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Week 17 Summary

Week 17 is completed and I am beginning to think our World Series competitors might already be decided. Boston and St. Louis may lose a couple of games but then they come back and go on a winning streak and end up farther ahead than where they were before. Both have double digits leads with only seven weeks remaining … it's going to be tough for anyone to catch them. Most teams have played 110 or more games, and those that haven’t will be there in the next day or two.

Phil Rizzuto
St. Louis has a full ten game lead over second place Brooklyn and shows no sign of slowing down. They are 36-6 versus the other teams from the NL westernmost half which means they 24 remaining games against their favorite punching bags, with seven of these games coming up in the next week. They are on a pace to win 107 games. Brooklyn has successfully climbed into second place but would have to 42-4 over their remaining to catch St. Louis at the Cardinals current winning pace. New York refuses to die, but finishing ahead of Brooklyn might be enough of a victory this year. Boston has started to fade as their injury-riddled lineup and inconsistent pitching is starting to show. Philadelphia had started to make a move, but they are currently on a nine game losing streak and are hoping to stay ahead of sixth place Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh still has Ralph Kiner, which keeps them ahead of Chicago and Cincinnati. The Cubs just swept a doubleheader versus the Reds and has opened up a bit of a lead in seventh place.

The Boston lead over New York is 11.5 games and, like the Cardinals, the Red Sox show no signs of slowing down. They are currently in a six-game series versus Washington and have won the first five. New York had a four-game losing streak in the middle of the week to give back the ground they had made up versus Boston over the previous few weeks. Time might be their worst enemy. Cleveland still leads the AL in pitching but their offense just refuses to gel. Injuries are a problem with the Indians as well. Early in the midweek, Philadelphia completed their climb from seventh place to the upper half of the AL standings. The Athletics needed some help to get there and Detroit obliged by having their offense go dormant again and their pitching, while strong, often does just enough to lose. Chicago would like to catch Detroit but I suspect they might be happy just to finish ahead of Washington and St. Louis. The wheels have come off in Washington as they are on a ten game losing streak, plus they have 19 games remaining with Boston and New York before the end of the season. St. Louis is 8.5 games behind New York … they would need some help but they could catch Washington yet.

Mel Parnell
For the first time since the beginning the season George Kell (.351) isn’t leading the AL in average as Ted Williams (.356) leads Kell and Bob Dillinger (.344). Vic Wertz (151) still leads in hits but this has tightened up recently as Johnny Pesky (148) and Williams (145) are right on his tail. Williams leads in runs (115) by a wide margin over teammates Vern Stephens (99) and Don DiMaggio (94). Stephens has the RBI lead (118) over Williams (117) this week, with Sam Chapman (86) a distant third. Kell still leads in doubles (27), just ahead of Mickey Vernon and Stephens, both with 26. Stephens maintains the homerun lead (38) over Williams (34) and Tommy Henrich (27). Eddie Joost (117) has a slight lead over Williams (115) in the walks category. The Boston duo of Ellis Kinder (18-2) and Mel Parnell (17-6) leads the AL in wins.

In the NL, Enos Slaughter (.410) continues to hit over .400, ahead of teammates Stan Musial (.362) and Red Schoendienst (.344). Johnny Mize (.344) continues to hang around as well. Slaughter (161) leads in hits over Richie Ashburn (155) and Musial (154). Ralph Kiner (99) and Schoendienst (99) lead in runs with Musial (97) right behind, while Kiner (108) maintains a healthy lead in RBI’s over Musial (95) and Bobby Thomson (92). Del Ennis has 32 doubles, leading Jimmy Bloodworth (26) and Whitey Lockman and Jackie Robinson, both with 25. There are seven players tied with 24 doubles. Kiner (33) still leads in homeruns, ahead of Musial (27), Andy Pafko (23) and Thomson (23). Eddie Stanky (94) has a big lead in walks over Kiner (85). Harry Brecheen (17-4) and Warren Spahn (17-5) lead the NL in wins but there are more than a handful of pitchers right behind them that would love to displace these two at the top.


Del Ennis
We are in Mid-August at this point and frankly, other than some anticipated jockeying in the middle of the standings, I am not really expecting much in the way of lead changes going forward. Anything can happen of course, which is why we play the game. I have a couple of statistical categories I am keeping my eye on but overall I think things look pretty good there as well. I suspect Enos Slaughter won’t continue to hit .400, but the Cardinals do have a lot of games left against Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Cincinnati, so I suppose it is possible.


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