NL Season Wrap-up
With the pennant race still hot in September and three weeks left in the season, the first place Pirates put some distance between themselves and their challengers by winning 2-of-3 games at home against the Cubs and then 2-of-3 against the Giants. That gave them a 3.5-game lead. However, they then stumbled by losing 2-of-3 in Atlanta and 2-of-3 in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Giants went 5-2 against those same teams that week, and the Cubs went 5-1 versus the Phillies and Cardinals. That meant that with one week left in the season, Pittsburgh led the Giants by just one game and the Cubs by 1.5 games.
The Pirates would then sweep a 3-game series in Philadelphia while the Giants won 2-of-3 against the Cardinals, sliding to two games behind. The Cubs lost 2-of-3 to Atlanta, dropping them to 3.5 games off the pace. On September 29th, the Giants opened a final 4-game series against the Pirates and won the first game 2-1 thanks to a 1-out RBI single by infielder
Milt Stock in the 12th inning. The next day, the Pirates won 3-2 behind
Whitey Glazner (15-11, 2.92 ERA). That win eliminated the Cubs from the pennant race and also gave the Pirates a 2-game lead over the Giants with two games remaining. On October 1, the Pirates beat the Giants 6-4 thanks to a grand slam by
Beals Becker (.223, 32 HR, 86 RBI) in the first inning off
Waite Hoyt (12-13, 4.22 ERA). That gave the Pirates their second straight pennant and a chance to win their first World Series since winning the very first World Series ever played in 1901.
Standings
Batting Leaders
Pitching Leaders
National League Rosters
