In the National League, Brooklyn survived a tough race to win their third straight pennant by a small margin. New York was leading heading into September by 5.5 games over Pittsburgh, 6.5 games over Cincinnati and 7 games over Brooklyn. Brooklyn got hot while New York collapsed and took the lead with New York and Pittsburgh still alive going into the last week. The Pirates fell off but the Giants were able to pull to within 1 game with four to go. However, Brooklyn won their next two games while New York lost their next two games to allow the Robins to clinch the NL title. Brooklyn continued to showcase their ace pitcher, Walter Johnson. Johnson finished second in wins (27), first in ERA (1.80) and third in strikeouts (188) but it was the contiued emergence of Pittsburgh ace Grover "Pete" Alexander that showed off the best. Alexander led the league in wins (28) and was second in both ERA (1.87) and strikeouts (194) then was awarded the league's Outstanding Pitcher award.
In the American League, the Red Sox proved very capable of defending their title in spite of multiple injuries to star Tris Speaker, which limited him to only 88 games. Behind the bat of catcher Ted Easterly and the arm of Smokey Joe Wood, Boston held a 5 game lead heading into September and was able to hold off the New York Yankees to win their second straight title, and sixth in seven years, with two games remaining. Easterly was awarded with the AL's Outstanding Hitter award for leading the league with a .346 average as well as finishing in the top five in onbase percentage, slugging percentage and home runs. Smokey Joe Wood was awarded the league's Outstanding Pitcher award for the second time in four years as he won 28 games and finished with a 2.05 ERA, good enough for second in the league.
The World Series was a case of the Red Sox pitching and defense against Brooklyn's superiority with the bat. The former proved more meaningful as Boston rallied from a 3-0 game deficit to win the next four games, including the final game by scoring a run on a passed ball in the bottom of the 11th inning, and win the series by a 4 games to 3 margin.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Boston 91 63 .591 -- Brooklyn 89 65 .578 --
New York 87 67 .565 4 New York 84 70 .545 5
Philadelphia 80 74 .519 11 Pittsburgh 84 70 .545 5
Chicago 79 75 .513 12 Cincinnati 79 75 .513 10
St.Louis 74 80 .481 17 St.Louis 73 81 .474 16
Cleveland 73 81 .474 18 Boston 72 82 .468 17
Detroit 70 84 .455 21 Chicago 68 86 .442 21
Washington 62 92 .403 29 Philadelphia 67 87 .435 22
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
T.Easterly, BOS .346 T.Cobb, STL .351
H.Heilmann, STL .309 B.Vaughn, PIT .342
A.Scheer, CHI .306 E.Murphy, BOS .327
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
D.Zwilling, CHI 14 G.Zinn, BRO 13
J.Walsh, CLE 10 B.Kauff, BRO 8
G.Cravath, NY 7 F.Luderus, PHI 8
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
J.Fournier, PHI 83 S.Evans, PIT 93
E.Konetchy, NY 75 S.Rice, STL 86
J.Walsh, CLE 75 C.Dolan, STL 74
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
J.Walsh, CLE 80 B.Shotton, NY 101
J.Doyle, PHI 76 M.Berghammer, PIT 99
W.Holke, WAS 75 P.Whitted, BRO 85
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
R.Schalk, WAS 36 M.Berghammer, PIT 64
J.Kelly, CHI 33 T.Cobb, STL 47
G.Sisler, CLE 32 E.Murphy, BOS 41
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
H.Keupper, CLE 1.79 W.Johnson, BRO 1.80
J.Wood, BOS 2.05 P.Alexander, PIT 1.87
F.Arellanes, BOS 2.06 R.Russell, NY 2.03
Wins W Wins W
J.Wood, BOS 28 P.Alexander, PIT 28
H.Keupper, CLE 22 W.Johnson, BRO 27
J.Harris, CLE 21 R.Russell, NY 22
Saves SV Saves SV
H.Suter, CHI 10 B.Groom, CHI 7
B.Maxwell, NY 6 R.Richter, BOS 6
J.Tesreau, NY 5 P.Strand, PIT 6
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
D.Leonard, CHI 184 G.Morton, BRO 204
P.Douglas, CLE 183 P.Alexander, PIT 194
D.Rudolph, CHI 168 W.Johnson, BRO 188
1916 World Series
Game #1
Brooklyn 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 6 2
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 0
P.Perritt and L.McCarty, R.Williams (9). F.Arellanes and T.Easterly.
WP - P.Perritt (1-0)
LP - F.Arellanes (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Brooklyn 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 3 13 0
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 17 2
E.Yingling, H.Ritter (14), L.Gervais (16) and L.McCarty, R.Williams (9).
R.Benton, R.Jordan 912), J.Raleigh (14) and T.Easterly, N.Clarke (12).
WP - L.Gervais (1-0)
LP - J.Raleigh (0-1)
HR - BOS: F.Smith (1)
Game #3
Boston (A) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 7 1
Brooklyn 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 x - 5 10 1
J.Wood and T.Easterly. W.Johnson and L.McCarty.
WP - W.Johnson (1-0)
LP - J.Wood (0-1)
HR - BRO: W.Johnson (1)
Game #4
Boston (A) 5 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 8 8 3
Brooklyn 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 4 9 2
E.Hughes and T.Easterly. J.Buchanan, A.Malloy (9) and L.McCarty.
WP - E.Hughes (1-0)
LP - J.Buchanan (0-1)
HR - none
Game #5
Boston (A) 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 - 7 11 0
Brooklyn 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 - 4 10 3
F.Arellanes and T.Easterly. P.Perritt and L.McCarty.
WP - F.Arellanes (1-1)
LP - P.Perritt (1-1)
HR - none
Game #6
Brooklyn 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 - 3 7 1
Boston (A) 2 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 x - 7 13 2
E.Yingling, L.Gervais (8) and L.McCarty. R.Benton and T.Easterly.
WP - R.Benton (1-0)
LP - E.Yingling (0-1)
HR - none
Game #7
Brooklyn 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 7 0
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 - 2 11 3
W.Johnson and L.McCarty, R.Williams (9).
J.Wood, R.Jordan (10) and T.Easterly, C.Pick (10).
WP - R.Jordan (1-0)
LP - W.Johnson (1-1)
HR - none