1981 National League

1981 in baseball
1981 National League
Cuban National League
Japanese baseball
American League
<< 1980 1982 >>

The 1981 season of the National League was the one hundred sixth season of the league.

BR page

Standings

Italics indicates half winner, Bold indicates league champion, Bold/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	St. Louis Cardinals	103	59	43	1	.573	-.-	464 (4.50)	417 (4.05)	0.265	0.336	0.377	3.63	0.981
2	Montreal Expos	108	60	48	0	.556	2.0	443 (4.10)	394 (3.65)	0.246	0.316	0.370	3.30	0.980
3	Philadelphia Phillies	107	59	48	0	.551	2.5	491 (4.59)	472 (4.41)	0.273	0.340	0.389	4.05	0.980
4	Pittsburgh Pirates	103	46	56	1	.447	13.0	407 (3.95)	425 (4.13)	0.257	0.311	0.369	3.56	0.979
5	New York Mets	105	41	62	2	.390	18.5	348 (3.31)	432 (4.11)	0.248	0.309	0.356	3.55	0.968
6	Chicago Cubs	106	38	65	3	.358	21.5	370 (3.49)	483 (4.56)	0.236	0.303	0.340	4.01	0.974
Western Division
1	Cincinnati Reds	108	66	42	0	.611	-.-	464 (4.30)	440 (4.07)	0.267	0.336	0.385	3.73	0.981
2	Los Angeles Dodgers	110	63	47	0	.573	4.0	450 (4.09)	356 (3.24)	0.262	0.322	0.374	3.01	0.980
3	Houston Astros	110	61	49	0	.555	6.0	394 (3.58)	331 (3.01)	0.257	0.319	0.356	2.66	0.980
4	San Francisco Giants	111	56	55	0	.505	11.5	427 (3.85)	414 (3.73)	0.250	0.320	0.357	3.28	0.978
5	Atlanta Braves	107	50	56	1	.467	15.0	395 (3.69)	416 (3.89)	0.243	0.305	0.349	3.45	0.976
6	San Diego Padres	110	41	69	0	.373	26.0	382 (3.47)	455 (4.14)	0.256	0.313	0.346	3.72	0.977

Half Standings

First Half

Season from April 8 - June 11

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB		Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
Eastern Division									Western Division
1	Philadelphia Phillies	55	34	21	0	.618	-.-		1	Los Angeles Dodgers	57	36	21	0	.632	-.-
2	St. Louis Cardinals	51	30	20	1	.600	1.5		2	Cincinnati Reds	56	35	21	0	.625	0.5
3	Montreal Expos	55	30	25	0	.545	4.0		3	Houston Astros	57	28	29	0	.491	8.0
4	Pittsburgh Pirates	49	25	23	1	.521	5.5		4	Atlanta Braves	55	25	29	1	.463	9.5
5	New York Mets	52	17	34	1	.333	15.0		5	San Francisco Giants	59	27	32	0	.458	10.0
6	Chicago Cubs	54	15	37	2	.288	17.5		6	San Diego Padres	56	23	33	0	.411	12.5

Second Half

Season from August 10 - October 4

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB		Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
Eastern Division									Western Division
1	Montreal Expos	53	30	23	0	.566	-.-		1	Houston Astros	53	33	20	0	.623	-.-
2	St. Louis Cardinals	52	29	23	0	.558	0.5		2	Cincinnati Reds	52	31	21	0	.596	1.5
3	Philadelphia Phillies	52	25	27	0	.481	4.5		3	San Francisco Giants	52	29	23	0	.558	3.5
4	New York Mets	53	24	28	1	.462	5.5		4	Los Angeles Dodgers	53	27	26	0	.509	6.0
5	Chicago Cubs	52	23	28	1	.451	6.0		5	Atlanta Braves	52	25	27	0	.481	7.5
6	Pittsburgh Pirates	54	21	33	0	.389	9.5		6	San Diego Padres	54	18	36	0	.333	15.5

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Steve Garvey Ozzie Smith	Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres	110
At Bats	Ozzie Smith	San Diego Padres	450
Runs Scored	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	78
Hits	Pete Rose	Philadelphia Phillies	140
Doubles	Bill Buckner	Chicago Cubs	35
Triples	Craig Reynolds Gene Richards	Houston Astros San Diego Padres	12
Home Runs	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	31
Total Bases	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	228
Runs Batted In	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	91
Stolen Bases	Tim Raines	Montreal Expos	71
Caught Stealing	Omar Moreno	Pittsburgh Pirates	14
Walks	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	73
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	18
Hit by Pitch	Andre Dawson	Montreal Expos	7
Strikeouts	Dave Kingman	New York Mets	105
Sacrifice Hits	Craig Reynolds	Houston Astros	18
Sacrifice Flies	Garry Maddox	Philadelphia Phillies	8
Grounded into Double Plays	Ray Knight	Cincinnati Reds	18
Batting Average	Bill Madlock	Pittsburgh Pirates	0.341 *
On-Base Percentage	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	0.435
Slugging Percentage	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	0.644
On-Base plus Slugging	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	1.079
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	199

