The defending AL champions, the Boston Americans, looked to repeat and held a 1 game lead over the Chicago White Sox at the beginning of June. Chicago, however, had other plans and overtook Boston by the beginning of July and quickly extended the lead to 6.5 games. The Americans were able to pull to within 2.5 games by Labor Day but the White Sox pulled away and clinched the title with almost a full week to go. Chicago was led by the powerful bats of Mike Grady (13 HR), who they had acquired in a trade in June, Dave Brain, who had an AL record 14 triples and Herm McFarland, who batted .328 with 4 home runs and 63 RBI and was awarded the league's Outstanding Hitter Award. The mound staff featured a pair of 20-game winners, John Skopec (AL leading 23) and Clark Griffith (20). The powerful bat of Buck Freeman (11 HR) and the pitching of Cy Young (19 wins, AL leading 138 strikeouts) led the way for the Americans to finish in second place, 6 games behind. The Detroit Tigers ended the season in third place, 7 games back, thanks to the arms of Roscoe Miller (2.48 ERA) and George Mullin (136 strikeouts).
The race for the pennant in the senior circuit was certainly not as closely faught as the previous campaign. The Philadelphia Phillies, led by bats of Elmer Flick (.338 avg) and Ed Delahanty (8 HR) and the arm of ace starter Al Orth (21 wins, 2.30 ERA), took the lead at the opening bell and never looked back as they cruised to the title with an 8 game edge over the Chicago Orphans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Orphans were led by the bats of Danny Green (.339 avg, 2nd in NL) and Topsy Hartsel (82 RBI, MLB leading 52 stolen bases) and the arm of Jack Taylor (MLB leading 25 wins, 2.25 ERA). Pittsburgh ended in the tie for second place thanks to the arms of NL Outstanding Pitcher Award winner Rube Waddell (21 wins, 1.47 ERA, 244 strikeouts) and Deacon Phillippe (21 wins). The National League also featured MLB's first hitting Triple Crown winner. Nap Lajoie, a free agent pickup by Brooklyn, led the senior circuit in average (.360), home runs (9), and tied for the league lead in runs batted in (84).
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Chicago 82 58 .586 -- Philadelphia 87 53 .621 --
Boston 76 64 .543 6 Chicago 79 61 .564 8
Detroit 75 65 .536 7 Pittsburgh 79 61 .564 8
Cleveland 69 71 .493 13 New York 74 66 .529 13
Philadelphia 67 73 .479 15 Brooklyn 72 68 .514 15
Washington 67 73 .479 15 Boston 64 76 .457 23
Baltimore 62 78 .443 20 St.Louis 57 83 .407 30
St.Louis 62 78 .443 20 Cincinnati 48 92 .343 39
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
B.Wood, CLE .355 N.Lajoie, BRO .360
D.Jones, STL .348 D.Green, CHI .339
G.Davis, PHI .332 E.Flick, PHI .338
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
B.Bradley, CLE 13 N.Lajoie, BRO 9
M.Grady, WAS+CHI 13 E.Delahanty, PHI 8
B.Freeman, BOS 11 D.McGann, STL 8
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
J.Collins, BOS 96 N.Lajoie, BRO 84
S.Seybold, PHI 94 J.Sheckard, BRO 84
M.Donlin, BAL 92 T.Hartsel, CHI 82
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
P.Dougherty, BOS 43 T.Hartsel, CHI 52
D.Brain, CHI 41 T.Leach, PIT 48
B.Keister, BAL 40 F.Chance, CHI 44
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
J.Menefee, STL 2.28 R.Waddell, PIT 1.47
R.Miller, DET 2.48 J.Taylor, CHI 2.25
C.Fraser, PHI 2.67 A.Orth, PHI 2.30
Wins W Wins W
J.Skopec, CHI 23 J.Taylor, CHI 25
A.Joss, CLE 21 A.Orth, PHI 21
C.Griffith, CHI 20 D.Phillippe, PIT 21
Saves SV Saves SV
H.Kane, STL 4 B.Duggleby, PHI 6
G.Dormer, CLE 2 C.McFarland, STL 6
T.Quinn, PHI 2 S.Wiltse, PIT 3
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
C.Young, BOS 138 R.Waddell, PIT 244
G.Mullin, DET 136 C.Mathewson, NY 180
A.Joss, CLE 130 D.White, PHI 176