MLB Update: 7/25: Corey Kluber Dominates Royals in 14 Inning Loss

History of Baseball: 1935
World Series Champions: Detroit Tigers (93-58, .616 WPCT).
     The baseball world was rocked during the winter of 1934-1935.  On February 26th, 1935, the New York Yankees released Babe Ruth after 15 years in the Bronx, and the 40 year old slugger subsequently signed with the Boston Braves on the 27th.  After playing relatively poorly for the first month and a half of the season, he turned around for a huge game on May 25th.  Playing in Pittsburgh, Ruth went 4-4 with three home runs and six RBI.  His 714th and final home run was the first ball ever hit out of Forbes Field.  Though he would not play his final game until the 30th, the game was known as his grand exit.  At the time of his retirement, Ruth was the all time leader in home runs (714), RBI (2213), walks (2062), on-base percentage (.474), slugging percentage (.690), OPS (1.164), and extra base hits (1356).  He also finished with a .342 career average.  Today, only his .690 slugging percentage remains an all time record.  A day prior to Ruth's big game, the Reds and Phillies engaged in the first night game in baseball history, with the Reds winning 2-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.  Ruth wasn't the only star player to retire in 1935.  His 1927 Murderer's Row teammate, Earle Combs, hung up his spikes after 12 years in the majors, holding a .325 batting average and 1186 runs scored. Brooklyn's star pitcher Dazzy Vance (197-140, 3.24 ERA), 23 year shortstop Rabbit Maranville, and Cuban-American star pitcher Dolf Luque (194-179, 3.24 ERA) also retired in 1935.
      The Chicago Cubs may have on the National League by a solid four game margin, but they were actually in second place heading into the final month of the season.  The Cubbies reeled off 21 straight victories in September, finishing 100-54, easily topping the Cardinals (96-58).  The Tigers (93-58) won the American League over the Yankees (89-60) by three games.  Despite signing Ruth at the beginning of the season, the Boston Braves went just 38-115, with their .248 winning percentage proving to be the worst ever in modern (post 1900) NL history.  Detroit and Chicago met in the World Series, which the Tigers won in six games behind Pete Fox and Charlie Gehringer's combined .380 average (19-50) and eight RBI.  In the losing effort, Chicago's Lon Warneke went 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA, but it wasn't enough.
     The two MVP awards were handed out to the leading hitters on the World Series teams.  Detroit's Hank Greenberg took home his first AL MVP Award, batting .328 with 36 home runs and 170 RBI.  Though his 36 homers tied Philadelphia's Jimmie Foxx for the major league lead, his 170 RBI topped Boston's Wally Berger's second place mark of 130 by 40 runs.  Though Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett played in only 116 games, his .344 average and 13 home runs earned him the NL MVP Award.  Pittsburgh's Arky Vaughan won the batting title at .385 while hitting 19 home runs, while Washington's Buddy Myer hit .349 to lead the AL in average.  The A's' Jimmie Foxx batted .346 with 36 home runs and 115 RBI, while the Giants' Mel Ott hit .322 with 31 home runs and 114 RBI.  The Cardinals' Joe Medwick had a huge breakout season, batting .353 with 23 home runs, 126 RBI, and 132 runs scored.  From the mound, the Medwick's Cardinals teammate Dizzy Dean was the major league wins leader, going 28-12 with a 3.04 ERA.  Pittsburgh rookie Cy Blanton led the majors with a 2.58 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP, while also going 18-13.  Despite his huge rookie season, Blanton would end up playing just nine major league seasons before pitching his final game in 1942.  Also putting up big seasons were the Cubs' Bill Lee (20-6, 2.96 ERA), the Red Sox' Lefty Grove (20-12, 2.70 ERA), and the Giants' Hal Schumacher (19-9, 2.89 ERA).

News
Twins traded Kendrys Morales (1 HR, 18 RBI, .234 AVG, 0 SB, age 31) to the Mariners for Stephen Pryor (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, age 25).
A's designated Jim Johnson for assignment, meaning they have ten days to trade, release, or demote him.  Johnson saved 101 games for the Orioles from 2012-2013.
Indians pitcher Corey Kluber took a perfect game into the seventh, but the Royals tied the game on an unearned run before winning 2-1 on Nori Aoki's walk off single in the 14th inning.
Rockies traded Chris Capuano (1-1, 4.55 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, age 35) to the Yankees for cash considerations.
Royals traded Jimmy Paredes (0 HR, 0 RBI, .200 AVG, 2 SB, age 25) to the Orioles for cash considerations.

Kendrys Morales has experienced a disappointing season in 2014 after batting .277 with 23 home runs in 2013.  Through 39 games, Morales is batting just .234 with one home run for the Twins, and they shipped him back to where he came from: Seattle.  The Mariners are looking to make the playoffs this year, and a power bat like Morales to back up Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager is a big upgrade.   Morales played for the Mariners in 2013, batting .277 with 23 home runs and 80 RBI in 156 games.  The switch hitter's best season came in 2009 with the Angels, when he batted .306 with 34 home runs and 108 RBI in 152 games.  For his eight year career, he is batting .277 with 103 home runs and 363 RBI over 659 games.
In return, the Twins picked up a solid young reliever in Stephen Pryor.  Pryor has bounced back and forth between the majors and minors for the past few seasons, though he just turned 25 on Wednesday.  The Tennessee Tech alum has spent most of the 2014 season at AAA Tacoma, where he's gone 2-1 with a 4.65 ERA over 24 appearances.  He's made one major league appearance this season, allowing one unearned run over 1.2 innings against, ironically enough, the Twins on July 9th.  Over his three year major league career, the 6'4" right hander is 3-1 with a 2.81 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP over 34 appearances.

Game Scores
Blue Jays (54-49) beat the Red Sox (47-55) 8-0.
Yankees (53-48) beat the Rangers (40-62) 4-2.
Phillies (44-58) beat the Giants (57-45) 2-1.
Padres (45-56) beat the Cubs (41-59) 13-3.
Tigers (57-42) beat the Angels (60-41) 6-4.
Top Scorer: Padres beat the Cubs 13-3.

Standings
AL East: Orioles (56-45, .554 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (57-42, .576).  AL West: A's (63-38, .624).
NL East: Nationals (55-44, .556).  NL Central: Brewers (58-45, .563).  NL West: Giants (57-45, .559).
AL Wild Cards: Angels (60-41, .594) and Yankees (53-48, .525).  NL Wild Cards: Dodgers (56-47, .544) and Braves (55-47, .539).
Bottom Team: Rangers (40-62, .392).  Longest W Streak: Rays, 7 games.  Longest L Streak: Reds, 6 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), .340 (107-315).  Home runs: Jose Abreu (White Sox), 29.  RBI: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), 80.  Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 45.
Pitching: Wins: Six tied with 12.  K's: David Price (Rays), 173.  ERA: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), 1.92 (103.1 IP, 22 ER).  Saves: Craig Kimbrel (Braves) and Trevor Rosenthal (Cardinals), 30.

Top Performers
Offensive: Juan Francisco (Blue Jays): 3-4, triple, home run (15), 4 RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .010 from .232 to .242, hitting streak to 1 game (3-4, .750 AVG).
Pitching: Corey Kluber (Indians): No decision, 9 innings, 1 run (0 earned), 2 hits, no walks, 10 K's (162), ERA drop: 0.18 runs from 2.95 to 2.77.
Worst Pitching Performance: Brian Schlitter (Cubs): No decision, 0 innings, 6 runs (5 earned), 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batsman, ERA jump: 1.03 runs from 3.09 to 4.12.

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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