The last 40 years of professional baseball have been … interesting. Our MLB Monday miniseries continues with the last time the Detroit Tigers won the World Series. What else is there to note? The 1980s were an era of excess, and it affected baseball, too. The “celebration” in Motor City got a little out of hand, and it dulls the memory of everything else that led to that moment, as clarified below. Weird how memories work, huh?

1984 World Series MVP: Alan Trammell, SS, Detroit (original); Jack Morris, SP, Detroit (revised)

The Tigers won Game 1 on the road to steal home-field advantage from the upstart San Diego Padres, appearing in their first World Series ever. Then Detroit lost Game 2 before coming home to emerge victories 3 straight times in its home stadium to clinch the team’s first World Series title since 1968. The Tigers won their 3 games at home by a combined 17-8 score, and there were multiple hitting stars in the Detroit lineup.

Shortstop Alan Trammell (2 HRs, 6 RBI, 1.300 OPS) won the MVP vote, but right fielder Kirk Gibson (2 HRs, 7 RBI, 1.145 OPS) could have won it, too. In addition, starting pitcher Jack Morris (2-0, 2.00 ERA, .889 WHIP, 18 IP, 13 Ks) has an argument, too, with his complete-game victories in Games 1 and 4. Those were key games: the first got the Tigers on top, and the second kept them there. Morris is our MVP pick, actually.

1984 ALCS MVP: Kirk Gibson, RF, Detroit (original); Milt Wilcox, SP, Detroit (revised)

Detroit swept the Kansas City Royals in this matchup, with the same offensive heroes: Trammell (1.318 OPS) and Gibson (1.250 OPS). Pitching wise, Morris won Game 1 on the road again with 7 strong innings. But we like Game 3 starter Milt Wilcox: 8 innings of shutout baseball with 8 Ks and a mere .500 WHIP. His effort came against a desperate Royals team, and we’re inclined to give this nod to Wilcox for his dominance.

1984 NLCS MVP: Steve Garvey, 1B, San Diego (original, confirmed)

After dropping the first 2 games in Chicago against the Cubs by a 17-2 margin, the Padres ripped off 3 consecutive wins at home to clinch the team’s first-ever NL pennant. The 20-12 combined margin of the wins in San Diego provide a lot of possibilities for the MVP, won in the vote by Padres first baseman Steve Garvey (1 HR, 7 RBI, 1.079 OPS)—the former Dodgers star and current Congressional candidate in SoCal.

Cubs catcher Jody Davis (2 HRs, 6 RBI, 1.202) also shone brightly, while San Diego starter Ed Whitson turned in the most dominant and significant start of the matchup in Game 3: he staved off elimination by outdueling Chicago starter Dennis Eckersley (!) while going 8 innings and allowing 1 run on only 7 base runners while striking out 6 batters. So, we choose Whitson for the 1 start or Garvey for the all offense?

Overall, Garvey was more consistent throughout the series, keeping with our practice of needing more than 1 start for a pitcher in a series that goes the full 5 games (as opposed to a 3-game sweep where 1 game has more impact). We will confirm Garvey’s vote win here, and as a result, he becomes the first 2-time winner of an LCS trophy, both voted and confirmed by us. His 1978 NLCS for the Los Angeles Dodgers was the first.

1984 AL MOTY: Sparky Anderson, Detroit (original); Dick Howser, Kansas City (revised)

Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson (plus-5 PPP) won this award vote, and he posted the highest PPP mark of any manager in the American League. However, the Tigers ran away with the AL East division by 15 games over the Toronto Blue Jays, thus making his managerial leadership somewhat less “valuable” to the team result. Meanwhile, in the AL West, the Royals beat out the California Angels and the Minnesota Twins.

However, Kansas City Manager Dick Howser (plus-4 PPP) made the difference for that 3-game margin over the dual second-place finishers. Both the Angels and Twins managers finished with even-0 PPP marks, as Howser took an inferior roster to the division crown. We previously gave this award to Howser for his 1980 efforts with the New York Yankees, making him a 2-time winner in our analyses here. Impressive company.

1984 NL MOTY: Jim Frey, Chicago (original); Davey Johnson, New York (revised)

The Cubs won the NL East by 6.5 games over the New York Mets, so Chicago Manager Jim Frey (plus-5 PPP) won the vote—but his team should have run away with the division, sabermetrically. The Mets only contended thanks to Manager Davey Johnson (plus-12 PPP) who guided a very raw roster to 90 victories when it should have only amassed 78 victories. Basically, Johnson guided a last-place team into second.

In the NL West, 3-time AL MOTY winner Dick Williams (plus-5 PPP) did a great job guiding the Padres to a 12-game edge over the second-place Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. But as the only team in the division to finish over .500, San Diego never really was challenged in this pennant race. Thus we give this award to Johnson, and we suspect it will be the first of a few he’s going to earn over the next 15 seasons.