In 1973, two teams in the National League East arrived at the June 15 trade deadline and decided they didn’t have to make any moves. They came to those identical conclusions for entirely different reasons, and one of them proved to be absolutely right while the other couldn’t have been more wrong.
For the season’s first month it looked like the Cubs and the Mets would be in a dogfight for the division title all summer, while the Pirates and Phillies were close and had hope, and the Expos and particularly the Cardinals looked out of contention. Chicago and New York were tied at the top of the standings with identical 12-8 records, and they got there in utterly opposite ways. Chicago had scored more runs than any team in the division, while New York had allowed fewer runs than any team in baseball.
The Cubs were powered by Rick Monday’s 1.022 OPS at the end of April, along with Ron Santo hitting .352, and José Cardenal hitting .347. Yes, their pitching staff wasn’t the best, but it was still in the middle of the pack in the league. They had four capable starters in Fergie Jenkins, Rick Reuschel, Burt Hooton, and Milt Pappas, and a good closer in Bob Locker. With their offense, they really only needed their staff to keep the rest of the weak-hitting NL East in check.
The Mets, on the other hand, were one of those weak-hitting teams. Only the Cardinals had scored fewer runs. Only John Milner and Ed Kranepool were hitting well, and they played the same position, so it was hard to get them both in the lineup at the same time. Thankfully for them, the pitching staff was excellent. With Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack topping the rotation and Tug McGraw closing games, they managed to hang on to that first place tie even though their bats were largely dormant.
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