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Show ISITUATION OF WORLD'S SERIES TEAMS ALMOST PARALLEL TO THAT IN 1914 j Athletics More Able to Tune Up for Big Games While Braves j Were Still Fighting, But Braves Came Out Ahead I Other Logic Applied to Games This Year. Ill By MONTY. II New York, Oct. 6. As the Red Sox, Jj in battle formation, await tomorrow Jj the first charge of their foemen from j the' National league, there i3 one jj thought they should bear in mind as a II ) warning or watchword. It Is simply "Don't forget 1914." j The situation is almost exactly par- I ' allel to what obtained two years ago. Tho Athletics then had made sure of 1 1 the American league pennant soon 1 enough to allow them a respite from ! excitement in the closing days of the j schedule. They had a chance to free J their minds of all. worry over the league pennant and devote all their , j attention to getting tuned up for the big post-season clash, i This vear the Red Sox have been ! able to do likewise. They did not , clinch the flag beyond all mathematical mathemat-ical possibility of being beaten until last Sunday, but they gained such a comfortable lead two weeks before that they could feel secure, It has been easy for them to get along with-j with-j out the services of stars who have : I spied on the Phillies and Dodgers dur-, dur-, t ing the last two weeks to loam the j foe's style of play. Moreover, the bulk of the men who remained on the I job have eased up and conducted all j 1 their operations In manner best cal culated to bring 'them into the big scries in fine trim. In other words, , tho last two weeks have served like a fall training campaign for the Bosi ! Taking a look at the National I league side of it, an enurciy cmier-ent cmier-ent scene Is presented. The battle there has lasted right down to the "homestretch, just as It did for the ! Braves in 1914. It has been neces-f, neces-f, sary for the pitchers to -work at top speed, with no downy couch to rest i upon, figuratively, just before the call to battle. Various baseball prophets seem to $ ' forget what occurred in 1914. At that " time the Athletics were considered as i in an advantageous position because I they were able to tune up for the series, while the Braves were still fighting. Now the American league ' entry Is supposed to have an advan- ' tage because its representative has had a rest while the National league I nominee has been exhausting its on- i ergy. One side tired and the other fresh that is the situation, as some forecasters see it. ' Yet in 1914 the BraveB were supposed sup-posed to be worn out while the Ath-h Ath-h letics were fit and the Braves won !i four straight games. As things turned turn-ed out, being worked hard right up to the flnlBh proved to the Braves' ad-jl ad-jl vantage, for they -were in fighting !i mood whereas their rivals had become tame in spirit through their comparative compara-tive vacation. May it not work out f this way again? ' In still another Important detail li this series figures the same on paper ; as the one of two years -.ago. At that i time the National league was not supposed to have a chance. Yet it wrenched away four straight games the only time thls had been done in any world's series. A great majority of the baseball followers today think the Red Sox outclass any other team In the world in a crucial series, with the single possible exception of the Giants, who can not possibly get a crack at them until next year. In the same way the Athletics outclassed the world in 1914. There is still another factor that enters into the logic. The great Trls Speaker is missing from the Red Sox casts. Trls was regarded as at least 25 per cent of the Boston strength last year. Since he played only fair hall in the scries with the Phillies, different analyzers think he will not be missed this year. He did not do much then, so would not do much now if he were still with Boston, they argue. That is queer logic. One other way of considering the Trls Speaker element is In sight. Last year, with Speaker on deck, the Sox were rated as a mighty strong team. They looked much better on paper than they do now. If they then were regarded as being about 80 per cent of tho strongest possible with Speaker Speak-er one-fourth of that total, they now must figure as being only about 260 per cent team. There is never any telling just what players will shine and what ones will fizzle in a shori series. Therefore It is best to sum up the combined strength of a team and reckon it as averaging up to about a certain point, without considering just who ,!- n3 tiV n rfnocn'f T Vina If Hi a present team is only three-fourths as good as last year's on paper, then prophecies on paper should be ruled accordingly". Those men who aay Speaker will not be missed because he did not play his best last year are talking through their well known hats. Under the old law of averages, It Is possible Speaker might play away above himself if he had a chance this year instead of being interned in-terned In Cleveland. In the same way, Duffy Lewis, who played away above his speed last year, is due to slump this time in order to strike an average. There is a chance that this world's series may be conducted by a smaller number of pitchers on each side than in quite some time. The success of a number of worthy hurlers in pitching doublo headers, coupled with the remarkable re-markable winning streak recorded by the Giants through tho steady rotation rota-tion of only a few tossors, seem to have educated the club managers to the fact that using a few good pitchers pitch-ers frequently Is' better than distributing distri-buting the work' over a large number, which must necessarily include some mediocre talent Thus, it would not be surprising If no more than three or four twirlers on each side made their appearance In the series. If Bill Carrigan pilots bis Red Sox through this clash to his second straight world's championship, he will have enrolled his name among the truly great managers. He already has done that by running home in first place In this year's 'American league contest, but he will enhance his fame considerably by a second world's series triumph. |