1917 American League

Chicago won the pennant by 9 games over Boston, with Cleveland in 3rd. The rest of the standings went Detroit, Washington, New York, St. Louis and Philadelphia, which was not as bad as the year before.

Statistical leaders: Ty Cobb led the way in many categories, including batting average at .383, with George Sisler and Tris Speaker tied for second at .352, and Bobby Veach fourth at .319. Cobb led in OPS at 1014, with Speaker second at 918. Cobb also led with 225 hits, 44 doubles, 24 triples, and 55 steals. Speaker had 42 doubles, Joe Jackson 17 triples, Wally Pipp had nine homers and Veach eight, Veach led with 103 RBI and Cobb and Happy Felsch had 102.

Eddie Cicotte led with 28 wins and a 1.53 ERA, and Walter Johnson with 188 strikeouts. Babe Ruth had 24 wins, Johnson and Jim Bagby 23. Carl Mays had a 1.74 ERA, Stan Coveleski 1.81, Red Faber 1.92. Cicotte was second with 150 strikeouts, then Dutch Leonard with 144.

Win Shares leaders, players: Ty Cobb (Detroit) 46, Tris Speaker (Cleveland) 37, Eddie Collins (Chicago) 32, Joe Jackson (Chicago) and Bobby Veach (Detroit) 31, Happy Felsch (Chicago) and Ray Chapman (Cleveland) 30, George Sisler (St. Louis) 29.

WS leaders, pitchers: Babe Ruth (Boston) 36, Eddie Cicotte (Chicago) 35, Jim Bagby (Cleveland) 34, Carl Mays (Boston) 30, Stan Coveleski (Cleveland) and Walter Johnson (Washington) 29.

WARP3: Cobb 12.1 (his best season by WARP), Collins 8.4, Veach 8.0, Chapman 6.9 (best year), Speaker 6.7, Sisler 6.6, Jackson 5.3, Duffy Lewis (Boston) 4.5, Ray Schalk (Chicago) 4.4, Harry Hooper (Boston) 4.2.

Pitchers: Cicotte 11.5, Bagby and Johnson (an off year for Walter) 8.9, Ruth 8.7, Coveleski 7.9, Mays 6.7, Bob Shawkey (New York) 5.6, Ray Caldwell (New York) 5.0, Bob Groom (St. Louis) 4.6, Doc Ayers (Washington) 4.5.

WAR leaders, position players: Cobb 12.7, Chapman 8.8, Speaker 8.7, Veach 7.5, Sisler 6.9, Collins 6.4, Jackson 6.3, Felsch 5.7, Bush 5.0, Roth 4.9. Pitchers: Cicotte 10.0, Coveleski 6.8, Bagby 6.7, Ruth 5.8, Johnson 5.2, Mays 5.1, Leonard 4.2, Ayers and Shawkey 3.3, Groom 3.2.

Best player: Ty Cobb. This was arguably the best year of a tremendous career, considering context, and Ty strode across the league. His Tigers were barely over .500, but Cobb couldn't have played better. He led in average, hits, doubles, triples, total bases, and steals. I put Speaker #2, #3 Bobby Veach, #4 Ray Chapman, and George Sisler #5.

Best pitcher: Eddie Cicotte. There were other fine performances for the pennant-winning White Sox, but Cicotte was the best pitcher over Ruth and Johnson. He led in wins and ERA, was 28-12, 1.53. Ruth at #2, 24-13, 2.01. Johnson was so bad he's just #3, at 23-16, 2.21. Jim Bagby #4, Stan Coveleski #5.

Best rookie: I can't find anyone deserving.

Best manager: Pants Rowland guiding the White Sox to the pennant.