Week 22 Summary (09/04/1911 - 09/10/1911)

Week 22 of the 1911 BBW replay is in the books and the season is starting to wind down. Philadelphia (AL) has a magic number of five with five weeks remaining. They swept two doubleheaders from second-place Boston in the past two weeks to really put a firm clinch on the top spot in the AL. All the AL teams have passed the 130 games played mark, so these teams can really see the end is in sight.

The real news in the AL is not necessary the top two teams, but the next five and the battle for the #3 spot. This week Chicago is all alone in third place with a 65-65 record, but only has a 2.5 game lead over seventh-place Washington. Washington has started to slow down from their mid-summers hot streak, but they are back to playing other teams from the East and suddenly wins are a lot harder to come by. Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago all take turns beating each other, so I expect that whichever of these teams has the best final two weeks of the season will be the one to tend up on the top of this pile.

 

Only one NL team has reached the 130 games played mark - Pittsburgh (132). Many NL teams are still in the mid-120s, so some of these teams will still not be at 130 games played by the end of this upcoming week. Pittsburgh was swept in a doubleheader in St. Louis late this week, but still maintains a 9.5 game lead over second-place New York with a magic number of 18. New York (and Chicago) have only played 123 games, so the Giants have the opportunity to cut into that lead by winning these remaining differences in games played, but they are still going to need Pittsburgh to slow down to allow them to catch up. Hope may spring eternal on the hearts of Giants fans, but time is running out.

 

In other NL commentary, Boston is on its second or third starting lineup as they have repeatedly shuffled through players this season. They are still last in pitching (by a long shot) and in fielding, but they currently are third in the NL in hitting, they are third in doubles, and they are fourth in runs/game. This has only moderately improved Boston's winning percentage because their pitching is so bad, but other NL teams know that, if nothing else, the Rustlers aren't the equivalent of the St. Louis Browns.

 

Joe Jackson ended the week at .478, and in a doubleheader early in the week, Jackson hit a pair of doubles in both games, ending the week with 62 doubles on the season. Jackson also leads in homeruns (10) and is third in triples (18), so while he won’t be hitting .500 for the season, he still has a chance to reach 100 extra-base hits.