1. 2B Eddie Collins
2. LF Ted Williams
3. RF Babe Ruth
4. 1B Lou Gehrig
5. CF Ty Cobb
6. 3B George Brett
7. C Yogi Berra
8. SS Cal Ripken Jr.
9. SP Walter Johnson
bench: Rodriguez, Foxx, Lajoie, Boudreau, Speaker, Mantle, Trout, Ohtani
bullpen: Waddell, Walsh, Grove, Feller, Paige, Ryan, Martinez, Rivera, Verlander, Ohtani
The AL is stacking their lineup with lefties against righthander Mathewson. The only righties are Ripken, the shortstop who hit 431 home runs, and starting pitcher Johnson. No slouch with the stick, Johnson batted .235 over his 21 year career with 547 hits, including 24 home runs.
And the National League starting lineup:
1. SS Honus Wagner
1. SS Honus Wagner
2. LF Stan Musial
3. 2B Rogers Hornsby
4. RF Mel Ott
5. 1B Albert Pujols
6. CF Willie Mays
7. 3B Mike Schmidt
8. C Johnny Bench
9. SP Christy Mathewson
bench: Hartnett, Morgan, Jones, Vaughan, Aaron, Clemente, Raines
bullpen: Brown, Alexander, Hubbell, Seaver, Maddux, Smoltz, Johnson, Scherzer, Kershaw, deGrom
Unlike the AL, the NL is not going heavy on the platoon, inserting seven righties against righthanded Johnson. Mike Schmidt gets the start at third over switch hitter Chipper Jones for defensive purposes, while Joe Morgan, a lefty, heads to the bench with the Rajah at second base.
The National League, being the Senior Circuit, gets home field advantage.
After taking his warmups from the mound (something he had never done before), Mathewson gets set to face Collins, who walks to start the game. Despite his initial misstep, Mathewson seems to rebound strongly, retiring the next two batters in order (striking out Ted Williams on three pitches). However, Lou Gehrig drives in Collins with a triple. Mathewson then uncorks a wild pitch (an issue at the beginning of his career, but not later; 69 WP from 1900-1904, 46 from 1905-1916), allowing Gehrig to score as well. Ty Cobb works the count to 3-0 before trying to bunt his way on, but to no avail. After half an inning, the AL has a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, the NL threatens to fight back with a one out double from Musial. This doesn't amount to any runs, however, as Johnson quickly retires Hornsby and Ott after him. In the top of the second, the AL gets a leadoff single from Brett, but likewise strands him as Mathewson retires the next three in order. In the NL half of the second, the first two batters hit singles off of Johnson, who promptly kills their rally. The teams trade zeros in the third, with Johnson retiring the side on three pitches, and the score remains 2-0, AL.
In the top of the fourth, Gehrig hits a leadoff double against Mathewson. Matty then retires Cobb, but is chased after a double by Brett and a triple by Berra. The NL brings in lefty Clayton Kershaw to match the AL's lefty-heavy lineup. Kershaw starts well, retiring Ripken, but then surrenders a double to Walter Johnson (I told you he could hit!). He then walks Collins on four pitches, prompting a mound visit. The meeting seems to do him good, as he gets out of the inning by retiring Williams. But the NL has dug itself into a hole, trailing 5-0. They tack on two singles in the bottom of the inning, but are again held scoreless.
In the top of the fifth, Kershaw pitches a scoreless inning, working around a leadoff single by Babe Ruth. In the bottom of the fifth, Johnny Bench leads off with a single, bring the NL manager (me) to a tough decision. Do I let Kershaw hit and continue pitching, or do I pinch hit for him? Noticing Kershaw's low pitch count (22) and weak bat (.185 career slugging percentage), I decide to save him for later and let Joe Morgan bat. The Little General rewards his skipper by smacking a first pitch single. Hoping to have a rally going with runners on first and second and no outs, Johnson thinks otherwise, striking out Honus Wagner and inducing weak contact from Musial and Hornsby.
In the top of the sixth, reliever Randy Johnson takes the mound for the NL. The only other lefty in the bullpen at this point is Carl Hubbell (Game 2's probable starter), and I was hoping for Johnson to be able to finish the game. He gives up a one out double to Cal Ripken Jr., but quickly fans the next two batters to get out of the inning. In the bottom of the frame, Walter Johnson (surprise!) shuts the NL down again. After six, the score is still 5-0, and the NL is running out of at bats.
