While the postseason is just getting underway, it will be six months until baseball returns 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 start today on the offensive side of the ball with team batting average.
The newly christened Cleveland Guardians take over the top spot and join the California Angels, who I only saw live and in person twice, are the only teams to post an average over .300. The Washington Nationals, who, sadly, have now had thirteen games to make a mark, are still the only team to post an average under .200. In between, there is a slight correlation between the teams’ batting average and their record in these games, though with some surprising anomalies.
Batting Average
| Team Name | BA |
|---|---|
| Cleveland Guardians | 0.304 |
| California Angels | 0.304 |
| Anaheim Angels | 0.292 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 0.278 |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 0.272 |
| Cleveland Indians | 0.263 |
| Chicago Cubs | 0.261 |
| Florida Marlins | 0.260 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 0.259 |
| Chicago White Sox | 0.258 |
| Boston Red Sox | 0.257 |
| Kansas City Royals | 0.257 |
| Oakland Athletics | 0.257 |
| Colorado Rockies | 0.255 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 0.255 |
| Houston Astros | 0.254 |
| New York Yankees | 0.253 |
| Atlanta Braves | 0.253 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 0.251 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 0.251 |
| Detroit Tigers | 0.247 |
| Seattle Mariners | 0.245 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 0.244 |
| Minnesota Twins | 0.243 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0.243 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 0.242 |
| Texas Rangers | 0.240 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 0.240 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 0.234 |
| San Francisco Giants | 0.233 |
| New York Mets | 0.230 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 0.230 |
| San Diego Padres | 0.229 |
| Montreal Expos | 0.220 |
| Miami Marlins | 0.206 |
| Washington Nationals | 0.199 |