[9/9/1918] Chicago Cubs pound way to National League pennant

BY PETE PETERS / Grand National Tribune

NEW YORK (Monday, September 9, 1918) — Fred Merkle’s solo home run leading off the top of the fifth inning sparked nine unanswered runs from the Chicago Cubs, who turned a 2-2 tie into an 11-2 win as they clinched the National League Championship Series three games to one at Brush Stadium.

Six Chicago players recorded multiple hits, including Merkle, who had five. Charlie Hollocher added four, Charlie Deal and Max Flack poked three apiece, Les Mann and Dode Paskert each finished with two and the team finished with 21 hits. Paskert added his first home run of the series in the ninth inning.

Hippo Vaughn picked up his second win of the series, finishing with two runs allowed on nine hits in a 102-pitch complete game. Pol Perritt, who was charged with eight Chicago runs and 15 of their hits in seven and two-thirds innings, suffered the loss.

The Cubs struck first in the hit column, getting a Merkle double and a Hollocher single in the first inning, but could not break through with a run because Merkle was thrown out trying to score. Rollie Zeider’s sacrifice fly produced the first run of the game in the second inning and Hollocher doubled the lead by singling in Paskert in the third.

New York got on the scoreboard with five consecutive baserunners in the fourth inning, getting back-to-back hits from George Burns and Ross Youngs before Art Fletcher was hit by a pitch and Walter Holke and Lew McCarty contributed more singles. With the bases loaded and the score tied at 2, Perritt grounded into an inning-ending double play, the sort of thing that will no doubt prompt batting advocates to propose that someone should hit for the pitcher someday.

The tie lasted all of seven pitches, as Perritt saw four and Merkle needed three to launch a 413-foot home run to left. That begat three consecutive singles from Hollocher, Mann and Deal, the latter of which put the Cubs up 4-2 before Bill Killefer sacrificed the remaining two men into scoring position and Vaughn added a fly to left to make it 5-2. Paskert cracked a run-scoring single and Flack loaded the bases with a walk before Merkle forced him to end the inning.

Vaughn proceeded to not allow another hit until the eighth inning, by which time the Cubs had scored twice more on four additional hits to run the score to 8-2 and chase Perritt. Jesse Barnes drew mop-up duty and allowed six hits to his ten batters, including five hits and three runs in the ninth.

Burns and Youngs each hit safely twice for New York, which recorded nine hits but none for extra bases. The Giants left six men on base; the Cubs left 13. Despite all of that, the game was over in a tidy 95 minutes.

Since Cleveland forced a fifth and deciding game in the American League Championship Series, that series is guaranteed to finish Tuesday, which will set the World Series opener on Friday. The Cubs will have home advantage in four of the seven games, but their opponent will determine which games are played at Comiskey Park: if they face Boston, the Cubs will host games four through seven, while if they face Cleveland they would host games one, two, six and seven.

With John Johnson at the typewriter for the A.L. game tomorrow and the World Series, this is my swan song until 1919. Good night, good luck, and don’t run with scissors.

[9/9/1918] Coveleski foils Boston lead with bat, comeback with arm in 5-4 win as Cleveland lives to see fifth game

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

BOSTON (Monday, September 9, 1918) — The Cleveland Indians stayed alive on opposing soil for the second consecutive game this afternoon, topping the Boston Red Sox 5-4 at Fenway Park to level the best-of-five American League Championship Series at two games apiece.

Stan Coveleski threw a complete game, allowing eight hits and striking out one, and stranded the tying run at home plate in the eighth inning and on second base in the ninth. Jack Graney scored the tying run in the second inning and drove in Braggo Roth for the final tally with a two-out single in the seventh.

Babe Ruth, the offensive star of the series for Boston, opened the scoring with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. He finished 2 for 4 with a fourth-inning single but grounded out as the potential tying run in the eighth inning. Harry Hooper, the runner on base ahead of Ruth in both the first and eighth innings, posted the other two-hit day for the Red Sox. Amos Strunk and Dave Shean both singled.

Boston starter Joe Bush needed 179 pitches to get through the game, allowing nine hits and walking five men while working around a pair of errors. Coveleski, his opposite number who had no miscues to clean up, also hit the game-tying single in the second.

