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?