Week 18 Summary (08/07/1911 - 08/13/1911)

Roger Bresnahan

Week Eighteen of the 1911 BBW replay is in the books and we have officially reached the two-thirds mark of the 27-week schedule. Only one team (Chicago Cubs) has not reached the 100 games played mark and they are sitting on 99 games played, so that won't take long to reach. Doubleheaders were relatively rare in the first half of the season but there are many more of them now as teams want to ensure they are getting their games in against every opponent in both their home and away locations.

The AL East teams started a western road trip back on July 6, 1911. That was completed on July 24, 1911, but in an unusual move, the Midwest teams and the East teams all moved to the east coast to continue their intra-regional play. This last set of games was completed on August 10, 1911, and during that time the AL East teams went a collective 93-45 (.674) versus their Midwestern counterparts. a pretty thorough spanking.

 

Clark Griffith

In the AL, Philadelphia now has a 12.0 game lead over second-place Boston, and Boston has an 11.5 game lead over third-place Cleveland. However, Cleveland only has a 1.5 games lead over seventh-place Washington, and the Senators just threw three consecutive shutouts versus New York or it is likely that New York would be in third place now. Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit all find themselves below .500 and catching Philadelphia is well beyond hope at this point. Even catching Boston might be beyond hope as well, although the Red Sox are pretty beat up right now.

New York still maintains a hope of catching NL leading Pittsburgh, but the Pirates still refuse to slow down. Even with Cincinnati having taken 2-of-3 to end the week, Pittsburgh maintains an 8.0 game lead over the second-place Giants. Chicago is all by themselves in third place, and behind them St. Louis and Philadelphia seem content to take turns swapping fourth and fifth place. Cincinnati keeps making a run at sixth place Brooklyn, but every time they get close the Dodgers do enough to keep their position. Even last-place Boston is playing better, so while they may not be going anywhere, they could be a real nuisance to teams that are overlooking them in the schedule.

 

Bobby Wallace

Schedule-wise, the replay is in the middle of August, and with the heat of summer and the long season, many teams are showing considerable wear and tear. Some of the pitching staffs are pretty thin, as are some of the benches. All teams have their scouts out beating the bushes in looking for talent to get them through the remainder of this season and hopefully many seasons to come. As the season winds down there will be plenty of new faces yet to appear.