Four teams in the AL this year won over 90 games, meaning that the other four were really awful. The Yankees won their second straight pennant and World Series. The Indians finished fourth, with 92 wins, but had the league's best pitching. The previous year, they had acquired Early Wynn from the White Sox, and this year he had his first big season for the Tribe.

         Wynn didn't start as many games as the other big pitchers, and thus didn't have as many innings pitched. He did, however, have a much lower ERA than anyone else, including his teammate Bob Lemon, who led the AL in wins, complete games, innings, and strikeouts.
        The league ERA this year was 4.58, which is very high. No pitcher came close to an ERA under 3.00. Wynn was the only pitcher to allow under 7 hits per game. He also allowed the fewest baserunners per game, despite walking over 100 batters. Wynn also had the most strikeouts per 9 innings. He may not have pitched a lot of innings, but Wynn was clearly the most dominant pitcher in the AL when he was on the mound, and he had a fine won-loss record.
        There isn't a lot to distinguish the best pitcher of this group from the worst. Art Houtteman and Bob Lemon had very similar credentials, as did Mel Parnell and Ed Lopat. Parnell gets an edge because he had to pitch in Fenway Park; a ton of runs were scored there, including over 1000 by the Red Sox. Ned Garver also had a terrific ERA, but his team was really awful, and didn't score any runs for him.
        Vic Raschi had another good year with the Yankees. Raschi didn't make his debut until after the war at age 27. He pitched for ten years, and had a string of good seasons with the Yankees, including three straight seasons of 20+ wins. Raschi was a good, consistent pitcher, though the Yankees made him look better than he was. He won 132 games in his career, and lost only 66; he was also an outstanding playoff pitcher who starred in numerous World Series with the Yanks.