It’s time for our last MLB Monday miniseries entry before divisional play began, and that means our columns will get “bigger” next week with the added additions of League Championship Series MVPs. Whoa! Yes, we know it’s exciting for you, too. In the meantime, we have another intriguing World Series to parse, along with out usual Manager of the Year analyses. Since the MLB postseason is such a bore these days …

1968 World Series MVP: Mickey Lolich, SP, Detroit Tigers (original, confirmed)

The Detroit Tigers won their first World Series since 1945 in a seven-game thriller over the defending champions, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Tigers fell behind 3-1 and then pulled off the unique feat of coming back to win both Games 6 and 7 on the road. In addition, Detroit starter Mickey Lolich did what Boston Red Sox starter Jim Lonborg could not do the prior October: win Game 7 against Bob Gibson on short rest.

Gibson won Games 1 and 4, while Lolich had won Games 2 and 5—setting up the showdown in Game 7. With a 4-1 victory, Lolich claimed the MVP vote based on a 3-0 record and a 1.67 ERA in 27 innings pitched. It’s hard to argue with the media selection, although Tigers star Al Kaline was pretty amazing with the bat, too: .379 average, 2 home runs, 8 RBI, and a 1.055 OPS. But Detroit outscored St. Louis, 34-27, so Lolich it is.

1968 AL MOTY: Dick Williams, Boston

The Tigers ran away with the pennant by 12 games over the Baltimore Orioles, but Detroit Manager Mayo Smith was just a break-even leader (0 PPP). It’s hard to reward a guy for just not screwing up, you know? The best managerial effort was put forth by Boston’s Dick Williams (plus-5 PPP), even though the Red Sox finished 17 games out of first place in fourth. But sometimes quirks like this happen, so there you have it.

Interesting side note: Cleveland Manager Al Dark (plus-4 PPP) guided the Indians to a third-place finish, one half game ahead of Boston. Both Williams and Dark would go on to manage the Oakland Athletics to World Series titles in the 1970s, and this was the A’s first season in Northern California. Coincidence?! Both Williams and Dark probably will show up here again in one way or another, we suspect. Never know, but …

1968 NL MOTY: Red Schoendienst, St. Louis

The Cardinals won the pennant by 9 games over the San Francisco Giants, who received negative impact (minus-2 PPP) from their manager, Herman Franks. Meanwhile, St. Louis Manager Red Schoendienst did just enough (plus-1 PPP) to keep his ship sailing smooth. Thus, he wins his second-straight nod here. We will point out Chicago Cubs Manager Leo Durocher (plus-3 PPP) for getting his club into third, though.