Reposted from Dec. 2019:
The slow-motion "pennant race" in the 1973 National League East fascinated the 15-year-old me -- five of the division's six teams struggling to reach .500, and anybody that was over .500 was probably in first place.
The Mets won 82 games, and won the division -- then beat the Big Red Machine in the NLCS, and took the Moustache Gang A's to seven games in the World Series.
The three best teams in the National League, perhaps the best four, were all in the West. The East got dubbed the "NL Least," but it was competitive.
I'm going to replay that race, with additions. As in the Losers League, I have grafted eight teams -- the six NL East teams of 1973 (New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Chicago and Philadelphia) plus Houston and Atlanta -- onto the National League schedule of 1924.
St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Philadelphia kept their schedules. Atlanta inherited the Boston Braves schedule. The Mets got the Giants' schedule, Houston got Cincinnati's and Montreal got Brooklyn's.
Also as in the Loser's League:
I'll use injuries. 25 man active rosters, demotions must last at least 10 days. I will use the weather ballpark ratings (1973 parks, obviously; only the schedule is 1924).
Games will be presumed to be night games with the following exceptions:
- All games in Chicago are day games (there were no lights in Wrigley Field in 1973)
- All Saturday and Sunday games are day games
- All weekday double headers are day-night doubleheaders EXCEPT Decoration Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.
- Other than in Houston and Atlanta, the first two weeks of the season will be day games and the last two weeks will be day games.
- In a change from the Losers League, getaway games won't be day games unless they fit one of the other criteria.
These eight teams have 27 to 30 players available. One, Montreal, has just 10 pitchers -- and a September stretch of nine games in five days. Half the teams have just two catchers. Nobody's roster is quite as misshapen as the Indians and Angels in the Losers League, but there will be problems.
To that end, I have established not only the league taxi squad that I created for the second half of the Losers League, but team specific ones.
For some, but unfortunately not all, of the teams, I have identified pitchers from their 1969 team who will be available to start for games with no rested starters. Using them will not require a roster move. They are:
Atlanta: none
Chicago: Rich Nye
Houston: Wade Blasingame
Montreal: Larry Jaster, Howie Reed
New York: Cal Koonce
Philadelphia: Bill Champion, Jeff James, Lowell Palmer
Pittsburgh: Bo Belinsky
St. Louis: Mudcat Grant
The league-wide taxi squad is to be used after the team-specific pitchers are exhausted. If more than one team needs a pitcher on a given day, the team with the worse record gets first dibs. A pitcher cannot be used a second time until all taxi-squad pitchers have been used once. The usual pitcher rest rules apply.
If a team needs a relief pitcher, it must go to the taxi squad, not to its team-specific list. The 1969 pitchers are solely to start. Teams may go to the taxi squad if injuries deplete their staff to eight pitchers, but it will require a roster move.
Activating a position player from the taxi squad requires a roster move, and there must be (a) no healthy position-coded players or (b) just one healthy catcher to go to the taxi squad. The player must return to the taxi squad once the shortage at his position is resolved.
As with the Losers League, I will not compile stats. It would be a full-time job, and I already have one. While it would be nice to know who leds the league in homers or how many strikeouts Tom Seaver has, I don't really care what Don Kessinger's batting average is.
Reposted from Feb. 2020:
This is a prime time for me to put the 73 Least League into its planned hiatus. Strat-O-Matic is to begin shipping the new set of cards tomorrow, and I have plans for Tournament Three, which I will detail later in the week.
And the schedule fits for a long break here. I have finished the games of May 7. No games are played May 8; only one game for May 9. I will set aside the pitching rotation plans and the injury details. And I am declaring a bullpen reset when I resume the league. There are, honestly, one or two relievers who by my normal usage rules would need to sit a day or two, but ... we're talking the early 70s, and pitchers were routinely "abused" by today's standards. Yes, I used George Culver for five innings on May 7. The Phillies don't play May 8, 9 or 10. Ideally he won't pitch May 11 either, but so what if he does?
I will here list the players on the 73 Least emergency squad, since I will have to return them to their teams for Tournament Three:
Pitchers: Lloyd Allen, David Clyde, Don Durham, Don Stanhouse (Texas); Dick Pole (Boston); Jim McGlothlin (Cincinnati); Jerry Johnson, Mike Kekich, Milt Wilcox (Cleveland); Bill Parsons, Gary Ryerson, Chris Short (Milwaukee); Eddie Bane (Minnesota); Don Carrithers, Charlie Williams (San Francisco); Goose Gossage (White Sox); Bruce Dal Canton, Wayne Simpson, Ken Wright (Kansas City)
Catchers: Hal King (Cincinnati); Dick Billings (Texas); Elrod Hendricks (Baltimore); Pat Corrales (San Diego); Mike Sadek (San Francisco); Art Kusnyer (California)
Infielders: Ed Crosby (Cincinnati); Pete Mackanin Texas); Joe Lis, Dan Monzon (Minnesota); Frank Baker (Baltimore); Dwain Anderson (San Diego); Tim Johnson (Milwaukee)
Outfielders: Terry Crowley (Baltimore); Ben Oglivie (Boston); Danny Walton (Minnesota)
Standings as we resume play:
W L Pct. GB
St. Louis 11 6 .647 ---
Atlanta 10 6 .625 0.5
New York 11 8 .579 1
Chicago 11 11 .500 2.5
Houston 9 10 .474 3
Philadelphia 7 9 .438 3.5
Pittsburgh 9 12 .429 4
Montreal 7 12 .368 5
Thursday's schedule
no games
Friday's schedule
Atlanta (Morton) at Pittsburgh (Briles)