Despite falling behind 2-0 in the first, Cleveland made quick work of its deficit and scored five straight runs. It loaded the bases with no outs in the second when Steve O’Neill and Terry Turner singled and Graney reached on an error. Pinch-hitter Bob Bescher hit into a double play, scoring O’Neill, and Coveleski’s hit back through the box leveled the score 2-2.

Two innings later, Turner worked a leadoff walk and moved to second on a bunt before Bill Wambsganss singled to center to open a 3-2 lead. Rip Williams, who replaced Bescher at first base, scored on Ray Chapman’s first hit of the series in the sixth to double the advantage. And in the seventh, Roth stole second following a one-out walk and Graney singled him in two batters later.

Boston left a runner on third when Strunk doubled with one out in the third and stranded a pair of men in the fourth inning, but would not get a hit again until the seventh or multiple baserunners again until the eighth.

In the penultimate inning, Shean laced a one-out double to the short corner in right, then scored on a Hooper single to cut the score to 5-3 before Ruth and Stuffy McInnis made outs to end the inning.

With the gap still at two runs in the ninth, Everett Scott started the inning with a hit and Wally Schang walked to put the tying run on base. Fred Thomas bunted both men into scoring position at the cost of the first out.

George Whiteman batted for Bush and grounded to short, driving in Scott and leaving Schang at second. Strunk lofted a fly toward the large wall in left, drawing oohs and aahs off the bat from the crowd of more than 26,000, but Graney flagged it down in front of the scoreboard to secure the win.

The win ensures that the 1918 World Series will begin on Thursday. A Boston-New York series or a Cleveland-Chicago series would each start in the National League city, while the Cleveland-New York option would begin on the shores of Lake Erie and the Boston-Chicago set that happened in real life would not be played on the Playoff of Dreams.

The fifth and deciding game of the series will be played Tuesday afternoon on the same grounds. The second game’s starters, Guy Morton of Cleveland and Carl Mays of Boston, are slated to reprise that matchup. First ball is set for three o’clock eastern war time on Saturday with the live action on my Twitter account at @playoffdreams.

[9/7/1918] Cleveland washes Sox to stay alive in American League playoff

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

BOSTON (Saturday, Sept. 7, 1918) — Jack Graney drove in four runs with a pair of two-run singles, Tris Speaker reached base four times and scored twice, and Fritz Coumbe was close enough to perfect to get the job today as the Cleveland Indians routed the Boston Red Sox 8-1 at Fenway Park in the third game of the American League Championship Series. The first Cleveland win of the five-game series brings the tally to 2-1 in Boston’s favor, leaving the Red Sox one win from the World Series.

Coumbe retired the first 16 batters he faces and shut out Boston until the penultimate batter of the game, ultimately allowing six hits and a walk along with one strikeout. Five of the six hits were singles.

Cleveland nearly gave its pitcher all the support he needed in the first inning when Tris Speaker scored on a wild pitch; the run was unearned thanks to a Fred Thomas error earlier in the inning, but of course it still counted for a 1-0 lead.

Ray Chapman’s leadoff walk in the third inning allowed Braggo Roth to double the lead with a two-out triple.

The visitors broke the game open in the sixth inning when five straight batters reached base, including a run-scoring single from Steve O’Neill and one of Graney’s two-run-scoring hits. The other run came in on a wild pitch by Boston starter Babe Ruth, who walked six men in addition to that miscue.

Graney’s other two-run single came in the ninth inning, plating Roth and Bill Wambsganss, and Terry Turner would have run the lead to 9-0 with his two-out single except that O’Neill was thrown out at the plate.

Thomas spoiled Coumbe’s perfect game on a double over Speaker’s head in center field with one out in the bottom of the sixth. The Boston nine left a single man on base in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

In the ninth inning, Dave Shean’s one-out single and Harry Hooper’s subsequent walk put the Red Sox in business with two men on. Pinch-hitter Sam Agnew made solid contact but lined out to short before Stuffy McInnis and Everett Scott dumped singles into right field. Scott’s hit scored Shean and reloaded the bases, but Wally Schang popped up after that to end the game.

