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Boston went on a tear in September including a 15-game winning streak, taking the American League’s top seed at 100-62. The Red Sox have been the East Division champ five times in MLB’s first six seasons. It was the third 100+ win season in AL history, joining the 1885 Red Sox and 1884 White Sox. This was the third time Boston has posted a run differential above 200, finishing at +219. Their 954 runs scored led the AL and their team .295 batting average was a new MLB single-season record. The Red Sox also had a 502,264 season attendance; a new AL best.

The rest of the East was middling with Washington (83-79) and Cleveland (82-80) the teams above .500. Last year’s winner Baltimore was 80-82. Philadelphia at 62-100 tied for MLB’s worst record. The Nationals incidentally allowed the fewest runs in the AL (707), but also scored the fewest (699).

The focus was on the AL West Division race. Midway through September, Minnesota and Kansas City were tied at 84-66 with St. Louis at 81-69. The Royals took three of four over the Twins, but then lost six of their next seven facing Boston and Milwaukee. Minnesota was 5-2 in that same stretch and the Browns went 3-4. With eight games to go, the Twins were two ahead of the Royals and three ahead of St. Louis.

In the penultimate series, Minnesota took three of four at St. Louis, effectively knocking the Browns out of the fight. KC meanwhile took three of four against Chicago. The Royals were still down two games with four to go, but they would take the division if tied as they won the season series. The Twins did enough, splitting four games at Milwaukee while Kansas City split with Detroit.

Minnesota earned its first-ever division title at 91-71, followed by the Royals at 89-73 and Browns at 85-77. Detroit was next at 82-80 while reigning World Series champ Milwaukee struggled to 77-85. For both the Tigers and Browns, this was their first winning season. The Twins pitching staff had a 5.97 K/9; a new AL team record.



Red Sox DH Sam Thompson was AL Batter of the Month in September with a .387 average, 41 hits, 5 home runs, 26 RBI, and 27 runs. Thompson finished with 161 RBI, matching his career best from 1886 and leading for the fourth time. He also was the runs leader at 140, which ranks as the fourth-best single season in AL history. Baltimore’s Bug Holliday was the AL leader in OPS for the third straight season (1.062) and won his first batting title at .356. Detroit’s Duke Farrell repeated as the home run leader with 48. Milwaukee CF Jim Fogarty was the WARlord at 8.6.

Detroit’s Lee Viau was AL Pitcher of the Month with a 5-1 record, 41 strikeouts, and 2.53 ERA over 57 innings. The 22-year old Tigers righty finished as the leader in wins (24-10) and WAR (8.3). Twins ace Toad Ramsey was just behind him in WAR (8.2) and was the strikeouts leader for the third time at 274.

Meanwhile Frank Knauss was Rookie of the Month again as the Browns lefty had a 2.86 ERA, 3-1 record, and 34 strikeouts in 34.2 innings. Knauss set a new single-season ERA record among qualifiers (162+ innings) at 2.08 over 251 innings. He also set new MLB records for H/9 (5.74) and opponent’s batting average (.182). In other records, Royals closer Gene Moriarity set a new single-season record with 37 saves.