In the top of the seventh inning, triples by Williams and Cobb tack on another run for the AL, making it 6-0. Walter Johnson again blanks the NL, taking the game to the eighth. Yogi Berra leads off with a single, but the Big Unit seems to recover, retiring Ripken and Johnson in order. The relief is short lived, however, as Randy surrenders three consecutive singles and a bases loaded walk to Gehrig. At this point, the game is getting out of hand for the NL, so they bring in their closer, John Smoltz, to face Cobb. True to form, Smoltz gets out of trouble, striking out baseball's all-time batting champion on four pitches. But the AL holds a commanding 8-0 lead.
With an eight run lead late in the game, the AL makes two defensive changes - Speaker for Cobb in center, Boudreau for Ripken at short. It seems funny that Ripken, who once played 8,264 consecutive innings, was pulled after seven. The AL also offers to relieve Johnson, but at 74 pitches the Big Train chooses to stay in. The man pitched 531 complete games in his career, so he can certainly finish this one. And it looked like he was going to - after a leadoff single by Musial, Johnson quickly retires both Hornsby and Ott. But then things get interesting. With two outs, Albert Pujols hits a two run home run, making it 8-2. No big deal, thought the AL manager (me), but then Johnson walks Willie Mays on five pitches. Pinch hitter Chipper Jones singles and Johnny Bench walks, loading the bases. With the bases loaded and two outs, the NL manager knows that he can't let Smoltz bat in a situation like that, and summons lefty Arky Vaughan. Vaughan delivers big with a two run double, chasing Johnson and making the score 8-4. The AL then summons their closer, Mariano Rivera, to face Honus Wagner. Mo rides his famous cutter to strike Wagner out and end the inning.
In the top of the ninth, the NL brings in righthander Jacob deGrom, who breezes through a 1-2-3 inning with only six pitches. In the bottom of the ninth, Musial and Hornsby both hit the ball hard off Mariano, but make two quick outs. Mel Ott keeps things alive with a single, bringing up the hero of the last inning, Albert Pujols. Mariano is undaunted, however, and retires Pujols to lock down the save.
2B Collins 3 AB, 2 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 RBI, 1 K
LF Williams 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 1 K
RF Ruth 5 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 RBI, 0 K
1B Gehrig 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 RBI, 0 K
CF Cobb 5 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K
CF Speaker 0 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
3B Brett 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 RBI, 0 K
C Berra 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 RBI, 0 K
SS Ripken 4 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
SS Boudreau 1 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
P Johnson 4 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K
P Rivera 0 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
Total AL 41 AB, 8 R, 14 H, 3 BB, 7 RBI, 4 K
Johnson (W, 1-0) 7 2/3 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 1 BB, 95 Pit, 61 Str
Rivera (SV, 1) 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB, 10 Pit, 9 Str
Total AL 9 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 K, 1 BB, 105 Pit, 70 Str
SS Wagner 5 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 3 K
LF Musial 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
2B Hornsby 5 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
RF Ott 5 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 1 K
1B Pujols 5 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 RBI, 0 K
CF Mays 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 RBI, 1 K
3B Schmidt 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
PH-3B Jones 1 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
C Bench 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
P Mathewson 1 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
P Kershaw 0 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
PH Morgan 1 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
P Johnson 1 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
P Smoltz 0 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K
PH-SS Vaughan 1 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 RBI, 0 K
Total NL 39 AB, 4 R, 10 H, 1 BB, 4 RBI, 5 K
Mathewson (L, 0-1) 3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 K, 1 BB, 47 Pit, 26 Str
Kershaw 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 1 BB, 22 Pit, 14 Str
Johnson 2 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 K, 1 BB, 38 Pit, 26 Str
Smoltz 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB, 4 Pit, 3 Str
deGrom 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB, 6 Pit, 5 Str
Total NL 9 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 117 Pit, 74 Str
The AL takes a 1-0 Series lead. Here are Game 2's probable pitchers:
American League: Rube Waddell
National League: Carl Hubbell
The American League will start Rube Waddell, the fireballing lefty who led the AL in strikeouts for six consecutive seasons, setting a league record with 349 in 1904 en route to the Triple Crown. As good as he was on the mound, Waddell is perhaps best known for his legendary eccentricities. The National League is going with its second consecutive screwballer. In contrast to Mathewson, a righty who seldom threw his "fadeaway," the NL hopes to cross up the AL by starting Hubbell, a lefty who threw it so often that his palm eventually faces outwards. Sounds like an exciting matchup, doesn't it?
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