1961 American Association season

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The 1961 American Association season was the 60th in the league's history, and ended with the Louisville Colonels winning their second straight league championship. The Colonels would go on to lose the Junior World Series.

With the loss of longtime cities Minneapolis and St. Paul due to the creation of the Minnesota Twins, and the failure of the Charleston Senators, the AA was down to five teams. The Dodgers put their Triple-A team in Omaha to fill out the league.

This was the final season for the Houston Buffs, as the Houston Colt .45s would join the National League for the 1962 season.

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

	W	L	Pct.	GB	Manager	Affiliation
Indianapolis Indians	86	64	.573	--	Cot Deal	Cincinnati Reds
Louisville Colonels	80	70	.533	6	Ben Geraghty	Milwaukee Braves
Denver Bears	75	73	.507	10	Charlie Metro	Detroit Tigers
Houston Buffs	73	77	.487	13	Grady Hatton/Fred Martin	Chicago Cubs
Dallas-Ft. Worth Rangers	72	77	.483	13½	Walker Cooper	Los Angeles Angels
Omaha Dodgers	62	87	.416	23½	Danny Ozark	Los Angeles Dodgers

Playoffs

	First Round					Championship Finals
	1	Indianapolis Indians	1
	4	Houston Buffs	4
						4	Houston Buffs	2
						2	Louisville Colonels	4
	2	Louisville Colonels	4
	3	Denver Bears	3

First Round

Indianapolis vs. Houston Date Away Home September 9 Houston 9 Indianapolis 7 September 10 Houston 3 Indianapolis 10 September 11 Houston 5 Indianapolis 4 September 12 Houston 9 Indianapolis 7 September 13 Indianapolis 0 Houston 6 Houston wins series 4-1

Louisville vs. Denver Date Away Home September 9 Denver 1 Louisville 5 September 10 Denver 2 Louisville 4 September 11 Denver 2 Louisville 4 September 12 Louisville 3 Denver 10 September 13 Louisville 3 Denver 5 September 14 Louisville 7 Denver 10 September 15 Louisville 1 Denver 0 Louisville wins series 4-3

Championship Finals

Louisville vs. Houston Date Away Home September 16 Houston 3 Louisville 4 September 17 Houston 0 Louisville 2 September 18 Houston 3 Louisville 4 September 19 Louisville 2 Houston 3 September 20 Louisville 5 Houston 10 September 21 Louisville 11 Houston 4 Louisville wins series 4-2 and advances to Junior World Series

References

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, editors. Baseball America, 1993.