MLB standings through games of September 23, 1977

MLB standings at the end of September 23, 1977

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. East
New York Yankees	153	94	59	0	.614		780	622	51-23	43-36	6-4	Won 1
Baltimore Orioles	154	92	62	0	.597	2.5	678	619	51-27	41-35	6-4	Lost 1
Boston Red Sox	153	91	62	0	.595	3.0	803	675	47-27	44-35	5-5	Won 1
Detroit Tigers	154	72	82	0	.468	22.5	679	701	39-40	33-42	5-5	Lost 1
Cleveland Indians	153	68	85	0	.444	26.0	653	708	36-43	32-42	3-7	Won 1
Milwaukee Brewers	154	64	90	0	.416	30.5	605	718	35-41	29-49	5-5	Lost 1
Toronto Blue Jays	153	52	101	0	.340	42.0	587	779	24-52	28-49	4-6	Lost 4

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. West
Kansas City Royals	151	96	55	0	.636		779	611	52-25	44-30	9-1	Won 5
Texas Rangers	154	87	67	0	.565	10.5	729	630	40-36	47-31	8-2	Won 3
Chicago White Sox	155	86	69	0	.555	12.0	809	745	47-31	39-38	5-5	Lost 1
Minnesota Twins	153	80	73	0	.523	17.0	820	739	46-29	34-44	3-7	Lost 5
California Angels	153	72	81	0	.471	25.0	646	653	39-39	33-42	3-7	Lost 3
Oakland A's	151	59	92	0	.391	37.0	561	705	31-43	28-49	3-7	Lost 1
Seattle Mariners	155	60	95	0	.387	38.0	604	828	28-51	32-44	4-6	Won 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. East
Philadelphia Phillies	153	95	58	0	.621		790	622	58-19	37-39	5-5	Won 1
Pittsburgh Pirates	154	89	65	0	.578	6.5	703	647	53-22	36-43	7-3	Won 5
Chicago Cubs	154	80	74	0	.519	15.5	664	690	45-31	35-43	5-5	Lost 1
St. Louis Cardinals	154	80	74	0	.519	15.5	703	648	49-26	31-48	5-5	Won 1
Montreal Expos	153	71	82	0	.464	24.0	624	694	38-41	33-41	6-4	Lost 1
New York Mets	154	60	94	0	.390	35.5	552	632	35-44	25-50	3-7	Lost 3

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. West
Los Angeles Dodgers	153	92	61	0	.601		740	548	47-27	45-34	5-5	Lost 2
Cincinnati Reds	155	83	72	0	.535	10.0	765	706	45-31	38-41	7-3	Won 1
Houston Astros	153	77	76	0	.503	15.0	639	611	46-33	31-43	6-4	Won 1
San Francisco Giants	154	71	83	0	.461	21.5	635	680	36-42	35-41	5-5	Won 2
San Diego Padres	155	66	89	0	.426	27.0	666	799	34-45	32-44	3-7	Lost 1
Atlanta Braves	154	59	95	0	.383	33.5	644	848	39-37	20-58	4-6	Lost 1

Today's scores and summaries:

Royals 7, Angels 3 at California (night game):
The Royals clinched their second straight West Division title by defeating the Angels, 7-3. The victory was the Royals' 21st in their last 22 games and killed off the runner-up Rangers' last chance. Dennis Leonard pitched a five-hitter for the Royals, struck out 13 and won his 19th game. Al Cowens drove in five runs with three doubles and John Mayberry accounted for the remaining two RBIs with a homer. The Angels, who had a round-tripper by Bobby Bonds, broke their former attendance record of 1,400,321, set in 1966, when the crowd of 10,888 at the game pushed their total to 1,400,701.

Indians 3, Orioles 2 at Cleveland (night game):
The Orioles received a setback in the East Division race when they fell short in a ninth-inning rally and lost to the Indians, 3-2. The Indians scored twice in the fourth inning on singles by Rico Carty and Bruce Bochte, an infield out, sacrifice fly by Rick Manning and single by Alfredo Griffin, whose RBI was the first of his major league career. Carty then singled and drove in what proved to be the deciding run in the eighth. Rick Waits, who started for the Indians, was lifted in the ninth after walking Ken Singleton. Jim Bibby, in relief, passed Lee May and yielded a base-loading single by Eddie Murray. Bibby struck out Andres Mora and Doug DeCinces but Al Bumbry doubled, driving in two runs. Bearing down, Bibby fanned pinch-hitter Terry Crowley for his third strikeout of the inning to save the game.

