September 9th
Pennant Race
And then there were two …
Only one division has been won–the surprise Cleveland Spiders win the Effa Manley Division–but only one postseason spot remains undecided.
That comes down to the Cinderella Birmingham Black Barons and the disappointing New York Black Yankees. Birmingham’s magic number is 3–meaning any combination of 3 wins by the Black Barons or losses by the Black Yankees will seal their improbable run to the playoffs.
The exact order of finish is up in the air, but here are your nine playoff contenders (numbers in bold & italics are that team’s magic number):
| Team | Pct | Division | Notes |
| Baltimore Black Sox | .587 | Cum Posey | Clinched playoff; 2 |
| Detroit Wolverines | .567 | Bill James | Clinched playoff; 4 |
| Chicago American Giants | .567 | Cum Posey | Clinched playoff |
| Cleveland Spiders | .560 | Effa Manley | Clinched division |
| New York Gothams | .560 | Bill James | Clinched playoff |
| Portland Sea Dogs | .553 | Marvin Miller | Clinched playoff; 3 |
| Wandering House of David | .553 | Bill James | 1 to clinch playoff |
| Birmingham Black Barons | .540 | Marvin Miller | 3 to clinch playoff |
| New York Black Yankees | .527 | Effa Manley |
The Black Yankees visit Cleveland to end the season. The Spiders will be focused on getting their roster ready for the post season, so that may open the door for New York. But Birmingham hosts the worst team in the WBL, the Philadelphia Stars, so it seems like that would make them the safe bet to progress.
Portland visits the New York Gothams and the House of David hosts Detroit in other playoff preview matchups.
Performance
Four more games, so these are very close to final numbers.
Batters
With the Black Yankees possibly missing the playoffs, the noise for Ron Blomberg‘s MVP campaign just gets louder.
Remember when it looked like Pete Browning would swoop in from injury and win the batting crown? Yeah, Ty Cobb had something to say about that.
Omitted below are Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays and Alejandro Oms of the Miami Cuban Giants (tied for 2nd in the league in triples with 12) and Tim Raines of the Ottawa Mounties (2nd in steals with 91).
Ron Blomberg (CLE). 337/412/648. 43 HR, 107 R.
Ty Cobb (DET). 349/389/558. 187 H.
Eddie Collins (CAG). 312/408/512. 6.4 WAR.
Mike Fiore (CAG). 240/405/390. 109 BB.
Hank Greenberg (DET). 317/374/591. 45 2B.
Rickey Henderson (SFS). 269/394/357. 95 SB.
Joe Jackson (CAG). 330/412/579. 107 R.
Reggie Jackson (SFS). 319/426/591.
Willie Mays (NYG). 326/389/523. 183 H.
Stan Musial (KCM). 328/393/574. 49 2B.
Doug Rader (LAA). 336/395/539. 183 H, 133 RBI.
Babe Ruth (NYY). 312/428/658. 46 HR, 132 RBI, 122 R, 106 BB, 7.8 WAR.
Louis Santop (CLE). 299/329/457. 14 3B.
Some milestones possible in the final series:
Musial needs one double to reach 50; Elrod Hendricks (HOD) needs two homeruns to join Ruth and Blomberg in the 40+ club; Rick Reichardt and Mike Trout (Homestead and the Los Angeles Angels, respectively) sit at 98 RBIs; six players have between 96 and 99 runs scored; and Frank Thomas (CAG) needs one walk to reach triple digits.
Pitchers
Starters
It’s unclear if Cleveland’s Pat Malone or the Gothams’ Christy Mathewson will get another start in the regular season: if they do, they’ll be aiming to become the WBL’s first 18 game winners.
Gerrit Cole (LAA). 16-9, 4.33.
Lefty Grove (SFS). 13-7, 3.55. 199 K.
Ron Guidry (NYY). 8-12, 4.35. 188 K.
Pat Malone (CLE). 17-8, 3.84. 5.0 WAR.
Christy Mathewson (NYG). 17-8, 3.51. 205 IP.
Stubby Overmire (HOU/MEM). 9-7, 3.31.
Alejandro Peña (BBB). 12-9, 3.86. 3.52 FIP.
Andy Pettitte (KCM/BBB). 15-5, 3.20.
Eddie Plank (SFS). 12-7, 3.87. 3.47 FIP.
Charlie Root (SFS/DET). 10-6, 3.53. 1.06 WHIP.
Jack Taylor (HOD). 15-9, 3.38. 1.14 WHIP.
Cy Young (CLE). 11-10, 4.36. 204 IP, 5.0 WAR.
Overmire needs a few more innings to finish the year qualifying for the ERA title. Cleveland’s Stan Coveleski and Detroit’s Hal Newhouser are the other starters with ERAs under 4.00 who could qualify with 1 more start, although in Newhouser’s case, it would take a complete game. Detroit’s Gene Conley (3.28) and Cleveland’s Bill Steen (a potentially league-leading 2.93) will miss the cutoff, although each are likely to see starts in the postseason.
Relievers
Check out the trio from the New York Gothams bullpen.
Terry Adams (CLE). 2-6, 2.76. 36 Sv, 1 H.
Clay Carroll (IND). 2-6, 4.14. 3 Sv, 11 H. 64 G.
Mike Henneman (DET). 2-7, 4.70. 37 Sv.
Sean Marshall (BAL). 5-0, 1.79. 2 Sv, 8 H, 0.98 WHIP.
AJ Minter (CAG). 1-0, 2.72. 29 Sv. 2.90 FIP.
Buddy Napier (DET). 101, 2.75. 2 Sv, 8 H, 0.97 WHIP.
Mike Norris (NYG). 4-4, 1.52. 8 Sv, 15 H.
Ron Reed (PHI/CLE). 0-6, 4.56. 3 Sv, 17 H. 64 G.
Carson Smith (NYG). 2-0, 1.77. 1 Sv, 10 H.
Brian Wilson (NYG). 1-0, 1.96. 29 Sv, 1 H. 2.63 FIP.
Streaks
Not a lot going on here, other than Mike Trout‘s 33 game streak of reaching base.
Series XXXVII Results
Series XXVII Sweeps
Wandering House of David over Houston Colt 45’s
Indianapolis ABC’s over Philadelphia
Taking 3 out of 4 in Series XXXVII
Detroit over Birmingham
Memphis over Brooklyn
Portland over Chicago
Series Splits in Series XXXVII
Los Angeles @ New York Black Yankees
New York Gothams @ Kansas City Monarchs
Baltimore @ Homestead
Miami @ Ottawa Mounties
Cleveland @ San Francisco Sea Lions