The1946 National League tie-breaker series was abest-of-three playoff series that extendedMajor League Baseball's (MLB)1946 regular season to decide the winner of theNational League (NL) pennant. The games were played on October 1 and October 3, 1946, between theSt. Louis Cardinals andBrooklyn Dodgers. It was necessary after both teams finished the season with identicalwin–loss records of 96–58. This was the first ever tie-breaker series in MLB history.[1] The Cardinals won the regular season series, 16–8.
The first game took place atSportsman's Park in St. Louis, and the second, at Brooklyn'sEbbets Field. The Cardinals swept the Dodgers behind wins from pitchersHowie Pollet andMurry Dickson, thus advancing to the1946 World Series in which they defeated theBoston Red Sox, four games to three. Inbaseball statistics, the tie-breaker series counted as the 155th and 156th regular season games by both teams, with all events in the games added to regular season statistics.
In the first season of baseball since the conclusion ofWorld War II, all ballplayers who had served in the military were returning to their former teams. The Cardinals regainedHall of FamerStan Musial, and the Dodgers reacquired Hall of FamerPee Wee Reese.[3] The previous season, St. Louis finished second in the NL, and Brooklyn ended the season third, with records of 95–59 and 87–67, respectively.[4] In a pre-season poll of 119 sportswriters, 115 picked the Cardinals to win the National League, while none selected the Dodgers.[5]
Cardinals managerEddie Dyer said that talk about his team being a "shoo-in" to win the pennant was devised by Dodgers general managerBranch Rickey to ease the pressure on them, and increase pressure on the Cardinals, noting that he felt Brooklyn was the clear favorite.[6] The Dodgers spent the first month of the season creating a "youth movement" on their club, allowing younger players to have significant playing time. When the team was in first place in the middle of May, however, managerLeo Durocher dropped the idea and instead focused on winning the pennant.[7] Dyer said at the start of the season that as long as St. Louis was within five games of first place on July 4, they would win thepennant race. As July 4 came and went, they found themselves seven games behind the Dodgers, and concern grew in St. Louis.[8]
The Cardinals rebounded, and on August 22, after winning both games of a doubleheader against thePhiladelphia Phillies, the clubs were tied, 71–45.[9] After the Dodgers had led the league most of the season, the Cardinals were in first place most of September. On September 29, St. Louis and Brooklyn were again tied with just one game left to play against theChicago Cubs andBoston Braves, respectively. The Cardinals lost to the Cubs, 8–3, while the Dodgers lost to the Braves, 4–0, and as a result the two teams were placed in a best-of-three tiebreaker series to determine who would face theBoston Red Sox in the1946 World Series.[10] The Dodgers choseRalph Branca to pitch the first game in the series. The Cardinals debated starting either Howie Pollet or Murry Dickson,[11] before deciding on Pollet.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | 4 | 12 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Howie Pollet (21–10) LP:Ralph Branca (3–1) Home runs: BKN:Howie Schultz (3) STL: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pollet started the game by retiring the first three Brooklyn hitters.Eddie Stanky grounded out,Cookie Lavagettoflied out to center field, andJoe Medwick grounded out to end the inning.[12]Branca took the mound in the bottom of the first,striking outRed Schoendienst and allowing asingle toTerry Moore. AfterNational League MVP Musial struck out,Enos Slaughter singled andWhitey Kurowskiwalked to load the bases.Joe Garagiola brought in a run before being tagged out to end the inning with the score 1–0.[12] In the second inning,Carl Furillo reached base on an error by Pollet.Pee Wee Reese singled, but Furillo was out at second. Another groundout brought the Cardinals back up, and the Dodgers got all three batters quicklyout to end the inning.[12] In the top of the third,Howie Schultz hit ahome run on the first pitch, tying the score at 1–1. After three more outs, St. Louis came back up to bat. Moore flied out, then Musial walked, and Slaughter singled. Musial scored on Kurowski's hit while Slaughter was called out, and after two more singles, the latter bringing in Kurowski, Branca was taken out of the game.[12]
Kirby Higbe replaced Branca on the mound, and ended the inning with the Cardinals in the lead, 3–1. Both teams combined for one hit in the fourth inning, a single by Moore.[12] In the top of the fifth, Reese andBruce Edwards singled, and Schultz grounded out on abunt.Stan Rojekpinch hit for Higbe, and walked, loading the bases. Stanky grounded into adouble play, ending the inning without the Dodgers scoring any runs.[12] In the bottom of the fifth,Hal Gregg replaced Higbe on the mound, and retired the side in order. The sixth inning contained just one baserunner — Schoendienst — who was stranded on first after hitting a single.[12]
The top of the seventh started with Furillo flying out to right field. Reese, Edwards, and Schultz all singled after Furillo's out. Reese scored on Schultz's hit, but Slaughter threw Edwards out atthird base A groundout byBob Ramazzotti ended the threat with the Cardinals leading, 3–2.[12] Dyer later said he considered this play the one that saved the game for St. Louis.[13] In the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers inserted their fourth pitcher,Vic Lombardi. After Musialtripled and Slaughter flied out, he was replaced byRube Melton, the fifth and final pitcher the Dodgers used. A Garagiola single scored Musial, and Melton got the other two outs in between awild pitch, making the score 4–2 at the end of the seventh.[12] Stanky walked to start the eighth, giving him a league-leading 137 walks for the season.[14] Brooklyn finished the eighth inning leaving two on base, and the Cardinals failed to score in the bottom of the eighth as well, leaving a man on base. In the top of the ninth, Reese and Edwards flied out, and Schultz struck out to end the game, giving the Cardinals a 4–2 victory.[12]
