The Chicago White Sox and St.Louis Browns struggled through their 154-game schedule only to find themselves having to play another game before the American League had a team to present to the World Series. What happened for the first time in junior circuit history was a flat-footed tie for first place. Contributing to the excitement was the fact that the Red Sox, led by Barney McCosky and midseason addition Hank Greenberg, stayed in the race until they were eliminated by the White Sox with a week and 1/2 to go.
The winner-take-all playoff game climax was short-lived as St.Louis went on to rout the White Sox, 8-3. Despite producing the league batting champion in Stan Musial (.349), the White Sox never really stood the chance in front of the St.Louis home crowd.
St.Louis was led by the power hitting of Jeff Heath, who led the AL in home runs (43) and RBIs (147). The runner-up Chicago was once again led by superstar Stan Musial. Stan Musial once again dominated the triple crown catagories as he also finished second in the league in home runs (34) and runs batted in (119) to go along with leading the AL in average and was named the AL's MVP for the fourth straight season.
The Brooklyn Dodgers continued to roll along and dominate the senior circuit as they went wire-to-wire and won their third straight NL title. Brooklyn had no trouble at all and clinched the NL pennant with two weeks to spare. The Dodgers were led once again by the league's MVP, Ted Williams. Ted Williams led the NL in batting (.368), was third in home runs (37) and drove in 92 runs. In second place, and a distant 12 games behind, were the Boston Braves. The Braves were led by the pitching of Don Newcombe, who led the NL in wins (20) and strikeouts (171). The Pittsburgh Pirates finished in third place, 18 games back, thanks to the hitting of Johnny Mize (.324-44-117).
During the World Series, the teams split the first two games before heading to Saint Louis. Brooklyn took 2 out of 3 to take the lead, 3 games to 2, back to Ebbets Field. Brooklyn start Hal Neuhouser was pounded in game 6 as the Browns evened the series with an 8-2 win then the Dodgers' pitching staff was lit up for 14 runs as St.Louis won, 14-6, to win the world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 94 61 .606 -- Brooklyn 96 58 .623 --
Chicago 93 62 .600 1 Boston 84 70 .545 12
Boston 84 70 .545 9.5 Pittsburgh 78 76 .506 18
Cleveland 83 71 .539 10.5 Cincinnati 73 81 .474 23
Detroit 71 83 .461 22.5 New York 73 81 .474 23
Washington 65 89 .422 28.5 St.Louis 73 81 .474 23
Philadelphia 64 90 .416 29.5 Chicago 72 82 .468 24
New York 63 91 .409 30.5 Philadelphia 67 87 .435 29
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
S.Musial,CHI .349 T.Williams,BRO .368
B.McCosky,BOS .349 H.Walker,CHI .347
B.Edwards,CLE .312 B.Brown,BOS .347
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
J.Heath,STL 43 R.Kiner,PIT 53
S.Musial,CHI 34 J.Mize,PIT 44
R.Cullenbine,CHI 28 T.Williams,BRO 37
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
J.Heath,STL 147 A.Pafko,BRO 144
S.Musial,CHI 119 R.Kiner,PIT 127
W.Cooper,CHI 113 G.Hermanski,BRO 122
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
J.Heath,STL 126 R.Kiner,PIT 137
B.Stewart,STL 121 A.Pafko,BRO 123
B.Elliott,STL 119 T.Williams,BRO 119
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.Robinson,NY 30 G.Hermanski,BRO 27
