Series with New York the Turning Point in Championship Race—Disability of Players the Thing Most to Be Feared from Now On—Table of Comparison on Games with the Giants—White Sox Lose Chance to Gain on American Leaders.
The sensational series between the Chicago and New York Nationals, which was fought and won by Chicago on the west side grounds last week, while all the baseball world looked on with intense interest, settled in the minds of many close followers of the game in the 1906 pennant race, barring those elements of accident and broken ranks which cut such figure in baseball, but which cannot be foreseen or absolutely guarded against.
With an even break in this kind of luck for the rest of the season, Chance’s warriors cannot lose out now, so long as they retain that splendid fighting spirit which has carried them victoriously through every slump and tough spot so far. It seems, therefore, as nearly assured as anything can be in the most uncertain of all outdoor sports that Chicago’s fans are to be rewarded at last by the ownership of a National league pennant, after a long and patient twenty years of fasting, and that Frank Chance is to be the Moses who will lead them out of the desert of Alsorandom.
This is no premature assertion that anything is cinched, or the product of any overconfident spirit of “they can’t be beat.” The Spuds can be beaten out of the pennant if Manager Chance and Johnny Kling should break a leg apiece, and if a couple of pitchers like Brown, or Lundgren, or Taylor be taken sick, or if the whole outfit should run into a railroad wreck before Oct. 7. they can be beaten if they let up for any length of time in their determined efforts to make every run possible and to win every game, whether their opponents be strong or weak. Chicago’s present margin is such it will require something out of the ordinary to beat them.
Chance’s men have only seven games left to play Pittsburg, five of which are scheduled for the west side. They have only eleven games to play with New York, four of which are to be played here. They could lose a majority of these games to their only competitors for the flag and still beat out either Pirates or Giants. But up to date they have won two out of every three games played with Pittsburg and have won the majority of their games from New York. It is to be expected, therefore, Chicago will get at least an even break with both these clubs the rest of the season, and that would leave them the same margin as now. The rest of the battle depends on what Chicago does to the other five clubs in the league compared to what Pittsburg and New York can do to those same five teams. But so far this year the Spuds have traveled as fast against the weaker teams as either McGraw’s or Clarke’s men have.
The Spuds have one big advantage in that New York and Pittsburg have a lot of games yet to play between themselves. This current series, in which Chicago is playing Brooklyn and the Giants and Pirates are hooked up together, should result in an advantage to Chicago. If either New York or Pittsburg trims the other hard in this series the loser will be out of the race for good, while if they break even down in Pittsburg the Spuds ought to gain on both. And Pittsburg has two more games to play in New York than Chicago has, because two games of the first series scheduled for the Pirates in Gotham were postponed and must be doubled up later on.
The series here last week was more crucial and important than many realize. It had been demonstrated that the Giants, without Donlin and with only a portion of Mathewson’s great strength and cunning available, could not cope with Chicago’s rebuilt machine. So Brush and McGraw went through the National league with a finetooth comb and a bank roll and grabbed every available player of championship caliber which Messrs. Murphy and Chance had left for them. The addition of Seymour and Shannon was expected by New Yorkers to strengthen the Giants sufficiently to enable them to beat out Chicago in the last half of the season, and they intended to make a start right here.
The result is history, but it will bear a little retrospective comment. Instead of gaining on Chicago, New York lost ground, because it won only one of the four games played, while Chicago took two and tied the other. The series demonstrated that the Spuds are stronger in several important spots than the Giants. Here are the figures to prove it, being the totals of the four games played:
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The Spuds outbatted the Giants in the series by the margin of .213 over .201, while New York outfielded Chicago by a single point, the team averages being New York .962 and Chicago .961. The Giants made as many hits as the Spuds, but played two more half innings to do it. Chance’s men scored four more runs than the Giants, and these count. Chicago was given twenty-seven bases on balls, while the local pitchers handed out only eighteen to their opponents. That is one explanation of the margin of victories, but the greater explanation is to be found in the twelve bases which Chances’ men stole against the absolute blank in New York’s stolen base column for the series. Granting that they are fairly evenly matched in pitching and fielding strength, the Spuds have the shade in batting and its pitchers are steadier.
But in base running Chicago outclasses New York so far there is no comparison, and not a little of that is due to the superiority of Kling over anything McGraw can put behind the bat. Unable to advance by stealing, New York must outhit Chicago by a considerable margin, and that the dope does not indicate it can do. Brush and McGraw have not strengthened the Giants enough up to date to beat out Chicago. It is doubtful if they can dig up enough strength in the noncontending clubs to do it at this late day, while it’s a cinch neither Pittsburg nor Chicago will give McGraw an ounce of material.
The Spuds are facing their second long eastern trip this week, and with that safely over, the fans can begin to test their throats. Chicago will finish with Brooklyn here on Tuesday and will start immediately for the east, opening in Boston on Thursday. Four games are scheduled in the Hub, ending a week from tomorrow, then the Phillies are next on the list.
With the departure of the Nationals, the schedule brings the White Sox back from the east to begin a long series on the south side grounds next Friday, when they will have Washington for their opponent in the first of a series of four games. Tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday Comiskey’s men will be battling with Connie Mack’s champions, and will have an opportunity to make up some of the ground they lost so unexpectedly in Washington. The Sox, by their good showing in Boston and New York, closed some of the small gap between themselves and the three leading clubs, and a continuation of their stride against Washington would have enabled them to gain still more and tackle Philadelphia with a good chance to leave for home in a fine position. But the loss of three out of four games to the Senators, who had won only one game out of eight before this last series, lost some of the ground gained and the opportunity to get into the leading cluster.
