Just when it looks like a team is going to take a commanding lead in my 1965 APBA baseball replay season, the team either falters or another team gets suddenly hot and creates a close pennant race.
I’ve played about half the games scheduled for Sept. 8 in
the 1965 season. Both Minnesota and Cincinnati had four-game leads in their leagues
at the end of August and looked poised to easily roll through September and
into the World Series. But then baseball happened.
Detroit won eight games in a row in September so
far and Minnesota has lost three of seven games. The Twins now have a half-game
lead over the Tigers and now face the Chicago White Sox. Detroit hosts
Baltimore in its next contest.
In the National League, the Reds, anchored by the pitching
of Sammy Ellis’ amazing 21-3 record and Frank Robison’s bat, seemed ready to
claim the crown by August 31. The St. Louis Cardinals, which had led the
National League for most of the season, did a late summer swoon, going 14-16 in
August. The Redbirds have regrouped only slightly, winning four of seven games through
the eight days in September, but Cincinnati was swept by Pittsburgh and lost
two of three to Philadelphia – all at the Reds’ home stadium. They’ve won three
of eight to start the month.
Meanwhile, there are four other teams in the National League
that have a chance, including Pittsburgh, which has won seven of eight in
September, including that sweep of the Reds.
And San Francisco has been streaky. The Giants won three in
a row and then lost two in Philadelphia. Then, they won four before dropping
one to Los Angeles. The Giants’ next 10 games are against Chicago and Houston,
both pretty poor teams. They end the season with a three-game set hosting St.
Louis and then four games in San Francisco against Cincinnati.
So, at Sept. 8, 1965, here are the pennant races now:
AMERICAN
W L GB
Minnesota 88 53 ---
Detroit 88 54 0.5
California 75 67 13.5
NATIONAL W L GB
Cincinnati 85 54 ---
St. Louis 83 57 2.5
S.Francisco 80 56 3.5
Los Angeles 81 60 5
Pittsburgh 81 61 5.5
There have been some great games of late. For
example, with two outs in the top of the ninth in a Sept. 6 game, the Giants
and Dodgers were knotted, 1-1. Koufax was on the mound for Los Angeles, hoping
to shut San Francisco down and giving the Dodgers a chance in the bottom of the
inning. Willie Mays had a different idea and clubbed his major league leading
40th home run. Giants won, 2-1, after Bob Shaw got Ron Fairly on a
pop up, Lou Johnson on a ground out and Wes Parker on a fly out.
In the first game of Pittsburgh’s double header
with Cincinnati, also on Sept. 6, the
Pirates took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh. They scored when Frank
Robinson, who walked and took second on a ground out, crossed the plate after a
Johnny Edwards pinch hit single. In the bottom of the ninth, trailing by one
run, Robinson hit his 38th homer. It was his fourth in six days. But
in the top of the 10th, Roberto Clemente hit a triple, driving in
Bob Bailey and then scored on an error and the Pirates won, 8-6.
It’s been those kinds of games lately, when each
one really counts. The first replay season I ever did was the 1998 season;
Texas won its division by 20 games and the other races weren’t much closer. The
1965 season looks like it could go down to the wire with close races in each league.
It’s been a great season when you have Clemente
and Robinson and Mays and Harmon Killebrew and Norm Cash stepping up to the
plate with a game on the line.
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