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1927 AL Final Standings
MIKE FRANCESA:
Alright, folks, let’s take a look at how this American League shook itself out from the midpoint to the end of the 1927 season, because lemme tell ya—there were some teams that answered the bell and some teams that absolutely did not.
First of all, the Yankees. Ninety-four wins. They got it together. They weren’t blowing anybody away at midseason, but they stabilized, they pitched well, they hit enough, and they ended up taking the East by six games. That’s what good teams do. They don’t panic. They don’t implode. They just win series. And now they get the bye. They earned the bye. End of story.
Toronto—give ’em credit, Dog—they hung around. Eighty-eight wins. Solid ballclub. But ya know what? They couldn’t keep up with the Yankees when it mattered most. They’re lucky to be in the playoffs the way that West was shaping up. They’ll play Houston in the Wild Card, and that is a tough matchup. Very tough. We’ll get to Houston in a second.
MAD DOG RUSSO:
AND BOSTON, MIKEY! THE RED SOX! They finished over .500, they played hard, they battled, but ELEVEN BACK! ELEVEN! Never a threat, never in the race! Just kinda… hangin’ around like laundry on a line. And Baltimore and Tampa? OH MY GOODNESS. Those two were OFF THE MAP. The O’s at sixty-eight wins, the Rays at sixty-six—TERRIBLE! Absolutely TERRIBLE!
FRANCESA:
Now the AL Central… folks, I mean… eighty-two wins wins the division. Detroit backed into this thing like a guy parallel parking on the fifth try. But listen—they got it done. You can say whatever you want about the Tigers, but they finished above .500 and the rest of the division? Awful.
Cleveland—Dog, what did we say at midseason? Dynasty? What dynasty? Eighty-one and eighty-one. Completely average. The past four years, they dominated the sport; this year they were a .500 team. The window might not be closed, but it’s definitely makin’ that creaky noise when ya try to shut it.
Minnesota, Kansas City, Chicago—just bad. The White Sox with fifty-eight wins? Embarrassing. That’s a fire-everybody season. That’s a “turn the lights off on the way out” season.
MAD DOG:
NOW THE WEST, MIKE! THE WEST!! OH BABY, WHAT A SHOWDOWN! Seattle—ONE-OH-TWO WINS! They were terrific! Absolutely terrific! Dominated the whole year! And the Astros—ONE-OH-ONE! You can’t ask for a better race! Those two teams beat the living daylights outta everybody!
And Texas—look at the Rangers! Up and down season, but they win EIGHTY-EIGHT games and sneak into that last Wild Card spot! They’ll get Detroit, and I’ll tell ya right now, MIKE—THAT is a winnable series for Texas. A VERY winnable series!
The Angels and A’s? GET ‘EM OUT! Awful. Outclassed by the big boys. Finished nearly thirty games back. Thirty! At that point you’re playin’ for pride, Mike! Pride!
FRANCESA:
So the playoff picture ends up lookin' like this: Yankees and Seattle get the byes—easily the two strongest down the stretch. Toronto goes to Houston—that’s gonna be a war. And Texas heads to Detroit, which is basically a battle between one solid team and one mediocre team that happened to win a weak division.
Bottom line:
Yankees took care of business.
Seattle and Houston lived up to the hype.
Detroit won the division by default.
Cleveland’s dynasty hit a wall.
The AL West monster trio delivered.
And the bottom feeders? They stayed at the bottom.
MAD DOG:
OH AND MIKEY—THE WHITE SOX! FIFTY-EIGHT WINS! DISGUSTING! You can’t lose ONE-HUNDRED-FOUR GAMES and call yourself a major league ballclub! TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE!!
FRANCESA:
We know, Dog. We know.
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