Welcome to 1948

I have bounced around Strat-O-Matic season replay projects for the last two years since completing one of 1957. I have made attempts at 1968, 2010, and 1911, and hope to one day finish these as I only completed a couple of weeks combined between the three. Absolutely loving 1957, I've found that I would like a season similar to that era of baseball. At the same time, playing another season within a year or two of that season would feel too similar and might be stale for my taste. This led to my choice of 1948.

Other than '57 and again in 1958, the only time the Braves franchise won the pennant and made it to the World Series between 1914 and 1991 is the '48 season. Having a strong Braves team is important to me, though in the end I just hope for an entertaining project. This is almost guaranteed in the American League, which saw a tie at the end of the season between the Indians and the Red Sox, with the Yankees finishing just two games behind them. In the National League, the Braves will have to fight to repeat history. The best player in all of baseball that year was Stan Musial on the second place Cardinals, who also had arguably the best pitching performance that season by Harry Brecheen. There are also a few dark horse teams in each league capable of pulling off the upset.

For this replay, I will be conducting it as if I am in 1948 and do not have any future information. Rookies will have to prove themselves to earn playing time over veterans. Players in slumps may be pulled from the lineup whereas in real life they started. I don't know that the Yankees will go on to win five World Series in a row from 1949 to 1953, or that in 1950 they will beat the bottom tier Phillies after their youth movement pays off. Injuries will take out players only when they are rolled on the cards. Eddie Stanky may not miss nearly the entire second half of the season with a broken ankle, but maybe instead will miss multiple stretches of games through the season or even get the major injury early on.

To enhance my replay, for the first time I will be using computer players even though this is a cards and dice replay. I have copied the computer cards for every uncarded pitcher with 10 innings pitched and every uncarded batter with 30 at bats plus walks and added them to the cards offer by Glen Head. This total of 36 cards (28 pitchers and 8 batters) helps lead to a more complete season with only fringe players making very few appearances being missed out. Included in these three dozen players are men like Jim Konstanty, the 1950 NL MVP who allowed just one run in 10 innings of relief work at the end of the season for the Phillies, and Bobo Newsom, the journeyman who won over 200 games in his career and started four games for the Giants as part of the team's original starting rotation. Any uncarded player who did not meet these minimum amounts will instead be represented using one of the blank player cards offered by Strat-O-Matic.

Before we can get started, I am going to write up the typical recap of the previous season and then a preview for each team and what to look for in 1948.