New York Examiner:
The new week begins with the American League idle. At rest. For nine of the AL's teams, that rest will take them through until early 1926, but for our pinstriped heroes, it will only last a few days. The World Series will begin in in a few days at the Bronx in the House that Slug Built, with the only question who the Yankees will be hosting. Regardless of who shows up, they will be heavy underdogs after the way our boys tore through September and October, winning an astonishing 26 consecutive games and leaving a good Kansas City team 24 games behind. And if this year's team did not (quite) reach the 125-game heights that last year's team did, the acquisition of Babe Ruth did not disappoint.
St. Louis Globe:
We will begin by stipulating that 1915 was worse than 1925, no matter what tomorrow brings. Even as the Browns sat in 9th place both years, having the Cardinals win about 25% more of their games makes this a better year. And, indeed, the Rajah et al. may yet bring five more wins this year and lead all to forget about the last month. The Browns escaped the cellar thanks to halfway-competent play in August and September while the Senators collapsed, but the Senators drew 100,000 more fans than the Browns and maintained some fan interest while Mound City fans checked out as Dapper Dan took the reins.
But this Browns talk is just stalling because we don't want to face the Cardinals' possible fate. At the All-Star Break, the Cards looked like they could go toe-to-toe against the Yankees, and their 10.5 game lead over Baltimore was much bigger than the Packers' deficit behind New York. But they could not keep up that pace and they stopped hitting in September (except for Hornsby) and now here we are.
We have to thank the stars that we won in 1918. Even a win tomorrow only will bring the prospect of facing the Yankees yet again, having that Murderer's Row parade around the bases from Collins to Santop to that brute Cy Williams. And, just our luck, Oscar Charleston has learned to hit again. And now there's Babe Ruth.
Still, losing to the Yankees would mean we had won the pennant. Sitting home and listening to the Blues lose to the Yankees on the wireless would mean we had a collapse of epic proportions.
Buffalo Journal-News:
This is the National League's 50th season. In the 49 completed seasons, pennant winners have come from New York and from Chicago; from Philadelphia and from Baltimore; from cities that don't have a team in the league any longer like Detroit and from cities that don't have a big-league team at all like Providence. Nine of the ten cities in the National League have had a pennant winner in a major league, whether the NL, or the American League, or the old American Association. The odd city out is our own Queen City.
While the Bisons won a few Eastern League crowns, and we are not ungrateful for them, today we stand as close as Buffalo has ever been to a big-league pennant. None of the previous entries, whether NL or even the Players' League, came close to the top. With a win today, the Blues will win the pennant and face the mighty Yankees. They would be deep underdogs to the New Yorkers, but that is a problem for another day.
Even having this chance is a mighty surprise. The Blues began September in second place but 10 games back. This was already on track to be the best showing in Buffalo baseball history, but a torrid 20-9 record in September combined with a shocking 10-16 showing by the Cardinals brought our boys most of the way back. The Blues kicked it up a notch, with both pitchers and hitters responding.
Whatever Hal Chase has been doing, he needs to keep doing it for one more game.
Newark (NJ) Dispatch:
The Peppers entered the league at the same time as the Packers, Blues, and Orioles, and it seemed like a miracle--in the span of a few short weeks Newark went from a minor league city to the Federal League to the American League. But while the Packers have been a first-division team since 1920, the Orioles have drafted and traded well and look to be a late-20s powerhouse, and the Blues may end the day as National League pennant winners, the Peppers have yet to reach .500 or sniff the first division. We have some good players, but no Frankie Frisch, Guy Bush, or Mickey Cochrane has worn our uniform, let alone a Sam Streeter, Lou Gehrig or Al Simmons.
While the other former-Feds had some very difficult years, they all now find themselves vying for the pennant (if the Yankees ever loosen their grip) while the Peppers cycle between 6th and 10th place. Furthermore, the solution to the team's problems does not appear to be close at hand, and it may be the 1930s before they can compete. By then, they may be back in Indianapolis or in Louisville or some other would-be big-league city, but one that can't hear about Heilmann or Torriente's latest escapades on the local wireless. We hope he Peppers (or whatever name they may have in the future) will stay in the Garden State, but that future remains cloudier than we might hope.
