Robin Yount

Image by Scott Ableman via Flickr

“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday

The last time the Milwaukee Brewers won a divisional title was in 1982 when they played in the American League. Here’s a look at that title season.

1.     The ’82 Brewers tied the 1979 team for most wins in a season with 95. However, the 1982 squad had 67 losses while the 1979 team had 66 losses. Thus the 1979 team has the best winning percentage in franchise history.

2.     The ’82 Brewers had similar records at home and on the road (unlike the 2011 version of the team). They were 48-34 at County Stadium; 47-33 on the road.

3.     Harvey’s Wallbangers were a dangerous offensive team. Consider the team had three players who scored 100 or more runs (Cooper, Molitor and Yount), three players with 200 or more hits (Cooper, Molitor and Yount), three players with 30 or more home runs (Cooper, Oglivie and Thomas) and four players with 100 or more RBIs (Cooper, Yount, Oglivie and Thomas). They missed out having five players with 100 RBI when Ted Simmons fell three short at 97 for the season.

4. The 1982 team took first place for good on July 31. Their biggest lead was 6.5 games and the farthest they were behind in the race was 8.5 games. The most games over .500 was 31 for the season. The 2011 version is currently 24 games over .500.

5. The big late-season trade in the ’82 season was the Brewers getting Don Sutton from the Houston Astros on August 30. Sutton went 4-1 in seven starts for the Brew Crew in ’82 and won a game in the American League Championship Series. The three players the Brewers gave up for Sutton were Kevin Bass, Frank DiPino and Mike Madden. Bass went on to have a 14-year MLB career and hit 118 HRs in his career. DiPino saved 40 games in three seasons with the Astros and was a reliever during his 12-year MLB career. Madden spent four seasons with Houston and won 12 games.

6. Yount (210 hits), Cooper (205 hits) and Molitor (201 hits) were 1-2-3 in the American League in hits … the only time in major league history that teammates had 200 or more hits and finished 1-2-3 in the league.