MLB Update: 6/1

History of Baseball: 1923
World Series Champions: New York Yankees (98-54, .645 WPCT).
     Lots was new in the 1923 season.  First off, a brand new, state of the art facility was built in the Bronx to house the Yankees, known as Yankee Stadium.  In the third inning of the first game in the Stadium, Babe Ruth hit the first home run in the park's history.  Five future Hall of Famers also made their debuts, starting with legendary Tigers slugger Heinie Manush on April 20th.  He would go on to bat .330 with 110 home runs over his 17 year career.  Then, on June 23rd, 20 year old Lou Gehrig made his debut for the Yankees, and we all know how that turned out.  Ted Lyons (White Sox) was next on July 2nd, followed by Bill Terry (Giants) on September 24th and Hack Wilson (Giants) on the 30th.  Another notable event from the season occurred on July 22nd, when Washington's Walter Johnson became the first pitcher in history to reach 3000 strikeouts.  A notable death was that of Willie Keeler, who played from 1892-1910 and batted .341 on the strength of 2932 hits for his career.
       As September came to a close, the Yankees had won the AL Pennant by a wide margin, going 98-54 to finish a solid 16 games ahead of the second place Detroit Tigers (83-71).  The NL was a bit closer, with the New York Giants (95-58) taking the pennant by 4.5 games over the Cincinnati Reds (91-63).  For the third consecutive season, the Yankees and Giants squared off in the World Series, meaning that there had not been a team from anywhere but New York City in the World Series since 1920.  Although the Giants had won the Series in 1921 and 1922, the Yankees turned the tables in 1923 to capture their first of 27 World Series titles, led in large part by Babe Ruth's three home runs and .368 average.  Second baseman Aaron Ward was pivotal in the win, going 10-24 (.417 average) with a home run and a stolen base in the six game series.
      *I missed in last update that the League Award had been established in 1922, an early version of the MVP Award.  It was won by George Sisler (8 HR, 105 RBI, .420 AVG, 51 SB).  In 1923, Babe Ruth took home the award by leading the major leagues in home runs (41), RBI (131), walks (170), runs scored (151), on-base percentage (.545), slugging percentage (.764), OPS (1.309), total bases (399), and extra base hits (99).  The 41 home runs and 131 RBI went along nicely with his .393 average, and his 170 walks set a new record that would not be broken for another 78 years, when Barry Bonds walked 177 times in 2001.  Detroit's Harry Heilmann also put up a great season, hitting 18 home runs and driving in 115 to go along with his major league leading .403 average.  From the mound, Cuban Dolf Luque of the Reds was especially dominant, going 27-8 with a 1.93 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP, leading the majors in both ERA and wins.  Other dominant pitchers from the season included Cleveland's Stan Coveleski (13-14, 2.76 ERA), Cincinnati's Eppa Rixey (20-15, 2.80 ERA), and Chicago's Grover Cleveland Alexander (22-12, 3.19 ERA, 1.11 WHIP).   

News
Top prospect Oscar Taveras made his major league debut for the Cardinals, homering in his first game.

Game Scores
Nationals (27-27) beat the Rangers (28-28) 10-2.
Red Sox (26-29) beat the Rays (23-33) 7-1.
Yankees (29-25) beat the Twins (25-28) 3-1.
Mets (26-29) beat the Phillies (24-29) 5-4 (14 innings).
Dodgers (30-27) beat the Pirates (25-30) 12-2.
Cubs (20-33) beat the Brewers (33-23) 8-0.
Mariners (27-28) beat the Tigers (31-21) 3-2.
Indians (26-30) beat the Rockies (28-27) 7-6.
Top Scorer: Dodgers beat the Pirates 12-2 and Blue Jays beat the Royals 12-2.

Standings
AL East: Blue Jays (33-24, .579 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (31-21, .596).  AL West: A's (34-22, .607).
NL East: Braves (30-25, .545).  NL Central: Brewers (33-23, .589).  NL West: Giants (36-20, .643).
AL Wild Cards: Angels (30-25, .545) and Yankees (29-25, .537).  NL Wild Cards: Cardinals (30-26, .536) and Dodgers (30-27, .526).
Bottom Team: Cubs (20-33, .377).  Longest W Streak: Red Sox, 6 games.  Longest L Streak: Rays, 5 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), .352 (62-176).  Home runs: Nelson Cruz (Orioles), 20.  RBI: Nelson Cruz, 52.  Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 34.
Pitching: Wins: Mark Buerhle (Blue Jays), 9.  Strikeouts: Corey Kluber (Indians), 95.  ERA: Jeff Samardzija (Cubs), 1.68 (75 IP, 14 ER).  Saves: Francisco Rodriguez (Brewers), Sergio Romo (Giants), and Huston Street (Padres), 17.

Top Performers
Offensive: Hanley Ramirez (Dodgers): 4-4, 2 home runs (9), 5 RBI, 4 runs, stolen base (5), AVG up .015 from .250 to .265, hitting streak to 3 games (7-12, .583 AVG).
Pitching: Jeff Manship (Phillies): No decision, 4 shutout innings (all in extra innings), no hits, no walks, 6 K's (14), ERA drop: 1.64 runs from 7.53 to 5.89.
Worst Pitching Performance: Brandon Cumpton (Pirates): Loss (0-2), 3.2 innings, 11 runs (10 earned), 11 hits, 2 walks, 2 K's (12), ERA jump: 3.47 runs from 3.38 to 6.85.

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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