Each of Boston’s six hits came from a different player. Ruth started and threw 147 pitches in eight and one-third innings, allowing all eight runs of which seven were earned. Dick McCabe relieved him for the final four hitters and did not actually retire any of them, but the Red Sox defense threw out two runners on the base paths.

Wambsganss, Roth and Speaker all scored twice for Cleveland, which had a pair of long hits in Speaker’s double and Roth’s triple.

Following the obligatory Sunday off day, the teams will match up again Monday in the fourth game of the series at Fenway Park. The first game’s starters, Stan Coveleski of Cleveland and Joe Bush of Boston, are slated to reprise that matchup. First ball is set for three o’clock eastern war time on Saturday with the live action on my Twitter account at @playoffdreams.

[9/7/1918] Deal-breaker! Charlie cracks open pitchers’ duel, Cubs win 2-0

BY PETE PETERS / Grand National Tribune

NEW YORK (Saturday, Sept. 7, 1918) — Charlie Deal poked a tiebreaking single to center with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to score Les Mann, who added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly two innings later, and push the Chicago Cubs to within one game of the World Series today with a 2-0 win over the New York Giants in game three of the National League Championship Series at Brush Stadium. Claude Hendrix allowed six hits in a shutout for the Cubs, who lead two games to one in the best-of-5-game pennant playoff series.

Ferdie Schupp took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and allowed six hits of his own. Each starter walked two men and struck out three, with Hendrix finishing the game at 115 pitches and Schupp 118. Each team had one man with two hits: George Burns paced New York and Deal led Chicago.

The Giants threatened right off the bat, getting a leadoff single from Burns in the first inning. While he was promptly retired on Art Fletcher’s double-play grounder to first base, Ross Youngs singled and Benny Kauff worked a walk to put a man in scoring position before Heinie Zimmerman lined out.

The Cubs got their first baserunner on an error in the third and added a walk in the fourth, but took until the fifth to crack the goose egg on the hits column when Deal doubled over the head of Kauff in center. He was thrown out at third trying to become the first man on third base, though, and a twin killing two batters later ended the inning.

Chicago’s first run came on a two-out rally in the seventh inning when Mann walked and stole second before scoring on a Deal single. The Giants answered with two one-out hits in the bottom of that frame before a Larry Doyle fly to center pushed the tying run to third, but a weak dribbler to first ended that threat.

The visitors doubled their lead in the ninth when Max Flack led off with a single and Fred Merkle pushed him to second with another hit. Charlie Hollocher reached by fielder’s choice when Flack went to third and Mann flied to right to score the run.

New York went down in order despite the middle of its lineup hitting in the bottom of the ninth.

While momentum is building for Sunday baseball to be legal in America’s largest city, the blue laws still on the books oblige the teams to go without a game on Sunday, so the fourth game must wait until Monday. Hippo Vaughn will pitch for Chicago and Pol Perritt opposes him for New York. First pitch is set for three o’clock local time (two o’clock in Chicago) and I will live-tweet all the action at @POD_Peters.

[9/5/1918] Giants muzzle Cub offense to level N.L. series at one game each

BY PETE PETERS / Grand National Tribune

CHICAGO (Thursday, Sept. 5, 1918) — The New York Giants needed seven pitches to take the lead, outhitting the Chicago Cubs 15-4 today on the way to an 8-2 win in game two of the National League Championship Series at Comiskey Park. Slim Sallee threw a complete game on the mound for the visitors, who leveled the best-of-5 series at one game apiece.

Sallee struck out four men and allowed one earned run on 115 pitches while getting help in the form of three-hit games by Larry Doyle, Ross Youngs and Lew McCarty. Art Fletcher and Walter Holke each recorded two hits apiece.

Doyle led off the game with a triple and scored on Heinie Zimmerman’s ground ball to the right side. Zimmerman was the only Giant position player without a base hit in the game. Doyle was also responsible for doubling the lead in the second inning with an infield single that plated Fletcher after a leadoff walk.

The Giants handed Chicago a run in the bottom of the second when Doyle’s throwing error left Charlie Hollocher on second base to start the inning. After Les Mann singled and Charlie Deal grounded out, putting the tying run on second with one out, Doyle redeemed himself with an unassisted double play on a line drive that preserved the lead.

