Week in Review - American League (May 20-26, 1929)

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American League             
                

        
             
Team Wins Losses Games Back Win Pct Home Road Strk L10
Athletics 21 12 - 636 8-3 13-9 L-1 7-3
Yankees 20 12 0.5 625 7-3 13-9 L-1 7-3
Browns 20 15 2 571 12-11 8-4 W-2 9-1
Senators 17 15 3.5 531 5-5 12-10 W-1 3-7
Tigers 18 20 5.5 474 11-14 7-6 W-1 4-6
White Sox 17 19 5.5 472 12-11 5-8 L-1 5-5
Indians 13 21 8.5 382 9-13 4-8 L-2 2-8
Red Sox 11 23 10.5 324 3-10 8-13 W-1 3-7

Taking a look at the Baseball-Reference page that shows the standings as of the real May 26, 1929, it looks as if things are starting to normalize a bit.  The Athletics and Yankees have entrenched themselves at the top of the standings, as expected, and after a sluggish start from St. Louis now the Browns are starting to move toward the top as they hovered in the actual season.  In fact, outside of the Giants in the National League, the Browns have been the hottest team in baseball, as evidenced by going 9-1 in their last 10 games.  This shouldn't be too big of a surprise considering the firepower of their offense and they have certainly been fun to play with in this replay.  

The surprise Washington Senators, after leading the standings for most of the year until the last two weeks, continue their slide toward the bottom.  At 3-7 in their last 10, I would anticipate that they continue to regress, but I also never expected them to hang on to the top spot for so long, so who knows.  The Tigers and White Sox continue to play each other a lot and seemingly trade wins, so we will see if either team can create some distance and move toward the top alongside the Browns.

American League Batting Leaders

 

 

 

 



As mentioned in the previous Week in Review, I was a bit concerned about really high individual batting averages, but things seem to have calmed down and be normalizing.  Bing Miller continues to hit at a ridiculous pace, but he's now the only hitter in the AL over .400.

American League - Top 10 Hitters

1. Al Simmons, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: 1) (.385/.434/.787, OPS: 1.221; Other highlights: 13 HR, 45 RBI, 30 runs) - Continuing to lead the best offense on the best team in the American League, Simmons remains at the top of this list.  Simmons appears poised to make a run at a Triple Crown.


Bing Miller (PHA)

2. Bing Miller, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: 2) (.452/.483/.630, OPS: 1.113; Other highlights: 61 hits) - Bing doesn't have a ton of opportunities to drive in runs, considering he hits behind the likes of Simmons and Jimmie Foxx, but he continues to hit at a record pace.  How long can he remain above .400?

3. Lew Fonseca, Cleveland Indians (Prev: 3) (.381/.429/.575, OPS: 1.004; Other highlights: 51 hits, 5 SB) - Fonseca continues to be the best player on a floundering Indians team.  Fonseca won the batting title in 1929, so I would expect him to contend in this replay as well.

4. Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: 5) (.322/.443/.678, OPS: 1.121; Other highlights: 12 HR, 36 RBI, 44 runs, 27 BB) - "The Beast" has been on a tear and his power numbers, hitting only a few spots behind Al Simmons, are impressive.


Lou Gehrig (NYY)

5. Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees (Prev: 6) (.355/.434/.685, OPS: 1.119; Other highlights: 8 HR, 33 RBI, 19 BB) - Probably the hottest hitter in the American League of late, Gehrig is producing at the rate that I was expecting from Ruth.  Ruth's power numbers are surging, but Gehrig continues to do it all.

6. Tony Lazzeri, New York Yankees (Prev: 9) (.325/.406/.641, OPS: 1.047; Other highlights: 7 HR) 


Dale Alexander (DET)

7. Dale Alexander, Detroit Tigers (Prev: 8) (.340/.404/.537, OPS: .941; Other highlights: 5 HR, 28 RBI, 50 hits) - Alexander has emerged as the best hitter for the Tigers, as Detroit continues to fight to stay above .500.

8. Ski Melillo, St. Louis Browns (Prev: NR) (.380/.418/.526, OPS: .944; Other highlights: 52 hits)

9. Heinie Manush, St. Louis Browns (Prev: 4) (.373/.384/.520, OPS: .904; Other highlights: 29 RBI, 56 hits)

10. Lu Blue, St. Louis Browns (Prev: 10) (.299/.410/.533, OPS: 943; Other highlights: 5 HR, 33 runs, 27 BB)

American League Pitching Leaders

 

 


American League - Top 5 Pitchers

1. Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: 1) (10 games, 9 starts, 8-0, 1.83 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 57 Ks; Other highlights: 69 IP, 6 CGs, 1 shutout) - Lefty had his only bad start of the year this week, going only 2 innings and giving up 7 earned runs against the Senators on May 25.  He remains 8-0, but the gap between Lefty and Ted Lyons has closed.


Ted Lyons (CHW)

2. Ted Lyons, Chicago White Sox (Prev: 2) (6 games, 6 starts, 5-0, 0.49 ERA, 0.96 ERA, 15 Ks; Other highlights: 4 CGs, 1 shutout) - A strong case could be made for Lyons to take the top spot on this list, as he leads the AL in ERA and WHIP and remains undefeated.

3. George Pipgras, New York Yankees (Prev: 4) (8 games, 8 starts, 3-2, 2.76 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 30 Ks; Other highlights 62 IP, 5 CGs, 1 shutout)

4. Sam Gray, St. Louis Browns (Prev: 3) (9 games, 9 starts, 3-3, 2.63 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 14 Ks; Other highlights: 78.2 IP, 4 CGs)


Fred Heimach (NYY)

5. Fred Heimach, New York Yankees (Prev: NR) (9 games, 4 starts, 4-0, 1.75 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 7 Ks; Other highlights: 2 CGs)







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