AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Orioles still have a 3-game lead ahead of the Americans and White Stockings (I'm calling them the White Stockings because this was their official name until 1904). Baltimore had the best month of August, going 19-12 and racking up 3 saves (which were not officially counted until 1969).
Nap Lajoie is still being Nap Lajoie, leading in batting average, slugging, OPS, and hits, but Buck Freeman is trailing in batting average and leading in homers and RBI. An interesting thing to note is that Freeman had the best batting average among all qualified AL hitters in August, hitting .380, while Nap hit just .357.
Nixey still leads in ERA (1.83), Cy still leads in wins (20), and Ned still leads in strikeouts (90). Case Patten is the only pitcher in the AL to have 20 or more losses, sitting at 21. Cy is striking out 3 batters for every walk he allows, still leading the AL.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Although the Cardinals are still ahead in the NL standings, they're just 5 games ahead now, as the Pirates won 18 of 22 in the month of August, while St. Louis only won 16 of 27. The Phillies, though, won 21 of 29, having the best month in all of MLB. As for the New York Giants, a pennant is easily out of the equation, following a 5-23 month.
Sam Crawford is making a name of himself, leading the NL in homers, slugging, and OPS. Jesse Burkett leads in batting average and OBP, and his teammate Emmet Heidrick leads in RBI. One thing I haven't talked about much is stolen bases, which is being led by Topsy Hartsel, with his teammate Frank Chance right behind him.
Jesse Tannehill still has the best ERA (1.72), Jack Powell still has the most wins (20, only NL pitcher), and Tom Hughes still has the most strikeouts (194). Tannehill is striking people out at a better K/BB rate than most. He has only allowed 16 walks, striking out almost 8 people per walk. In fact, in his last 4 appearances of August, all for 8+ innings, he only allowed a single walk, and struck out 17 in that span. That's good for 1901.
The best of August to follow.
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