By Woodrow Carroll
Although things can change rather quickly, the Chicago White Sox entered this week with the biggest divisional lead in Major League Baseball.
After taking three of four at home from the Detroit Tigers, Thursday through Sunday, the Sox, 36-23, found themselves four games in front of the second-place Cleveland Indians in the American League Central Division. Although a four-game advantage is far from insurmountable, it is always better to be the front-runner rather than looking up at the leader.
The White Sox can claim minor bragging rights by out-scoring the opposition. At the start of the week, the Sox were plus-85 in runs scored compared to runs allowed. The closest to the Sox were the Los Angeles Dodgers with plus-83 The defending World Series champion Dodgers, 34-25, are locked in a tight battle with the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres for first place in the National League West.
• The Chicago Cubs went to the West Coast to drop three of four in San Francisco through Sunday and fell, 9-4, Monday in San Diego. The Cubs were 33-27 through Monday in he National League Central, one-half game behind Milwaukee.
• When the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in seven games in the 2019 World Series, it gave every franchise in the National League East at least one World Series championship.
• The East Division, with the Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, and Philadelphia Phillies, the Nationals’ World Series championship meant the AL Central no longer could brag as the only division in Major League Baseball with each team having at least one World Series banner.
• Franchise history can get a bit murky with new franchise sites showing up on a frequent basis. In 1914 it was the Boston Braves’ capturing the World Series with a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1957 the Braves, then calling Milwaukee home, took the measure of the New York Yankees in seven games. The 1995 version of the Braves in Atlanta defeated the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.
The Philadelphia Athletics, which the Braves beat for all the marbles in 1914, left Philly after the 1954 season to spend 1955 through 1967 in Kansas City. The siren call of California reared its head and from 1968 through the present the A’s have played in Oakland. The Athletics are threatening to pull up stakes for greener pastures, a site that would give the franchise enhanced revenue.
• At World Series time, each team is expected use its best pitcher. No better example might be the 1948, 1949, and 1950 World Series’ openers, each when game 1 ended in a 1-0 final score.
In 1948, the Boston Braves beat the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, in the Series’ opener. The Indians’ Bob Feller only gave up two hits. The Braves’ Johnny Sain yielded only four hits in nailing down the victory.
• First walk-off home run to win a World Series game was by the New York Yankees’ Tommy Henrich in game one of the 1949 World Series.
Henrich came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning in a scoreless battle with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Henrich hit a homer run off of the Dodgers’ Don Newcombe to end a pitching dual between Newcombe and the Yankees’ Allie Reynolds. It gave the Yankees a 1-0 victory.
• A little known historical note. Game five of the 1949 World Series was high-scoring won by the Yankees, 10-6. Late in the game, baseball commissioner Happy Chandler ordered the lights to be turned on at the Dodgers’ Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. It was he first time lights were used in the World Series.
• Another 1-0 opener! This time in 1950 between the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. Reynolds was on the mound opposed by the Phillies’ Jim Konstanty. Normally a reliever, Konstanty was pressed into starting duty with Phillies’ pitching ace Robin Roberts exhausted from the Philly’s run to the National League championship.
Konstanty only allowed four hits. However, the Yankees scored on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and, with Reynolds allowing only two hits, the lone run held up for a 1-0 New York victory.