Week 17 Summary (07/31/1911 - 08/06/1911)

Week Seventeen of the 1911 BBW replay is in the books and it was another exciting week. Ten weeks of the season remain and teams have started reaching and passing the 100 games played mark and the season has moved into the month of August, so we have finally just about reached the part of the downhill stretch as teams move towards the end of the season. There are still a lot of questions to be answered yet, and of course, we still have a World Series yet to play.

On July 6 the AL east teams arrived in the Midwest to begin a road series and then following that, on July 24, all eight of the AL teams moved back east so that the Midwest teams could commence an east coast swing. During this time Philadelphia went 22-6, Boston went 25-7, New York went 15-16, and even lowly Washington went 17-11, a collective .664 winning percentage. This explains why the Red Sox can play way over their head but not really gain any ground on the first place A's, but also explains how the Red Sox were able to open a 10.0 game lead over third-place Chicago, a White Sox team that swept a pair of doubleheaders versus the Senators this past week or these numbers would have been even more lopsided. Even New York, with the weakest record of the east coast teams during this period, was essentially playing .500 ball, so they were giving it as good as they got it as well. And we aren't done yet - this current road trip goes on for four more days.

 

In the NL, it is the Giants with their eyes on the schedule and the calendar these days. They just completed a three-game series in Pittsburgh and the Pirates took all three, leaving New York 8.5 games behind the league-leading Pittsburgh. It is true that there are ten weeks remaining and both teams have 50+ games left to play, but it is also true that we are approaching that point where it isn't that the Giants are going to have to get on a hot streak in order to catch the Pirates, it may become more of a case where Pittsburgh is going to have to go on an extended cold streak before New York can truly climb back into the NL pennant race. These two teams have eight games remaining against each other, but it might be too late for New York.

 

Shoeless Joe Jackson ended last week hit "only" .499, he climbed back over .500 at the beginning of the week, fell below once again, jumped back over late in the week, and then finally ended the week hit "only" .499. Of course, he leads in doubles (52) still, is tied for first in homeruns (8) and is tied for first in triples (17), and ended the week with 199 hits for the season. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it, but I have seen it with my own eyes and it is still hard to believe.