NL Season Wrap-up
The Giants had a horrible 8-17 record in July to begin the second half of the season. Meanwhile the Cubs went 17-9 and gained 8.5 games in the National League standings. The Giants did manage to gain a little ground over the next two months, but they never really made it a close race. In fact, the Cubs clinched the pennant with more than a week left in the season.
This is now the Cubs' third straight pennant, joining the 1881-83 Giants and 1893-98 Phillies as the only National League teams to win at least three straight. Rookie
Cy Williams (.315, 63 HR, 140 RBI) was a phenomenon to say the least. He beat teammate
Fred Luderus' two-year-old NL record for homers. Luderus (.277, 57 HR, 136 RBI) had another superb season himself. The Cubs also had a pair of 35-home run hitters in
Heinie Zimmerman (.276, 35 HR, 94 RBI) and
Vic Saier (.285, 35 HR, 85 RBI), giving this team a whopping 60 more homers than the second highest team total in all of the MLHR, the Dodgers. They also scored nearly 100 more runs than the second highest team runs total in MLHR, the Red Sox.
All that offense masked the fact that their pitching staff was ranked just 6th in the NL and their defense was actually ranked last in the league. Those two factors will be key in the Cubs' ability to have success in the World Series. Sophomore
Fred Toney (24-6, 3.02 ERA) was Chicago's most successful pitcher this year, followed by 29-year-old veteran
Ed Reulbach (17-8, 3.31 ERA). Those two pitchers, along with reliever
Tom Hughes (3-5, 15 Sv, 2.57 ERA) who took over the closer's role midway through the season, will have to perform well to give Chicago a shot at ending their streak of two consecutive World Series losses.
Standings
Batting Leaders
Pitching Leaders
National League Rosters
