SHL: American Atlantic Division

Checking in at the end of the season with the American Atlantic division.

* – Playoff Team

The American Atlantic Division is sending two teams to the playoffs in the Seamheads Historical League’s inaugural season.  The American Atlantic was far and away the SHL’s best division with every team finishing over .500, the division leader having the best record in baseball and the second-place team winning the wild card with the third best record in the league. The Yankees, A’s and Red Sox finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in runs scored while Red Sox placed first in runs allowed.  Of the 25 offensive categories tracked in the SHL, representatives from the American Atlantic ranked first in 9 statistics.  Lou Gehrig  was the SHL batting champ finishing the season with a .365 average.  Gehrig also led the SHL in OBP (.439), OPS (1.037), VORP (+86), Runs Created (157.6) Runs Created/27 outs (10.56) and Total Bases (353).  Oakland’s Eddie Collins led the league in stolen bases with 81, 21 more than Willie Wilson who finished in second place. Boston’s Tris Speaker finished first in Runs Scored with 142.

Other notable seasons were had by Yankee Babe Ruth and Boston’s own Ted Williams.  Williams finished the season second behind Gehrig in OBP by just .001 points (.439 vs. .438).  Williams ranked fourth in VORP behind Gehrig and Ruth and third behind the duo in Runs Created (Gehrig 157.6, Ruth 146.8, Williams 135.5). Williams also ranked 5th in Walks (113).  Quite an impressive offensive bunch.  It would be surprising if Gehrig were not named the SHL’s first MVP.

On the pitching and defense side, Boston was clearly the best. Cy Young led the league with a whopping 27 wins, 19 complete games (Tied for 1st) and a .844 winning percentage, which was also a league best.  Young also led the league in Walks/9IP at 1.1, led all pitchers in VORP at 92.4, and finished 2nd in ERA at 2.65, just .002 less than league leader Harry “The Cat” Brecheen. Other American Atlantic notables were Oakland’s Rube Waddell who led the league with 5 shutouts and finished third in the league with 24 wins.  Boston’s Lefty Grove also finished the season tied for third with 3 shutouts.

With the playoffs right around the corner, Boston has to be the clear favorite to win the series.  They finished the season hot, going 9-1 in their last 10 and are sitting in the cat bird seat looking down at the rest of the league. They’ll have a strong opponent in the first round though, facing their divisional rivals, the Athletics. Young will take the mound in Game 1 and will be opposed by Chief Bender (19-11, 3.32 ERA).  Good luck to Bill James and his Boston Red Sox and to Jonathan Mayo and his Phi-KC-Oak Athletics.