Week 17 Summary (08/04/1941 - 08/10/1941)

Week Seventeen of the 1941 BBW Replay is in the books and if someone is planning to make a serious run at the Yankees in the AL or the Cardinals in the NL their time is dwindling. All teams have now reached the 100-games-played mark, meaning all teams have right around fifty remaining games to play. By the end of next week, the schedule will be three-fourths completed and we will be half-way through August, with September looming in the offing.

In the AL, New York finally went through a bad spell as at mid-week they experienced a four-game losing streak and had only won three of their previous ten games, but then they ended the week with a doubleheader sweep in Philadelphia. Boston has been on a bit of a streak of their own and combined with New York's unexpected losses they managed to cut the lead to "only" 9.5 games. The Yankees will surely right their ship, and Boston has had trouble applying a consistent attack, so New York should be fine.

 

Cleveland and Chicago continue to tangle for third place, with the Indians currently holding a lead of only a few percentage points at the end of the week. Chicago's lack of offense - they are last in the AL in hitting and in runs scored - far too often negatively impacting their own pitching staff with a lack of support. The Indians have adequate hitting and pitching, which is just enough to keep them over .500 and in the battle for third.

Washington came within a win of reaching the .500 mark this past week but couldn't quite pull it off. They and St. Louis remain in a tough fight for the fifth spot in the AL, and while neither team is particularly good as far as that goes, they are both dangerous and will sneak in unexpected wins against better teams if taken too lightly.

 

In the NL, St. Louis continues to cruise along with a healthy 11.0 games lead over second place Brooklyn. Brooklyn is currently working on a five-game winning streak and ended the week with a doubleheader sweep versus lowly Boston, but haven't been able to make up any ground against St. Louis as both teams have won seven of their previous ten games. However, a new wrinkle has arisen as St. Louis right fielder Enos Slaughter broke a collar bone in the final game of the week and is expected to miss most of the remainder of the season.

 

Cincinnati now has the NL best team ERA and they will go as far as their pitching will take them, but their offense often lacks the necessary punch it needs to go after the top two teams. New York had gone on a strong mid-season run and had come within a few games of second place, but now that hot streak appears to have withered. Last week Pittsburgh found themselves in sixth place behind Chicago for a few days, but after a few wins in Chicago they now appear to have regained their winning ways.

Ted Williams ended the week hitting .482, while a cold snap has dropped Joe DiMaggio to .346, fifth in the AL. DiMaggio has 107 runs scored, Williams has 106. Charlie Keller and Williams both have 102 RBI's. Williams has 148 hits, while DiMaggio and Luke Appling both have 145. DiMaggio has 31 doubles, Williams has 30, but both are trailing Buddy Lewis, who has 32. Williams has 30 homeruns, well ahead of Keller (25) and DiMaggio (22). Part of the joy of doing replays is the opportunity to see baseball goliaths slug it out for supremacy. Johnny Mize is leading the NL in hitting (.388) and in RBI's (95), but the Williams/DiMaggio story sucks up all the air in the room.