1946 American League

The 1946 season of the American League was the forty-sixth 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	Boston Red Sox	156	104	50	2	.667	-.-	792 (5.08)	594 (3.81)	0.271	0.354	0.402	3.38	0.977
2	Detroit Tigers	155	92	62	1	.594	12.0	704 (4.54)	567 (3.66)	0.258	0.336	0.374	3.22	0.974
3	New York Yankees	154	87	67	0	.565	17.0	684 (4.44)	547 (3.55)	0.248	0.330	0.387	3.13	0.975
4	Washington Senators	155	76	78	1	.490	28.0	608 (3.92)	706 (4.55)	0.260	0.325	0.366	3.74	0.966
5	Chicago White Sox	155	74	80	1	.477	30.0	562 (3.63)	595 (3.84)	0.257	0.321	0.333	3.10	0.972
6	Cleveland Indians	156	68	86	2	.436	36.0	537 (3.44)	638 (4.09)	0.245	0.312	0.356	3.62	0.975
7	St. Louis Browns	156	66	88	2	.423	38.0	621 (3.98)	710 (4.55)	0.251	0.311	0.356	3.95	0.974
8	Philadelphia Athletics	155	49	105	1	.316	55.0	529 (3.41)	680 (4.39)	0.253	0.317	0.338	3.90	0.971

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Eddie Lake	Detroit Tigers	155
At Bats	Johnny Pesky	Boston Red Sox	621
Runs Scored	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	142
Hits	Johnny Pesky	Boston Red Sox	208
Doubles	Mickey Vernon	Washington Senators	51
Triples	Hank Edwards	Cleveland Indians	16
Home Runs	Hank Greenberg	Detroit Tigers	44
Total Bases	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	343
Runs Batted In	Hank Greenberg	Detroit Tigers	127
Stolen Bases	George Case	Cleveland Indians	28
Caught Stealing	George Case	Cleveland Indians	11
Walks	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	156
Hit by Pitch	Tommy Henrich	New York Yankees	7
Strikeouts	Charlie Keller Pat Seerey	New York Yankees Cleveland Indians	101
Sacrifice Hits	Lou Boudreau George Kell	Cleveland Indians Philadelphia Athletics/Detroit Tigers	15
Grounded into Double Plays	Sam Chapman	Philadelphia Athletics	22
Batting Average	Mickey Vernon	Washington Senators	0.353
On-Base Percentage	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	0.497
Slugging Percentage	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	0.667
On-Base plus Slugging	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	1.164
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	215

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Bob Feller Hal Newhouser	Cleveland Indians Detroit Tigers	26
Losses	Dick Fowler Lou Knerr Phil Marchildon	Philadelphia Athletics Philadelphia Athletics Philadelphia Athletics	16
Win-Loss Percentage	Dave Ferriss	Boston Red Sox	0.806
Appearances	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	48
Games Started	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	42
Complete Games	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	36
Shutouts	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	10
Games Finished	Earl Caldwell	Chicago White Sox	37
Saves	Bob Klinger	Boston Red Sox	9
Innings Pitched	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	371.1
Batters Faced	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	1512
Hits Allowed	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	277
Home Runs Allowed	Virgil Trucks	Detroit Tigers	23
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	153
Hit Batsmen	Bobo Newsom	Philadelphia Athletics/Washington Senators	7
Strikeouts	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	348
Wild Pitches	Orval Grove	Chicago White Sox	10
Balks	Joe Dobson Jack Kramer Phil Marchildon Joe Page	Boston Red Sox St. Louis Browns Philadelphia Athletics New York Yankees	2
Runs Allowed	Dave Ferriss	Boston Red Sox	109
Earned Runs Allowed	Dave Ferriss	Boston Red Sox	99
Earned Run Average	Hal Newhouser	Detroit Tigers	1.94
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Hal Newhouser	Detroit Tigers	1.069

The American League won the thirteenth midsummer classic at Fenway Park in Boston, MA on Tuesday, July 9, 1946 by a score of 12 to 0. The league's manager was Steve O'Neill.

In the World Series, the American League champion Boston Red Sox were defeated by the National League's St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3.

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Ted Williams, an outfielder with the Boston Red Sox. In the award's voting, he had 224 out of a possible 336 points and 9 first place votes.

The fifth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on June 13 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Detroit Tigers lost to the New York Giants of the National League by a score of 9 to 5.