This is actually more difficult a decision than the regular MVP Award. With the “Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Award presented by [this space for rent]”, it’s almost always obvious who should get the award.

But picking an honoree on the losing team? There’s a reason they lost. If you can find someone who might be deserving, do you go with the player who had the best overall performance, or the one who came up big in key moments that won a game for his team? And what’s the cutoff for deciding that a “No Award” is called for?

Good thing this is just an exercise….

1977: New York Yankees 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Reggie Smith hit three home runs while scoring seven. Only WS MVP Reggie Jackson had more of either.

1978: New York Yankees 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Davey Lopes hit .308 with three home runs and seven RBIs.

1979: Pittsburgh Pirates 4, Baltimore Orioles 3

Kiko Garcia hit .400 and drove in six runs – including the ones that gave Baltimore the lead in Game 3.

1980: Philadelphia Phillies 4, Kansas City Royals 2

Willie Aikens hit .400 with four home runs and eight RBIs, including the game-winner in Game 3.

1981: Los Angeles Dodgers 4, New York Yankees 2

Tommy John pitched seven innings of shutout ball in Game 2 to get the win, and held the Dodgers to one run in four innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in Game 6.

1982: St Louis Cardinals 4, Milwaukee Brewers 3

Robin Yount hit .414 with six runs scored and six driven in.

1983: Baltimore Orioles 4, Philadelphia Phillies 1

There isn’t really anyone deserving here. The Phillies hit .195 as a team, and thanks to a lot of bullpen usage, no single pitcher was in enough innings to really make a difference. Joe Morgan managed to hit two home runs and a triple, so if someone must get it…..naah, let’s go with No Award.

1984: Detroit Tigers 4, San Diego Padres 1

Kurt Bevacqua hit .412 with two home runs, including the one that turned out to give the Padres their only win in Game 2.

1985: Kansas City Royals 4, St. Louis Cardinals 3

The Cardinals hit only .185 as a team, so we’ll have to look at the pitchers. John Tudor won Games 1 and 4 for the Cardinals, but in Game 7, gave up five runs before being taken out in the third inning. I’ll go with Danny Cox, who started Games 2 and 5 (did not get a decision in either), pitching a total of 14.0 innings to an ERA of 1.29.

1986: New York Mets 4, Boston Red Sox 3

Bruce Hurst was actually picked as the series MVP before the Mets rally in Game 6. He’d won Games 1 and 5, giving up only two runs in 17 innings of work (he started Game 7, too, and finished the series with a total of 23.0 innings pitched and an ERA of 1.96).

1987: Minnesota Twins 4, St. Louis Cardinals 3

Tony Pena hit .409 and drove in the Cardinal’s first run in Game 7.

1988: Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Oakland A’s 1

Another one where I can’t give out the award. Oakland batters hit a combined .177 in the series, scoring a total of only 11 runs in the five games. Only two of their pitchers saw at least eight innings of work.

1989: Oakland Athletics 4, San Francisco Giants 0

No award. The Giants never led at any point in the series.

1990: Cincinnati Reds 4, Oakland A’s 0

Another No Award. None of the A’s did anything to stand out.

1991: Minnesota Twins 4, Atlanta Braves 3

John Smoltz could have had two wins if his teammates got him some runs. He had a 1.26 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched. But I’m giving the honor to Terry Pendleton, who hit .367 with a game-tying home run in Game 6, and a key hit in Game 7.

1992: Toronto Blue Jays 4, Atlanta Braves 2

Tom Glavine threw two complete games to a 1.59 ERA, and only lost the second because his teammates could only score one run.

1993: Toronto Blue Jays 4, Philadelphia Phillies 2

Lenny Dykstra hit .348 with four home runs.

1994: NO SERIES

TO BE CONTINUED