Daily Baseball Update: 7/28

Historical Individual Seasons: George Sisler 1920
Stat Line: 19 HR, 122 RBI, .407 AVG, 42 SB.  Age 27.
Over the first half of the twentieth century, the Browns were the worst team in baseball.  Their lone bright spot was George Sisler, the Hall of Famer who spent 13 years with the team (and never once tasted the postseason).  His best year came in 1920, when he came just shy of the Triple Crown.  He led not only the AL but the major leagues in batting average at .407, while finishing second in home runs and RBI.  Despite his 19 homers and 122 RBI being second, they weren't close to the leader, Babe Ruth, who hit 54 home runs and drove in 137.  One thing he did have on the Babe was 42 stolen bases, easily crushing Ruth's 14, though Sisler did finish behind the Senators' Sam Rice (63) in the American League.  One thing that really stands out from that season is his total of 257 hits, which stood as a record for 84 years until Ichiro Suzuki knocked 262 in 2004.  George also knocked 49 doubles and 18 triples, totaling 86 extra base hits, leading everyone in the majors but, of course, Ruth, who had 99.  However, even Ruth couldn't top Sisler's 399 total bases, the 30th highest single season total ever.

News
Rays pitcher Chris Archer became the first rookie to shut out the Yankees at Yankee Stadium since Arthur Rhodes in 1992.
Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer became the first pitcher to 15 wins.
Phillies lost their seventh straight game.

Game Scores
Nationals (51-54) beat the Mets (46-55) 4-1.
Red Sox (62-43) beat the Orioles (58-47) 7-3.
Rays (62-42) beat the Yankees (54-50) 1-0.
Tigers (58-45) beat the Phillies (49-55) 10-0.
Dodgers (55-48) beat the Reds (59-46) 4-1.
Cubs (47-55) beat the Giants (46-57) 1-0.
Top Scorer: Padres beat the Diamondbacks 12-3.

Standings
AL East: Rays (62-42, .596 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (58-45, .563).  AL West: A's (61-43, .587).
NL East: Braves (59-45, .567).  NL Central: Cardinals (62-39, .614).  NL West: Dodgers (55-48, .534).
AL Wild Cards: Red Sox (62-43, .590) and Orioles (58-47, .552).  NL Wild Cards: Pirates (61-41, .598) and Reds (59-46, .562).
Bottom Team: Astros (35-68, .340).  Longest W Streak: Royals, 5 games.  Longest L Streak: Phillies, 7 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), .361 (136-377).  Home runs: Chris Davis (Orioles), 37.  RBI: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), 99.  Stolen bases: Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox), 38.
Pitching: Wins: Max Scherzer (Tigers), 15.  K's: Yu Darvish (Rangers), 172.  ERA: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), 1.96 (160.1 innings, 35 earned runs).  Saves: Jim Johnson (Orioles), 35.

Top Performers
Offensive: Stephen Drew (Red Sox): 3-4, 2 home runs (7), 5 RBI, 3 runs, AVG up .008 from .223 to .231, hitting streak to 1 game (3-4, .750 AVG).
Pitching: Chris Archer (Rays): Win (6-3), 9 shutout innings, 2 hits, no walks, 6 K's (47), ERA drop: 0.37 runs from 2.76 to 2.39.
Worst Pitching Performance: Raul Valdes (Phillies): Loss (1-1), 3.2 innings, 9 earned runs, 12 hits, no walks, 3 K's (26), ERA jump: 2.13 runs from 7.59 to 9.72.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage
Zack Silverman