MLB Monday continues its journey through time, taking on the 1997 MLB postseason awards and the MOTY nods as well. We still feel there was a contrived storyline to the playoffs, thanks to the conjunction of these two events: an American Dream story and the Eric Gregg Game. There are other subplots, of course, but this remains to this day one of the worst postseasons in recent memory in terms of a bad feeling for fans.

1997 World Series MVP: Liván Hernández, SP, Florida (original); Chad Ogea, SP, Cleveland (revised)

An expansion team in 1993, the Florida Marlins made the postseason for the first time ever and ran all the way to the World Series title, thanks to the “exploits” of starting pitcher Liván Hernández (2-0, 5.27 ERA, 10 BBs, 7 Ks). No way does he deserve the World Series MVP trophy with numbers like that, but the mediots gave it to him anyway, thanks to his “feel good” story, etc. This was a tragic vote, for several reasons, obvi.

The Marlins beat the Cleveland Indians in 7 games, and Game 7 went to extra innings after Cleveland could not close the door on Florida in the ninth inning. This means players from both teams are up for nomination here. Cleveland actually outscored Florida, 44-37, in this Fall Classic, so the pitching on both sides was pretty bad, while the hitters cleaned up, mostly. That’s going to dictate how we break down data.

Our nominations? Cleveland SP Chad Ogea (2-0, 1.54 ERA, 1.200 WHIP); Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar (.367 BA, 2 HRs, 10 RBI, 1.006 OPS); Cleveland third baseman Matt Williams (.385 BA, 1.054 OPS, 7 BBs); and Florida outfielder Moisés Alou (.321 BA, 3 HRs, 9 RBI, 1.101 OPS, 1 SB). Ogea won Games 2 and 6 for the Indians, and Game 6 was an elimination game. That’s huge. Considering how bad the pitching was overall?

We see no other option here, despite the impressive hitting from multiple players on both teams. Ogea, it is. Hernández won Games 1 and 5, but he didn’t factor at all into the final 2 games, and any pitcher with an ERA that high and more walks than strikeouts doesn’t get any awards in our little corner of the sanity universe. It’s absolutely stunning looking back at this so many years later to think the voters were this dumb.

1997 ALCS MVP: Marquis Grissom, CF, Cleveland (original); Brian Anderson, RP, Cleveland (revised)

The Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles in 6 games to win their second pennant in 3 years. Cleveland took a 3-1 lead and then closed out the matchup on the road with an extra-innings victory. Centerfielder Marquis Grissom (1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 SBs) won the MVP vote; he had helped the Atlanta Braves beat the Indians in the 1995 World Series, ironically, before being traded to Cleveland before the start of the 1997 regular season.

Our issue here is that Grissom hit just .261 with a .683 OPS in this matchup, with 9 strikeouts and a single walk. Now, the team’s top 3 hitters either made errors in the field or didn’t drive in a run, so if that makes Grissom “the best hitter” of the bunch in a series where Baltimore outscored Cleveland, 19-18, we’re looking at the wrong side of the roster. What about the Indians pitchers? Alas, every game was won by a reliever.

Ironically, Ogea was 0-2 with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.214 WHIP, by the way. So, where does that leave us? We can’t give Grissom the MVP hardware with that BB:K ratio or OPS. Nope. We have to break some rules, and it won’t be with a player who made an error: we have to maintain some standards. Cleveland relief pitcher Brian Anderson (1-0, 1.42 ERA, 0.632 WHIP) gets our nod for the most effective relief work in the bullpen.

He won Game 6 in extra innings, and his 6 1/3 IP overall was the highest mark of any Indians reliever. His ERA and WHIP are both very good, and it’s a little unorthodox, but it is what it is as we maintain standards.

1997 NLCS MVP: Hernández (original, confirmed)

Thanks to the aforementioned umpiring atrocity, Hernández (2-0, 0.84 ERA, 0.656 WHIP) won the MVP in this matchup, too. He won Game 3 in relief and Game 5 as a starter, with a lot of help from the umpire. It still makes us laugh that Gregg was squeezing maestro Greg Maddux and giving Hernández the widest zone ever. But it happened: can we pretend it did not?! No. It’s not like Hernández himself was cheating.

Atlanta outscored Florida, 21-20, despite losing the matchup in 6 games. Alou had 5 RBI despite hitting .067 overall (seriously). Braves 3B Chipper Jones (.929 OPS, 2 HRs, 4 RBI, 2 BBs) had a good week, overall, and Atlanta pitcher Denny Neagle (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.500 WHIP, 12 IP) was better than Hernández, really, who didn’t even make it to 11 IP. But a 6-game series mandates an MVP from the winners, so we confirm it. Ugh.

[Editor’s Note: Maddux was 0-2 with a 1.38 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP in this matchup with Florida, punching out 16 batters in just 13 IP. He lost Games 1 and 5 in this series, despite pitching very well.]

1997 AL MOTY: Davey Johnson, Baltimore (original, confirmed)

The Orioles won the AL East by 2 games over the New York Yankees, and Baltimore Manager Davey Johnson (plus-4 PPP) won the MOTY vote. Yankees Manager Joe Torre, our pick here last year, posted a minus-4 PPP, so Johnson earned this award in light of the fact that Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove (plus-1) and Seattle Mariners Manager Lou Piniella (plus-1) both had easier pathways to division crowns.

The Indians won the AL Central by 6 games, and the Ms won the AL West by 6 games as well. This was Johnson’s first voted MOTY nod, although we gave him our 1984 NL MOTY hardware, making him one of the rare guys to win this award from us in both leagues. By the way, this was the first year of interleague play, too, so all managers under consideration had that wrinkle of complication to navigate as well.

1997 NL MOTY: Dusty Baker, San Francisco (original, confirmed)

Atlanta won the NL East by 9 games, while the Houston Astros won the NL Central by 5 games. Both teams had managers post negative PPP marks, though. With the San Francisco Giants winning the NL West by 2 games and Manager Dusty Baker providing a plus-10 PPP (!) effort, it’s clear why the voters chose Baker for this award at the time. That’s an incredible number we haven’t seen very often, if ever, in these analyses.

Yes, we have our issues with Baker, but at this point in time, we have no reason to believe he’d embraced the Dark Side yet. That being said, we also have to consider Florida Manager Jim Leyland (plus-4 PPP), who guided the Marlins to their first-ever postseason berth, albeit a wild-card slot. Despite the mediots giving the World Series MVP based on irrational emotionalism, they did not do the same with the NL MOTY vote.

And neither will we, of course. Baker previously won the NL MOTY vote in 1993, even though we didn’t agree with that choice. We do confirm this vote, however, because plus-10 PPP is insane—and we are fair.