{"id":9341,"date":"2026-08-17T22:05:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/?p=9341"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:46:23","slug":"twiwbl-98-2-year-3-week-1-bill-james-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/2026\/08\/17\/twiwbl-98-2-year-3-week-1-bill-james-division\/","title":{"rendered":"TWIWBL 98.2: Year 3, Week 1 – Bill James Division"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Team<\/strong><\/th>W\/L<\/strong><\/th>Pct<\/strong><\/th>GB<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Detroit Wolverines<\/td>6-1<\/td>.857<\/td>\u2014<\/td><\/tr>
Baltimore Black Sox<\/td>3-4<\/td>.429<\/td>3<\/td><\/tr>
Cleveland Spiders<\/td>3-4<\/td>.429<\/td>3<\/td><\/tr>
Memphis Red Sox<\/td>3-4<\/td>.429<\/td>3<\/td><\/tr>
New York Black Yankees<\/td>2-5<\/td>.286<\/td>4<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Bill James Division<\/em> | 8 April<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Baltimore Black Sox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ned Garvin<\/strong> deserved better. Finishing the suspended opener, he gave up one hit in five innings and struck out 10 \u2014 and lost. The hit was a Carlton Fisk<\/strong> home run leading off the second, Chino Smith<\/strong> got to John Tudor<\/strong> for a 3-run shot in the sixth, and Chicago took it 6-2. Still, an encouraging start to the season for Garvin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nightcap went the other way. Gavy Cravath<\/strong> hit a two-run shot off Waite Hoyt<\/strong>, Miller Huggins<\/strong> drove in three, and Dennis Mart\u00ednez<\/strong> was good enough for a 5-3 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tudor was injured later in the week, with Mike Mussina<\/strong> recalled from AAA Washington to take over Tudor’s swing role for the short-term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleveland Spiders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cy Young<\/strong> opened Cleveland’s season \u2014 a day late \u2014 with 6.2 innings, three hits, no runs and ten strikeouts, and Ryan Reed<\/strong> and Cody Gearrin<\/strong> finished off a five-hit shutout, 8-0 over Los Angeles. Lance Berkman<\/strong> hit a two-run homer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite 14 hits, Cleveland fell 5-4 to San Francisco in 11 innings. Evan Longoria<\/strong> struck out 5 times, tying the American League record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another combined shutout came later in the week against Miami, as 5 arms combined on a 4-hit shutout with 17 (!) strikeouts: Mel Harder<\/strong> started, Whit Wyatt<\/strong> took over after a rain delay, and Reed, Aroldis Chapman<\/strong> and Terry Adams<\/strong> closed it out. Longoria \u2014 a better day this time \u2014 hit a two-run homer and Tris Speaker<\/strong> had three hits in the 4-0 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams was hurt in the series finale, but it’s not clear what the diagnosis is yet \u2014 a potentially impactful bit of news for the Spiders, although if he does go down, the recently-acquired Chapman would, assumedly, take over at closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detroit Wolverines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines are off to a WBL best 6-1 start to the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J. D. Martinez<\/strong> continues to impress, hitting a HR and 3 doubles in a 20 hit barrage against Chicago. The last was vital, as it scored Bobby Wallace<\/strong> with the winning run in the 9-8 victory over the American Giants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar Gamble<\/strong> closed the week with two home runs in a 5-2 win that saw Hal Newhouser<\/strong> improve to 2-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wander Franco<\/strong> was hurt, with Damion Easley being recalled in his place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memphis Red Sox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

FA Herman Long<\/strong> has been signed, presumably to take over at SS (Xander Bogaerts<\/strong> stays on the roster, but glove-man Adam Everett<\/strong> heads to AAA). Long was a platoon option for Birmingham, with Memphis hoping he can step into a larger role for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ted Williams<\/strong> tied the franchise single-game record for runs, scoring 4 times, adding 4 hits (including a 2-run homer) as the Red Sox put fifteen hits on Los Angeles in a 10-5 win. David Ortiz<\/strong> had three hits and five RBIs, and Red Ruffing<\/strong> got the win despite giving up 5 earned in 5 innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manny Ram\u00edrez<\/strong> hit 2 out in a 5-4 win over Baltimore. John Briggs<\/strong> also went deep, and, after blowing a lead, Armando Benitez<\/strong> claimed the victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams also launched the longest homer of the young season, a 480 ft. shot off Los Angeles’ Pud Galvin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Black Yankees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Black Yankees exploded in a 15-3 demolition of Detroit: 19 hits, 2 grand slams \u2014 Don Mattingly<\/strong> in the first, Mickey Rivers<\/strong> in the eighth \u2014 and home runs from Babe Ruth<\/strong> and Lou Gehrig<\/strong> in between. Rivers finished with 3 hits, 3 runs and 5 driven in, Manny Sanguill\u00e9n<\/strong> had 3 hits and Ed Charles<\/strong> 4, with promising rookie Whitey Ford<\/strong> getting the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric Davis<\/strong> hit one of the hardest balls of the opening week: a 472 ft. bomb that left the bat at 115 mph off Miami’s Phenomenal Smith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Team W\/L Pct GB Detroit Wolverines 6-1 .857 \u2014 Baltimore Black Sox 3-4 .429 3 Cleveland Spiders 3-4 .429 3 Memphis Red Sox 3-4 .429 3 New York Black Yankees 2-5 .286 4 Bill James Division | 8 April Baltimore Black Sox Ned Garvin deserved better. Finishing the suspended opener, he gave up one hit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[416],"tags":[2185,954,217,547,24,285,35,348,339,2041,359,462,1230,1144,31,300,246,124,550,224,570,767,797,1857,800,1806,182,51,245,338,244,461,315,211,1177,415,122,25,231,254,894,458,698,236,380,625,365,464,234,1730,361,241,871],"class_list":["post-9341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-twiwbl","tag-adam-everett","tag-armando-benitez","tag-aroldis-chapman","tag-babe-ruth","tag-baltimore-black-sox","tag-birmingham-black-barons","tag-bobby-wallace","tag-carlton-fisk","tag-chicago-american-giants","tag-chino-smith","tag-cleveland-spiders","tag-cy-young","tag-damion-easley","tag-david-ortiz","tag-dennis-martinez","tag-detroit-wolverines","tag-don-mattingly","tag-ed-charles","tag-eric-davis","tag-evan-longoria","tag-gavvy-cravath","tag-hal-newhouser","tag-herman-long","tag-jd-martinez","tag-john-briggs","tag-john-tudor","tag-lance-berkman","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-lou-gehrig","tag-manny-ramirez","tag-manny-sanguillen","tag-mel-harder","tag-memphis-red-sox","tag-miami-cuban-giants","tag-mickey-rivers","tag-mike-mussina","tag-miller-huggins","tag-ned-garvin","tag-new-york-black-yankees","tag-new-york-gothams","tag-oscar-gamble","tag-phenomenal-smith","tag-pud-galvin","tag-red-ruffing","tag-san-francisco-sea-lions","tag-ted-williams","tag-terry-adams","tag-tris-speaker","tag-waite-hoyt","tag-wander-franco","tag-whit-wyatt","tag-whitey-ford","tag-xander-bogaerts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9341"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9380,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9341\/revisions\/9380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}