Sox Therapy: A Disappointing First Half

With the Sox at the unofficial halfway point of the 2019 championship season I think it is safe to say they have not defended their World Series title particularly well so far.  In fairness some of that is down to the amazing first half the Miami Marlins…oh wait, New York Yankees have had (I get those teams with only one World Series title this century confused).  They have been remarkable and opened up a nine game lead on our heroes in the division.  Past defenses of World Series titles have ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1917 Results

Congratulations to Ty Cobb - our unanimous pick for 1917 Most Meritorious Player!

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Ty__ Cobb	105	7	7
Pete Alexander	89	7	0
Eddie Cicotte	83	7	0
Rogers Hornsby	74	6	0
Joe Williams	66	7	0
Tris Speaker	66	7	0
Ray Chapman	33	4	0
Babe Ruth	28	3	0
Heinie Groh	26	3	0
Jim Bagby	22	3	0
Louis Santop	20	2	0
Dick Redding	20	2	0
John H Lloyd	19	2	0
Art Fletcher	17	2	0
Stan Coveleski	16	2	0
Walter Johnson	12	1	0
Crist Torriente	10	1	0
Bobby Veach	8	1	0
John Donaldson	8	1	0
Joe ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1918 Discussion

By the end of the season over 250 players were participating in military service for World War I. The exodus of players accelerated in July and MLB shut down in September to support the war effort.

The Boston Red Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs in the World Series four games to two in the only World Series to take place entirely in September. It is also one of the lowest scoring World Series ever played with the Red Sox winning despite scoring only 9 runs.

Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1917 Ballot

For 1917 each voter should rank the top 10 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 3 July 2019. (Let me know if you need an extension due to the holiday)

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If you have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 2 July 2019.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Sox Therapy: Has A Corner Been Turned?

Is it finally happening for the 2019 Red Sox? Are they finally starting to pull it together and be the team they should be?  For the third time this season they have won a series against a club over .500 taking two out of three from the best in the AL Twins (and wow is that odd to read).  This coming on the heels of five straight against Texas and Baltimore (the latter of which is very nearly as good as a Major League team) and the Sox are a season best six games over .500.

We have seen this ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1917 Discussion

The Chicago White Sox defeated the New York Giants in the World Series four games to two.

As the season went on many players enlisted in military service for World War I. John Thorn lists 76 players enlisted in 1917.

The “Colored Championship” exhibition featured the Chicago American Giants and the New York Lincoln Stars despite the fact that the New York Lincoln Giants were the best team in the East.

Vote for 10.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Ty Cobb			46.8		11.3
Rogers Hornsby		37.0		9.9
Tris ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1916 Results

Congratulations to Pete Alexander, our 1916 Most Meritorious Player.

This election went to the tiebreaker of most first place votes. Alexander had 5 first place votes and Tris Speaker had zero.

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Pete Alexander	96	7	5
Tris Speaker	96	7	0
Tyrus Cobb	85	7	0
Walter Johnson	84	7	1
Babe Ruth	77	7	0
Joe Williams	43	4	1
J H Lloyd	40	4	0
Joe Jackson	32	4	0
Harry Coveleski	25	3	0
Zack Wheat	23	3	0
Eddie Collins	22	3	0
Jeff Pfeffer	22	3	0
Art Fletcher	19	2	0
Reb ...

Sox Therapy: The First Third

The Sox reached the one third point of the 2019 season with a comfortable victory over the Indians to bring their record to 29-25. It’s not the 37-17 of a year ago but it’s a perfectly reasonable place to be considering the 2-8 start. If they simply maintain the pace they have played at since that bad start they would finish at 95 wins.

This is why I’m not a big scoreboard watcher until August. I’m pretty comfortable thinking it will take 95-100 wins to take the division crown.  The ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1916 Ballot

For 1916 each voter should rank the top 10 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 5 June 2019.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If you have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 4 June 2019.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Sox Therapy: Mediocrity Achieved!

So 36 games after their last dance with the magic .500 mark the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox are there again after a win over the Baltimore Orioles who are according to league rules a Major League Baseball team.

Snark aside the Sox are resembling the team they were twelve months ago.  Think I’m crazy?  Try this on for size;

2018: games 11 to 38: 17 wins, 11 losses
2019: games 11 to 38: 17 wins, 11 losses

We can play games with numbers all we want and those first ten games ...