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While winning our All-Time Midwest Division will not require running the gauntlet of our Boston-New York Division, the 1907 Chicago Cubs looked every bit the favorite we made them when Frank Chance set a Statis-Pro record in a 12-6 drubbing of the 1991 Minnesota Twins and their ace Jack Morris.
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Twins catcher Brian Harper is a great hitter (.311 batting average, .783 OPS) but has the weakest throwing arm of T-C so the Cubs ran at every opportunity. In the second game to be played with the dead balls of 1907, I may use Junior Ortiz, who is just the opposite with the strongest throwing arm (T-A), but hits only .209 with a .555 OPS.
This game was our final debut of our 12 Midwest teams - and I put summaries of every other teams opening series below our standings - which are based on winning percentage with run differential as the tie-breaker. In all fairness the teams we put 2nd and 3rd in our preseason rankings - the 1942 Cardinals 1929 Cubs - had to play each other first. However, George Brett gave 1985 Kansas City an opening day upset sweep of the 1922 St. Louis Browns.
| Now | Pre | Team | Yr | W | L | Win% | Run | All | SOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Chicago Cubs | 1907 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 12 | 6 | 10 |
| 2 | 12 | Kansas City Royals | 1985 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 8 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 | Toronto Blue Jays | 1993 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 4 | 2 | St Louis Cardinals | 1942 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | 8 | Milwaukee Brewers | 1982 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | 4 | Milwaukee Braves | 1957 | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 5 | 5 | 11 |
| 7 | 11 | St Louis Cardinals | 1982 | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | 10 | Minnesota Twins | 1991 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
| 9 | 6 | St Louis Browns | 1922 | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
| 10 | 7 | St Louis Cardinals | 1968 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 11 | 3 | Chicago Cubs | 1929 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 12 | 5 | Chicago White Sox | 2005 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
In addition to the Cubs 12-6 opening game win against the Twins, here are the other match-ups.
The game before that one was our 4th straight pitcher's duel, with the Brewers Pete Vuckovich and White Sox Mark Buehrle doing something that would never happen today - both throwing complete games. Buehrle threw six innings of no hit ball, but big George Thomas, the hero of every home run hitting, beer drinking, softball player singled to start the seventh inning. He was replaced by the speedy Marshall Edwards (rare SP: AA, though there are a few AAA in history) who stole second base and would score the game-winner in a 2-0 win. Rollie Fingers was not even needed, so can pitcher when the two game series is completed.
George Brett's KC fought two very even games against the St. Louis Browns twice, winning 5-3 and 3-2 in a little bit of an upset since we actually picked KC 12th, but all these great teams are so close.
The biggest shocker was the St Louis Cardinals 1968 Bob Gibson with his all-time low 1.12 ERA losing to Toronto 4-5 to give the win to the back-to-back World Series champs of Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor and Rickey Henderson - meaning Molitor is actually in this division twice with his Brewers team.
The 1982 speedy St Louis Cardinals of Ozzie Smith and Lonnie Smith managed a split with Hank Aaron's Milwaukee Braves, with teams trading 3-2 wins.
In the matchup of the other two super teams, the 1942 St Louis Cardinals or Stan Musial beat the 1929 Cubs of Rogers Hornsby, 2-0 in 10 innings.
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