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Tom Seaver	Cincinnati Reds	14
Losses	Steve Mura Pat Zachry	San Diego Padres New York Mets	14
Win-Loss Percentage	Tom Seaver	Cincinnati Reds	0.875
Appearances	Gary Lucas	San Diego Padres	57
Games Started	Mike Krukow Mario Soto Fernando Valenzuela	Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Los Angeles Dodgers	25
Complete Games	Fernando Valenzuela	Los Angeles Dodgers	11
Shutouts	Fernando Valenzuela	Los Angeles Dodgers	8
Games Finished	Greg Minton	San Francisco Giants	44
Saves	Bruce Sutter	St. Louis Cardinals	25
Innings Pitched	Fernando Valenzuela	Los Angeles Dodgers	192.1
Batters Faced	Steve Carlton	Philadelphia Phillies	763
Hits Allowed	Gaylord Perry	Atlanta Braves	182
Home Runs Allowed	Mario Soto Pat Zachry	Cincinnati Reds New York Mets	13
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Bruce Berenyi	Cincinnati Reds	77
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Gary Lucas Dick Tidrow	San Diego Padres Chicago Cubs	15
Hit Batsmen	Tom Griffin	San Francisco Giants	7
Strikeouts	Fernando Valenzuela	Los Angeles Dodgers	180
Wild Pitches	Nolan Ryan	Houston Astros	16
Balks	Danny Boone Juan Eichelberger Lary Sorensen	San Diego Padres San Diego Padres St. Louis Cardinals	5
Runs Allowed	Dick Ruthven	Philadelphia Phillies	94
Earned Runs Allowed	Dick Ruthven	Philadelphia Phillies	84
Earned Run Average	Nolan Ryan	Houston Astros	1.69
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Don Sutton	Houston Astros	1.015

All-Star Game

The National League won the fifty-second midsummer classic at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, OH on Sunday, August 9, 1981 by a score of 5 to 4. The league's manager was Dallas Green.

Postseason

The 1981 National League playoffs featured the champions of the first half and second half in each of the league's two divisions. The teams competed in a best-of-five Division Series, followed by a best-of-five League Championship Series. The winner of the League Championship Series represented the league in the World Series.

	Division Series					Championship Series
	East. (1 h.)	Philadelphia Phillies	2
	East. (2 h.)	Montreal Expos	3
						East.	Montreal Expos	2
						West.	Los Angeles Dodgers	3
	West. (1 h.)	Los Angeles Dodgers	3
	West. (2 h.)	Houston Astros	2

In the World Series, the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the American League's New York Yankees, 4 games to 2.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Mike Schmidt, a third baseman with the Philadelphia Phillies. In the award's voting, he had 321 out of a possible 336 points and 21 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the award's voting, he had 70 out of a possible 120 points and 8 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Fernando Valenzuela, a pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the award's voting, he had 107 out of a possible 120 points and 17 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	Steve Carlton	Philadelphia Phillies
C	Gary Carter	Montréal Expos
1B	Keith Hernandez	St. Louis Cardinals
2B	Manny Trillo	Philadelphia Phillies
3B	Ozzie Smith	San Diego Padres
SS	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies
OF	Andre Dawson	Montréal Expos
	Garry Maddox	Philadelphia Phillies
	Dusty Baker	Los Angeles Dodgers

Silver Sluggers

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

Position	Player	Team
C	Gary Carter	Montreal Expos
1B	Pete Rose	Philadelphia Phillies
2B	Manny Trillo	Philadelphia Phillies
3B	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies
SS	Dave Concepcion	Cincinnati Reds
OF	Dusty Baker	Los Angeles Dodgers
	Andre Dawson	Montreal Expos
	George Foster	Cincinnati Reds
P	Fernando Valenzuela	Los Angeles Dodgers

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: Dave Concepcion, Cincinnati Reds
  • May: Art Howe, Houston Astros
  • June: none
  • July: none
  • August: Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies
  • September: Gary Matthews, Philadelphia Phillies

• Pitcher of the Month Award
  • April: Fernando Valenzuela, Los Angeles Dodgers
  • May: Charlie Lea, Montréal Expos
  • June: none
  • July: none
  • August: Rick Camp, Atlanta Braves and Ed Whitson, San Francisco Giants
  • September: Tom Seaver, Cincinnati Reds

Hall of Fame Game

The 1981 Hall of Fame Game was scheduled to be played on August 3 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The game between the Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds canceled due to the players' strike.

Umpires

• John Baird*
• Fred Brocklander
• Nick Colosi
• Jerry Crawford
• Jerry Dale
• Satch Davidson
• Bob Engel
• Steve Fields
• Bruce Froemming
• Eric Gregg
• Lanny Harris
• Doug Harvey
• John Kibler
• Jean Leclerc*
• Randy Marsh
• John McSherry
• Ed Montague
• Dave Pallone
• Paul Pryor
• Frank Pulli
• Jim Quick
• Dutch Rennert
• Paul Runge
• Jim Sheasgreen*
• Dick Stello
• Terry Tata
• Ed Vargo
• Harry Wendelstedt
• Joe West
• Lee Weyer
• Bill Williams
• Charlie Williams

* Denotes a fill-in umpire

Further Reading

• Chris Bumbaca: "Explaining the 1981 MLB season: How baseball survived shortened year", USA Today, March 15, 2020. [1]
• Jeff Katz: Split Season: 1981: Fernandomania, the Bronx Zoo, and the Strike that Saved Baseball, Thomas Dunne Books, New York, NY, 2015. ISBN 978-1-2500-4521-8
• Will Leitch: "A season split in two: Revisiting '81 in baseball", mlb.com, June 24, 2020. [2]