My First Cards

Is it just me or does Claudell Washington look kinda goofy here? Rick Mahler looks like a perfect fit for a southern team with that shave. I’ve always imagined he’s in the middle of telling about a fish he caught earlier this morning or some tractor he fixed last night with his buddies.

When I think of the 1981 Atlanta Braves, I think of the phrase “better late than never”. This is a team that led the National League with 10 extra-inning victories. In fact, when a game went into extra frames, these Braves were 10-4 including 4 saves, which works out to a .714 winning percentage.

Unfortunately Atlanta only had a 40-52 record in games that didn’t go past 9 innings, which works out to a .435 winning percentage. Half of those 40 wins were so close, that they resulted in one of the Braves pitchers earning a save. The starting pitching needed help, as only Phil Niekro was an above average pitcher that year, posting a 116 ERA+.

The bullpen on the other hand, was making the team look respectable. Check out this split—

Interesting eh? The ‘pen was allowing a lot less runs than the starters. What’s weird to me, is that this isn’t just due to the different pitchers. Check out some of these ERA splits for guys who had at least 4 starts and 4 relief appearances—

That’s a huge drop in ERA when they’re coming out of the bullpen instead of starting.

The full time relievers were getting the job done too. Gene Garber put up a fine 2.61 ERA, while Rick Camp had a 1.78 ERA and 17 of the team’s 24 saves. The bullpen was pretty much the whole story of these Atlanta “better late than never” Braves though. Their offense helped, but not that much.

The offense would peak in the 4th to 6th innings. In the first 3 innings, they only slugged .312, but in those middle innings their slugging was suddenly .390. The rest of the game it was back down around .344. So that would help some of the starters as well as a few relievers, so it can’t be seen as a big part of why the Braves won games late.

This was completely lost on the Braves though, as the following year Bob Walk and Rick Mahler combined for 20-19 record on the strength of a 4.56 ERA in 60 starts. If you’re wondering now how they combined for 20 wins with that ERA, it’s because the Braves scored more runs than anybody else in the 1982 National League.

Despite the Braves marching these two relievers to the mound as starters so often during that summer, Atlanta managed to win the NL West by 1 game over the Dodgers. The Braves got swept by the Cardinals in the playoffs and went home. Interestingly though, Atlanta didn’t use Walk or Mahler as starters in that playoff series.

If the team had just signed a couple above average starters before ’82 and left their bullpen alone, I think they might’ve ended up playing the Brewers in the World Series.