Red Sox 5, Tigers 1 at Detroit (night game):
Facing only one batter over the minimum, Bill Lee pitched the Red Sox to a 5-1 victory over the Tigers. Lee allowed four hits, but three baserunners were erased on double plays. The other Tiger batter to reach base was Lance Parrish, who cracked a homer in the eighth inning to spoil Lee's shutout bid. The Red Sox clinched their decision with a three-run homer by Butch Hobson in the third.

Rangers 6, A's 5 at Oakland (night game):
Although allowing only three hits, Gaylord Perry was the victim of poor support and had to struggle to pitch the Rangers to a 6-5 victory over the Athletics. Four of the A's runs were unearned. Mike Hargrove homered with two men on base for the Rangers in the second inning, but in the A's half Tony Armas hit the first grand slam of his major league career. Bump Wills tied the score with a single in the third. After the A's regained the lead with a run-scoring single by Mike Jorgensen in the fifth, the Rangers rallied in the eighth for two runs on a pass to Ken Henderson, an infield out and singles by Dave May and Claudell Washington.

Mariners 3, White Sox 2 at Seattle (night game):
Homers by Dave Collins and Leroy Stanton in the third inning carried the Mariners to a 3-2 victory over the White Sox. Collins' clout accounted for the game's first run. Dan Meyer followed with a single and Stanton added the winning blow.

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3 at Toronto (night game):
Graig Nettles hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Yankees to a 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays and increase their East Division lead over the Orioles to 2½ games. Don Gullett struck out 12, a season high for the lefthander, and held the Blue Jays to five hits, but they included homers by Otto Velez and Dave McKay. After McKay's clout tied the score at 3-3 in the eighth, Chris Chambliss walked with two out in the ninth and Nettles decided the game with his homer.

Reds 5, Braves 1 at Atlanta (night game):
George Foster hit his 50th homer of the season, becoming only the fifth player in N. L. history to reach that total, as the Reds defeated the Braves, 5-1. Previous sluggers who had accomplished the feat were Hack Wilson, Ralph Kiner, Johnny Mize and Willie Mays, who did it last in 1965. After striking out in the first inning, Foster singled in the third, batted in a run with a triple in the fifth, singled in the seventh and hit his homer in the ninth to become the first player in Reds' history with 50.

Pirates 2, Cubs 0 at Chicago (day game):
A two-run homer by Ed Ott with two out in the eighth inning enabled the Pirates to defeat the Cubs, 2-0, but only after the Pirates used three relievers in the Cubs' half of the eighth to put down a threat. The Pirates' runs were unearned. With one away in the eighth, Bill Robinson was safe on an error by Steve Ontiveros. Al Oliver then forced Robinson before Ott came to the plate and hit his homer.

Astros 4, Dodgers 3 at Houston (night game):
A sacrifice fly by Jose Cruz in the 12th inning scored Enos Cabell and gave the Astros a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers. Cabell doubled and reached third with one out on a passed ball by Steve Yeager before Cruz lofted his fly to left field. The sacrifice fly was the third of the game for the Astros, who had two previously by Bob Watson, giving him a career high of 103 RBIs. Lee Lacy batted in two runs for the Dodgers with a homer and single.

Phillies 6, Expos 1 at Montreal (night game):
Greg Luzinski and Mike Schmidt batted the Phillies to a 6-1 victory over the Expos. Luzinski knocked in two runs with a double in the third inning after Bake McBride was hit by a pitch and Larry Bowa was safe on an error. Schmidt doubled in the fifth and scored on a single by Luzinski. Schmidt tripled in the seventh and scored on an error before hitting a homer in the ninth.

Cardinals 10, Mets 6 at New York (night game):
Bob Forsch, who pitched 5 2/3 innings before being removed, received credit for his 19th victory when the Cardinals defeated the Mets, 10-6. Taylor Duncan, Cardinals' rookie third baseman, hit his first major league homer in the fourth. When the Cards put the game away with five runs in the sixth, Forsch helped himself, driving in a pair with a single.

Giants 6, Padres 4 at San Diego (night game):
Skip James, who entered the game as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning and then replaced Willie McCovey at first base, drove in the tie-breaking run with a single in the ninth and scored an insurance marker as the Giants defeated the Padres, 6-4. Derrel Thomas singled to open the ninth and reached third on a sacrifice and infield out before James rapped his single. Darrell Evans then walked, Terry Whitfield was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Marc Hill walked to force in James with an extra counter.