Alt-1922 at the start of June

 

It's the start of play on 1 June 1922. The Yankees have played 54 games, placing them at the one-third mark of the season, and they find themselves 31-23, tied for 2nd place with the surprising Washington Senators and a game behind the not-surprising Boston Red Sox. I suspect this would be considered a bit of a dismaying season by Yankee fans, though--after a very hot 18-7 start to the year, they went 13-16 in May. I can't honestly remember the last time they were that far under .500 for a full month. It feels like they really earned that bad month, too--as is typically the case when they hit a rough patch, it was the pitching that's been letting down the Yankees. Red Faber has lost two games where he had a 4-run lead in the 9th. Grover Cleveland Alexander, the big addition of the off-season, has been a bust so far and is relegated to the bullpen. There've also been some injuries, with Peckinpaugh out for a while and Eddie Collins spending a long time on the IL (he's still there). But Dobie Moore seems to be doing fine enough. Charleston is a very streaky player, whether or not that's actual or just how it feels, and he hit a very cold streak.  Looking at the statistics, the Yanks are scoring nearly a run per game more than the average AL team, and are giving up about the league average of runs per game. On the whole, the team isn't in terrible shape, and it's not like they can't win the pennant without catching fire on the way, but fans would be excused for not seeing the juggernauts that played in 1918, 1920, and 1921. 

Over in the NL, the Robins have been leading the whole way, with the Giants more or less in 2nd place the whole time. The Robins built a huge lead but have been coming back to the pack of late. Lou Gehrig is basically a shoo-in for RoY if he doesn't get hurt (in this universe, who knows?), but Buffalo is deep in last place. 

As for the farm teams, Toronto is sitting atop a bit of a scrum that's 3-4 games behind league leaders Rochester. They're also playing 4 games below their Pythag projection while Rochester is 2 games better. Toronto is fine, especially given their function as the AAA club.  New Orleans, per usual practice, is in 8th place. Maybe they'll reach .500 one of these days?

Alt-1922 Preview

The 1922 season opener is nigh, and the Yankees were far below .500 during Spring Training. They pulled off one big trade, sending Hank Robinson and Jesse Barnes, neither of whom were getting many innings for the Yanks, to the Phillies in exchange for Grover Cleveland Alexander. Robinson and Barnes made the list of anticipated best pitchers in 1922, as did Frank Allen, who we shipped off at the trade deadline in 1921. Alexander did not make the list. 

Nevertheless, the algorithm thinks that the Yankees are heading for their third consecutive pennant, finishing 2 games ahead of Boston with the Packers again holding down third place. The algorithm thinks it'll be an overall great year for baseball in the Big Apple, actually, predicting a Subway Series against the Giants, with the Robins challenging them for the NL pennant.  The Cinderella Athletics and the World Champion Rustlers both drop back to .500 or so.  I'll post the predictions just below.

I didn't manage (most of) the Spring Training games, though I did watch them all. The team was pretty out of sync, it seemed--the pitching was bad and often the hitting was, too.  On the other hand, the computer made lots of decisions I wouldn't have. And really, it was Spring Training so who cares? Nobody got hurt and presumably everyone got enough at-bats and innings to do OK as the season begins. The roster struggle was real, and I ended up dropping Rube Benton when he refused to be sent down (which, fine) but also sending down Goose Goslin because I didn't want to potentially lose Rube Curry if he wasn't on a major-league roster. I don't particularly have a lot of at-bats ready for Goslin anyhow. I could have sent down Dutch Ruether, but I think I'd rather have him on the big-league roster, too. We'll just have to see how it all goes.

Following up a few posts from Alt-1921 with the remaining real-life Black Sox etc.:

• Chick Gandil is the 2nd-string 1B with the Portland Beavers, the Cubs' AAA farm team
• Eddie Cicotte is 37 years old and a free agent, having been released by the Red Sox after a league-average 1921. This could be the end of the road for him.
• Happy Felsch's game slipped a notch in 1921 from his excellent 1918-1920, but he remains the starting CF and biggest star (and highest-payed player) on the White Sox.
• Joe Jackson missed 6 weeks with a broken rib and only played in 109 games for the Spiders as a result, but he did hit .379 with 21 triples (!). He's got a good shot at 1000 career RBI by the end of the season if he stays healthy, though 2500 hits will be a 1923 milestone at the earliest. Jackson turns 33 during the season and could certainly play until the late 1920s in theory...
• Fred McMullin was unemployed for most of 1921, but signed with Omaha in September where he went 5-15, and then became a free agent again at the end of the season. He is unemployed as Alt-1922 begins.
• Swede Risberg was a free agent for all of 1921, then signed with the New Haven Ravens of the (independent) American Association. He is their backup 2B.
• Buck Weaver: Still retired.
• Lefty Williams had a great 1921, leading the NL in wins (24) and Ks (110), making the All-Star team and finishing 3rd in Cy Young voting. He's hoping to lead the Robins past the Giants (see above) to the pennant.
• Joe Gedeon had a terrible 1921 for the Browns, rather below Replacement Level. He remains, as their backup 2B. 
• Hal Chase has retired after a mostly-inactive 1921 (he had 9 AB for Portland). He doesn't have much of a Hall of Fame case.  He still clings to a few all-time career records for the Buffalo Blues (including hits and total bases) but Austin McHenry will as likely as not pass him in all of those categories in 1922.
• Heinie Zimmerman had his 3rd consecutive season batting below .230 for the White Sox but remains their best option at 3B and their starter (at least vs. RHP) as Alt-1922 starts.