Week 3 Summary (04/24/1967 - 04/30/1967)

Week Three of the 1967 BBW Replay is in the books, and as you might expect, it is still early and the standings in both leagues are a muddled mess. Week Three ended on the last day of April, so play in Week Four will resume in May. Somehow, the Pittsburgh Pirates have played only twelve games, while their nearby rival in Cincinnati has played twenty games. Obviously, everybody else is in the middle somewhere, with Detroit (AL) and Philadelphia (NL) both starting off on top of their respective leagues at 12-4, while Kansas City (AL) at 4-11, and New York (NL) at 4-13 bring up the tail end of their leagues.

In the AL, behind first-place Detroit, sit the usual suspects - Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore. All three teams have good pitching and good hitting, and if the Orioles can get the back end of their rotation fixed then the pennant race that everyone is expecting will still occur. Further, despite their rather lackluster start, Minnesota is only one game below .500 (7-8) and it is expected that they will make their presence known before the season is over as well, just further complicating this delicious stew.

 

In the NL, Philadelphia may be off to a hot start, but at the same time, they are also a perfect 7-0 versus the lowly New York Mets so far this season. The Phillies pitchers have the best team ERA in the NL, but their offense has only hit a paltry three homeruns in the first three weeks of the season. With only twelve games played Pittsburgh sits in second place and with their combination of hitting and pitching believe they will be in the pennant race to the end. St. Louis sits in third place, but they have had issues fielding a healthy lineup. Mike Shannon has missed a week already, as has Orlando Cepeda, and super-hot Roger Maris (.453, six homeruns) missed the second half of Week Three, and still, St. Louis is over .500 and confident that when they all get healthy, they will be ready to take off.

So far this season each league has had eleven extra-inning games, and each league has thrown fifteen shutouts. We have also had multiple no-hit bids - if you have a no-hitter through six innings, it's a no-hitter bid - but no no-hitters yet. There have also been more than a handful of one-hitters. No-hitters are tough to get, but I would not be surprised if I had 2-to 3 by the end of the season.

 

It's freezing outside here, and it is supposed to be worse next week. You know what that means - let's go play some games.




Fulton County Stadium 1966 Digital Art by Gary Grigsby - Pixels



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