The Cubs got a leadoff base hit from Rollie Zeider in the third, but that would be their last hit until the seventh inning. In that time, the Giants tripled the lead to 4-1: Doyle’s sacrifice fly scored Holke in the fourth inning and McCarty singled in Fletcher in the sixth.

While Mann posted his team-high third hit of the series to start the home seventh, any Chicago momentum was immediately erased when McCarty threw him out stealing second. The wheels fell off for the Cubs in the top of the eighth, which the Giants started with a Fletcher single and a one-out, run-scoring McCarty double. Sallee reached on an error to put men on the corners. Doyle followed that with another double, which chased Tyler in favor of Vic Aldridge, whose wild pitch scored Sallee for a 7-1 lead. Benny Kauff’s RBI double wrapped up the Giant scoring.

Chicago picked up a consolation prize in the top of the ninth after Max Flack’s leadoff triple and a Hollocher groundout.

Tyler was saddled with the loss on 126 pitches, 85 of which were strikes, an allotment that still only got him through seven and a third innings. Aldridge retired five of the seven hitters he faced, walking one and allowing a hit.

Mann’s two-for-four day was the lone multi-hit game for the Cubs. Doyle doubled and tripled for New York.

The teams will take the train east tomorrow before the series resumes Saturday at Brush Stadium in Manhattan. Claude Hendrix of Chicago and Ferdie Schupp of New York will each try to pitch their team to within a game of the World Series. First pitch is set for three o’clock local time (two o’clock in Chicago) and I will live-tweet all the action at @POD_Peters.

[9/5/1918] Escape Sox rally within one win of World Series

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

CLEVELAND (Thursday, Sept. 5, 1918) — Carl Mays of the Boston Red Sox pitched his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and a two-on, one-out situation in the ninth, stranding the go-ahead run on base both times, before Wally Schang drove in Babe Ruth for the eventual winning run in the tenth inning of Boston’s 4-2, extra-inning win over the Cleveland Indians at Dunn Field today.

Mays walked seven in ten innings of work while Ruth was 3 for 5 with all the kinds of extra-base hits and the two men staked the visitors to a 2-0 lead in the American League pennant playoff. As the series shifts to Boston this weekend, the Indians need to win all three games to go to the World Series.

Ruth led off the extra inning with a double before Stuffy McInnis was bypassed to create a force play. After an Everett Scott fly to center, Schang singled to right to push the visitors in front.

McInnis scored an insurance run later in the inning, scoring from third on a dropped fly ball with two outs, and Mays faced three batters in the bottom of the inning to claim the win.

Mays threw 91 strikes and 64 balls in the game, allowing seven hits and fanning two. His opposite number, Guy Morton allowed twelve hits and walked four before running out of gas in the tenth and yielding to Jim Bagby, who allowed the last two men Morton faced to score.

Dave Shean also recorded three hits, his first of the series, for Boston. McInnis contributed a single, a double and a walk while Schang hit safely twice and walked twice more. Ruth scored the team’s first three runs.

On the Indian side of the ledger, two men had multiple hits but the balance of the team was 2 for 22. Tris Speaker led the way with every hit but the home run and Joe Wood singled twice and scored the opening run. Braggo Roth drove in both runs.

Cleveland needed four batters to open the scoring, getting hits from Wood and Speaker with one out in the first before Roth knocked in the tally with a ground ball to second. Ruth ended that advantage in the top of the third by lining the ball over Speaker in center and coming around to score on an inside-the-park home run.

Speaker’s one-out triple set the stage for a Roth base hit to put the visitors up 2-1 in the bottom of that inning, though much of that momentum stalled when Roth was promptly apprehended at second base by Schang.

Again, the lead lasted until Ruth circled the bases; this time it was a sixth-inning triple past Wood into the corner in left field before McInnis drove him home with a single.

The Red Sox nearly took the lead in the eighth inning, getting a McInnis double followed by two-out walks to Schang and pinch-hitter George Whiteman, but that brought up the pitcher’s spot and Mays flied out.

