We are days away from crowning the champion to the 2022 season and now just five months away from baseball returning to Chicago. I thought it would be a good time to revisit, for the first time in six years, the all-time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 1040 games I’ve identified that I have attended. We continue today on the defensive side of the ball with batters hit by a pitch.
Again, based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are the teams I’ve seen the most. When you adjust the numbers per game, the Guardians and the Devil Rays lead the way, followed, surprisingly, by the Tigers, who hit a little more than 1 batter every other game. The Mets are at the bottom, hitting less than one batter every nine games, while the California version of the Angels and the Miami version of the Marlins have yet to hit a batter in a game I’ve seen.
Hit By Pitch
| Team Name | Hit By Pitch |
|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox | 221 |
| Chicago Cubs | 147 |
| Minnesota Twins | 33 |
| Detroit Tigers | 31 |
| Cleveland Indians | 28 |
| Kansas City Royals | 26 |
| Houston Astros | 22 |
| Texas Rangers | 18 |
| Seattle Mariners | 17 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 16 |
| Boston Red Sox | 16 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 16 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 15 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 14 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 14 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 11 |
| Florida Marlins | 10 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 9 |
| New York Yankees | 9 |
| Oakland Athletics | 9 |
| San Diego Padres | 8 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 7 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 6 |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 5 |
| San Francisco Giants | 5 |
| Washington Nationals | 5 |
| Colorado Rockies | 4 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 3 |
| Atlanta Braves | 3 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 3 |
| Cleveland Guardians | 3 |
| New York Mets | 2 |
| Montreal Expos | 2 |
| Anaheim Angels | 1 |
| Miami Marlins | 0 |
| California Angels | 0 |
Hit By Pitch per Game
| Team Name | Hit By Pitch per Game |
|---|---|
| Cleveland Guardians | 1 |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 1 |
| Detroit Tigers | 0.525423728813559 |
| Boston Red Sox | 0.5 |
| Anaheim Angels | 0.5 |
| Minnesota Twins | 0.485294117647059 |
| Cleveland Indians | 0.482758620689655 |
| Texas Rangers | 0.461538461538462 |
| Houston Astros | 0.448979591836735 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 0.444444444444444 |
| Florida Marlins | 0.434782608695652 |
| Seattle Mariners | 0.425 |
| Kansas City Royals | 0.419354838709677 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 0.407407407407407 |
| Montreal Expos | 0.4 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 0.4 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 0.4 |
| Washington Nationals | 0.384615384615385 |
| San Diego Padres | 0.380952380952381 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 0.341463414634146 |
| Chicago Cubs | 0.336384439359268 |
| Chicago White Sox | 0.328869047619048 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 0.326086956521739 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 0.310344827586207 |
| New York Yankees | 0.290322580645161 |
| Oakland Athletics | 0.290322580645161 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 0.260869565217391 |
| Colorado Rockies | 0.222222222222222 |
| San Francisco Giants | 0.217391304347826 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 0.212121212121212 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 0.176470588235294 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0.15 |
| Atlanta Braves | 0.142857142857143 |
| New York Mets | 0.117647058823529 |
| California Angels | 0 |
| Miami Marlins | 0 |