MLB Update: 6/26

History of Baseball: 1927
World Series Champions: New York Yankees (110-44, .714 WPCT).
     Two major stories headed the 1927 season.  The lesser of the two was the fact that three of the game's biggest superstars, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Rogers Hornsby, all changed teams.  Cobb and Speaker had been accused of fixing a game in 1919 and were forced to resign from their current teams.  Cobb, who had played with the Tigers since 1905, joined the Philadelphia Athletics.  Speaker, a Cleveland Indian since 1916, joined the Washington Senators.  Rogers Hornsby had been traded from the Cardinals to the Giants following the 1926 season, and after twelve seasons in a Cardinals uniform, he played his first games for the Giants in 1927.  Future Hall of Famer Lloyd Waner also debuted for the Pirates on April 12th.  Of course, the big story line for the season was the Yankees' Murderers' Row.  Arguably the greatest hitting team ever built, it included future Hall of Famers in Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, and Earle Combs, as well as big hitters Bob Meusel and Mark Koenig.  Not only was it impossible to navigate the New York lineup, but they also had a pair of Hall of Fame pitchers on their side.  Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt both were elected to the Hall of Fame, and Urban Shocker put up a big season from the mound as well.  Overall, the Yankees would bat .307 as a team and lead the league with a 3.20 ERA.  It would all pay off in the standings.
     While the Pirates (94-60), Cardinals (92-61), and Giants (92-62) fought it out until the end in the NL, the Yankees (110-44) easily won the American League by a full 19 games over the A's (91-63).  The Yankees and Pirates met in the World Series, but there was no contest.  New York outscored Pittsburgh 23-10 over a four game sweep behind excellent offensive performances from Mark Koenig and Babe Ruth.  Koenig went 9-18 (.500 AVG) with two doubles and five runs scored, while Ruth went 6-15 (.400 AVG) with two home runs and seven RBI.  Wilcy Moore, Herb Pennock, and George Pipgras combined to go 3-0 with a 1.26 ERA to hold the Pirates down.
     The League Awards in 1927 went to the two best players rather than leaders (with the exception that Babe Ruth was ineligible due to having won the award in 1923).  Lou Gehrig took home the AL version after a monster breakout season where he hit 47 home runs, drove in 175, and batted .373 with ten stolen bases and 149 runs scored.  His 175 RBI broke Babe Ruth's old record of 171, set in 1921, and his 447 total bases remain the third highest total of all time and his 117 extra base hits are second only to Babe Ruth's 119 in 1921.  The NL award went to Pittsburgh's Paul Waner, who won the NL batting title at .380 while hitting nine home runs and driving in 131 in just his second full season.  Detroit's Harry Heilmann led the majors in batting average, clocking in at .398 with 14 home runs and 120 RBI.  Babe Ruth also set a new major league record when he became the first player in history to hit 60 home runs in one season, a mark that would not be reached again until 1961.   Along with his 60 home runs, Ruth also managed to drive in 164 runs, bat .356, and score 158 times.  Ruth and Gehrig combined to make the 1927 Yankees the only team in history with two players with at least 164 RBI.  The Yankees dominated on the mound as well, with Yankee Wilcy Moore going 19-7 with a league leading 2.28 ERA over 50 games (12 starts).  Waite Hoyt was also dominant for New York, going 22-7 with a 2.63 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP in 36 games (32 starts).  Hard as it may be to believe, there were actually other teams than the Yankees in 1927.  40 year old Grover Cleveland Alexander, pitching in his 17th major league season, led the majors with a 1.12 WHIP while going 21-10 with a 2.52 ERA for the Cardinals.  Charlie Root, who would later gain fame as the pitcher who gave up Ruth's "Called Shot", led the majors in wins as he went 26-15 with a 3.76 ERA for the Cubs.  Future Hall of Famer Ted Lyons put up one of the biggest years of his career, as the White Sox hurler went 22-14 with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.  Leading the Pirates to the World Series was Ray Kremer, who went 19-8 with a 2.47 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.

News
Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum pitched the second no-hitter of his career, limiting the Padres to just one base runner in San Francisco.
Vanderbilt topped the University of Virginia, 3-2, giving the Commodores their first College World Series national championship.
Happy birthday to Derek Jeter, who turns 40 today.
Dee Gordon became the first player of 2014 to record his 40th stolen base.
Rangers lost their seventh straight game.

Game Scores
Brewers (48-32) beat the Nationals (41-36) 9-2.
Red Sox (36-43) beat the Mariners (42-37) 5-4.
Yankees (40-37) beat the Blue Jays (44-36) 5-3.
Marlins (39-39) beat the Phillies (35-42) 3-2.
Rays (32-48) beat the Pirates (39-39) 5-1.
Dodgers (44-36) beat the Royals (40-38) 5-4.
Reds (39-38) beat the Cubs (32-44) 4-1.
Tigers (42-32) beat the Rangers (35-42) 8-6.
Cardinals (43-36) beat the Rockies (35-43) 9-6.
Top Scorer: Brewers beat the Nationals 9-2 and Cardinals beat the Rockies 9-6.

Standings
AL East: Blue Jays (44-36, .550 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (42-32, .568).  AL West: A's (48-30, .615).
NL East: Nationals (41-36, .532).  NL Central: Brewers (48-32, .600).  NL West: Giants (46-32, .590).
AL Wild Cards: Angels (43-33, .568) and Orioles (41-36, .532).  NL Wild Cards: Dodgers (44-36, .550) and Cardinals (43-36, .544).
Bottom Team: Rays (32-48, .400).  Longest W Streak: Tigers, 6 games.  Longest L Streak: Rangers, 7 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), .351 (91-259).  Home runs: Nelson Cruz (Orioles) and Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays), 24.  RBI: Nelson Cruz, 64.  Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 40.
Pitching: Wins: Masahiro Tanaka (Yankees), 11.  K's: David Price (Rays), 144.  ERA: Johnny Cueto (Reds), 1.86 (116 IP, 24 ER).  Saves: Francisco Rodriguez (Brewers), 25.

Top Performers
Offensive: Adam Eaton (White Sox): 4-5, double, triple, RBI, walk, stolen base (7), AVG up .011 from .273 to .284, hitting streak to 12 games (20-48, .417 AVG).
Pitching: Tim Lincecum (Giants): Win (6-5), 9 shutout innings, no hits, 1 walk, 6 K's (83), ERA drop: 0.48 runs from 4.90 to 4.42.
Worst Pitching Performance: Zack Wheeler (Mets): Loss (3-8), 2 innings, 6 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 4 K's (91), ERA jump: 0.52 runs from 3.93 to 4.45.

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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