St. Louis is in a tailspin - (finally). 6-14 in their last 20 games. The Warriors are now within only 2 games, and with a series soon to be played in Spartanburg, the race in the East could get very interesting.
Vegas is in an even worse tailspin - (unfortunately). 8-25 in their last 33 games! Now sharing the worst record in the league. The next 3 games are in St. Louis, so smart money would say this poor streak will continue.
Ed Walsh and Jim Palmer are a combined 16-3 for the Spiders. All other pitchers are a combined 22-27.
Depending on what might have happened if he hadn’t been injured, it is possible that Addie Joss as missed 33% of his scheduled starts due to injury. The Warriors have also had Waddell injured for two separate stints. In spite of their 1 and 2 starters missing so much time, they are 10 games over .500.
The Grand Rapids Trappers have the league’s worst 6.47 ERA. However, if they can make the playoffs don’t count on an easy time at the plate. Their top 3 starters have a combined 15-13 record with a 4.91 ERA. Plus, in the pen Willie Hernandez and Fergie Jenkins have 18.00 and 11.94 ERAs respectively. In a playoff series you’d likely only see a heavy dose of Cy Young and Lee Smith.
The Spartanburg Warriors have the best bench in the league. Combined batting average .349. Combined on base .413. Combined slugging of .516. If the bench was combined as a single player they would be 8th on the league OPS list. Yet, their bench has been used the 3 least, in terms of plate appearances.
Since I looked up who was using their bench and who wasn’t it’s an interesting split. By plate appearances: four teams in the middle, Explorers - 374, Spiders - 373, Agents - 325, and Osos - 312; three teams at the bottom, Warriors - 213, Trappers, 205, and Cascades - 171; and one team way at the top, Hurricanes - 616 (!).
Ed Walsh’s dominance as a pitcher so far is nothing short of spectacular. His 1.87 ERA is a 37% improvement on the 2nd place ERA of Don Sutton at 2.98, and more than twice as good as the 5th place ERA of Sandy Koufax at 4.10. If we applied those same percentages to batting average and made Tony Gwynn 37% better than the 2nd place batter of Zack Wheat, he’d be hitting .501. Or if he was 50% better than the 5th place batter of Cecil Travis - (never mind how odd it is that Cecil Travis is the 5th best hitter) - then he’d be hitting .706! If applied in HRs, Greenberg would have 26 now which would be on pace for 62 on the season! Not sure if all that “logic” is mathematically accurate, but it was fun to run the numbers.
While Speaker is off record pace for doubles, he is still on pace for 62, which would be very cool. No other extra base numbers are really notable. Probably won’t see 20 triples, and the HR leader will be lucky to hit even 45. And we almost assuredly won’t see 150 in runs scored or RBI. Ruth does have a real shot at 200 walks.
The Hurricanes definitely have the stolen base crown sewn up. They’ve stolen nearly twice as many bases as any other team, and as a percentage of times on base they are exactly double the next highest team. Is it translating into victories, or just make for exciting play for the Hurricanes’ owner? Not sure how to judge that.