1938 American League

The 1938 season of the American League was the thirty-eighth season of the league.

Season summary[edit]

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	New York Yankees	157	99	53	5	.631	-.-	966 (6.15)	710 (4.52)	0.274	0.362	0.446	3.91	0.973
2	Boston Red Sox	150	88	61	1	.587	9.5	902 (6.01)	751 (5.01)	0.299	0.377	0.434	4.46	0.968
3	Cleveland Indians	153	86	66	1	.562	13.0	847 (5.54)	782 (5.11)	0.281	0.348	0.434	4.60	0.974
4	Detroit Tigers	155	84	70	1	.542	16.0	862 (5.56)	795 (5.13)	0.272	0.357	0.411	4.79	0.976
5	Washington Senators	152	75	76	1	.493	23.5	814 (5.36)	873 (5.74)	0.293	0.360	0.416	4.94	0.970
6	Chicago White Sox	149	65	83	1	.436	32.0	709 (4.76)	752 (5.05)	0.277	0.342	0.383	4.36	0.967
7	St. Louis Browns	156	55	97	4	.353	44.0	755 (4.84)	962 (6.17)	0.281	0.353	0.397	5.80	0.975
8	Philadelphia Athletics	154	53	99	2	.344	46.0	726 (4.71)	956 (6.21)	0.270	0.345	0.396	5.48	0.965

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Frankie Crosetti Lou Gehrig	New York Yankees New York Yankees	157
At Bats	Doc Cramer	Boston Red Sox	658
Runs Scored	Hank Greenberg	Detroit Tigers	144
Hits	Joe Vosmik	Boston Red Sox	201
Doubles	Joe Cronin	Boston Red Sox	51
Triples	Jeff Heath	Cleveland Indians	18
Home Runs	Hank Greenberg	Detroit Tigers	58
Total Bases	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	398
Runs Batted In	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	175
Stolen Bases	Frankie Crosetti	New York Yankees	27
Caught Stealing	Billy Werber	Philadelphia Athletics	15
Walks	Jimmie Foxx Hank Greenberg	Boston Red Sox Detroit Tigers	119
Hit by Pitch	Frankie Crosetti	New York Yankees	15
Strikeouts	Frankie Crosetti	New York Yankees	97
Sacrifice Hits	Bobby Doerr	Boston Red Sox	22
Batting Average	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	0.349
On-Base Percentage	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	0.462
Slugging Percentage	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	0.704
On-Base plus Slugging	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	1.166
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	182

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Red Ruffing	New York Yankees	21
Losses	George Caster	Philadelphia Athletics	20
Win-Loss Percentage	Lefty Grove	Boston Red Sox	0.778
Appearances	Johnny Humphries	Cleveland Indians	45
Games Started	George Caster Bobo Newsom	Philadelphia Athletics St. Louis Browns	40
Complete Games	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns	31
Shutouts	Lefty Gomez	New York Yankees	4
Games Finished	Eddie Smith	Philadelphia Athletics	27
Saves	Johnny Murphy	New York Yankees	11
Innings Pitched	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns	329.2
Batters Faced	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns	1475
Hits Allowed	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns	334
Home Runs Allowed	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns	30
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	208
Hit Batsmen	Earl Whitehill	Cleveland Indians	9
Strikeouts	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	240
Wild Pitches	Dutch Leonard	Washington Senators	11
Balks	Emerson Dickman Vern Kennedy	Boston Red Sox Detroit Tigers	2
Runs Allowed	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns	205
Earned Runs Allowed	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns	186
Earned Run Average	Lefty Grove	Boston Red Sox	3.08
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Dutch Leonard	Washington Senators	1.227

The American League lost the sixth midsummer classic at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, OH on Wednesday, July 6, 1938 by a score of 4 to 1. The league's manager was Joe McCarthy.

In the World Series, the American League champion New York Yankees defeated the National League's Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 0.

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Jimmie Foxx, a first baseman with the Boston Red Sox. In the award's voting, he had 305 out of a possible 336 points and 19 first place votes.

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