Shown: JULY: Chicago (light blue) wobbly holding Hover over Buffalo (light green).

Although elements of pitching rotations existed in each of Chicago's opponents this year, Chicago's Larry Corcoran and Fred Goldsmith continued to do the strictest alternating and get the most batting support. Chicago's .667 win percentage, while down from .798 in 1880 still managed to keep them nine games ahead of the pack. But never ten.

After Worcester opened the year 8-0 behind ace lefthander Lee Richmond's arm, Chicago and Buffalo found themselves sharing the top spot with identical 15-9 records. June 9th Buffalo gained that tie when Dan Brouthers broke up a 0-0 game in Boston with a triple in the thirteenth inning. Buffalo held on for one more week until June 16th when they were pounded out of first place by Worcester. It was the latest date in first place for any major league team from Buffalo until their 1914 Federal League franchise led on June 17th.

Buffalo finished the year flat, 28-28, and was passed by Providence for the second slot, September 19th, with just two weeks left to play. Providence, with only sixteen home games in their first forty-seven, themselves had held last place as late as July 26, after which time Johnny Ward re-emerged as a starting pitcher for them and helped Bobby Mathews and Charles Radbourne form the majors first three man pitching staff. Providence did play .743 ball over their second half but never contended. Chicago lazily clinched, September 22, with a 2-1 win in Providence over Ward himself who spun a 3-hitter. Both Chicago runs scored on misplays in the fourth inning after umpire Ed Callahan mistakenly called Ab Dalrymple safe at second base on a steal attempt. Chicago president and NL president William Hulbert attended the game - the last major league game he would ever see - and admitted that Dalrymple should have been called out.

The key to Chicago's pitching success was the even matching of Corcoran and Goldsmith. Most other teams had only a single ace pitcher and could not jump into a rotation that subsisted of that ace and a strong-armed right fielder. Only gutsy Troy, a team that signed ace pitcher Tim Keefe the previous August to alternate with their own Mickey Welch, had two such evenly matched moundsmen. Pud Galvin and Jack Lynch alternated evenly for Buffalo, but this probably hurt the team who could have used more wins from the superior Galvin. Anyway, at the end of August when Buffalo's chances were diminishing, team captain Jim O'Rourke dropped the rotation plan and went with Galvin exclusively. Galvin won one out of his last eight games and left the team with a sore arm with one week to play.

The key to Chicago's offense was baserunning. It might be safer to say that their dominating offense allowed them to experiment with all manner of audacious baserunning, and that this, in turn, became the focus of their opposition. On May 20, third-place Chicago hosted second-place Boston in the first game of a three game series. Chicago poured across a four-run top of the seventh inning to win, 5-4, the final two runs coming on a Cap Anson groundout that scored two runners: George Gore from third and Mike Kelly from second. Kelly never even came close to thirdbase and "cut the corner" by fifteen feet while the one assigned umpire, Al Barker, had his eyes on the play at firstbase. Boston was swept that series and the Boston press focused on that play for the rest of the Summer as an example of Chicago's uncouth tactics. Kelly would soon be nationally known as "King" Kelly.

Chicago's inability to gain a ten game lead characterizes this pennant race as a Hover. But in late July the team won one game out of eight (shown in graph) and their 6.5 game lead dwindled to 3.0 games. July 12th Chicago beat Worcester when a nine-run sixth inning backed Corcoran. However, the next day Goldsmith received a telegram that his mother was dying in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Goldsmith was given a leave and Corcoran started that day on zero days of rest. Corcoran won again to raise his season's record to 17-5 but that was it. Chicago got swept in Buffalo (7/16, 7/19, and 7/20) and then lost the first two of three in Detroit before a rested Goldsmith came back to win, 7/26. These were all close, late-inning losses. In Buffalo Hardy Richardson single-handedly won each game with rbi-singles in, respectively, the bottom of the eighth inning for an 10-9 win; the bottom of the ninth inning for an 8-7 win; and in a seven run rally in the fifth inning of the final game which ended 11-7.

Back at home Chicago's losing continued. Fifth place Cleveland mauled them 11-2 in the opener of Chicago's final four week long home stand, and then Cleveland won again when third baseman Doc Kennedy beat Goldsmith with an eighth inning rbi-double. Buffalo should probably have rallied to catch Chicago at that point, but that was when Buffalo learned through losses that Lynch's effectiveness was gone.

Chicago's losing ways ended July 30th when Cap Anson stole home in the top of the eighth inning to give Chicago a winning 7-6 margin. For a guy that ran like a professional wrestler, that was pretty audacious.