Well, it's been a couple of real-life months and it's also been a few game months, and I'm finally getting around to posting my World Series recap! Long story short, after two games where the Cardinals just plain looked like they had the Yankees' number, a miracle finish to Game 3 spurred a New York win in 6 games. St. Louis led in every single game, lost four of them anyhow.
Game 1: After taking a quick 2-0 lead in the first, Faber immediately gave the runs back. St. Louis scored single runs in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and surprise starter Waite Hoyt kept the Yankees down. A rally in the 9th was too little too late and the Cardinals won 5-3.
Game 2: A pitching duel between Bill Doak and Claude Hendrix was knotted 1-1 at the end of regulation. Gilhooley came in to pinch hit for Hendrix in the 10th (to no avail), and reliever Slim Harriss gave up a single and a walkoff double. St. Louis took the game 2-1 and a 2-0 lead in the series.
Game 3: If the Yankees become an unbeatable dynasty in this game universe, this will be the game that will be seen as the beginning of it all. Frank Allen got the start in a bit of a surprise (I decided to go with what the algorithm was pushing, figuring it couldn't get worse) and had 7 pretty good innings! Unfortunately, these games are 9 innings long, and Lee Meadows was pitching just as well. With the score 2-2 in the top of the 8th, Allen gave up 5 hits and three runs. It could have been worse but Ty Cobb threw out Del Pratt at home. But with their backs against the wall down 5-2 and staring at a 3-0 deficit in the series, the Yankees finally did what they'd been doing all year in the 9th and the offense let loose. Plus, they got some luck. Charleston singled, Collins walked, and then Heilmann (who was 4th in the league in GIDP) hit a sure double-play ball that Hornsby booted. After that the crowd started to believe. Santop singled, Cobb singled, and St. Louis brought in Al Schacht to relieve with the score now 5-4, the bases loaded and nobody out. Peckinpaugh grounded into a near-double play of his own, leading to the first out of the inning and leaving the bases loaded. Cy Williams then found his date with destiny, hitting a walkoff grand slam home run and rescuing the Yankees. With the 8-5 win, the Yankees were back in it.
Game 4: Dave Brown got the ball for the Yankees, vs. Bunny Hearn for St. Louis. Brown was pitching well, but New York faced a 2-0 deficit entering the bottom of the 7th when they again erupted for a very crooked number in a 5-run effort. Brown finished it off, the Yankees won 6-3, and tied up the series.
Game 5: The last game of the season at the Polo Grounds featured yet another late comeback from the Yankees. Ruether started for the Yankees and Hoyt for the Cardinals, with both earning passing grades as the 8th inning started with New York up 4-3. Ruether gave up a double to Hornsby and a walk to Meusel and gave way to Mogridge in relief, who immediately let Hornsby score on a single. Two batters later, Meyer singled to score Harris and the Cardinals had a lead. However, the lead was short-lived--Charlie Blackwell's bases-loaded triple gave New York the lead, and Frank Baker's sacrifice fly was followed by three singles and another sacrifice fly, and the 6-run inning more than offset a 9th-inning home run by George Carr.
Game 6: The action moved to Sportsman's Park in St. Louis with the Yankees a game away from their first championship. Faber took the mound against Bill Doak amid some speculation about who might start a Game 7. The Cardinals again took a lead, but the Yankees erupted in the 4th for 5 runs (perhaps helped by a too-quick hook by the Cardinals manager and the very hittable Al Schacht coming in). Faber labored but the Yankees continued to tack on, with Charleston hitting a home run in the 7th and Wally Pipp (in as a defensive replacement) adding a home run of his own in the 9th. Given Pipp's popularity in New York but his diminished play time with the rise of Bill Terry and the outfield logjam, sentimental baseball fans across Gotham were delighted. With the 12-5 win, the Yankees were World Series champions.
Ty Cobb won the World Series MVP award, though I think my vote would have gone to Santop (as I predicted!). Both had 11 hits, leading all batters, though Cobb had 2 fewer at-bats and led in batting for everyone with more than 6 at-bats with .478. Peckinpaugh redeemed his awful 1918 series by slashing .381/.500/.619, with the latter leading all regulars in slugging while he also led all in OPS. Santop led all batters in Win Probability added with 0.44, with Cobb just behind him. Gene Robertson was probably the best Cardinals regular, slashing .350/.381/.500. Hornsby had a reasonably good series with a good OPS, but the key error in the Game 3 St. Louis meltdown may end up an unavoidable part of his legacy. If the Cardinals hadn't won in 1918 it might sting a lot more.
Bill Doak was clearly the best pitcher in the series, coming in 2nd in innings pitched with an ERA of 1.32. After his Game 2 masterpiece, he was victimized by his defense in Game 3, with two errors leading to 4 unearned runs in Game 6 and an early dismissal. Claude Hendrix had the best unblemished pitching performance, matching Doak in Game 2 for the 9 innings he was in.
And so the Yankees' 1920 season ended more or less the way it went all year--with colossal hitting that sometimes disappeared supported by pitching that was usually good enough. And with that, my main goal for this game was completed--I won a championship with the Yankees earlier than they did in real life. But of course, I'm going to keep going. :)
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