Week Thirteen of the 1920 BBW Replay is in the books, and we are coming off a couple of busy weeks. Starting on Monday, June 28, the league has played a total of 28 doubleheaders, including at least one every day up until Sunday, July 10. Eight of those doubleheaders took place on the holiday doubleheader (Monday, July 5), but as the season has reached its halfway point teams knew they were behind on games played, so it's doubleheader time. We have completed 13-of-25 weeks of the season and teams are just below 50% of their games played, which is a big jump from where the league was previously.
Both New York franchises continue to lead their respective leagues and neither shows any sign of slowing down. The Yankees temporarily fell into second place behind the White Sox a few weeks ago, but quickly recovered and have maintained a slim 2.0 games lead since. These two teams have the best pitching in the league, Chicago leads in hitting, but both teams have scored almost the identical number of runs. Babe Ruth has 30 homeruns, which is more than any other AL team, but the other Yankees players have combined for 29 homeruns, which is also more than any other AL team.
Cleveland has a strong hold on third place but has continued to have problems making any headway against the two teams in front of them. The front end of their pitching rotation has been strong, but unless the back end of that rotation kicks it up a notch, it is going to be tough for them. Washington currently sits in fourth place, but pitching ace Walter Johnson has been suffering from a sore arm all season and may have to be shut down for the season which will imperil their chances of finishing in the upper half.
Fifth-place St. Louis is third in hitting and
third in runs scored but is last in pitching. They are a fun team to play
though - if/when the Browns bring their hitting shoes on any given day, there
isn’t a team that can withstand their onslaught. Boston is third in pitching,
which is enough to keep them out of last place, but they have only
hit eight homeruns to this point. Ty Cobb just returned from a month-long knee
injury and hasn’t really hit his stride since his return, which has seen
Detroit floundering in seventh place. The A's are stuck in last place and
likely aren't going anywhere, so Connie Mack has constantly fiddled with his
lineup and has continued to give young players - especially pitchers - a chance
to see what they can do.
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| New York (NL) Manager John McGraw |
Brooklyn had previously fought their way up to third place but now they are stuck behind the two league leaders. Brooklyn's problem is that they are just too inconsistent. They just finished a seven-game winning streak, but followed that up with three losses in St. Louis. Pittsburgh resides in fourth place and St. Louis is in fifth place, and while both are dangerous teams, just having their 2-3 good starters is hampering them as the remaining starters have trouble maintaining a strong presence.
Chicago is in sixth place in the NL, has had
consistent injury problems, and even though they have pitching ace Pete Alexander on the team, they struggle to score for him while he is on the mound.
Philadelphia has been in last place most of the season but is currently in
seventh thanks to Boston working on a nine-game losing stream and taking over
residence in the eighth slot.
The Yankees and the Giants met in the World Series in 1921, 1922, and 1923, so if these two teams can maintain their lead through the second half of the season it looks like they may get their streak started a year early.
The
Polo Grounds 1924 Digital Art by Gary Grigsby - Pixels
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