Week 4 Summary (05/05/1941 - 05/11/1941)

Week Four of the 1941 BBW replay is in the books and the leaders continue to power on in the early season. Only Boston (AL) and Chicago (NL) haven’t reached the twenty games played mark so far (they are both at nineteen games played), but league leaders Brooklyn and New York (AL) have both accumulated twenty wins already. Even good teams will eventually go through bad spells, and it is early yet but getting off to a hot start is better than not getting off to a hot start.

1941 Philadelphia
Athletics
Chicago (AL) is in second place in the AL, just ahead of Cleveland. The Indians had temporarily moved passed the White Sox in mid-week, but a three-game losing streak at the end of the week (including being swept in a doubleheader by St. Louis) pushed them back to third place. Cleveland (134 runs scored) has a more potent offense than Chicago (AL) (98 runs scored), but the White Sox pitching (2.80 ERA) is the best in the league, while Cleveland has Bob Feller (6-0, 2.46). New York (AL) is hitting .302 as a team and leads the AL with 156 runs scored while they are second in ERA (3.08). Boston has finally moved over .500 as a team while hitting .308 as a team, led by Ted Williams (.543), who still doesn’t have enough plate appearances to show up on the leaderboards.

St. Louis (NL) continues to be a thorn in Brooklyn's side, going as far as to move into the leader spot for a few days in mid-week, but the Dodgers then beat them twice at home and ended the week on a six-game winning streak and opening a 3.0 game lead. Brooklyn has scored 169 runs and has a team ERA of 2.35, both best in the NL, ahead of St. Louis, who has a second place 120 runs scored and a third place ERA of 3.23. Cincinnati continues to maintain a presence with their second-best ERA (2.94), but they have only scored 90 runs to date, so they are still waiting (and hoping) for their offense to kick in.

 

Philadelphia (AL) Manager
Connie Mack
Both leagues are trending at coming in at ~500 fielding errors below their actual numbers of fielding errors, but all my replays have a similar result, so that number really is right on target as far as my expectations go. What's unusual is that my number of double plays. My experience has been that double plays will come in below actual numbers, but at least they will be close (with a hundred or so), but again, below the actual. So far, the NL is lining up to be an exact match, while in the AL they are in line to exceed the number of double plays by over 300. I realize it is early, but those are some unusual numbers.

There are a lot of elements in play here. The need for sluggers has increased over time and the need for speedy players has decreased over this same period, stolen bases are down, and by definition sluggers (swing hard - you might hit it) are not necessarily hit-and-run-type of batters. Slower batters, improved fielding, less opportunities for double play avoidance (i.e., hit-and-run) and my double plays are through the roof. My stolen base attempts are down, and I am adjusting to that already, so I will probably have to adjust my hit-and-run limitations as well. However, we are only four weeks into the season so this may take care of itself over time, but it is certainly something to keep an eye on.

 

The AL East teams will begin a Midwest swing this coming Tuesday, while in the NL it is the other way around as the Midwest teams will begin an east coast swing of their own. There is still plenty of baseball remaining so let's go play.

 

Shibe Park 1950 Digital Art by Gary Grigsby | Pixels





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