Mays retired 12 men in a row from the third inning to the seventh but quickly ran into trouble in the eighth. Wood singled and Speaker doubled to start the inning, setting up an intentional pass to Roth, which loaded the bases and brought Bob Bescher out to bat for catcher Steve O’Neill. Unfortunately for O’Neill, that also brought the infield in, and his ground ball to second base became a double play by way of the plate. Bill Wambsganss grounded out to end that inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Mays dug his own hole by walking the first two men. Morton bunted them to second and third, Chapman chased an outside pitch for strike three and Wood worked a walk that was unintentional in name only. With the bases loaded, Speaker lined out to second.

Following the overnight trip to Boston, the teams will match up Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at Fenway Park. The next game’s scheduled starters are Ruth for Boston and Fritz Coumbe for Cleveland. First ball is set for three o’clock eastern war time on Saturday with the live action on my Twitter account at @playoffdreams.

[9/4/1918] Mann delivers single to put Cubs in front with 2-0 opening win

BY PETE PETERS / Grand National Tribune

CHICAGO (Wednesday, Sept. 4, 1918) — Pol Perritt and Hippo Vaughn had the pitchers’ duel but Les Mann brought the weapon of choice today, slashing a fifth-inning single back up the middle to score Vaughn and Fred Merkle for the game’s only runs as the Chicago Cubs blanked the New York Giants 2-0 in game one of the best-of-5 National League Championship Series at Comiskey Park.

Vaughn fanned eight and allowed six hits, all of which were in different innings before a knock to right with two outs in the ninth inning, on his way to a 141-pitch complete game with 93 strikes.

The Cubs, who are playing their playoff games at the White Sox’s stadium due to its larger capacity, threatened first with a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the first inning. They added hits from Rollie Zeider and Bill Killefer in the second, when both men moved to scoring position on a bunt, and led off the third by reaching on an error.

None of those actions led to a run, however, as Perritt induced flyouts to end the first two innings and a grounder to first in the third. Meanwhile, Vaughn cruised through the first seven innings with three singles to keep the Giants off the scoreboard.

The Cubs struck in the fifth, getting a leadoff hit from Vaughn back up the middle before two outs appeared to let Perritt off the hook. Merkle walked, though, and a Charlie Hollocher single loaded the bases for Mann, who drove in two with a liner to center.

That line drive would be the Cubs’ last hit — they followed it with 10 outs and an error — but it would be all the help Vaughn needed.

Walter Holke led off the eighth with a single, bringing the tying run to the plate, but the Gotham nine mustered only a fielders’ choice from pinch-hitter Joe Wilhoit before ending the inning. Benny Kauff led off the ninth with a hit, but held at second on Ross Youngs’ two-out line drive to right and Art Fletcher grounded out as the tying run.

Perritt finished with two runs and eight hits in seven innings, throwing 129 pitches and 82 strikes. Frank Anderson worked a 1-2-3 eighth and the Cubs did not hit in the ninth.

Offensively, Chicago got two hits each from Hollocher and Killefer. All eight Cub hits were singles. The Giants’ lone double came from George Burns in the fifth. Holke and Heinie Zimmerman each had two hits.

The series continues tomorrow on the South Side before shifting east for the final three games in New York. Slim Sallee of New York and Lefty Tyler of Chicago are the scheduled starters. First pitch is set for three o’clock local time (four o’clock in the east) and I will live-tweet all the action at @POD_Peters.

[9/4/1918] Bush’s Beantown nine jumps on Cleveland early

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

CLEVELAND (Wednesday, Sept. 4, 1918) — The race to end the baseball playoffs to get men into fighting positions is in full swing and the Boston Red Sox wasted little time pulling ahead today, taking a lead four batters into the game and blanking the Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the first game of the best-of-5 American League pennant playoff at Dunn Field.

Harry Hooper doubled twice, scored twice and drove in a run while Babe Ruth drove in two runs for Boston. Everett Scott also had two hits and was thrown out at the plate trying to extend a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning.

Appropriately, the men of Beantown were led by a Bush — Bullet Joe, to be specific — who struck out six men and did not allow more than one hit in an inning on his way to a six-hit shoutout. He walked four, two of which bookended a Steve O’Neill single to load the bases with no one out in the fourth, but promptly retired the next ten men to cement the lead.

