Fall 1965, Update: Sept. 21

It’s the first day of Fall 1965 in my APBA baseball replay, if you consider the traditional date for the changing of seasons. If you’re more into the meteorological calendar, the actual day that Fall started that year, the Autumnal Equinox, came a day earlier on the 20^th.

Either way, to enact a seasonal metaphor for this replay, the Cincinnati Red are falling like maple leaves on a windy day, the Los Angeles Dodgers all but need to be raked into a bag and left on the curb and the Pittsburgh Pirates have suddenly shown hope like the last blast of warm air before winter approaches.

This one, APBA players, is heading into a fantastic finish.

Here are the National League standings for Sept. 21, 1965.

San Francisco       90     60    --

Pittsburgh             90     63   1.5

Cincinnati             89     62   1.5

St. Louis                88     63   2.5

Los Angeles          83     68   7.5

Philadelphia         76     75   14.5

Milwaukee            75     76   15.5

Chicago                 67     85   24

Houston               59     93    32.5

New York             40    112    51

The American League is down to two teams in the pennant race. Minnesota, with a league best record of 95-57, leads the Detroit Tigers and their 91-61 record by four games. The two teams won’t face each other for the rest of the season and Detroit has a seemingly easier schedule for their last 10 games. They play the Indians, White Sox and Senators while the Twins end their season with games against the hot Orioles, the Senators and the Angels.

Cincinnati began its fall by being swept by the lowly Mets. A trip home to face the Astros seemed like a potential winning salve, but instead the Reds shockingly lost both games of a doubleheader to Houston and since Sept. 1 have gone 7-13. Meanwhile, the Pirates, riding on Willie Stargell’s bat, went 16-3 during the same time.

San Francisco has taken the NL lead by going 16-7. Giant’s outfielder Willie Mays is making a strong case for the MVP award by hitting 10 of his league-leading 47 home runs so far in September. Mays batted .408 during the stretch, drove in 23 runs and scored 19 runs.

The Giants have two more games at Cincinnati before returning home for the rest of the season to host Milwaukee and St. Louis in three-game sets and then ending 1965 with four games against the Reds.

Pittsburgh appears to have the easiest schedule remaining with home and away series with both the Cubs and Mets.

I remember my first baseball replay 24 years ago. It’s hard to imagine it’s been that long ago, but I did the 1998 season, starting it on Dec. 28, 1998. Back then, I wasn’t into replays as much as I was just into rolling the games. If I recall correctly, the Yankees won the American League East by nearly 20 games and Texas crushed the West by about the same. There was no pennant race then.

This time, it could result in the closest finish I’ve ever had.

Will the Giants hang on? Will Cincinnati regain form and capitalize on Frank Robinson’s bat and their good pitching staff? Will Los Angeles somehow ever score runs and make it to the World Series like they did in the real 1965 season? Will the disappointing Milwaukee Braves play a spoiler role, facing the Giants and Dodgers in eight of their last 11 games?

This has been a fun season to replay since the start and it’s ending up as a great finish.