The Tigers won the East division, the Royals won the West; the Tigers did it in more convincing fashion, starting the year 35-5, and finishing the season with 104 wins. The Royals, on the other hand, were the only team in the West division to finish above .500. Both the Tigers and the Royals had an ace reliever who vied for the Cy Young Award.

         Willie Hernandez won the Cy Young Award (younger fans may remember him as Guillermo Hernandez; he switched names late in his career). It is tough to argue with the vote; Hernandez had been a fine pitcher since the late 1970's, but his first year in Detroit was a beauty. Hernandez worked very hard, and pitched brilliantly; he blew only one save the whole year. Hernandez and Aurilio Lopez formed a devastating one-two punch in Detroit's bullpen, and I think Willie deserved the award.
         For the second straight year, Dan Quisenberry was runner-up in the vote. In 1983, I think he deserved to win; this year, I don't think he pitched quite as well, and I wouldn't rate him so highly. After Hernandez, I think the best pitchers in the league were Mike Boddicker and Bert Blyleven.
         Blyleven finished third in the vote, just ahead of Boddicker, but my first instinct is that Boddicker was better; he had more wins, more innings pitched, and a lower ERA. This was Boddicker's sophomore season, following a great rookie year in 1983. Unfortunately, Boddicker began to struggle in 1985; he was never again the same pitcher, though he managed to have a couple of solid years for Boston at the end of the decade.
        The Tigers' best starting pitcher was Jack Morris, who also threw his no-hitter this season. Morris joined the Tigers in 1977, and spent 14 years with them. He was never the best pitcher in the league, but he was very good, and was both durable and tenacious. Morris had ten straight winning seasons with Detroit, twice winning 20 games and once leading the AL in wins. Later in his career, Morris had big seasons with championship teams in Minnesota and Toronto. His pitched for 18 years, and won 254 games in his career.
         This year, Morris was one of numeruos pitchers who had similar seasons. His teammate Dan Petry was also very good, as were Dave Stieb and Doyle Alexander in Toronto. Frank Viola had his first big year, while Phil Niekro had one of his last. Among the relievers, both Quisenberry and Lopez and outstanding seasons. I'll take Stieb, who had one of his best seasons.