#7/8 Seeded Teams
#7 1941 Detroit Tigers
Original Season Record: 75-79, .487, T-4th place, AL
Star Attractions: The Tigers had a pretty balanced roster, but no true stars.
Also Featuring: 1B Rudy York had a mediocre .259 batting average, but he did lead Detroit with 27 homers, 111 RBI, and 91 runs scored. CF Barney McCoskey led the team with a .324 batting average, 401 OBP and .827 OPS. The starting pitchers for the Tigers were middling at best, but Al Benton was a secret weapon with a 2.97 ERA, 15 wins and seven saves, while making 24 of his 38 appearances coming out of the bullpen.
Potential Pitfalls: The three most used starting pitchers on the Tigers had ERAs of 4.60, 4.79 and 4.47 respectively, while the offence was 6th out 8 AL teams in runs scored, not exactly an ideal formula for winning baseball.
#8 1941 New York Giants
Original Season Record: 74-79, .484, 5th place, NL
Star Attractions: HOF slugger Mel Ott led the team with 27 HR, a .403 on-base percentage, a .495 slugging percentage and an .898 OPS.
Also Featuring: 1B Babe Young gave the team a second power source with 25 homers and a team best 104 RBI. New York`s top two starting pitchers had ERAs in the low 3s as Hal Schumacher led the team 206 IP to go with a 3.36 ERA while lefty Cliff Melton led the team with a 3.01 ERA. HOF southpaw Carl Hubbell was a solid third starter with a 3.57 ERA.
Potential Pitfalls: Pitching depth figures to be an issue for the G-men who were 6th out of 8 NL teams with a 3.94 team ERA, and they were also in the bottom half of the league in runs scored, so they will have to outperform those statistics on at least one side of the ball to achieve a winning record
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