1913
Changes- Swap two team best - 1904 NL MVP Sam Crawford (Cincinnati) was traded for catcher "Rough" Bill Carrigan (White Sox)
- Random playoff rule - World Series format changed to 2 home, 2 away, 2 home, 2 away, 1 home.
- Release random ranked - Smokey Joe Wood (Minnesota) the #2 ranked pitcher, and a fine two-way player, becomes a free agent. He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
American League
Chicago White Sox (84-56)
Providence Angels (83-57)
Boston Red Sox (82-58)
Cleveland Indians (80-60)
St. Louis Browns (71-69)
Washington Senators (71-69)
Detroit Tigers (68-72)
Minnesota Twins (65-75)
Milwaukee Brewers (60-80)
Philadelphia Athletics (60-80)
New York Yankees (59-81)
Baltimore Orioles (57-83)
AL MVP: Ty Cobb (Providence)
AL CYA: Walter Johnson (Washington) (2nd award)
AL ROY: Reb Russell (Minnesota)
National League
Philadelphia Phillies (79-62)
Pittsburgh Pirates (79-62)
Chicago Cubs (78-63)
New York Giants (78-63)
Boston Braves (77-63)
Brooklyn Dodgers (77-63)
Louisville Colonels (69-71)
Cincinnati Reds (67-73)
Kansas City Packers (64-76)
New Jersey Nationals (62-78)
St. Louis Cardinals (60-80)
Buffalo Bisons (52-88)
NL MVP: Larry Gardner (Brooklyn)
NL MOP: Hooks Wiltse (Brooklyn) (3rd award)
NL ROY: Wally Schang (Kansas City)
Statistical Leaders
Batting Average: Ty Cobb (Providence) .365, Tris Speaker (New York) .365
Home Runs: Fred Beck (Providence) 17, John Wilson (New York) 14
Runs Batted In: Doc Miller (New York) 83, Guy Zinn (Buffalo) 82
Stolen Bases: Donie Bush (Cleveland) 45, Tillie Shafer (Brooklyn) 49
WAR: Art Fletcher (Providence) 7.7, Larry Gardner (Boston) 6.9
Wins: Ed Karger (Providence) 20, Ray Caldwell (Philadelphia) / Ray Keating (Cincinnati) / Orval Overall (Chicago) 18
ERA: Joe Lake (Detroit) 1.63, Hank Robinson (New York) 1.74
Strikeouts: Dutch Leonard (Baltimore) 180, Orval Overall (Chicago) 186
Saves: Bill Bartley (Chicago) 31, Ralph Caldwell (New York) 32
WAR: Walter Johnson (Washington) 7.1, Red Ames (Boston) 7.2
Notes
- Chicago won eight of their last ten games to finish at the top of the AL standings.
- The National League ended in an unprecedented four-way tie for the two NLCS spots, with another pair of teams just a single game behind.
- The Pirates beat the Cubs in the first play-in game, with Jeff Pfeffer throwing a complete game shutout.
- The other game took extra innings to decide, with a Johnny Evers eleventh inning single sending the Phillies to the NLCS.
- Joe Birmingham (Pittsburgh) went 6-7 against Philadelphia.
- Ed Karger (Providence) and Dixie Walker (Baltimore) threw no-hitters.
- Zaza Harvey and Sam Crawford (both Chicago White Sox) each crossed 2000 hits.
- Crawford was worth 4.7 WAR in his first year in Chicago, batting .322. Bill Carrigan (Cincinnati), the man he was traded for, struggled in his first NL year, batting only .256 for 0.9 WAR.
- Joe Wood (Brooklyn) went 15-11 with a 2.80 ERA, as well as batting .284 with 22 triples.
- Catcher Ed McFarland (Phillies) retired. He was a lifetime .267 hitter who made four All-Star teams, and was twice a Silver Slugger.
- George Winter retired. He won four World Series and made three All-Star teams with Boston, before playing for Louisville, the Giants, the Browns, the Athletics, and Milwaukee. He had a career 140-102 record with a 2.58 ERA.
ALCS
- Chicago defeated Providence, 3 games to 1.
- Steve Yerkes was MVP, going 8-15 with 3 RBI.
- Yerkes smacked a two-run walk-off double to win Game One for Chicago.
- The next night, Sam Crawford hit the crucial double, this time in the eleventh inning.
- Chicago's first pennant.
NLCS
- Philadelphia defeated Pittsburgh, 3 games to 2.
- Elmer Flick was named MVP, batting 9-19 with four men driven in.
- Game One ended in controversial fashion, as Pittsburgh scored three ninth inning runs, culminating in a walk-off balk by Larry Cheney.
- In Game Three, the Pirates scored two runs in the eighteenth inning, to win 3-1.
- Rick Adams picked up saves in the final two games.
- The Phillies won the pennant for the first time.
World Series
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Chicago defeated Philadelphia, 5 games to 4.
- 2B Ray Morgan was MVP, as he batted a scorching 21-37 with 8 RBI.
- The White Sox came back from 4-2 down, winning the final three games of the series.
- Rube Manning bounced back from losing Game One to pick up the victory in Games Five and Nine.
- Steve Yerkes went 14-33.
- The White Sox's first World Series.
(Author's Note: I split Babe Ruth into two players. One, Babe, has his offensive talents but little pitching ability, and the other, George, has his pitching talents but is not particularly good at the plate.)
Off-Season
- Buffalo chose Babe Ruth first overall.
- Harry Heilmann went second to Baltimore.
- The Yankees picked Joe Harris at three.
- The #4 pick was Elmer Smith for the Cardinals.
- Milwaukee picked Irish Meusel with the sixth pick.
- George Ruth was picked 19th by the NL champion Phillies.
- The world champion White Sox didn't rest on their laurels, trading young catcher Bill Killefer to the Athletics for two-time NL MOP Christy Mathewson.
- The Phillies traded pitcher Ray Caldwell to Milwaukee for catcher Tommy Clarke.
Ty Cobb was the American League Most Valuable Player.
"Wahoo Sam" Crawford won the World Series in his first year with the White Sox.