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Murry Dickson (15–6) LP:Joe Hatten (14–11) Sv:Harry Brecheen (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Originally, the Cardinals were wavering between starting Murry Dickson or Harry Brecheen in game two, while the Dodgers were looking to use either Higbe, who had pitched in the previous game, or Joe Hatten; the two clubs went with Dickson and Hatten.[16] Hatten began the game in the top of the first inning by only allowing one hit to Terry Moore. In the bottom of the first, the Dodgers scored the game's first run. After Eddie Stanky struck out, andDick Whitman flied out,Augie Galan singled. He was brought home by a walk and another single. After Carl Furillo flied out, the first inning ended with a score of 1–0.[17] In the top of the second, the Cardinals responded whenErv Dusak tripled after a Slaughter ground out. Marty Marion hit asacrifice fly to score Dusak, and after a single byClyde Kluttz, Dickson tripled to score another run, giving St. Louis a 2–1 lead, before a fly out ended their half of the inning. Dickson walkedBruce Edwards, but retired the next three batters, leaving the score 2–1 at the end of the second inning.[17]
Neither team got a hit in the third or fourth innings. The only runners to reach base were Whitey Kurowski and Marion, both on walks.[17] The fifth started that the same way, with Slaughter and Moore flying out. With two outs however, the Cardinals started hitting. Musial doubled, Kurowski walked, Slaughter tripled, and Dusak singled. All but Dusak scored on the hits, bringing the score to 5–1 and ending Hatten's day.Hank Behrman came on in relief.[17] Behrman kept any more runs from scoring, and after another inning in which the Dodgers did not record a hit, the score was 5–1 at the end of the fifth.[17]
Vic Lombardi replaced Behrman in the top of the sixth. He allowed just one hit to Dickson, keeping the score 5–1 when Brooklyn came up to bat. Whitman, Galan, andDixie Walker all grounded out to end the inning.[17] In the top of the seventh, Lombardi allowed two walks, then Dusak hit asacrifice bunt, after which Lombardi was replaced by Higbe. Marion hit a sacrifice bunt as well, which allowed Kurowski to score. Higbe quickly got the third out, and the Dodgers again went hitless in the seventh, making the score 6–1 at the end of seven innings.[17] In the top of the eighth, Dickson struck out, while Red Schoendienst singled and Moore doubled. Musial wasintentionally walked to load the bases, and Kurowski singled, allowing two baserunners to score and making the game 8–1 in favor of the Cardinals. After another walk, Higbe was replaced on the pitcher's mound byRube Melton, who got the final two outs of the inning.[17]
Brooklyn went hitless in the bottom of the eighth. They insertedHarry Taylor to pitch the top half of the ninth, in which, he held St. Louis hitless.[17] With half an inning left to play, the Dodgers began to get hits off of Dickson. Galan doubled, and after Walker flied out,Ed Stevens tripled to score Galan and Furillo singled to score Stevens, after a wild pitch and a walk, Brecheen took over pitching duties for Dickson with St. Louis leading 8–3.[17] Edwards singled off Brecheen and allowed Furillo to score, and afterCookie Lavagetto walked, the score was 8–4 with the bases loaded. The Cardinals kept the score from getting any closer, as Brecheen struck out the final two batters to end the game.[17]
The Cardinals advanced to theWorld Series against theBoston Red Sox, whom they defeated four games to three.[18] While the Cardinals were facing the Dodgers, the Red Sox faced a team of American League All-Stars in an exhibition match. During the game,Ted Williams injured his elbow. He recovered in time to play in the World Series, but managerJoe Cronin blamed the injury on having to wait for the three-game series to finish, and pushed for future tie-breakers to be a single game.[19] Cronin got his wish in theAmerican League, as the1948 American League tie-breaker was only a one-game matchup. However, the National League hosted three more series-style tie-breakers in later seasons before converting to a single-game format.[20]
After Brooklyn lost the series, rumors of Durocher leaving to manage theNew York Yankees, which had started in the final days of the regular season, resurfaced. Durocher responded by saying that he would remain the manager of the Dodgers "until I die", quelling any speculation.[21]
The two games countedstatistically as regular season games. As a result, Musial and Slaughter led the league with 156 games played, which could not have been equaled by anyone but a Brooklyn or St. Louis player.[22] Musial's two hits in the series gave him a league-leading 228 for the season.[22] Pollet's nine inning, twoearned runs performance lowered hisearned run average (ERA) to 2.10, and increased his win total to 21, both of which led the National League, narrowly edging outJohnny Sain's 20 wins and 2.21 ERA.[23] Murry Dickson's victory in the second game gave him 15 wins and six losses on the season; this brought his win–loss percentage to .714, which led the National League.[23] Musial finished the season with a .365batting average, 124runs, 50doubles, 20 triples, 16 home runs, and 103runs batted in, and won theMajor League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award at the end of the season.[24]