Week Twenty-One of the 1967 BBW Replay is in the books, and
another exciting week it was. We still have two pennant races, and there has
been no quarter given by any team. The season has reached September, and there
are four weeks remaining in this final month yet to be completed. The Chicago
Cubs are the only team to have reached the 140-games-played mark, thanks in
part to finishing this week with three consecutive doubleheaders at home versus
the New York Mets. Tomorrow is Labor Day, and it will be another holiday doubleheader
extravaganza with eight doubleheaders on the docket (Note: The Cubs and Mets do
not have a twin-bill on Monday).
In the
AL, Boston still maintains a solid 5.5 games lead over Baltimore and 7.0 games
over Detroit. None of the three teams is on a particularly hot streak as
Baltimore and Detroit seem to be content to duke it out for second place while
Boston is happy to be in first place and just wants to ride it out. Cleveland,
Chicago, and Minnesota remain in fourth through sixth place, and while actual
pennant implications for these three remain unlikely at this point, all three
are committed to the idea of finishing atop this group, so they continue to
fight for every win as best they can.
In the
NL, Atlanta began the week atop the standings by the merest of percentage
points. They advanced that lead to 1.5 games in mid-week but ended the week
only 0.5 games ahead of second-place St. Louis. The Cardinals had an
opportunity to reclaim the top spot later in the week but faltered in their
attempt. As St. Louis stumbled along, seeming from out of nowhere, Cincinnati
moved into a tie for second place with St. Louis, the Reds ending the week 1.5
games behind Atlanta and 1.0 games behind St. Louis. Los Angeles ended the week
in fourth place, 5.0 games behind Atlanta, with Philadelphia, Chicago, and San
Francisco in close pursuit. Similar to the AL, some of these teams have come to
the realization that a pennant is unlikely but continue to fight to move up the
standings, and any problems they can cause for the leaders is just gravy.
The big
news of the week was a no-hitter thrown by Chicago Cubs pitcher Bill Hands
against the New York Mets on Sunday in Game One of their doubleheader. This was
game #5 in the trio of Cubs/Mets doubleheaders to end the week, but the Mets
came back to claim a 1-0 win in the final game, clearly an indication of two
very tired teams.
As both
leagues find themselves enmeshed in a knock-down-drag-out of a pennant race where
it is close and no one wants to be accused of taking it easy on one of the
pennant contenders, and as a season's worth of nagging little injuries, weight
loss, and fatigue have accumulated, the end is now in sight as we have entered
the final month of the regular season, so every player is willing to suck it up
and do the best that they can, right down to the end. There are still plenty of
doubleheaders remaining, including eight of them tomorrow on Labor Day, so no
rest for the weary! Let's go play!
In
Memoriam: Don
Wert
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