Week 4 Summary (05/03/1920 - 05/09/1920)

Week Four of the 1920 BBW Replay is in the books and the schedule is adjusting and we are finally starting to see the number of games played start to pick up. Six of the sixteen teams have reached or passed the twenty-games-played mark and most of the others will be there shortly.

The week started off with a bang when Boston (AL) pitcher Allen Russell took a no-hitter into the tenth inning. The Yankees finally got a hit with a one-out double by Yankees center fielder Ping Bodie in the tenth and then won it in the eleventh when a two-out error put first baseman Wally Pipp on first and then Pipp was immediately doubled home by right fielder Babe Ruth for the game-winner. Russell then pitched a shutout in his next start, thankful for finally receiving some run support.

 A few days later Pittsburgh ace Babe Adams pitched a PERFECT GAME at home versus Chicago. Twenty-seven up, twenty-seven down. Cubs starter Speed Martin got lit up early, but settled down and finished strong, but by then it was too late as Adams was in a groove and nothing could get him off his form.

 

In the AL, the two hottest teams of the season are battling it out for first. The Yankees are 15-5, but only have a 2.0 games lead over the surging White Sox. New York really isn’t hitting all that well, and Babe Ruth did miss a week because of an injury, but their Team ERA is 1.76 and they have thrown eight shutouts already, with sixteen Quality Starts out of their first twenty games. Behind Chicago comes Washington and Detroit, both 4.0 games out of first, with both teams relying on timely hitting to overcome their occasionally questionable pitching. In 1920 Detroit actually started the season with an 0-13 record, but they currently sit at 11-9, quite a bit of ahead of their 1920 pace.

 

Cleveland Manager
Tris Speaker

In the NL, no team has really taken charge yet. Boston still sits in first with a 0.5 games lead over second-place teams New York and Cincinnati, but with all the teams bunched up the way they are it is still possible for teams to make a move up the standings by just putting together a small winning streak. Just last week the Giants were languishing in seventh place but now they are within a breath of first place. Brooklyn finally climbed out of last place, but it might be more accurate to say the Cardinals fell into last place and the Robins were merely displaced. The Robins saw what happened to New York and how quickly they rose, and they are looking to go on their own little winning streak and climb their way to the top as well.

Before Week Five commences it is time for long train rides as the AL Midwest teams travel eastward while in the NL it is the east coast teams starting their first trip to the great Midwest, and with that, the season marches on.

League Park 1910 Digital Art by Gary Grigsby - Pixels