Week 22 Summary (09/04/1967 - 09/10/1967)

Week Twenty-Two of the 1967 BBW Replay is in the books, and with three weeks remaining tensions are still high. Every team has passed the 140-games-played mark, so with only ~twenty games remaining there are still pennant races yet to be decided plus all the non-pennant-contenders continue to fight on, hoping to jump a few spots in the final standings. 

In the AL, Boston remains on top, 7.0 games ahead of Detroit and 7.5 games ahead of Baltimore, with a magic number now sitting at eleven. It looks like neither Baltimore nor Detroit will be able to mount a serious challenge to Boston and Boston refuses to fold, so all three seem to be content to sit and watch the magic number just dwindle down. It is also frustrating that Detroit and Baltimore both have better records than anyone in the NL.

 

Below Detroit and Baltimore sit Cleveland, Chicago, and Minnesota, all three bunched in a tight grouping. All three are fighting for that fourth spot, plus they are also fighting to reach and then stay above .500. Cleveland sits in the four-spot for the moment, although they are only ahead of Chicago by a matter of percentage points. In either case, they are both 12.5 games behind third-place Baltimore. All three are officially eliminated from the pennant race, but the race for fourth continues.

 

In the NL, the story is quite different. At the end of Friday, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Cincinnati all ended the day with 78 wins, with Atlanta having one less loss (63) than the other two. Atlanta has been tenacious about holding on to the top spot, and while St. Louis has managed to climb on top a few times, they have never been able to hold on to their lead. Bob Gibson recently rejoined St. Louis, but it hasn't provided the spark the Cardinals fans were looking for. Cincinnati was stuck in the group of teams in the middle of the pack until they went on a recent win surge, and now with first place seemingly within their grasp, they have high hopes.

Neither Atlanta nor St. Louis have been able to make strides into locking up the top spot, hence the appearance of Cincinnati in their rearview mirrors, but behind Cincinnati, Los Angeles is sitting at only 4.0 games out of second. Immediately behind Los Angeles comes Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, and while these three may be out of the official race, all three can perform mayhem on an unsuspecting contender as teams head down the final stretch.

 

As if pennant race excitement isn't enough, teams are also working their expanded rosters, occasionally resting veterans for the remainder of the season, sometimes just outright releasing veterans, and carving out playing time for late-season call-ups now that the minor league seasons have completed. For some, it is the proverbial cup of coffee, some will see additional opportunities when expansion comes along in a few years, but it is always good to see fresh faces make their appearance as they start their major league careers.

 Three weeks remaining to play … Boston looks pretty safe in the AL, but the NL is still anybody's guess. St. Louis is "supposed" to win of course, but Atlanta and Cincinnati aren't going to just roll over for them, and while St. Louis is playing well enough to have gotten to where they are, whether they can turn it up over these final few weeks remains to be seen. That can only mean one thing … let's go play!





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