MLB Update: 4/19

I'm sorry for the absence.  Since the Madison Baseball season started, I have been far too busy to put out a blog.  I'll try to get one out as often as I can, but expect blogs to be few and far between until the summer.

History of Baseball: 1920
World Series Champions: Cleveland Indians (98-56, .636 WPCT).
     The year 1920 was the dawn of a new era, as well as an extremely eventful season.  Right off the bat, on January 3rd, the Red Sox sold superstar Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000.  To this date, it is known as one of the worst trades of all time.  A month later, on February 13th, the Negro National League formally organized.  It included eight teams, including the Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Havana Cuban Stars, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABC's, Kansas City Monarchs, and St. Louis Giants.  The major leagues also switched to a new, livelier type of baseball that would effectively end the Dead Ball Era.  On May 14th, the Senators' Walter Johnson became the tenth member of the 300 win club, following Eddie Plank from five years earlier.  Later, on August 16th, tragedy struck.  The Yankees' Carl Mays hit the Indians' Ray Chapman on the head with a pitch (remember, there were no helmets back then), fracturing his skull.  Twelve hours later, Chapman died and became the only player in major league history (still to this day) to die from injuries sustained on the field.  Later, Major League Baseball would ban the spitball due to the accident.  Two future Hall of Famers debuted in 1920, being 21 year old shortstop Joe Sewell, ironically Chapman's replacement on the Indians, and 20 year old third baseman Pie Traynor, a Pirates mainstay.  During the season, new Yankee Babe Ruth became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs, then became the first to reach 40 later in the season.  By the end, he had knocked 54, smashing his own old record of 29.  The 54 home runs were twice as many as any player not named Ruth had ever hit in a season, with Ned Williamson checking in with 27 in 1884.  Over the offseason, eight White Sox and one St. Louis Brown were permanently banned from professional baseball due to their involvement in the Black Sox Scandal: pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, outfielders Happy Felsch and Shoeless Joe Jackson, infielders Fred McMullin, Buck Weaver, Chick Gandil, and Swede Risburg, and St. Louis infielder Joe Gedeon.  Most notable among the nine were Eddie Cicotte, the White Sox star pitcher, and Joe Jackson, one of the best hitters in baseball at the time.  Jackson, after initially confessing, recanted his confession and maintained his innocence until his death in 1951.  Nowadays, many doubt that Jackson, who finished his career with a .356 average, was actually involved, considering the fact that he batted .375 during the Series.
       The eight team American League saw five fall out of contention early, and headed into the end of the season, the Indians, White Sox, and Yankees were locked in a tight race.  Eventually, Cleveland (98-56) won the pennant by two games over Chicago (96-58) and three over New York (95-59).  In fourth place were the Browns, who went 76-77 and finished 21.5 games back.  The Brooklyn Robins easily won the National League, going 93-61 to earn the pennant by seven games over the Giants (86-68).  Over in the Negro National League, the Chicago American Giants went 31-15 to win the first pennant in the Negro Leagues.  The Indians and Robins met in the World Series, where the Indians won five games to two.  Not a single home run was hit in the pitching dominated series, but the Indians were led on the mound by Stan Coveleski (3-0, 0.67 ERA) and Duster Mails (1-0, 15.2 shutout innings).  Brooklyn's Sherry Smith also pitched extremely well, going 1-1 with a 0.53 ERA.
       Statistically, the Browns' George Sisler batted .407 to take the batting title, also knocking 19 home runs and driving in 122 with 42 stolen bases to put up the best season of his 16 year, Hall of Fame career.  His 257 hits set a new major league record, one that would stand for 84 years until Ichiro Suzuki had 262 hits in 2004.  Sisler's cross town rival, Cardinals second baseman Rogers Hornsby, earned his first of six straight National League batting titles by hitting .370.  The real story, however, was not in St. Louis, but rather in the Bronx.  Babe Ruth hit an unimaginable 54 home runs for the Yankees, outpacing the second place Sisler by 35 home runs.  Ruth also led the league with 137 RBI, 158 runs scored, 150 walks, a .532 on base percentage, an .847 slugging percentage, and a 1.379 OPS.  At the time, the home runs, walks, slugging percentage, and OPS set new major league records.  In addition, he batted .376, giving him a stat line of 54 home runs, 137 RBI, and a .376 average, easily the greatest offensive season to date.  In his final season, Shoeless Joe Jackson knocked 12 home runs, drove in 121, and batted .382 for the White Sox.  At the dawn of the offensive era, the Cubs' Grover Cleveland Alexander managed to keep opposing hitters at bay.  He won another National League pitchers' triple crown, going 27-14 with a 1.91 ERA and 173 strikeouts.  Babe Adams also kept his head in this offensive era, going 17-13 with a 2.16 ERA and a league leading 0.98 WHIP.  The AL did not have as much success on the mound, as Stan Coveleski led the league in ERA at 2.49 while going 24-14.  Cleveland teammate Jim Bagby led the majors in wins, going 31-12 with a 2.89 ERA.  

