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The 1915 Season saw two great pennant races which came down to the wire.

Major League Baseball
The National League wasn't one of those great races, as the Phillies led most of the way over the second place Giants. Grover Cleveland Alexander's club won 94 games on their way to the franchise's first NL title. Alexander himself was sterling as usual, starting 39 games and putting up a 2.30 ERA while leading the NL in K/BB at 3.1 and Pitching WAR at 9.5. Philly SS Dave Bancroft was the top performer among position players, with 9.3 WAR between his bat and glove, while Cardinal Rogers Hornsby and Red Heinie Groh put up strong numbers. Chicago's Cubs wound up last, overshadowed during the season by the new North Side Whales and Walter Johnson. They won just 58 games.

In the American League, the powerhouse Red Sox underperformed all summer. Tris Speaker put up an all-time great season, posting 10.4 WAR while hitting .335/.436/.464 with an OPS 72% better than average, and Red Sox pitchers prevented fewer runs than any other team in the AL through the combined efforts of the game's best rotation - Smoky Joe Wood, Rube Foster, Dutch Leonard, and a 20 year old Babe Ruth (who also proved himself fairly adept with the bat, putting up a 130 OPS+ in limited opportunities). Despite that, the team won just 92 games, barely edging out the surging Chicago White Sox and their new addition, 2B Eddie Collins. In the AL it was the Highlanders who finished last, a full 31 games back of Boston.

The 1915 World Series
Exciting pennant races don't always lead to an exciting World Series, but they did this year, as the contest went the full seven.

Boston took Game 1 on the strength of Dutch Leonard's pitching - the youngster pitched a complete game, striking out six while scattering nine hits, and allowing two runs. Lots of days, two runs would be all Grover Cleveland Alexander would need, but that wasn't the case in Game 1, as Boston jumped on the Philly ace for four in the first inning, punctuated by a two run double from 3B Larry Gardner. Alexander settled down from there, allowing just a single run over the last seven frames, but the damage was done, and Boston took Game 1 5-2.

Philly came back in Game 2, however, paying Boston back by putting up two against Smoky Joe Wood in the first on a Dave Bancroft triple. Boston tied it up in the bottom of the sixth, led again by Speaker, but Philly put up two more in the next half inning, and Philly tied up the series with a 4-2 victory.

The action shifted to Philadelphia's Baker Bowl for Games 3-5, and though the Red Sox won Game 3 behind a great effort from rookie Carl Mays (who also homered), Philly won the next two. Alexander returned to form in Game 4, spinning a masterful four-hitter as the Phillies piled on Dutch Leonard to win 9-1, and in Game 5 Philly won 5-2, with much of the offense coming from 1B Frank Luderus, who was 3-4 with two doubles in the game.

The Red Sox tied it up back at Fenway, however, as Red Sox bats put up 7 runs against Philly to win 7-4. That put the ball back into the hands of Alexander, who wasn't dominant, but who was good enough to hold Boston to three while Philly put up 6 to win the first World Series in franchise history. 1B Frank Luderus, who went .393, with a home run, four doubles, and five RBI.

The Federal League
The Philadelphia Athletics managed a surprising third place AL finish despite the loss of three top talents to the Federal League. With Connie Mack trying to keep costs down, both Eddie Plank and Charles Bender had already left for the upstart Feds, but a bigger blow came at the end of April: Frank 'Home Run' Baker, who had refused to sign a contract he felt was too little before the season, finally gave up on Philly after being offered $10,000 a year by the Blues of Buffalo. Baker was an undeniable star in the Federal League, knocking 8 homers and posting a 5.7 WAR despite missing a full month of the season. His Blues, however, finished just fifth, at 74-80.

At the top of the standings, the Newark Peppers led almost the whole way, but were never comfortable. Walter Johnson's Whales nipped at their heels until September, coming as close as a game out of first in late July. But a late season fade saw them drop to four games back, and in third place after the Peppers and the Indianapolis Hoosiers, who nearly reclaimed their place at the top of the standings with a 17-2 run in the season's last three weeks which brought them within a game of the Pappers, leading up to the final two games of the season. The club lost both contests, though, as Newark split their final two to win the League by two games. The Hoosiers were led by CF Edd Roush, who was arguably the league's leading position player, leading the league with 193 hits and a 7.4 WAR while coming in third with an .852 OPS behind Milwaukee's Jack Calvo and Newark's Benny Kauff.

Kauff was stellar for the champs, leading the league with 11 HR, 95 walks, and a .410 OBP, while finishing second to Calvo in Slugging. Newark was second only to Indianapolis in Runs Scored behind Kauff, but middle of the pack in run prevention - in fact, they had a run differential lower than Indianapolis's, whose expected 88-66 record would have outpaced Newark... but those aren't the records that count, in the end.

And what of Johnson? The most controversial figure of the season was stunningly good for Chicago's Whales. How good? A 13.1 WAR, with 30 complete games while leading the league in WHIP, strikeouts, K/9, BB/9, and FIP, while finishing third in ERA (albeit to two Indianapolis pitchers, Frank Moran and Ed Reulbach, who each threw far fewer innings).

While the Federal League lacked an end of year series - a fault they would change in the next couple seasons - they triumphed nevertheless: each team in the league turned a profit, albeit a smaller one than their AL and NL counterparts.

The Federal League wouldn't fold in 1915. Not this time.

Awards
AL Pitcher of the Year: Dutch Leonard, Boston Red Sox - won the award unanimously over Chicago's Eddie Cicotte and his own teammate Smoky Joe Wood by putting up a 24-7 record with an AL-best 1.86 ERA.
NL Pitcher of the Year: Rube Marquard, New York Giants - the pitcher who nearly defected to the Federal League before the season came home with the hardware, going 28-11 with a 1.88 ERA while leading the NL with a 1.01 WHIP.
FL Pitcher of the Year: Walter Johnson, Chicago Whales - see above.

AL MVP: Tris Speaker, Boston Red Sox - won the award unanimously, hitting .335/.436/.465 with a 10.4 WAR. That great season would lead to an all-time snub, and a fateful decision for 1916...
NL MVP: Dave Bancroft, Philadelphia Phillies - won the award over Heinie Groh and Rube Marquard for his excellent defense and strong hitting for the NL champion Phillies. Bancroft also won the NL Rookie of the Year and the Gold Glove at short.
FL MVP: Benny Kauff, Newark Peppers - the CF's offensive and defensive production may have made the difference for the overperforming Peppers.

Historical Notes: In the real timeline, Home Run Baker sat out the entire 1915 season rather than sign a substandard contract with Commie Mack's Athletics. He signed on with New York the following season. The World Series matchup was the same, Red Sox vs. Phillies, but the result was different: the Red Sox were a juggernaut in 1915, winning 102 games and beating Philly four games to one, causing Philly to wait another 66 years for their first championship. They did that, somehow, despite not playing either Smoky Joe Wood or Babe Ruth in the series at all.