The out-and-out quality of the group we have assembled shines through with a 21-8 month despite the universe throwing plenty of challenges at us and some pretty raggedy play on numerous occasions. We lose Mueller for a month, Streeter for the season (to a ruptured finger tendon) and various other players for shorter periods and yet these fantastic ballplayers of ours just keep on keeping on.
Williams is having a career-best year, slashing 366/464/589 with 14 HR, 71 RBI, 4.1 WAR, a 441 wOBA and 175 OPS+, and with plenty of others chiming in we are averaging more than 5.5 RPG. The pitching has settled right down - even The Train, who wins the monthly award and is now only a handful of wins shy of the big milestone. Our run diff is a massive +177, which tells you how dominant we have been for most of the year.
All of which means we are fairly much in control, up by a dozen games with 50 to play. Despite Bottomley having arguably the best rookie season on record and Hornsby being Hornsby, once again the long-awaited challenge from the Cards has failed to materialize. The Browns have just come back to the pack a bit with the surprising Indians in the mix for the first time. The Yankees' injury toll has hit them hard, and Ruth picked the wrong month to go quiet (see next post), so it looks like their drought will persist for at least another year.
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