1948 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1948 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1948 in baseball.

The 1948 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 19 to October 11, 1948. The Boston Braves and Cleveland Indians were the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Indians won the American League title via a tie-breaker game victory over the Boston Red Sox, after both teams finished their 154-game schedules with identical 96–58 records. The Indians then defeated the Braves in the World Series, four games to two.

1948 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 19 – October 11, 1948
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Lou Boudreau (CLE) NL: Stan Musial (SLC)
AL champions	Cleveland Indians
AL runners-up	Boston Red Sox
NL champions	Boston Braves
NL runners-up	St. Louis Cardinals
World Series
Champions	Cleveland Indians
Runners-up	Boston Braves

Red Sox

White Sox  

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Yankees

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1942–1953 American League seasons
American League

Braves

Dodgers

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1943–1952 National League seasons
National League

Awards and honors

• Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Herb Pennock
  • Pie Traynor
• Most Valuable Player
  • Lou Boudreau (AL)
  • Stan Musial (NL)
• Rookie of the Year
  • Alvin Dark
• The Sporting News Player of the Year Award
  • Lou Boudreau Cleveland Indians
• The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
  • Bob Lemon Cleveland Indians
  • Johnny Sain Boston Braves
• The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award
  • Billy Meyer Pittsburgh Pirates

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	97	58	.626	—	48‍–‍30	49‍–‍28
Boston Red Sox	96	59	.619	1	55‍–‍23	41‍–‍36
New York Yankees	94	60	.610	2½	50‍–‍27	44‍–‍33
Philadelphia Athletics	84	70	.545	12½	36‍–‍41	48‍–‍29
Detroit Tigers	78	76	.506	18½	39‍–‍38	39‍–‍38
St. Louis Browns	59	94	.386	37	34‍–‍42	25‍–‍52
Washington Senators	56	97	.366	40	29‍–‍48	27‍–‍49
Chicago White Sox	51	101	.336	44½	27‍–‍48	24‍–‍53

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Braves	91	62	.595	—	45‍–‍31	46‍–‍31
St. Louis Cardinals	85	69	.552	6½	44‍–‍33	41‍–‍36
Brooklyn Dodgers	84	70	.545	7½	36‍–‍41	48‍–‍29
Pittsburgh Pirates	83	71	.539	8½	47‍–‍31	36‍–‍40
New York Giants	78	76	.506	13½	37‍–‍40	41‍–‍36
Philadelphia Phillies	66	88	.429	25½	32‍–‍44	34‍–‍44
Cincinnati Reds	64	89	.418	27	32‍–‍45	32‍–‍44
Chicago Cubs	64	90	.416	27½	35‍–‍42	29‍–‍48

• The Cleveland Indians defeated the Boston Red Sox in a one-game playoff to earn the American League pennant.

Postseason

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	Cleveland Indians	4
	NL	Boston Braves	2

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders Stat Player Total AVG Ted Williams (BSR) .369 HR Joe DiMaggio (NYY) 39 RBI Joe DiMaggio (NYY) 155 R Tommy Henrich (NYY) 138 H Bob Dillinger (SLB) 207 SB Bob Dillinger (SLB) 28

Pitching leaders Stat Player Total W Hal Newhouser (DET) 21 L Fred Sanford (SLB) 21 ERA Gene Bearden (CLE) 2.43 K Bob Feller (CLE) 164 IP Bob Lemon (CLE) 293.2 SV Russ Christopher (CLE) 17

National League

Hitting leaders Stat Player Total AVG Stan Musial (SLC) .376 HR Ralph Kiner (PIT) Johnny Mize (NYG) 40 RBI Stan Musial (SLC) 131 R Stan Musial (SLC) 135 H Stan Musial (SLC) 230 SB Richie Ashburn (PHP) 32

Pitching leaders Stat Player Total W Johnny Sain (BSB) 24 L Dutch Leonard (PHP) 17 ERA Harry Brecheen (SLC) 2.24 K Harry Brecheen (SLC) 149 IP Johnny Sain (BSB) 314.2 SV Harry Gumbert (CIN) 17

Managers

American League

Team	Manager	Comments
Boston Red Sox	Joe Cronin	Finished 2nd, lost 1 game playoff to Cleveland
Chicago White Sox	Ted Lyons
Cleveland Indians	Lou Boudreau	Won World Series
Detroit Tigers	Del Baker
New York Yankees	Bucky Harris	Finished 3rd
Philadelphia Athletics	Connie Mack
St. Louis Browns	Zack Taylor
Washington Senators	Joe Kuhel

National League

Team	Manager	Comments
Boston Braves	Billy Southworth	Won Pennant
Brooklyn Dodgers	Burt Shotton	Finished 3rd
Chicago Cubs	Charlie Grimm
Cincinnati Reds	Johnny Neun and Bucky Walters
New York Giants	Mel Ott and Leo Durocher
Philadelphia Phillies	Ben Chapman and Eddie Sawyer
Pittsburgh Pirates	Billy Meyer
St. Louis Cardinals	Eddie Dyer	Finished 2nd

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Cleveland Indians[1]	97	21.3%	2,620,627	72.2%	33,172
New York Yankees[2]	94	-3.1%	2,373,901	8.9%	30,830
Detroit Tigers[3]	78	-8.2%	1,743,035	24.7%	22,637
Boston Red Sox[4]	96	15.7%	1,558,798	9.2%	19,985
Pittsburgh Pirates[5]	83	33.9%	1,517,021	18.2%	18,963
New York Giants[6]	78	-3.7%	1,459,269	-8.8%	18,952
Boston Braves[7]	91	5.8%	1,455,439	13.9%	19,151
Brooklyn Dodgers[8]	84	-10.6%	1,398,967	-22.6%	17,935
Chicago Cubs[9]	64	-7.2%	1,237,792	-9.3%	15,869
St. Louis Cardinals[10]	85	-4.5%	1,111,440	-10.9%	14,434
Philadelphia Athletics[11]	84	7.7%	945,076	3.7%	12,274
Cincinnati Reds[12]	64	-12.3%	823,386	-8.5%	10,693
Washington Senators[13]	56	-12.5%	795,254	-6.5%	10,196
Chicago White Sox[14]	51	-27.1%	777,844	-11.3%	10,235
Philadelphia Phillies[15]	66	6.5%	767,429	-15.4%	10,098
St. Louis Browns[16]	59	0.0%	335,564	4.7%	4,415

See also

• 1948 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season

References

1. "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
2. "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
3. "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
4. "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
5. "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
6. "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
7. "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
8. "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
9. "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
10. "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
11. "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
12. "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
13. "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
14. "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
15. "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
16. "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.

External links

• 1948 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference