MLB Monday will take a break next week for a little respite, but this entry focuses on the third year of the New York Yankees’ hitherto unprecedented run of four consecutive World Series championships. For the record, this was the third title in three seasons for Yankees legendary outfielder Joe DiMaggio, but in the three Fall Classics so far, he’d only managed to total 2 home runs and 6 RBI on the back of a .302 batting average. Not bad, but not the best, either. Odd.

1938 World Series MVP: Red Ruffing, SP, New York (AL)

We have two candidates for this award, as the Yankees swept the Chicago Cubs and outscored them, 22-9, as well. The offensive contender is second baseman Joe Gordon (.400 BA, 1.171 OPS, 1 HR, 6 RBI), and the pitching contender is starter Red Ruffing (2-0, 1.50 ERA, 1.056 WHIP, 2 CGs). Overall, the New York pitching staff was excellent, so we’re more inclined to go with Gordon as the offensive leader—yet shortstop Frankie Crosetti all but matched Gordon’s numbers.

All of Crosetti’s hits went for extra bases, oddly, even though he only hit .250 in the Series, but he also had 1 HR and 6 RBI. Gordon’s 2 errors in the field also present an issue for us, so now we’re back to Ruffing—he won Game 1 on the road with a dominant performance to set the tone for the matchup, and he won Game 4 at home by holding off a desperate Cubs team. Therefore, we like Ruffing for this one as the only Yankees starter to get the nod twice. He delivered.

1938 AL MOTY: Joe McCarthy, New York

The Yankees won the pennant by 9.5 games, and Manager Joe McCarthy piloted them to a plus-2 PPP finish—the second-best effort in the league. That’s good enough for us to hand McCarthy his sixth MOTY trophy in this space. Cleveland Manager Ossie Vitt (plus-4 PPP) put forth a great effort, but his team finished a distan 13.5 games behind New York, so it really didn’t matter that much.

1938 NL MOTY: Pie Traynor, Pittsburgh

The Cubs, managed by two different field generals, won the pennant by just 2 games over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pittsburgh manager, Pie Traynor, made this pennant chase a lot closer by getting a plus-3 PPP finish out of his roster. Meanwhile, the two Chicago skippers combined for just a plus-1 PPP mark. That makes it easier for us to award this hardware to Traynor for the valiant effort in making a race out of it.