1981 Double-Elimination Tournament

Champions: San Francisco Giants

My father’s 1981 APBA game set was the first thing I had handy as I began this enterprise. A double-elimination tournament figured to be a good reintroduction to the game, as that would require a maximum of 48 or 49 games.

Although 1981 is remembered in infamy for its 51-day midseason strike, this was a fun place to start. I was 8 years old and that was the first year I can really remember collecting baseball cards, with Donruss and Fleer joining Topps as major distributors. I have a vague memory of watching the Dodgers-Yankees World Series and the birth of Fernandomania.

To seed this 25-team tournament, I put the 13 AL teams in the top half and the 12 NL teams in the bottom half (Milwaukee’s APBA set was lost to time, so only 25 of the 26 teams were involved). The real-life split seasons caused by the strike were ignored for this tournament, and teams were seeded according to their winning percentages over the course of the entire 1981 season.

This tournament, which was contested in December 2022 and January 2023, was played with the original cards-and-dice 1981 APBA basic game set.

Somewhat shockingly, the San Francisco Giants claimed the tournament title. In reality in 1981, the Giants went 56-55 overall, had the seventh-best winning percentage in the National League, and didn’t make the playoffs. In the simulation, somehow they found a way to win close games, as six of their seven contests were decided by one or two runs, and they went 5-1 in those. Three of the victories featured go-ahead runs in their final at-bat as the visiting team. The Giants hit .275, which was third-best in the tournament. They had a 2.28 earned-run average, also third-best (Oakland had a ridiculous 0.90 ERA over nine games).

Statistical Comparisons (1981 regular-season averages vs. simulation):
Batting Average .256 real life, .232 simulation
Runs/Game 4.0 real life, 3.7 simulation
Home Runs/Game 0.6 real life, 0.6 simulation
Earned Run Average 3.58 real life, 3.31 simulation

Batting Leaders: 8 runs scored (Tony Scott/HOU), 15 hits (Rickey Henderson/OAK), 5 doubles (George Brett/KC and Hal McRae/KC), 3 home runs (Dwayne Murphy/OAK, Tony Armas/OAK, Dave Winfield NYY), 9 RBI (Dusty Baker/LA), 5 stolen bases (Tim Raines/MON)

Pitching Leaders: 24 strikeouts (Nolan Ryan/HOU), 4 saves (Tom Hume/CIN)

MVP/Cy Young Award: Steve McCatty, Oakland
Went 3-0 with three complete games, two shutouts, one no-hitter, and a 0.33 ERA over 27 innings … Struck out 19 and gave up just six hits, four walks and one run … Pitched a three-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over Kansas City … Gave up no hits and threw to the minimum 27 batters in a 3-0 victory over Los Angeles … Finally gave up a run in his 25th inning of work but beat Boston 6-1 on a three-hitter to reach the championship.

All-Star Team
C John Wathan, Kansas City (.474, 9-for-19, 2 2B, 8 RBI)
1B Steve Garvey, Los Angeles (.300, 6-for-20, 2 2B, 3 RBI)
2B Shooty Babitt, Oakland (.323, 10-for-31, 1 3B, 1 RBI)
3B Carney Lansford, Boston (.409, 9-for-22, 2 2B, 3 RBI)
SS Rob Picciolo, Oakland (.394, 13-for-33, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI)
OF Rickey Henderson, Oakland (.405, 15-for-37, 3 2B, 2 3B, 6 RBI, 4 SB)
OF Dwayne Murphy, Oakland (.324, 12-for-37, 2 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI)
OF Jeffrey Leonard, San Francisco (.323, 10-for-31, 1 2B, 2 3B, 4 RBI)
DH Jerry Martin, San Francisco (.310, 9-for-29, 2 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI)
SP Steve McCatty, Oakland (3-0, 3 games, 0.33 ERA in 27.0 innings)
SP Matt Keough, Oakland (2-1, 3 games, 1.04 ERA in 26.0 innings)
SP Doyle Alexander, San Francisco (1-0, 3 games, 1.52 ERA in 23.2 innings)
RP Fred Breining, San Francisco (2-0, 3 games, 0.00 ERA in 7.0 innings)
RP Tom Hume, Cincinnati (0-0, 4 games, 4 saves, 0.00 ERA in 3.1 innings)

Initial Bracket
Final Bracket

Batting Statistics
Pitching Statistics

Winners’ Bracket First Round
>> Game #1: Kansas City Royals 8, Cleveland Indians 3
>> Game #2: New York Yankees 5, Toronto Blue Jays 0
>> Game #3: Boston Red Sox 2, Minnesota Twins 1 (12 inn.)
>> Game #4: Texas Rangers 2, Seattle Mariners 1
>> Game #5: Chicago White Sox 4, California Angels 3
>> Game #6: Atlanta Braves 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 1
>> Game #7: Houston Astros 10, Chicago Cubs 5
>> Game #8: San Diego Padres 6, Philadelphia Phillies 3
>> Game #9: San Francisco Giants 4, New York Mets 2