The Oakland Athletics were the class of the league, winning 104 games. Their best pitchers, Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley, were both enjoying career revivals after being given up on by their former teams. In the East, the Red Sox won a close race that saw only two games separate the top four teams. Boston, of course, was led by its ace, Roger Clemens.
         The Minnesota Twins were the defending World Series Champions. They had a good year, winning more games than Boston, but they fell far back of Oakland and missed the playoffs. Frank Viola had been their star in the 1987 Series; this year, he came back and had the best year of his career, winning the Cy Young Award.

         Eckersley was runner-up in the vote, followed by Mark Gubicza, Stewart, and Boston teammates Bruce Hurst and Clemens. The voters are entitled to their opinions, but I have a hard time believing that Hurst was better than Clemens. The Rocket did, after all, throw eight shutouts, lead the league in strikeouts, and record a great ERA. I also think Clemens was better than Stewart, and would place him right behind Viola and Gubicza.
         Though Eckersley had a great year, it was not one of his really dominant ones; I'm not convinced that he was better than Doug Jones, who threw more innings and had a better ERA with a terrible team. I would place Eckerskley behind Viola, Gubicza, and Clemens; I think I would also rather have Stewart, who led the league in innings pitched.
         Dave Stieb had a nice comeback season, throwing four shutouts. Two of them were one-hitters, thrown in back-to-back starts. In both games, Stieb had a no-hitter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth; he lost the first one on a ground ball that took a bad hop over the second baseman's head, and the second on a bloop over the first baseman's head. In 1990, Stieb lost a perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning, before he finally threw a no-hitter in 1991.