In the end, the Alt-1924 Yankees could not be denied. In the 1923 World Series they came in heavily favored but also heavily injured, and while their replacements did well, the Yankees missed Santop, Collins, and Charleston more than the stats might show (or maybe I'm being Watsonian here). This time, they came in with a fully-healthy roster, and handily defeated the Cardinals 4 games to 1.
Harry Heilmann was the MVP, hitting .455 with an OPS of 1.069 -- not as high as Goose Goslin's, but in 21 rather than 16 at-bats. Hotter still was Joe Harris, who went 12 for 21 and slashed .571/.591/.619 in a losing cause. Sam Rice also had a big series for St. Louis. As a team, the Cardinals had almost as high a batting average as the Yankees (three fewer hits in two more at-bats, and about the same number of walks), but the Yankees hit for more power (slugging at .438 vs. .356 for the Cardinals) and were able to turn those advantages into more runs (6 vs. 3.8 per game). While it wasn't necessarily a deciding factor, the Yankees defense also held, with the team giving up zero unearned runs vs. four for St. Louis. It felt like there were a few errors in big situations for the Cardinals, too.
As noted, Harris and Rice were on fire for the Cards, but few of their teammates pitched in. Cardinals pinch-hitters were 5 for 11 with a couple of walks and a couple of RBI, and helped St. Louis win Game 2. However, Hornsby hit .235, Wright hit .250, Witt hit .222, and Meusel hit .158, so Harris and Rice's efforts were rarely rewarded.
The Yankees' lineup, on the other hand, performed well up and down. Traynor hit .375 with a home run and a triple, Collins hit .368 out of the leadoff spot, Santop rebounded from a terrible start to go 4 for 7 with two doubles and 5 RBI in the last two games, Cobb hit .333, Terry was hitting .385 when he was sidelined with an injury in Game 4, and Pipp went 3 for 5 as his replacement. On the pitching end, Pennock pitched brilliantly to notch two wins, Vance pitched well to grab another one, and Fitzsimmons was in the right place at the right time to grab the Game 5 win. He and Luque threw the only real clunker for New York in Game 2. For St. Louis, Padron pitched OK but was tagged with two losses. Hoyt pitched a little bit better and got St. Louis' one win. Coveleski was a disaster in his start, and Toney was also a disaster in his start.
Are the Alt-1924 Yankees the best team in baseball history (in this timeline)? I think it would be hard to argue otherwise. The Spiders managed to win 7 of 18 against the Yankees, more than any other team. The Yankees swept the season series against Newark. Winning 125 games in a 162-game regular season feels like it won't be easy to repeat, though I didn't think that beating the 1923 team's 121 wins would be doable. This team has now won five consecutive AL pennants and six out of the last seven years, and done so with a very stable lineup--Charleston, Collins, Heilmann, Pipp, Santop, Cobb, and Peckinpaugh all played in the Series-clinching games in both 1920 and 1924, and Williams, Faber, and Pennock also played in both 1920 and 1924 for the Yankees. Several other players were on the World Series roster both years but only played one of them.
As I've mentioned in other posts, what would be particularly terrifying for the fans (and owners?) of other AL teams is that the Yankees do not seem to be nearing the end of any sort of window of contention. Collins is aging, but his real-life 1925 and 1926 were just as good as his excellent real-life 1924, though his playing time decreased. The same could be said for Cobb, though he rebounded from only playing half of 1926 to going back to full-time duty in 1927. The same can also be said for Cy Williams. Heilmann can be expected to play at a high level through 1930. Terry has yet to hit his real stride, and should be productive until 1935. Traynor should be above-average until 19 32 or so. And for those who do start to drop off due to age or injury or whatever else, there are replacements ready--Cronin should only be a few years away from being our starting shortstop, Lazzeri is sitting at AAA, as are Pepper Martin and Lefty O'Doul. It may be that an expansion draft in 1928 will take some wind out of the Yankees' sails, but it's as likely as not just going to free up some logjams and let new blood come in.
On the pitching side, the story is much the same--Pennock, Rixey, Luque, and Faber probably have a few more years of effectiveness, Vance is probably good into the early 30s if he follows his historical path, Fitzsimmons is already in the rotation and is likely to be productive into the mid 30s (if not necessarily _every_ year in that span), and the Yankees notably have Lefty Grove stashed at AAA (along with Flint Rehm, who also had a decent MLB career if not one like Grove's).
As for how Alt-1924 will end, the Barnstorming Tour will be starting soon and will be heading to East Asia, with games in Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, and Hong Kong before finishing in the Philippines. Relevant to the worldbuilding discussion I've had elsewhere, I'm imagining the Philippines as a US ally that got their independence following the Spanish-American War (or its equivalent) rather than becoming a US colony, and I'm also imagining Korea maintaining their independence. I guess I still imagine Hong Kong as British? Anyhow, that will play out, and the Caribbean League will have its usual season. I'll probably upgrade to the new version of OOTP after that...
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