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Show J ; Fullerton's Spring Dope I1 I THIS FINAL STANDINGS L " (By Hugh S. Fnllenon) ft ' American League I ' Won Lost I Cleveland 90 C-l ,. New York S3 71 , Boston . SO 71 i -; Detroit . ... SO 74 St. Louis . . . 7S 70 ! Chicago 7.. 73 SI! ' Washington . 7 6", S i I Philadelphia J. ...... -fa- 32 . ' National Lcnjruc J I tj Won Lostj I '1 Cincinnati ,., SO Co' I Chicago S3 71 i I New York SO 74' I Pittsburg 7S 7cj I I - Brooklyn 7S 70, ,i SL Louis To 7 I )' Uoston 70 &41 II ! Philadelphia C7 S7 I Clcvqland wins the American' R ) League Dope Championship caBllyj L . with New York a bad second, and ' I Boston and Detroit tied for third1 I ' place and St. Louis close behind them.j I I ; In iho National League the dope' I w Is so close that to pick a winner from I " Jthc first five Is practically Impossible I 'By the closest sort of doping, and by I - dealing with the fractional differences L between the teams, Cincinnati seems HT" to have a slight shado due only to the HI consistency of the team, which may Hi or may not enduro. Ch'.cago dopes Hi; second with Pittsburg and Brooklyn HV very close up and practically tied in B. ; every respect, excepting pitching in I H " which Brooklyn oxeola at present. I And here Is one thing the dope has 1 taught me: When teams practically I , . tied in the dope figures, play the 1 '. team with Iho strongest pitching staff. H The National League dope shows a H " queer thing In one respect. You know, II i by my system, wo chdca'vor to learn i . the position strength of each team, I - lh defensive work and the attacking I i ' strength. Having learned ithese we I ; Z simply figure the pitching strength Of j I ' ; one team against the attacking I ' strength of each othor loam in Its I - league. In the National League dope I I - BL Louis figured ahead of Brooklyn, H j ' but when I came to study what the mA i i -'. Brooklyn pitchers ought to do against Hf ' - St- Louis and the other six teams, and what Iho seven rival teams ought to do to St. Louis pitchers, the positions were reversed. I studied it several times always with the Bamc result. The dope scarcely gives any team in the American League a chance to beat Cleveland, it would require almost al-most fivo per cont advantage of luck ' and the breaks of the gamo to give I New York an equal chance. From the I study of the dope I would bo inclined ' to think that. If Cleveland should ; again suffer Its annual run of hard ' luck, and accldonts which would give I the others a chance, tho two teams ! most dangerous are Now York and 1 Detroit, because of tholr punch. I We can safely count Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia out of even a remote chanco of winning. The Whlto So arc badly shot and are getting no better, and while both (he others have improved tho improvement improve-ment is not sufficient to givo them a dark horao chanco at winning. In the National League, however, only Boston and Philadelphia can be thrown out entirely. St. Louis does not figure well, but there aro many latent , possibilities In tho team. I Getting personal a bit, I do not think Cincinnati will win in spite of the fact the figures show her to havo the most strength. Remember, it requires re-quires only a slight change of luck or a few bad breaks In games to turn a National League team into eithor a champion or a sixth place club. It is human naturo for champions j to get a bit chesty and the Reds have shown symptoms of this. Also It Is I human nature for all tho others to try to boat the champion. In other words, every team in the National with a couple of good left handed pitchers will save them and rest them Up to' boat the riodh, and therefore the path of tho Champions will bo much rougher this year than It wa last, when practically tho entire league was pulling for thorn to win, after their own chances Wont glimmering. glim-mering. Romembor alao that th.oro ai'a still remaining several very large ifs. There still aro four holdouts wlio may j change the complexion of things ma-j ma-j terlally and there is one big trade I hatching ovon now that certainly will lmprovo tho chancos of tho Yanks If It goes over. If I were a betting poison I'd string along with Cleveland this year and tako a flyor on tho Chicago Cuba or tho. Pirates to win, with Brooklyn one, two, three. However I never bet excoptlng One hat por year and that is already olnehed on tho proposition that the New York Yankees will hit Into twenty moro double plays than any other club in tho American League. I need a hat, anyhow. And now that tho doping is done, I intend to exercise my inalienable right to root for whoever I darn j please, regardless of dope so I'm pulling fOr Robby and Spoke. I |