Postseason Report
Pennant Races Slightly Exciting, Though Both Leagues Had One Wire-To-Wire Leader
Code:
National League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Boston Beaneaters 83 57 .593 - 75-65 8 44-26 39-31 5-4 26-18 Clinch W3 7-3
Cincinnati Reds 80 60 .571 3.0 78-62 2 43-27 37-33 5-5 24-17 L1 7-3
Saint Louis Cardinals 73 67 .521 10.0 71-69 2 38-32 35-35 6-7 24-17 W3 6-4
New York Giants 71 69 .507 12.0 80-60 -9 44-26 27-43 3-5 15-29 L3 5-5
Philadelphia Phillies 71 69 .507 12.0 73-67 -2 42-28 29-41 7-5 26-28 W1 5-5
Pittsburgh Pirates 70 70 .500 13.0 75-65 -5 42-28 28-42 7-10 18-22 W1 4-6
Chicago Colts 64 76 .457 19.0 61-79 3 34-36 30-40 6-5 20-16 L3 3-7
Brooklyn Superbas 48 92 .343 35.0 49-91 -1 26-44 22-48 7-5 21-27 L1 3-7
American League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Washington Nationals 91 49 .650 - 91-49 0 45-25 46-24 8-7 19-18 Clinch W4 7-3
Boston Red Stockings 83 57 .593 8.0 85-55 -2 42-28 41-29 10-7 24-19 W1 4-6
Louisville Colonels 77 63 .550 14.0 76-64 1 42-28 35-35 10-7 25-16 W1 7-3
Philadelphia Athletics 76 64 .543 15.0 73-67 3 39-31 37-33 6-5 18-14 W3 8-2
Baltimore Orioles 73 67 .521 18.0 80-60 -7 38-32 35-35 6-12 17-21 L2 3-7
Chicago White Stockings 61 79 .436 30.0 59-81 2 28-42 33-37 3-9 23-22 L2 3-7
Cleveland Blues 51 89 .364 40.0 52-88 -1 29-41 22-48 8-5 14-20 L2 4-6
Detroit Tigers 48 92 .343 43.0 48-92 0 28-42 20-50 4-3 17-27 L3 2-8
In the end, the flurry of trades around the July deadline were for naught, as the Beaneaters and the Nationals outlasted their opponents to take home their respective pennants. However, the races were at least mildly exciting for the cranks. The National race in particular came down to the final week. As of September 11, the Bostons had lost 5 out of 6, two of those to the second-place Reds, and their lead was down to a scant 3.5 games. The Reds would make it even closer, getting to just 2 games back as of the morning of the 27th. The Beaneaters, however, would then sweep the Giants in a New York series to leave the Peoples' Ballclub of Cincinnati in the dust.
The American race, though it may not look so in the standings, was also rather closely fought. The other Boston team, the Red Stockings, rode a 45-17 record from July 1 through September 12 to get to just 3 1/2 games back themselves. They finally ran out of gas because they'd simply expended too much of their grittiness in coming back. Perhaps next year they will have learned the lesson that if one is to give chase, one has to give chase from the start to the finish. Still, no ballclub besides those Nationals provided more wins for their fanatics than did the Red Stockings.
State Of The Union
Code:
National League Batting
Team AVG HR R AB H 2B 3B BB K SB
New York Giants .277 36 744 4837 1338 180 100 430 413 213
Cincinnati Reds .273 26 734 4975 1359 203 93 430 479 113
Chicago Colts .271 13 677 4969 1346 192 91 317 528 105
Pittsburgh Pirates .267 38 705 4941 1318 212 104 455 441 73
Boston Beaneaters .266 31 627 4848 1290 189 72 321 509 226
Saint Louis Cardinals .263 25 611 4866 1279 207 90 350 556 164
Brooklyn Superbas .260 15 587 4902 1275 191 79 328 508 105
Philadelphia Phillies .256 43 605 4865 1245 149 56 319 489 99
TOTALS .267 227 5290 39203 10450 1523 685 2950 3923 1098
American League Batting
Team AVG HR R AB H 2B 3B BB K SB
Baltimore Orioles .277 19 678 5027 1393 171 58 336 526 43
Boston Red Stockings .272 22 692 4969 1351 183 75 347 476 157
Louisville Colonels .272 15 636 4981 1355 232 74 311 468 90
Washington Nationals .266 40 722 4844 1289 180 80 477 380 133
Philadelphia Athletics .258 23 660 4888 1260 201 86 333 503 120
Chicago White Stockings .258 25 629 4861 1253 199 77 292 502 113
Detroit Tigers .252 21 557 4851 1221 174 71 299 547 65
Cleveland Blues .241 20 559 4821 1163 174 57 324 568 67
TOTALS .262 185 5133 39242 10285 1514 578 2719 3970 788
If statistics are to tell us anything, it is this: in 1901, some teams chose to run and some did not. Those that won ballgames ran aggressively on the basepaths. Although many teams scored more runs than the Beaneaters did, 226 steals allowed them to win more than their fair share of close games. The Giants, on the other hand, were not as adept in close games despite all the steals but we believe this is because their thievery turned blowouts into close games. Ideally, they'd have liked to have won those, but they stayed in the thick of things. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it's clear that a large part of why the Pirates couldn't turn what looked like an offensive juggernaut on paper into a pennant contending team was their strange placidity on the basepaths. We hope that the next Pirates skipper learns from these mistakes.
