With my prediction in mind, I'm sure you'll be as shocked as I am when I tell you that we went 18-9 in April, opening up a five game lead over the Tigers.
Roy Patterson won AL Pitcher of the Month, going 6-2 with a 3.12 ERA and 27 Ks, tops for strikeouts in the league.
Sam Mertes is tied for the AL lead in RBI with 28 and old man
Dummy Hoy rewards me for making him DH-exclusive by leading the AL in runs (27) and stolen bases (15). Not bad for someone who's 38!
I'm thinking, "Okay, we had an insanely good month, but it was a fluke. We won't keep it up." Wrong. At the end of May, we're 41-16, a .712 win %.
The next closest teams are the Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies both with .596! How in the heck are we doing it?
Sam Mertes leads the AL in RBI with 48,
Dummy Hoy has 49 runs and 28 stolen bases, both tops in the American League.
James Callahan went 8-0
with a 2.43 ERA in May to make it back-to-back White Sox AL Pitcher of the Month awards. Callahan is now 13-2
with a 2.51 ERA and 48 Ks, leading the AL in wins and ERA, third in strikeouts. Teammate
Roy Foster is number two in Ks with 50 men punched out. I can't believe just how damn well this team is playing.
The All-Star break conveniently finishes out June and we're 54-27, with a 14 game lead over the Cleveland Blues. I'm thinking you can pretty much just mail us the AL West division trophy now and be done with it.
1901 Chicago White Sox All-Stars
SP James Callahan
SP Roy Patterson
SP Clark Griffith
LF Sam Mertes (even though he should really be listed as a 2B)
CF Dummy Hoy (should be DH, though he can play CF pretty well)
RF Fielder Jones
Six All-Stars. That's enough to make anyone feel good, especially me!
Sam Mertes wins the June AL Batter of the Month and I go ahead and officially move his position to second base where he suddenly becomes a 5 star player. Nice! 39 year old
Dummy Hoy gets officially named a DH too. Mertes leads all of MLB with 68 RBI, Hoy the main benefactor with an MLB-leading 69 runs. But Dummy also leads the AL with 38 stolen bases.
James Callahan still tops the AL in wins and ERA thanks to a 17-5 2.51 line. Ooh that boy he pitch so good! Staff ace
Roy Patterson is 15-7 with 74 Ks, wins and strikeouts both placing him second in the American League.
We hit a six-game losing skid in July, but still end up 11 ahead of the Tigers at the end of the month. More worrisome is the fact that we lose just about every time we play
Nap Lajoie's Philadelphia Athletics and given that they have the same 11-game lead in the AL East that we do in the West, it's likely we'll be facing them in the ALCS. The NCLS is going to be the Philadelphia Phillies representing the East, who have solidly held a 6-7 game lead over Brooklyn and New York for much of the season, versus Pittsburgh or Cincinnati, who are in a dog fight for the NL West. At July's end, the Pirates hang on to a slim 1-game lead over the Reds.
Come the end of August, we and the Athletics are still hosting double-digit leads in our respective divisions and it can't be too exciting for American League fans. The National League buffs have something to be excited about, though, as both divisions are in tight races. The Brooklyn Superbas have tied it up with the Philadelphia Phillies in the East and the NL West features a reversal of fortune from last month's end, the Reds up by 1 over the Pirates.
I nearly have a heart attack in September when we go on a 10 game losing streak and crash into a hard-charging Tigers team that cuts our lead to just 4 games, but we manage to put together enough wins to stave them off. The Athletics and Reds both have clinched, but the Phillies still have a magic number of 1 going into October. It takes them two days to clinch, but the playoff matchups are set.
ALCS
Chicago White Sox vs. Philadelphia Athletics
NLCS
Cincinnati Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies
I'll get to the postseason tomorrow. I'm suddenly tired and don't feel like writing anymore.