NL Season Wrap-up
The Pirates went 18-7 in July and 20-9 in August to make this a two-team race between them and the Cubs. As of September 1st, Chicago led Pittsburgh by 4 games. The Cubs won just four of their first seven games in September heading into a 4-game showdown with the Pirates in Chicago. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh went 4-2 over that same span, gaining a half game. What happened next was pure joy for Pirates fans but pure horror for Cubs fans. The Pirates swept the entire 4-game series... in Chicago! In the first game, Pittsburgh crushed rookie
Percy Jones (15-9, 3.21 ERA) 7-2. Then the Pirates won three nailbiters by the following scores: 3-1, 5-3 and 4-3. That gave Pittsburgh a narrow half-game lead in the standings with three weeks left to play.
Over the next two weeks, Pittsburgh went just 8-6 but Chicago continued to slump with a 5-8 record over the same span. The Cubs began the final week of the season with a 8-5 loss to the Reds which gave them a 6-game losing streak at the most critical point of the season. They went on to win the next two games against the Reds, but they lost their next two games to the last place Phillies while the Pirates won seven straight games to clinch their first pennant since 1907. For Pittsburgh, their pitching rotation continued to be their strength. Unfortunately, their bullpen struggled to a 6th place ranking, which could be crucial in the World Series. Their offense did come on strong late in the season and finished ranked 4th overall. However, they did lead the NL with a .262 team batting average.
Pittsburgh ace
Dazzy Vance (19-3, 2.21 ERA) tied the MLHR record for strikeouts with 338. That record had stood since San Francisco's
Fred Goldsmith set it in 1882 - 38 years ago. Vance also finished mere percentage points from breaking Goldsmith's record of a 12.433 K/9 rate from that season. Vance also set a new MLHR record for pitching WAR at 10.76, edging out
Ed Walsh's record of 10.44 from 1906. And Vance's 19-3 record resulted in a .8636 winning percentage which was good enough for 3rd best all-time, just surpassing Walter Johnson's .8621 mark set in his rookie year when he posted a superb 25-4 record.
Meanwhile, three MLHR batters snapped the record for strikeouts as a hitter which had been set at 224 in 1899. The new owner of that dubious distinction is Phillies centerfielder
Bevo LeBourveau (.219, 14 HR, 52 RBI) who fanned an amazing 234 times in 656 plate appearances.
And while we are discussing new records, Cincinnati's
Dixie Davis (16-11, 3.04 ERA) set a new MLHR record for the fewest BB/9 with a rate of just 0.76, beating out the rate of 0.801 which had stood since 1895 when it was set by then-Cubs pitcher
Clark Griffith.
On the team record front, Pittsburgh's pitching staff set new NL records for team ERA, WHIP and BB/9 ratio. However, the hapless Phillies also set a new standard for failure with 121 losses. The previous two highest loss totals also belonged to the Phillies. They lost 119 in 1880 and 116 in 1917. Oddly enough, in between these two periods of ineptitude in Philadelphia was the finest run for any team in history when the Phillies won 10 pennant in 15 years. Feast or famine, I suppose.
Standings
Batting Leaders
Pitching Leaders
National League Rosters
