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Week 21 Summary

Week 21 is completed and only three more to go. The magic number for Boston (AL) is down to two and for St. Louis (NL) it is now seven. Boston was within striking distance on Sunday but it looks like the inevitable will have to wait a few more days. New York (AL) has the most games remaining with 19, while Detroit has 140 games played so they only have fourteen games remaining. Some teams have completed their season series against an opponent already and we are at that point in the season where teams will be facing each other for the final time. While the pennant chase is likely a foregone conclusion at this point there were several items of note that happened this past week:
  • Boston (NL) utility player Sibby Sisti hit two grand slams in a period of four days 
  • Pittsburgh outfielder Ralph Kiner had a two homerun game on Monday and another two-homerun game on Wednesday. He added another homerun on Sunday, putting him at 48 for the season so he may get to 54 yet.
  • The really big news was that there were two no-hitters this week, one by Detroit's Fred Hutchinson and the second by Brooklyn's Jack Banta. There have been a total of five no-hitters in the replay.

Bobby Doerr
Boston had an eleven game winning streak ended on Sunday as they continue to steam through opponents. Cleveland and Boston have both won seven of their last ten games, and both have lost ground in the pennant race. Cleveland's pitching has come on strong the second half of the season and they maintain a three-game lead over third-place New York. New York just swept back-to-back doubleheaders against Washington, so while Yankees fans are happy to see their team resume their winning ways, the games, after all, were against the Senators. Detroit's final season goal may be to just finish above .500 as they won’t be moving up in the standings and they certainly don’t want to move down. Philadelphia has a similar idea - moving up might be out of the question but Chicago is only 1.5 games behind them. St. Louis ended the week in seventh place, but only percentage points ahead of Washington.

St. Louis did their usual blitz job on Chicago and Cincinnati this past week, ending up 18-4 versus Cincinnati and knowing that even with a 16-1 record versus Chicago they still have five games remaining with their neighbors to the north. Brooklyn is playing much better but all that has gotten them is a much more secure hold on second place in the NL. New York has struggled the past few weeks and is 4.5 games behind Brooklyn, but on the other hand, they are 5.0 games ahead of fourth-place Boston. Boston's injuries continue to pile up and they have had to move a lot of people around just to get a team on the field sometimes, but they remain strong in the face of adversity. Consistent hitting continues to be the problem in Philadelphia and their bench is a little thin as well. Any mention of Pittsburgh requires a mention of Ralph Kiner - without Kiner the Pirates would most likely have a home in the cellar. Cincinnati still holds on to seventh place by a single game over Chicago, and similar to the AL, the race for seventh place may be the most exciting race we have as we head towards the end of the season.

Duke Snider
Ted Williams still continues to dominate the AL stats. Williams (.382) leads in batting average over George Kell (.344), Bob Dillinger (.344), and Hoot Evers (.342). Williams also leads in hits (197) over Vic Wertz (182) and Dale Mitchell (180), leads in runs scored (151) over Dom DiMaggio (125) and Vern Stephens (122), and leads in RBI’s (164) over Stephens (145) and Wertz (106). Williams and Kell both have 34 doubles while Stephens and Mickey Vernon both have 33. With all of this hitting Williams is also second in walks (141) behind Eddie Joost (143), meaning Williams current OBP is .511 and his OPS is 1.244. This week Ellis Kinder (22-13) and Mel Parnell (22-7) were joined by Bob Lemon (20-9) in the twenty wins club.

Bobby Shantz
In the NL it is a group of Cardinals that dominate the stats. Enos Slaughter (.400) continues to flirt with history, ahead of Stan Musial (.352) and Red Schoendienst (.332). Slaughter has also crossed the 200 hit line (205) over Musial (190), Richie Ashburn (185), and Schoendienst (184). Ralph Kiner has the lead in runs (124) ahead of Musial (122) and Schoendienst (118), and Kiner leads in RBI’s (142) over Musial (126), Bobby Thomson(110), Slaughter (104), and Jackie Robinson (102). Del Ennis holds the doubles lead (39) over Andy Pafko (34) and Roy Smalley and Whitey Lockman, both with 31. Kiner has a substantial lead in homeruns (48) ahead of Musial (36) and Thomson and Hank Sauer, both with 29. Kiner is second in walks (111), just behind Eddie Stanky (115). Warren Spahn (22-8) and Harry Brecheen (20-5) are the only NL’ers with twenty or more wins, although Don Newcombe (18-7) likely has the best chance to join them.


No real observations or news this week. I went into this replay expecting a pair of knock down drag out pennant races but instead, I have gotten the pennant race equivalent of a flat tire. It's a little too soon to write a eulogy but the simple fact is that both Boston and St. Louis have just run away with it and the other teams are sucking their fumes. A repeat of the 1946 World Series is likely in the offing so it is time to get back to it and let's get these final three weeks wrapped up.


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