News
Yeah a lot has happened since my last blog, so I'll do my best.
Rays pitcher Matt Moore, Pirates prospect Jameson Taillon, and Mets closer Bobby Parnell have elected to undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the remainder of the 2014 season.
Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman broke his thumb and will be out four to six weeks.
Mets traded Ike Davis (2014 stats: 1 HR, 5 RBI, .208 AVG, 0 SB, 2014 age: 27) to the Pirates for minor leaguer Zach Thornton (2-0, 1.23 ERA, 1.09 WHIP at AAA, 2014 age: 26).
Padres signed Jedd Gyorko to a six year, $35 million extension ($5.83 million per season).

Game Scores
Nationals (10-7) beat the Cardinals (10-7) 3-1.
Orioles (8-7) beat the Red Sox (7-10) 8-4.
Rays (8-9) beat the Yankees (10-7) 11-5.
Rockies (9-9) beat the Phillies (7-9) 12-1.
Diamondbacks (5-14) beat the Dodgers (10-7) 4-2 (12 innings).
Reds (7-9) beat the Cubs (4-11) 4-1.
Angels (8-8) beat the Tigers (7-6) 11-6.
Top Scorer: Rockies beat the Phillies 12-1.

Standings
AL East: Yankees (10-7, .588 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (7-6, .538).  AL West: A's (11-5, .688).
NL East: Braves (11-5, .688).  NL Central: Brewers (12-5, .706).  NL West: Dodgers/Giants (10-7, .588).
AL Wild Cards: Rangers (10-7, .588) and Orioles/Royals (8-7, .533).  NL Wild Cards: Nationals/Cardinals/Giants (10-7, .588).
Bottom Team: Diamondbacks (5-14, .263).  Longest W Streak: Rangers, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: Astros and Cubs, 5 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Chase Utley (Phillies), .429 (24-56).  Home runs: 5 tied with 6.  RBI: Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins), 26.   Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 10.
Pitching: Wins: 15 tied with 3.  K's: Felix Hernandez (Mariners), 39.  ERA: Aaron Harang (Braves), 0.70 (25.2 IP, 2 ER).  Saves: Huston Street (Padres), 6.

Top Performers
Offensive: Howie Kendrick (Angels): 3-5, 2 home runs (2), 4 RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .027 from .234 to .261, hitting streak to 3 games (6-16, .375 AVG).
Pitching: Martin Perez (Rangers): Win (3-0), 9 shutout innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 8 K's (20), ERA drop: 0.84 runs from 2.70 to 1.86.
Worst Pitching Performance: Jarred Cosart (Astros): Loss (1-2), 0.1 innings, 7 earned runs, 3 hits, 4 walks, 0 K's, ERA jump: 3.36 runs from 4.00 to 7.36.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage
Zack Silverman