Tris Speaker led Cleveland with two singles and a double in four tries and O’Neill singled twice, but the other eight men who played combined for one hit, a Marty Kavanagh double out of the eighth spot in the lineup in the eighth inning. Stan Coveleski went the distance on the mound, allowing 12 hits and walking one without striking out a batter.

Eight of Boston’s nine hitters hit safely, the exception being second baseman Dave Shean, and had a man reach base in every inning but the seventh. Hooper and Amos Strunk each stole bases.

After its first-inning tally, Boston set its sights on the scoreboard again in the third inning. Strunk reached on a leadoff single before taking second when Joe Wood could not handle the ball in left-center field. Shean’s groundout moved the man to third, but he could have scored from second anyway when Hooper lashed a double against the same wall Wood tried to defend. Hooper stole third and scored on a Ruth fly to center.

Wally Schang and Fred Thomas poked singles in the fourth for Boston but were stranded aboard. In the bottom of the inning, Cleveland had its best shot when Braggo Roth walked, O’Neill singled and Bill Wambsganss singled before any outs. Boston brought the infield in, though, and Jack Graney and Kavanagh each saw shots up the middle turn into outs at the plate before Coveleski popped up.

A pair of singles sparked Boston’s offense in the eighth, when Hooper and Ruth each reached on base hits to leave men on the corners for Everett Scott. Scott would not receive credit for Hooper in, however, as he hit into a twin killing while doing that damage.

Cleveland got baserunners in both the eighth and ninth inning but did not do further damage.

The second game of the series is set for tomorrow afternoon here at Dunn Field with Boston’s Carl Mays set to oppose Cleveland’s Guy Morton. First ball is set for three o’clock eastern war time with the live action on my Twitter account at @playoffdreams.

[8/30/1918] Red Sox win twice behind Mays; playoff field set with Senator hopes tabled

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

MOUNT JEWETT, Pa. (Friday, Aug. 30, 1918) — Carl Mays pitched the Boston Red Sox to the championship of the American League’s eastern division Friday, sweeping a doubleheader from hapless Philadelphia 12-0 and 4-1 at Fenway Park. The two Boston wins ensured that the Red Sox could finish no worse than 73-53 while Washington can do no better than 73-55 despite the Senators’ 6-1 handling of New York in our nation’s capital.

Mays shut out the Athletics on nine hits and two strikeouts in the opener, which was rescheduled from June 22 on account of wet grounds. Philadelphia made eight errors on defense, staking the hosts to an 8-0 lead after three innings.

Roy Johnson suffered the loss for Philadelphia, going to 0-5 this season after a two-inning performance that included three hits, three walks and five runs. Right fielder Charlie Jamieson pitched the remaining six innings, academic though they may have been.

Mays led all players with three singles at the plate, driving in one run, while Babe Ruth, Wally Schang and Everett Scott each hit safely twice. Ruth, Schang and Harry Hooper drove in two runs apiece, with Ruth’s damage coming on a first-inning double.

Larry Gardner went 3 for 4 for Philadelphia and Jamieson singled twice. Rube Oldring, who entered in Johnson’s stead in the third, added the lone extra-base hit, a triple.

At Griffith Stadium, the Senators jumped on New York early, scoring thrice in the first and twice in the third while allotting their guests a single tally in the sixth after the damage was done.

Walter Johnson won his 23rd game of the season behind a palindromic line of five hits, one run, one walk and five strikeouts. All nine Senators recorded hits, with Eddie Foster and Eddie Ainsmith joining Johnson with two each. Clyde Milan drove in two, including one on a sacrifice fly. Joe Judge doubled along with Milan.

Happy Finneran did not really live up to his name as he allowed all 12 hits and two walks while only striking out one. The Senators were not retired in order until the seventh. Ham Hyatt’s double was New York’s lone extra-base knock.

