[Highlander]

It's time for the 1928 season. Seems like it's pretty close to 1923, so we'll have to see how much the standings change from then.

1961 Yankees- 66 Wins

Ouch. The Yankees had been in the "hanging around" position so far, but this win total may torpedo their chances going forward. While they again led the league in HR, they were last in almost every other offensive category including runs scored. Pitching and defense were more middle of the pack, but that was nowhere near enough to make up for the surprisingly bad offense.

2013 A's- 76 Wins

The 1920's have been better to the A's than 1909 was, but not enough. They were similar to the Yankees in that they came in 2nd in HR, but did very poorly in most other offensive statistics. Pitching wasn't much better, as they finished in the bottom half of the league in most areas. Their Pythagorean record only has them at 67 wins, so they were lucky to do as well as they did.

1928 Pirates- 77 Wins

This Pirates team started off pretty well in 1909, but their win totals keep dropping, even in this....their home year. They had a middle of the pack offense, but their pitching is what does them in. They finished last in most categories, including Runs Against. They would have needed a great offense to overcome that.....and they didn't have it.

1923 Giants- 78 Wins

The 3-5 teams are pretty bunched up this season, so you know those top two must have done pretty well. The Giants did have a top scoring offense that led in many categories, including runs scored. However, their pitching and defense were both pretty bad. They were just a small notch above the 28 Pirates and even the offense they had wasn't enough to get them a winning record.

1909 Pirates- 90 Wins

The 09 Pirates put up their 2nd 90-win season in a row to firmly put themselves in the running for the team that will move on. Being 2nd in bot runs scored and runs allowed is a sure fire way to have a good season....and that's just what they did. Stolen bases continue to be a huge strength for this team as well as a very good defense.

1943 Cardinals- 99 Wins

The Cardinals put up the best season so far in this group. They join the Pirates as the two favorites to move on with 3 seasons left....the other teams in the group have a lot of work to do to catch either of these teams. The Cards only scored the 4th most runs, but their pitching and defense are both very strong....pitching was first in all but 3 categories.


Award Winners (Stats in bold are league leaders)

Gold Glove Awards
P-Bill Stafford (61 Yankees)
C- Frank Snyder (23 Giants)
1B- Ray Sanders (43 Cardinals)
2B- Lou Klein (43 Cardinals)
3B- Clete Boyer (61 Yankees)
SS- Marty Marion (43 Cardinals)
LF- Yoenis Cespedes (13 A's)
CF- Stan Musial (43 Cardinals)
RF- Roger Maris (61 Yankees)

Silver Slugger Awards
C- Walker Cooper (43 Cardinals)- .349/.376/.478, 36 doubles, 4 triples, 9 HR, 80 R, 83 RBI, 0 SB, 4.5 WAR
1B- George Grantham (28 Pirates)- .309/.399/.471, 33 doubles, 15 triples, 10 HR, 95 R, 78 RBI, 4 SB, 3.8 WAR
2B- Frankie Frisch (23 Giants)- .325/.379/.440, 35 doubles, 6 triples, 9 HR, 111 R, 83 RBI, 22 SB, 4.5 WAR
3B- Josh Donaldson (13 A's)- .302/.382/.455, 39 doubles, 9 triples, 11 HR, 83 R, 81 RBI, 3 SB, 5.2 WAR
SS- Honus Wagner (09 Pirates)- .320/.428/.466, 48 doubles, 7 triples, 7 HR, 110 R, 85 RBI, 68 SB, 6.7 WAR
LF- Fred Clarke (09 Pirates)- .323/.435/.432, 25 doubles, 11 triples, 5 HR, 119 R, 69 RBI, 42 SB, 5.1 WAR
CF- Stan Musial (43 Cardinals)- .355/.417/.563, 49 doubles, 22 triples, 10 HR, 95 R, 107 RBI, 3 SB, 8.2 WAR
RF- Paul Waner (28 Pirates)- .338/.430/.461, 41 doubles, 9 triples, 4 HR, 85 R, 87 RBI, 4 SB, 6.3 WAR
DH- Jack Bentley (23 Giants)- .401/.419/.548, 54 doubles, 12 triples, 4 HR, 74 R, 103 RBI, 0 SB, 5.2 WAR


Rookie of the Year
Al Brazle (43 Cardinals)- 20-7, 0 Saves, 266.1 IP, 3.11 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 78 K, 5.9 WAR


Reliever of the Year
Winner
Sean Doolittle (13 A's)- 7-3, 9 Saves, 83.1 IP, 2.59 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 27 K, .8 WAR

Runners-Up
Luis Arroyo (61 Yankees)- 7-9, 13 Saves, 81 IP, 3.33 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 21 K, .4 WAR
Art Nehf (23 Giants)- 7-4, 5 Saves, 81.1 IP, 3.76 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 25 K, 1.2 WAR


Cy Young Award
Winner
Howie Pollett (43 Cardinals)- 24-16, 1 Save, 316 IP, 2.42 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 107 K, 6.7 WAR

Runners-Up
Babe Adams (09 Pirates)- 23-14, 4 Saves, 316 IP, 2.85 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 108 K, 6.7 WAR
Harry Brecheen (43 Cardinals)- 23-9, 0 Saves, 278 IP, 2.65 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 99 K, 5.5 WAR
Al Brazle (43 Cardinals)- numbers seen in ROY listing


MVP Award
Winner- Stan Musial

Runners-Up (lots of vote getters this time!)-
Honus Wagner
Mickey Mantle (61 Yankees)- .313/.428/.522, 17 doubles, 14 triples, 23 HR, 105 R, 72 RBI, 2 SB, 6.3 WAR
Howie Pollett, Fred Clarke, Jack Bentley, Paul Waner, Babe Adams, Frankie Frisch, Harry Brecheen
Casey Stengel (23 Giants)- .358/.400/.534, 31 doubles, 12 triples, 9 HR, 70 R, 70 RBI, 9 SB, 4.3 WAR
Ross Youngs (23 Giants)- .334/.403/.482, 45 doubles, 13 triples, 6 HR, 113 R, 75 RBI, 12 SB, 4.0 WAR


Misc. Notes and Stats

1961 Yankees
- Mantle was way ahead of Maris this season, 23-16. However, teammate Johnny Blanchard beat them both with a league leading 27 bombs.
- Lee Thomas had an interesting stat line....15 doubles, 15 triples and 15 HR!

2013 A's
- Nothing additional of note

1928 Pirates
- Reliever Walt Tauscher wasn't in the running for an award because of his 4.89 ERA and 1.82 WHIP....but impressively, he ended up with a 12-7 record and 5 saves.
- Pete Scott was in the rare (so far) 100 RBI club with 101. He's a guy in real life that never had much more than 200 AB in any season but was pretty strong in 1928 so he gets the DH role here.

1923 Giants
- Worth mentioning again that Jack Bentley hit over .400! I won't be surprised if he makes another run at it in the next 3 seasons as well.
- Dave Bancroft wasn't mentioned in any of the awards, but he led the league with 60 doubles. Just another part of this potent Giants offense.

1909 Pirates
- Tommy Leach and Chief Wilson both, again, drove in 100 runs....101 for Leach to be exact.

1943 Cardinals
- Coaker Triplett is worth mentioning here. In real life, he only played 9 games for the Cards and hit a paltry .080.....2-25. He then went to the Phillies where he hit a much better .272 with 14 HR. So far, he's been awful in the seasons we've done....until 1928 when he put it all together to hit- .285/.313/.422 with 23 doubles, 3 triples, 16 HR, 66 R, 88 RBI, 1 SB and .7 WAR.