F.Fain,DET 19 B.Dillinger,NY 26
F.Bordagaray,WAS 18 E.Torgeson,PHI 24
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
B.Sayles,STL 3.23 H.Newhouser,BRO 3.66
M.Garcia,WAS 3.28 M.Lanier,BRO 3.66
J.Coleman,BOS+WAS 3.36 B.Voiselle,NY 3.82
Wins W Wins W
E.Blackwell,CHI 22 D.Newcombe,BOS 20
H.Brecheen,BOS 21 T.de la Cruz,NY 18
C.Stobbs,CHI 20 E.Lopat,PIT 17
Saves SV Saves SV
F.Barrett,NY 19 E.Henry,BOS 17
B.Fleming,CHI 17 B.Hogue,CIN 16
B.Donovan,STL 16 M.Stewart,CHI 15
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
E.Blackwell,CHI 242 D.Newcombe,BOS 171
R.Cecil,WAS 152 R.Roberts,PHI 159
H.Brecheen,BOS 148 R.Branca,CIN 146
1948 World Series
Game #1
St.Louis (A) 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 11 0
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 0
A.Brazle and A.Seminick
H.Pollet, S.Johnson (9) and C.Kluttz
WP - A.Brazle (1-0)
LP - H.Pollet (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 0
Brooklyn 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 x - 2 5 1
C.Dean and A.Seminick
M.Harris, C.Covington (9) and C.Kluttz
WP - M.Harris (1-0)
LP - C.Dean (0-1)
SV - C.Covington (1)
HR - none
Game #3
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 3 2
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 x - 4 4 2
H.Newhouser and B.Dickey
B.Sayles, J.Callahan (8) and A.Seminick
WP - B.Sayles (1-0)
LP - H.Newhouser (0-1)
SV - J.Callahan (1)
HR - none
Game #4
Brooklyn 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 - 5 10 0
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
H.Pollet and C.Kluttz
A.Brazle, B.Donovan (8), C.Passeau (9) and A.Seminick
WP - H.Pollet (1-1)
LP - A.Brazle (1-1)
HR - BRK: G.Hermanski (1)
Game #5
Brooklyn 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 10 0
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 0
M.Harris, C.Covington (9) and C.Kluttz, R.Ortiz (9), B.Dickey (9)
C.Dean and A.Seminick
WP - M.Harris (2-0)
LP - C.Dean (0-2)
SV - C.Covington (2)
HR - none
Game #6
St.Louis (A) 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 - 8 11 1
Brooklyn 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 0
B.Sayles, J.Callahan (6) and A.Seminick
H.Newhouser, S.Johnson (8) and B.Dickey
WP - B.Sayles (2-0)
LP - H.Newhouser (0-2)
SV - J.Callahan (2)
HR - none
Game #7
St.Louis (A) 0 1 1 3 0 2 5 2 0 - 14 18 5
Brooklyn 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 - 6 8 0
A.Brazle, J.Callahan (6), B.Donovan (9) and A.Seminick
H.Pollet, S.Johnson (7), B.Muncrief (7) and C.Kluttz
WP - A.Brazle (2-1)
LP - H.Pollet (1-2)
HR - STL: J.Heath 2 (2), B.Elliott (1), B.Rigney (1); BRK: H.Pollet (1)
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Code:
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Year: 1948
Batting Average
.313 T.Holmes
.301 E.Torgeson
.292 R.Sievers
.280 J.Grant
.260 A.Vaughan
Home Runs
32 E.Torgeson
20 R.Sievers
10 A.Vaughan
7 Y.Berra
6 J.Grant
Runs Batted In
122 E.Torgeson
82 R.Sievers
68 T.Holmes
51 A.Vaughan
50 J.Grant
Runs Scored
112 E.Torgeson
86 A.Vaughan
66 R.Sievers
64 J.Grant
60 T.Holmes
Stolen Bases
24 E.Torgeson
12 A.Vaughan
9 J.Grant
5 T.McBride
4 Y.Berra
Wins
13 M.Harder
12 R.Roberts
10 E.Wynn
8 M.Cooper
6 D.Conger
Saves
6 H.Eisenstat
5 J.Page
1 D.Conger
1 M.Cooper
1 R.Johnson
Earned Run Average
4.41 M.Harder
4.69 R.Roberts
5.16 M.Cooper
5.45 E.Wynn
Strikeouts
159 R.Roberts
78 J.Page
65 C.Simmons
63 E.Wynn
53 M.Cooper