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Show Giants, Tigers Chrony Picks Major League Race , j V wir. J XT' I : J . I . v - t ' NATIONAL LEAGUE San Francisco St. Louis Cincinnati Pittsburgh Atlanta Philadelphia Los Angeles Chicago Houston New York AMERICAN LEAGUE Detroit Minnesota Baltimore Chicago Washington New York Cleveland Boston California Oakland The San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers have been picked by the Chronicle sports staff to win their respective league pennants pen-nants this year. Both the National j League and American League sport ! exceptional balance this year and 1 close pennant races in both leagues will surprise no one. This reflects a healthy trend for major league baseball, as in past seasons one or both leagues have had boring, uninteresting un-interesting pennant races. Despite the prediction by most experts that the St. Louis Cardinals Cardin-als will repeat as N.L. champs, the Chrony picked the Giants because they have good all around balance and have perenially been in the thick of the pennant race. The Cardinals Car-dinals were picked second and the Cincinnati Reds picked third. De- Juan Marichal (left) and Tito Fuentes must have a good year for San Francisco to win the National League pennant. troit is predicted to win a close A.L. race with a stiff fight from Minnesota and Baltimore. Giants First Juan Marichal and Willie Mays had off-years last year and Gaylord Perry was off his usual form. Re- turn to normalcy by these three along with another good year from Cy Young Award winner Mike Mc-I Mc-I Cormick should move the Giants ! to the top of the league. Jim Hart j (29 HR's), Willie McCovey (31 HR's) , and Mays (22 HR's) will sup ply the power and Tito Fuentes and ! newcomer Ron Hunt will be stand- outs on defense. The Cardinals, who won the pennant pen-nant by 10 and a half games last year, are back with the same team this year. However, the Cards are unlikely to put everything together again and will probably finish as runners-up. Orlando Cepeda, the National League's MVP last year, Tim McCarver, Julian Javier, Curt Flood and Lou Brock all enjoyed the best seasons of their careers and it would be too much to ex-; ex-; pect them to repeat those perform ances. Injuries Hurt Cincinnati led the league early last season until injuries caught up with them. The Reds don't have enough pitching to go all the way and will probably wind up third. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago are all capable of making a bid for the pennant and should fight for first division spots. Detroit was in the pennant chase until the last day of the season last year and figures that it's about their turn to take the flag. The Tigers are led by 22 game winner Earl Wilson, top receiver Bill Free-han, Free-han, Willie Horton and veteran Al Kaline. Minnesota was also eliminated on the last day of the season. The Twins have outstanding pitching, headed by Dean Chance and Jim Kaat, and more than adequate hitting hit-ting in Tony Oliva and Harmon Kil-lebrew. Kil-lebrew. Big Disappointment Baltimore, a big disappointment last year, figures to bounce back into title contention this year. Boog Pbwell is hoping for a comeback while Brooks Robinson, Curt Ble-fary Ble-fary and Frank Robinson figure to lead the Orioles. The Chicago White Sox should make a strong challenge, but defending de-fending A.L. champs Boston has lost Tony Conigliaro and Jim Lon-bori;, Lon-bori;, and they will find it hard to finish among toe :cp five. The Chronicle sees the final standings stand-ings this way: |
