Week 21 Summary (08/20/1920 - 09/05/1920)

Week Twenty-One of the 1920 BBW Replay is in the books, and as the season winds down the pennant races keep getting more interesting. The replay has entered the month of September (the final day of the season is October 3, 1920) and there are still plenty of games left to play. Tomorrow is a Labor Day doubleheader extravaganza with sixteen games in the docket, a fine way to highlight the final dash toward the end of the season.

Stan Coveleski

A few teams have reached the 130-games-played mark, and most will be there by the end of the upcoming week. Boston (NL) finally reached the 120-games-played mark, and their end-of-season schedule is as follows: thirteen doubleheaders, eight single games, and seven days off to get their thirty-four remaining games completed in the remaining twenty-eight days. There are a few teams that have similar end-of-season schedules … you can say "It's a marathon, not a sprint" all you want, but we have now reached the final sprint portion of the replay.

 

In the AL, New York ended Week Twenty with a 0.5 games lead over Chicago, but they now own a 3.0 games lead as they are in the midst of an eight-game winning streak (games against Philadelphia and Boston can do that for you). Babe Ruth missed games early in the week and is still at 50 homeruns for the season. Chicago leads the AL in batting average and ERA, but New York is second in ERA and has scored more runs. Chicago has been unable to match the offensive firepower of New York, but they are still within striking distance should the leaders falter.

 

Cleveland has won eight of their last ten games (just like New York) and has crept to within 5.0 games of second-place Chicago. Even if they continue to play well, they are still going to need some semblance of a collapse from both teams ahead of them. They did promote Duster Mails to the starting rotation and in his first start he threw a shutout. Shortstop Joe Sewell will be in the lineup by the end of this upcoming week … perhaps these two can provide some needed spark.

 

George Kelly

In the NL, Cincinnati ended last week with a 1.0 games lead over New York, they ended this week with a 3.5 games lead, and but for a ninth-inning collapse in St. Louis on Sunday, it could have been a 4.5 games lead. Manager John McGraw has been applying the whip to the Giants all season in hopes of getting his charges to the World Series, but over the past two weeks, the team has been scuffling. The clutch hits, the late-inning rallies and the key defensive double plays when they were really needed … they have all seemingly evaporated. Cincinnati has played well all season, and once New York blinked, the Reds were ready to take advantage.

Brooklyn currently has a six-game winning streak, which has allowed them to move out of fourth place and past St. Louis into third, even if only by 0.5 games. The Brooklyn surge, plus the New York struggles, have allowed Brooklyn to pull within 2.0 games of second-place New York. Giants’ fans might be unhappy about possibly missing out on the NL pennant and then playing a post-season series against their Polo Grounds co-habitants, the Yankees, but they are definitely concerned about falling behind their crosstown rival in Brooklyn.

 

There have been whispers about funny dealings concerning the 1919 World Series all year. However, nothing official has taken place. That is about the change. That, plus pennant races amidst the usual late-season scramble as a flurry of major league hopefuls getting their opportunity to impress … let's go play!

Sam Rice

Bill McKechnie