1923
After the offensive explosion of 1922, scoring settled down to the levels seen in 1921. The standings, meanwhile, looked a lot like '22 as the Boston Beaneaters, Kansas City Blues (their record seventh-straight), and St. Louis Browns all repeated at the top of their respective league, while Providence couldn't win a third straight Eastern League pennant, finishing second to Baltimore.
Kansas City and Boston both won 110 games, as their have now been five USBF teams to win exactly 110 games (KC has done it twice), yet no one has reached 111...
Also of note, both KC and Baltimore became the first professional teams to top 1 million fans. Baltimore ended up at 1,013,458, while KC was less than a thousand fans behind them (1,012,797) in their first season at brand-new Muehlebach Field.
The semifinal round saw KC and St. Louis reprise their championship bout from the prior season. The Blues exacted revenge, though, knocking out the Browns in six games. Out east, Baltimore stuns Boston, boiling the Beaneaters in four straight. The Terrapins kept up the pace, knocking off the other 110-win team with ease, defeating Kansas City in five games to earn Baltimore's third National Championship.
A year after hitting over .400, Kansas City's
Justin Slone nearly did it again, slashing .392/.486/.594, cracking 26 homers and driving in 126 runs. It was the peak of a career where Sloan batted .354 lifetime, but only played eight full seasons, costing him a shot at the Hall of Fame.
Before the 1923 season, Milwaukee and the Boston Beaneaters swapped a pair of starting pitchers.
Corey Clauson went to Milwaukee and flourished, winning 20 games four times and earning 237 wins in 15 seasons...yet Milwaukee very clearly lost the trade. Why? Well, Boston got back
Eric Miranda, who immediately began the greatest pitching run seen in USBF history to this point, starting with this year, when he went 23-11 with a sparkling 2.04 ERA, leading the Federation in ERA and shutouts (6) over 290.2 innings. He earned Pitcher of the Year and while we won't spoil everything, it was not his last by any shot...
Also on the mound, Cleveland starter
Nicky Croucher saw a record streak of 11 straight 20-win seasons come to an end, but in his final start of the season, he became the first USBF pitcher to reach 350 wins, doing so on September 28.
Minor League Champions
Pacific Coast League: Los Angeles Angels, 145-55, defeats San Francisco
Southeastern League: Atlanta Crackers, 79-61, defeats Montgomery (5th straight)
Colonial League: Reading Keystones, 77-49, defeats Albany
Texas League: Houston Buffaloes, 71-55, defeats San Antonio
River Valley League: Des Moines Demons, 84-56, defeats Fort Wayne
Rocky Mountain League: Salt Lake City, 79-47, defeats Butte
Coastal League: Mobile Marines, 88-52, defeats Jacksonville
Northern League: Sioux City Cornhuskers, 73-53, defeats Davenport
Great Lakes League: Akron Rubbermen, 80-60, defeats Harrisburg (3rd straight)
Southwest League: Tucson Javelinas, 100-54, defeats Reno (2nd straight)
Southern Association: Tulsa Oilers, 70-56, defeats Jackson