The Washington win left Boston needing any single victory or Senator loss in the teams’ final nine games to close out the eastern division, and the Red Sox took matters into their own hands in game two of the double bill. Amos Strunk tripled to drive in two runs, Hooper scored twice on a single and two walks, and Mays added two hits of his own in another complete-game showing. He scored the remaining run, which was as many as he allowed while giving up four hits and striking out three.

Boston took its 3-0 lead in the third inning before Philadelphia responded in the fourth when a Larry Gardner single scored Merito Acosta. The Red Sox answered that tally in the fifth and ended the scoring there.

Scott Perry tossed seven innings for the Mackmen, giving up four runs amidst five hits and seven walks. He falls to 20-19 this season while Mays is 21-13.

National League Scores: Cincinnati 5, Chicago 0; New York 1, Brooklyn 0; Boston 0-8, Philadelphia 1-3.

Other American League Scores: Cleveland 2-4, Detroit 1-2.

Standings

National League East                  American League East
Club       Record   Pct   GB  Out     Club       Record   Pct   GB  Out
New York    69-51  .575  ---          Boston      73-49  .598  ---  
Brooklyn    55-67  .451  15   8/22    Washington  69-55  .556   5   8/30
Phila.      53-66  .445  15½  8/18    New York    59-60  .496  12½  8/23
Boston      51-69  .425  18   8/18    Phila.      50-74  .403  24   8/14

National League West                  American League West
Club       Record   Pct   GB  Out     Club       Record   Pct   GB  Out
Chicago     82-43  .656  ---          Cleveland   71-54  .568  ---
Pittsburgh  64-58  .525  16½  8/21    Chicago     57-63  .475  11½  8/23
Cincinnati  63-60  .512  18   8/20    St. Louis   56-63  .471  12   8/21
St. Louis   51-74  .408  31   8/10    Detroit     52-69  .430  17   8/15

Postseason Schedule Unveiled

In this even-numbered year, the western champions host the first two games of the pennant playoff series, which will begin Wednesday, Sept. 4 (June 22) in Comiskey Park and League Park. The series will shift east with off-day train trips Friday, Sept. 6 (June 24) before wrapping up on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

Taking advantage of the Standard Time Act passed in March, which effectively shifted an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening, all games will start at 3 p.m. local time rather than the conventional hour of 2 o’clock. Even as the schedule change uses the entire extra hour gained by law, the temporary shift of the playoffs into September creates a longer evening in which to play.

In Chicago, for example, the 1917 playoffs began on Oct. 6 at 2:08 p.m. local time with a sunset of 5:24 p.m., leaving a window of about 3¼ hours to play. When the playoffs open Wednesday, Chicago will have more than four hours until its sunset at 7:20 p.m. central war time.

The World Series will be played primarily in the city of the National League champion, which would host the odd game if all seven are played. The traditional method of scheduling would place the start date on Thursday, Sept. 12 (June 30) in the National League city.

However, travel considerations will determine which four games the senior circuit in fact hosts. An all-east coast or all-lakeshore series would use the traditional schedule of two games on, three off, two on, played without days off for travel, although Sunday play is still forbidden in the east. A cross-division Fall Classic would begin in the American League city, which would use up its three games in one go to facilitate a single transfer to the opposite city before the fourth game.

There also exists the possibility that the World Series could start early if neither pennant playoff goes the distance — each day saved is a day when the playoff team’s men could be fighting in Europe or working in war-related industries.   

In the event that the Red Sox and Cubs prevail in the league championship series, Boston will be declared the champion on the basis of historical fact and we will advance to 1919.

Chicago Contests at Larger Comiskey Facility

While the Chicago White Sox were eliminated last week, their stadium will see postseason action for the third consecutive season. The Cubs’ Weeghman Park seats 14,000 in a single deck, but playing at double-decked Comiskey Park will enable more than twice as many fans to attend — and perhaps more significantly for the leagues, to expend their income.  

Playoff Arbiters Named By League Offices

Each league has again nominated four umpires for postseason assignments, with two working the league championship series in each circuit and the others forming a quartet in the World Series.

Cy Rigler and Ernest Quigley will umpire the National League Championship Series. Rigler calls his 10th postseason, including five of the last eight World Series, while Quigley is in his fifth postseason including a 1916 World Series assignment.

