1946 Boston Red Sox

So World War 2 was a thing, and in the process of fighting it, America called upon many of it's sports stars to contribute to the cause. The early 1940s were [file not found] in the careers of many players. Baseball continued in those years, and while the champions for those seasons were very much valid, people couldn't help but think "what if" when it came to all the missing superstars who could have made a difference. But now it's 1946, the stars are back and things were returning to normal...and not a moment too soon for Ted Williams.

The Splendid Splinter is one of the greatest hitters of all time (Williams himself said Ruth was better, and that modesty is what fuels savage debates) who accomplished many amazing things, but it's almost criminal that he only made it to the World Series one time. Still, he makes for a great example for why guys like Mike Trout are overrated. As hard it is to reach the World Series, the greats can push their team to greatness at least ONE time. Trout can't even lead his team to a Wild Card, while in 1946 Williams took charge and won the pennant without the safety net of extra playoff spots.

Williams sure wasn't alone in 1946. The Joe Cronin led Boston Red Sox ran away with the American League with a 104-50 record, a fat 12 games ahead of the Tigers. Other teams seemed to need a year or two to ease their regulars back into the baseball grind, Boston had no time for it. But while the American League offered no resistance to the Red Sox, the St Louis Cardinals were willing to make things a bit more interesting in the World Series.

The teams split the first two games, and Boston took advantage of the next three games at home to lead 3-2 in the series. After the Cardinals forced Game 7, the teams went back and forth in the winner-take-all finale. The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead, then the Cardinals tied it. Then later the Cardinals took a 3-1 lead, only for Boston to tie it right back up. Then the bottom of the 8th happened, and Enos Slaughter's Mad Dash gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead that Boston couldn't respond to in the 9th. The closest Ted Williams would ever get to a title would be a tied game in the 8th inning of Game 7.

Most of Ted Willaims' career was made for unfair on-base cards like this one. 1946 was in the middle of six straight seasons (if we ignore the missing WW2 years) in which Williams would finish in the top 3 for MVP voting. This was the first season where he would finally be the MVP, the other MVP coming in 1949. People argue that he should have won more, but 1946 proved the argument. He had good stats, but while he didn't lead the league in Home Runs, Average or RBI (he did lead with 142 R and 156 BB) the fact that he had great stats in addition to leading his team to the pennant is what made him more VALUABLE. Williams suffered a small injury prior to the series, but he played through it, sparking another "what if" to be debated.

The other future Hall of Famer on the '46 Red Sox was Bobby Doerr. Fun fact: he originally wore #9 in 1937. The next season he switched to #1 and both numbers eventually got retired.

The DiMaggio family gave us two players in the big leagues, and in 1946, Dom got to be the one bragging at thanksgiving as the most successful in the family. Dom tried to single handedly win the World Series for Boston, actually. He was responsible for all 3 Red Sox runs in Game 7 and perhaps his slightly better defense in Centerfield (he was pinch-run for by Leon Culberson after his game tying double earlier) would have made a difference during the Mad Dash.

The 1946 all star game happened to be in Boston that year, so many of the Red Sox regulars were represented in the game. Joining Williams, DiMaggio and Doerr were Pesky, York and Wagner on the offense. Ferriss and Harris joined the team on the pitching end.

Off the bench comes a lot of "meh" options. Lazor offers a very...unique do-or-die type chart.
As you can see, Culberson was a slight downgrade to DiMaggio on the defensive front. And you can also see both have the identical 12 speed, so that pinch runner was a calculated risk that seems head scratching and might've cost the Red Sox a title.

The pitching was led by 20 game winners Ferriss (25 W, team high 172 K) and Hughson (20 W, team best 2.75 ERA) while Harris put up very respectable numbers with 17 W and 131 K. Dobson follows with solid +6 control...and I don't know why anyone would want Bagby pitching for them when he can't strike anyone out on his own chart!

Get your "Anointed Closer" strategy cards out for Bob Klinger and his team high 9 Saves. Saves were not a concern in those days, but even so, with a tied game in the 8th inning of Game 7, Boston gave the ball to their top reliever to try to keep it a tie game. No doubles on his chart, so he didn't get the advantage against Harry Walker, who had the key hit that scored Slaughter.