.324	0.365	3.24	0.980
3	Boston Red Sox	162	87	75	0	.537	21.0	786 (4.85)	722 (4.46)	0.262	0.333	0.428	3.87	0.974
4	Detroit Tigers	162	79	83	0	.488	29.0	666 (4.11)	731 (4.51)	0.238	0.321	0.374	4.09	0.978
5	Cleveland Indians	162	76	86	0	.469	32.0	649 (4.01)	675 (4.17)	0.249	0.312	0.394	3.91	0.979
6	Washington Senators	162	70	92	0	.432	38.0	626 (3.86)	689 (4.25)	0.238	0.318	0.358	3.80	0.982
Western Division
1	Minnesota Twins	162	98	64	0	.605	-.-	744 (4.59)	605 (3.73)	0.262	0.324	0.403	3.23	0.980
2	Oakland Athletics	162	89	73	0	.549	9.0	678 (4.19)	593 (3.66)	0.249	0.322	0.392	3.30	0.977
3	California Angels	162	86	76	0	.531	12.0	631 (3.90)	630 (3.89)	0.251	0.307	0.363	3.48	0.980
4	Kansas City Royals	162	65	97	0	.401	33.0	611 (3.77)	705 (4.35)	0.244	0.308	0.348	3.78	0.976
4	Milwaukee Brewers	163	65	97	1	.399	24.0	613 (3.76)	751 (4.61)	0.242	0.317	0.358	4.21	0.978
6	Chicago White Sox	162	56	106	0	.346	42.0	633 (3.91)	822 (5.07)	0.253	0.312	0.362	4.54	0.975

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Sandy Alomar Roy White	California Angels New York Yankees	162
At Bats	Horace Clarke	New York Yankees	686
Runs Scored	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	125
Hits	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	204
Doubles	Tony Oliva Amos Otis Cesar Tovar	Minnesota Twins Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins	36
Triples	Cesar Tovar	Minnesota Twins	13
Home Runs	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	44
Total Bases	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	335
Runs Batted In	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	126
Stolen Bases	Bert Campaneris	Oakland Athletics	42
Caught Stealing	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	17
Walks	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	132
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	29
Hit by Pitch	Roy Foster	Cleveland Indians	12
Strikeouts	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	135
Sacrifice Hits	Eddie Leon	Cleveland Indians	23
Sacrifice Flies	Jack Heidemann Rico Petrocelli	Cleveland Indians Boston Red Sox	10
Grounded into Double Plays	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	28
Batting Average	Alex Johnson	California Angels	0.329
On-Base Percentage	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	0.452
Slugging Percentage	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	0.592
On-Base plus Slugging	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	1.044
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	178

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Mike Cuellar Dave McNally Jim Perry	Baltimore Orioles Baltimore Orioles Minnesota Twins	24
Losses	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	19
Win-Loss Percentage	Steve Hargan	Cleveland Indians	0.786
Appearances	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	77
Games Started	Mike Cuellar Chuck Dobson Catfish Hunter Dave McNally Jim Perry	Baltimore Orioles Oakland Athletics Oakland Athletics Baltimore Orioles Minnesota Twins	40
Complete Games	Mike Cuellar	Baltimore Orioles	21
Shutouts	Chuck Dobson Jim Palmer	Oakland Athletics Baltimore Orioles	5
Games Finished	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	62
Saves	Ron Perranoski	Minnesota Twins	34
Innings Pitched	Sam McDowell Jim Palmer	Cleveland Indians Baltimore Orioles	305.0
Batters Faced	Sam McDowell Jim Palmer	Cleveland Indians Baltimore Orioles	1257
Hits Allowed	Dave McNally	Baltimore Orioles	277
Home Runs Allowed	Mike Cuellar	Baltimore Orioles	34
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	131
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Tommy John Darold Knowles	Chicago White Sox Washington Senators	16
Hit Batsmen	Ray Culp Bob Johnson	Boston Red Sox Kansas City Royals	11
Strikeouts	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	304
Wild Pitches	Tommy John Sam McDowell	Chicago White Sox Cleveland Indians	17
Balks	Bert Blyleven Greg Garrett Jim Palmer	Minnesota Twins California Angels Baltimore Orioles	3
Runs Allowed	Lew Krausse	Milwaukee Brewers	130
Earned Runs Allowed	Mike Cuellar Mickey Lolich	Baltimore Orioles Detroit Tigers	115
Earned Run Average	Diego Segui	Oakland Athletics	2.56
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Fritz Peterson	New York Yankees	1.102

All-Star Game

The American League lost the forty-first midsummer classic at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, OH on Tuesday, July 14, 1970 by a score of 5 to 4 in 12 innings. The league's manager was Earl Weaver.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured Baltimore Orioles, the Eastern Division winner, and the Minnesota Twins, the Western Division winner. The Orioles defeated the Twins, 3 games to 0.

In the World Series, the American League champion Baltimore Orioles defeated the National League's Cincinnati Reds, 4 games to 1.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Boog Powell, a first baseman with the Baltimore Orioles. In the award's voting, he had 234 out of a possible 336 points and 11 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Jim Perry of the Minnesota Twins. In the award's voting, he had 55 out of a possible 120 points and 6 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Thurman Munson, a catcher with the New York Yankees. In the award's voting, he had 23 out of a possible 24 points and 23 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins
C	Ray Fosse	Cleveland Indians
1B	Jim Spencer	California Angels
2B	Davey Johnson	Baltimore Orioles
3B	Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles
SS	Luis Aparicio	Chicago White Sox
OF	Ken Berry	Chicago White Sox
	Paul Blair	Baltimore Orioles
	Mickey Stanley	Detroit Tigers

Hall of Fame Game

The twenty-eighth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on July 27 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Chicago White Sox lost to the Montreal Expos of the National League by a score of 10 to 6.

Umpires

• Merle Anthony
• Emmett Ashford
• Nick Avants
• Larry Barnett
• Charlie Berry*
• Nestor Chylak
• Bill Deegan*
• Don Denkinger
• Lou DiMuro
• Red Flaherty
• Art Frantz
• Russ Goetz
• Bill Haller
• Jim Honochick
• Bill Kunkel
• Ron Luciano
• George Maloney
• Larry Napp
• Jerry Neudecker
• Jim Odom
• Jake O'Donnell
• John Rice
• Ed Runge
• Darold Satchell*
• Hank Soar
• Marty Springstead
• Johnny Stevens
• Bob Stewart
• Frank Umont

* Denotes a fill-in umpire