Long forgotten, Cleveland dominated the American League (AL) in 1954 only to be swept 0-4 in the World Series by the New York Giants (97-57).
Each of the two major leagues had only 8 teams back then. They played each of the 7 other teams 22 games, 11 home, 11 road. The total number of scheduled games was 154.
1954 AL wins:
Cleveland 111
Yankees 103
White Sox 94
Boston 69 Really. 4th place Red Sox won only 69.
The Casey Stengel managed Yankees had just won the World Series five consecutive years 1949,1950,1951,1952,1953. Their 103 wins in 1954 were the most of any Stengel Yankee team 1949-1960. Yet those 1954 Yankees finished 8 games behind Cleveland. Eight games.
Cleveland game by game schedule:
The only thing suggesting weakness: splitting the 22 games against both the Yankees and White Sox 11-11. 44/154=28.6% of the games.
Opponent
Split W L RS RA W-L%
BAL 19 3 111 42 .864
BOS 20 2 128 70 .909
CHW 11 11 86 96 .500
DET 14 8 108 73 .636
NYY 11 11 99 95 .500
PHA 18 4 108 56 .818
WSH 18 4 106 72 .818
| Month by Month | |||||
| Split | W | L | RS | RA | W-L% |
| April | 6 | 6 | 51 | 55 | .500 |
| May | 22 | 7 | 158 | 91 | .759 |
| June | 20 | 9 | 131 | 103 | .690 |
| July | 21 | 8 | 150 | 107 | .724 |
| August | 26 | 6 | 149 | 76 | .813 |
| September | 16 | 7 | 107 | 72 | .696 |
Cleveland won 11 consecutive games May 13-23, lifting its record from 13-10 to 24-10. The 4th of those 11 wins put Cleveland into first place.
June 8-11 Cleveland dropped to second place but returned to first and remained there through the rest of the regular season.
Cleveland played two consecutive tie games in Boston July 20 and 21. Yanks beat the White Sox July 20 and the first tie game caused a "tie" in the standings:
| Tm | W | L | GB | RS | RA | pythW-L% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | 61 | 28 | .685 | -- | 432 | 317 | .638 |
| NYY | 62 | 29 | .681 | -- | 483 | 332 | .665 |
| CHW | 57 | 34 | .626 | 5.0 | 438 | 307 | .657 |
Three games in Yankee Stadium August 31 - September 2 (W,L,L) left Cleveland up 3.5 games. Eleven consecutive wins September 8-20, including two against the Yankees, had Cleveland up 9 with 5 games remaining.
Those two wins against the Yankees came in a Sunday doubleheader with no other games between them after September 2.
Wins: Cleveland 104, Yankees 95.
___________________
The New York Giants swept the WS in four consecutive days, the first two in the Polo Grounds in New York:
Giants 5, Cleveland 2 (10 innings)
Giants 3, Cleveland 1
Giants 6, Cleveland 2
Giants 7, Cleveland 4
They were all day games.
The 2024 Cleveland team (92-69) just shutout Detroit (86-76) 7-0 in game one of the best of 5 division series, which leads to the 7 game league series and then the 7 game "World Series", the finals.
Which season is more random: 1954 or 2024, 70 years later?
And how much should we care?
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