Week 8 Summary (05/31/1920 - 06/06/1920)

Week Eight on the 1920 BBW Replay is in the books, and it was quite a busy week. The week started off with a Memorial Day doubleheader extravaganza in which every team took the field twice and then four more doubleheaders were played before the end of the week (and there are more on the horizon as well). If counting by weeks the replay is (8-of-25) 32% complete, but if you go by games played both leagues are just a little over 27% complete. They made up some of this difference this past week, but both leagues have a way to go yet. 

Only Pittsburgh hasn't reached the 40-games-played mark as they had a couple of unscheduled off days in the middle of the week, then they went to Cincinnati for a game on Sunday and now it looks like they have a few more off days to start off the upcoming week - I am assuming this is all weather-related in Pittsburgh. Teams are certainly thankful for a couple of extra days off in the middle of the season, but they know that these missed games are going to have to be made up somehow someway. Teams may not be at the 50-games-played mark by the end of the upcoming week, but they will be well on the way.

A fast-rising Brooklyn team had started off the week by losing 2-of-3 to the even hotter New York Giants. Left fielder Zack Wheat came up lame and missed all the games since Monday, so while missing their main offensive cog, center fielder Hi Myers stepped into the breech and had quite a week: 16-for-30 (.533), ten runs scored, fourteen RBI's, five doubles, three triples, and four home. Myers's week allowed him to storm to the top in the NL in all these batting categories. Robins’ fans are salivating at the prospect of Wheat returning to the lineup and he and Myers propelling the team up the standings.

St. Louis (AL) Manager
Jimmy Burke

Myers ended this week with a three-homerun game, the third such event this season (Babe Ruth has the other two). The Yankees continued their domination of the AL, despite currently sitting at seventh in the AL in hitting. As a team New York has hit thirty homeruns, well ahead of Cleveland (19) and Chicago (13), meaning that Ruth himself (13) is ahead of each of the remaining teams.

 

The NL has crept up in stolen base percentage (237 / 224 = 51.4%), while the AL is still stumbling below 50% (186 / 208 = 47.2%). The actual percentage in both leagues was only a few percentage points over fifty, so they are actually close to what they should be, but since I am playing these games manually it can really be disconcerting to manually implement a strategy so doomed to fail. These results are consistent with the actual results, so on the other hand I guess that means I am doing a good job.

 

The schedule shows a light day tomorrow as it's a travel day for most teams. The AL east teams will be making their first western swing while in the NL it is the opposite as the Midwest teams will be making their first east coast swing.

 

Sportsman Park 1915 Digital Art by Gary Grigsby - Pixels