The American side of things was even more pronounced, as 4 teams finished under the century mark in stolen bases and 3 of those also finished in the second division. Only the Louisville Colonels, who had to consider 1901 a grave disappointment, finished within 15 games of the Nationals among those clubs. Speaking of ballclubs that emigrated from the old National Association, we wonder if the Baltimore Orioles took too dearly to heart the exhortations of one Percival Fauntleroy Earl of Weaver, who opined in a Baltimore newspaper back in April that "three run home runs win ballgames". While this is true in a sense, they don't win that many ballgames and standing around waiting for them to happen... well, when your lineup includes Lynch Passager, Dolan Packard, and Pearce Fulbrook and you can still only muster 73 wins in a minor league, you probably ought to change strategies.
Code:
National League Pitching
Team ERA IP HA R ER HRA BB K OAVG CG SHO
Philadelphia Phillies 2.84 1247.0 1199 581 394 40 400 513 .249 110 9
Boston Beaneaters 2.92 1255.0 1290 580 407 15 289 489 .264 126 12
Saint Louis Cardinals 2.96 1250.1 1304 602 411 30 364 524 .262 124 10
Pittsburgh Pirates 3.13 1245.0 1276 648 433 26 339 574 .261 119 6
New York Giants 3.14 1233.0 1280 635 430 29 290 502 .264 118 10
Cincinnati Reds 3.32 1244.1 1277 648 459 16 475 465 .263 109 15
Chicago Colts 3.67 1236.1 1428 778 504 36 338 408 .286 114 2
Brooklyn Superbas 4.01 1237.1 1396 818 551 35 455 448 .283 88 6
TOTALS 3.25 9948.1 10450 5290 3589 227 2950 3923 .267 908 70
American League Pitching
Team ERA IP HA R ER HRA BB K OAVG CG SHO
Washington Nationals 2.16 1277.2 1121 512 307 19 183 685 .227 121 12
Louisville Colonels 2.72 1270.1 1144 580 384 19 373 412 .238 120 7
Boston Red Stockings 2.89 1272.2 1267 549 408 20 358 587 .258 117 11
Baltimore Orioles 3.01 1264.1 1294 584 423 23 244 589 .263 113 11
Philadelphia Athletics 3.22 1253.0 1292 625 448 25 346 490 .264 113 9
Chicago White Stockings 3.56 1250.0 1400 742 495 26 346 442 .282 106 4
Cleveland Blues 3.72 1242.2 1401 748 514 26 390 405 .284 112 8
Detroit Tigers 4.13 1228.0 1366 793 564 27 479 360 .280 95 4
TOTALS 3.17 10058.2 10285 5133 3543 185 2719 3970 .262 897 66
The brand-new adage that good pitching stops good hitting really appears to have held true this past season, as among the contenders only the Reds had a below-league-average ERA. Earned run average does not tell the whole story, of course; although the Phillies had a slightly better mark than the Beaneaters did last year, a deeper look shows that Boston allowed nearly one walk fewer per game than did Philadelphia and also allowed less than half as many free round trips. Thus, even though Philadelphia struck out more batters and allowed a lower batting average, the Beaneaters actually gave up one fewer run over the entire season. The lesson here is that the pitching staff that makes the fewest mistakes is often more effective than the one that dazzles the most.
On the American side of thing, the Washington Nationals overcame an offense that was only a little above average with an otherworldly defense. Their ERA didn't climb above 2.00 until late July. Some of this, it should be noted, was because many of their team runs were unearned: the Nats had a .941 fielding average, worst in the AL, and in spite of a 56-point lead in ERA over the 2nd place club, they only allowed 37 fewer runs than the Boston Red Stockings. You have to wonder how incredible that pitching staff could have been with even a league average D behind it: this team walked 50 fewer batters than the #2, struck out 90 more, and tied for the fewest home runs allowed.
Milestone Watch
A Look At The Marks Surpassed By Players This Fine Season
Now that the league is 10 seasons old, players are beginning to set benchmarks that we never thought anybody could possibly set. A look around the league:
250 Wins
----------
Jesse MacLagan, CHW (now BOA) 5/24
Joshua Williams, CIN 8/1
Nathan Woombill, NYG 9/13
1,000 Runs
-------------
Mike Hartigan, NYG 6/17
Dolan Packard, BAL 6/17
Ron Eshelman, PHA 7/9
Norm Aston, NYG 7/22
Jon Knight, NYG 9/11
Pearce Fulbrook, BAL 9/21
1,000 RBI
-------------
Jon Knight, NYG 8/1
The most remarkable aspect of these milestones is how many Giants made the list. The New York powerhouse of the 1890s shall surely be remembered as one of the greatest of all time.