Vancouver Canucks

80-82, sixth in the NCL
April: 10-11. May: 15-14. June: 13-14. July: 9-16.
August: 15-13. September: 16-11. October: 2-3.

First season: 78-76, fifth

NOTES
Vancouver's 9-16 record in July was the second-worst in the NCL for the month. They have played OK since.

Canuck statistics

What went right?
Mike Schmidt hit 48 home runs, second in the league. Steve Carlton's ERA was 3.42, fourth best in the league, and he struck out 194 batters, fifth in the league. Don Sutton went 16-9, tenth in victories. Bobby Bonds was sixth in the NCL in stolen bases; he had 33. After George Foster had a slow start, Sparky called up Pete Rose and got about what you'd expect from "the Gambler": .315 average, a few doubles, and lots of hustle out there.

What went wrong?
The first season's Vancouver team was good fun to watch. They were first in home runs, first in scoring, first in steals, and last in batting average. This time, in a longer season, they fell to 217 homers, sixth, and were ninth in batting, winding up in the middle of the run-scoring pack. Emblematic of Vancouver's fall was the total about-face of catalyst Joe Morgan. The Canuck second baseman had borderline MVP stats in the first season: .264 average, but 22 home runs, 40 doubles, 55 stolen bases, 107 runs, 102 walks. This season, Morgan was a complete bust: .195 average, 10 HR, 66 walks (boosted his OBP all the way "up" to .299), 29 steals, somehow he managed to score 72 runs. Tom Seaver, expected to be a staff ace, went 13-13, 4.48.

Vancouver led the league for most of June, July and August in the first Century League season, but fell out of the top spot during an 11-game losing streak in late August and early September. They came into the final week with a glimmer of hope; they were three games back with four to go against first-place Hoodsport. They lost the first three games to the champs, getting just four hits in the first two combined, and wound up in fifth place with a 78-76 record.