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Minnesota finished 1895 with the best record ever by an American League team at 106-56, beating Chicago’s 102-60 mark from 1884. It is the third-best record in MLB history behind the 1894 Philadelphia Phillies (115-47) and 1889 Boston Braves (114-48). They had the best record after the all-star break of any team this year at 57-24. Minnesota also set the new AL season attendance record at 775,366.

The Twins earned their second-ever division title, joining the 1889 season. They had the AL’s best run differential (+171) and fewest runs allowed (626). Minnesota wasn’t quite as overwhelmingly dominant as some of the other 100+ win teams, but went 30-12 in one-run games, setting the AL record for team saves with 43. Their 3.24 team ERA, 626 runs, 521 earned runs, 1256 hits allowed, 7.81 H/9, and 1.181 WHIP were all the third-best in AL history.

Detroit finished a distant second in the AL West at 86-76, rebounding from their awful 68-win campaign the prior year. Last year’s division champ Milwaukee and Kansas City tied for third at 84-78. The White Sox at 68-94 had their seventh losing season in eight years, suggesting their 87 wins the prior year was a fluke.

Defending World Series champ Washington repeated as AL East champ and matched their 93-69 record of the prior year. Despite having 13 fewer wins than the Twins, the Nationals’ run differential was only 23 runs behind Minnesota’s. Boston and Baltimore tied for second at 82-80 and Cleveland was 81-81. The Red Sox were back above .500 after repeat losing seasons. New York had the worst record at 60-102, ending a four-year run of winning seasons by the Yankees. The Orioles led the AL with 850 runs.

The final AL Batter of the Month was Boston LF Tom Gettinger, who hit .370 in September with 6 home runs, 22 RBI, and 19 runs. Athletics closer Ed Cassian was Pitcher of the Month as his 11 appearances saw a 4-0 record and 6 saves, posting a 0.54 ERA over 16.2 innings with 10 strikeouts. Twins lefty Brownie Foreman was Rookie of the Month with a 5-0 record, 2.27 ERA, and 34 Ks over 43.2 innings.

Remarkably, the top two pitchers were both rookies. Foreman won the ERA title at 2.18 and led the AL in WAR at 6.7. Washington’s Ed Doheny meanwhile had a 2.21 ERA and led with 260 strikeouts. Both won 26 games with Doheny going 26-7 and Foreman 26-5. Doheny also set single-season records for H/9 (5.52) and opponent’s batting average (.177).

Defending AL MVP Ed Delahanty is the favorite to repeat, leading in batting average (.383), OPS (1.036), runs (108), and WAR (10.4). The bad news for Washington is Delahanty suffered a strained hamstring back on September 10. He’s still got another 1-2 weeks of recovery time, so his availability for the ALCS and/or the World Series is very questionable.



The second six-hit game of the season came on September 7 by Milwaukee’s Charlie Frank against Baltimore. The third cycle of the season happened September 28 as Philadelphia’s Mox McQuery did it facing New York. Washington’s Scott Stratton had a 23-game hitting streak.

In milestones, Kansas City’s Sam Thompson and Boston’s Frank Olin both joined the 2000 hit club. Yankees SS Germany smith reached 1000 RBI. Baltimore manager Justin Kinnaird became the first manager with 1000+ career wins. He has a 1001-943 record through 12 seasons with the Orioles.