On the American League side of the docket, Billy Evans and Dick Nallin will arbitrate the pennant playoff. Evans is a 13-year veteran of the force and has handled nine postseasons while Nallin, who concludes his fourth season in blue, is a playoff debutant.

The World Series will include the National League’s second and third senior umpires, Hank O’Day and Bill Klem respectively, along with George Hildebrand and Clarence “Brick” Owens from the American League.

Klem has worked eight of the last ten World Series and ten of the last 11 playoffs while O’Day has called 13 postseasons and six World Series. At least one of the two men has umpired every October since the modern major-league structure took hold in 1901, although they have only worked together in the 1908 World Series.

Hildebrand is a seventh-year umpire who has drawn two previous playoff assignments, the 1913 American League playoff and 1914 World Series. Owens is a sixth-year umpire finishing his third season on the A.L. staff who made his playoff debut in last year’s pennant playoff.

In a departure from the last decade, the World Series will move the foul-line arbiters inside the diamond, stationing one man at each base and abandoning the previous setup where one man was responsible for all three bases.

Tune In Live

Western correspondent Pete Peters will have the National League series on his Twitter feed (@POD_Peters). The American League pennant playoff and the World Series will each “air” on the main playoff feed (@playoffdreams) and both series’ recaps will appear on our website.

Upcoming Schedule

Wednesday’s Games
Red Sox at Cleveland, first game, 3 p.m.
Giants at Cubs, first game, 4 p.m. eastern war time

Thursday’s Games
Red Sox at Cleveland, first game, 3 p.m.
Giants at Cubs, first game, 4 p.m. eastern war time

Friday’s Games
None scheduled (travel day)

Saturday’s Games
Cleveland at Red Sox, third game, 3 p.m.
Cubs at Giants, third game, 3 p.m.

Monday’s Games
Cleveland at Red Sox, fourth game if necessary, 3 p.m.
Cubs at Giants, fourth game if necessary, 3 p.m.

Tuesday’s Games
Cleveland at Red Sox, fifth game if necessary, 3 p.m.
Cubs at Giants, fifth game if necessary, 3 p.m.

[8/3/18] Baseball season to end at Labor Day

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

CLEVELAND (Saturday, Aug. 3, 1918) — The 1918 baseball season has been pared back from nine more weeks to four after the joint meeting of American and National League owners here today. The decision to halt the season at the close of play on Labor Day, September 2, follows the “work or fight” order handed down from the Department of War in July.

As a result of the trimming, the season will consist of an average of 126 games per club, down from the original 154.

The tables below give the standings in each division at the close of play today, along with the number of games back for each club and the number of games remaining. These figures will be used to determine the clinching and elimination scenarios for the 1918 Playoff of Dreams.

National League East

Club	Record	Percent	Back	Remaining
New York	58-39	.598	0	27
Philadelphia	43-51	.457	13.5	29
Brooklyn	43-51	.457	13.5	32
Boston	42-55	.433	16	27

National League West

Club	Record	Percent	Back	Remaining
Chicago	63-33	.656	0	33
Pittsburgh	50-44	.532	12	31
Cincinnati	42-51	.452	19.5	35
St. Louis	42-59	.416	23.5	28

American League East

Club	Record	Percent	Back	Remaining
Boston	60-39	.606	0	27
Washington	54-44	.551	5.5	30
New York	48-47	.505	10	28
Philadelphia	39-57	.406	19.5	32

American League West

Club	Record	Percent	Back	Remaining
Cleveland	57-43	.570	0	27
Chicago	45-51	.469	10	28
St. Louis	43-53	.448	12	26
Detroit	43-55	.439	13	28

No clubs have been eliminated, though all of them outside the division leaders have moved closer. The New York Giants sport the largest division lead and the Cardinals have the smallest margin of error.

Plans call for the league pennant playoffs to commence on Wednesday, Sept. 4, in the western cities, with Friday reserved for travel. The series would likely proceed on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday in the eastern cities, unless Washington wins the American League eastern loop in which case Sunday would be used.

While the National League team will host four games if the World Series goes the distance, the exact schedule is subject to change depending on the distances between the clubs involved. The slated first game would be Thursday, Sept. 12.