[Ankit]

With Gonzalez having a 46 - 43 lead, everyone wondered if Gonzalez had it in him to beat Ruth this time around. Ruth was definitely not going to rollover and die and hadn't earned his nickname, "Mr. September", by hitting singles and doubles. The first week of September saw Ruth club 5 homeruns. Gonzalez was hitting them too and had 50 but the lead was down to 2. The two continued to trade homeruns but Ruth had fallen behind by 4 with only 10 days to play Gonzalez was at 55 and Ruth at 51. The Cubbies had clinched the NL title and were on their way to the World Series. The Yankees had dropped out of the running as the Tigers maintained a big lead and were a lock to win the AL.

On September 29, Ruth hit number 52. Next day Gonzo hit 56 and added number 57 a day later.
Ruth responded on October 2, with 2 of his own to bring his total to 54.
Gonzalez & Ruth each hit one on the 4th.
Gonzalez hit his 59th while Ruth hit his 56th on the 7th.

Four games left in the season and Juan has a comfortable lead though Ruth & Gonzalez by now had hit 13 homeruns over the last 5 weeks while Juan had hit 13. Juan had shattered the single season RBI mark and stood on 198, 38 in September and the first week of October.

Ruth hit 2 on the 8th against Washington to pull within 1 of Juan Gone but Juan added number 60 later that night to push his lead up to 2 with 2 games left to play.

On the 10th, Juan went 3 for 5 and drove in 4, including number 200 but no homeruns. Ruth too went 3 for 5 but did hit a homer, number 59!

Juan played the St. Louis Cardinals on the final day of the regular season and drove in 3 runs to finish the season with an ML record 206 RBI. However, he did not homer and finishes with exactly 60 homeruns.

The Bambino was in Cleveland to play the Indians. He walked his first two times up and when he came up in the 6th, with a 3-1 count, he smashed number 60 over the right field fence to tie Gonzalez. Once again, the Bambino had denied Juan the elusive homerun crown. Ruth knew he had one more at-bat remaining in the game and got a chance in the 9th with his team trailing 5-3 and 2 outs in the 9th. The Indians had a choice, walk him for the 160th time this season or pitch to him. Choosing the latter, Ruth walloped a 2-2 hanging curve over the center field fence for number 61!

Yankees lost the game 5-4 but Ruth once again came out on top. In the post-season Juan Gonzalez had a World Series for the ages by hitting 7 homeruns in the seven game series against the Tigers but yet again came up on the losing side as the Tigers beat the Cubs 7-3 to take the series. Gonzalez had homered in each of the first six games and drove in runs but did neither in Game 7 despite going 2 for 3.

Juan and Ruth both won the MVP again, but thats a mute point compared to the heartbreak of Juan and the fierce determination of Ruth displayed in the epic homerun race of 1925. Sure to go down in history as the greatest. The final numbers for the two:

Babe: 541 AB, 205 H, 38 2B, 13 3B, 61 HR, 168 RBI, 157 R, 159 BB, 85 K, .379 BA, .516 OBP, .835 SLG, 1.352 OPS
Juan: 638 AB, 208 H, 43 2B, 6 3B, 60 HR, 206 RBI, 138 R, 44 BB, 146 K, .326 BA, .374 OBP, .694 SLG, 1.068 OPS (second to teammate Elmer Smith's 1.075)