Another year, another tight race. The Cleveland Bronchos and Philadelphia Athletics were in a dogfight as the Bronchos had a 1 game lead over the Athletics and a 2-game lead over New York when September rolled around. With ten games remaining, Cleveland had a half-game lead over the Athletics and 1.5 games over the Highlanders and on the last day of the season, they clinched the AL title. Cleveland was led by the bat of Bill Bradley and the arms of Ralph Caldwell and Jim St.Vrain. Philadelphia finished 1 game back and led by the pitching of Eddie Plank and Rube Waddell, who won the pitching triple crown with 28 wins, a 1.21 ERA and 324 strikeouts. The New York Highlanders finished third, two games behind, with the league's Outstanding Batter Award winner Mike Donlin and Bill Keister leading the charge.
The American and National Leagues coexisted without incident in 1904 in the fall it was a different matter. Near the end of the season, owners from both the Bronchos and the Athletics offered to play the NL title winner, the Boston Braves, in the postseason to decide the world's champion. The Braves' President stated that last year's results were a fluke and that the American League was an inferior league. Despite the heavy criticism, he stood his ground so there was no World Series played.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB
Cleveland 87 67 .565 --
Philadelphia 86 68 .558 1
New York 85 69 .552 2
Detroit 80 74 .519 7
St.Louis 76 78 .494 11
Chicago 73 81 .474 14
Washington 67 87 .435 20
Boston 62 92 .403 25
Batting AVG AVG
S.Magee, PHA .363
M.Donlin, NYA .333
J.Barrett, DET .324
Homeruns HR
B.Bradley, CLE 8
M.Grady, WS1 6
N.Lajoie, DET 6
Runs Batted In RBI
B.Keister, NYA 89
S.Crawford, DET 87
J.Titus, NYA 81
Runs Scored RS
M.Donlin, NYA 101
J.Barrett, DET 100
A.Devlin, NYA 91
Stolen Bases SB
S.Mertes, DET 50
M.Donlin, NYA 47
B.Maloney, SLA 46
Earned Run Average ERA
R.Waddell, PHA 1.21
R.Ames, DET 1.50
R.Caldwell, CLE 1.78
Wins W
R.Waddell, PHA 28
J.St.Vrain, CLE 24
F.Glade, CHA 23
Saves SV
E.Killian, CHA 3
W.Piatt, CHA 3
E.High, DET 2
Strikeouts SO
R.Waddell, PHA 324
R.Ames, DET 253
E.Plank, PHA 215