Category / Baseball

by admin

Team Stats: Stolen Bases

With one game of the 2022 World Series in the books, we still have about five months now 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 continue today back on the offensive side of the ball with stolen bases.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs continue to be the far and away leaders in this category, as they are the two teams I’ve seen the most by a wide margin.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the Devil Rays and the California and Anaheim versions of the Angels jump to the top of the heap.  The White Sox fall to the bottom of the middle third and the Cubs are squarely towards the low end, with just under one stolen base every other game.  The Braves are the worst team that I have seen somewhat often, with less than 0.3 stolen per game, while the Miami incarnation of the Marlins have yet to steal a base in a game I have attended.

Stolen Bases

Team Name SB
Chicago White Sox 388
Chicago Cubs 215
Kansas City Royals 50
Cleveland Indians 44
Detroit Tigers 41
Milwaukee Brewers 40
Houston Astros 38
Cincinnati Reds 32
Texas Rangers 32
Minnesota Twins Continue reading →
by admin

Team Stats: Home Runs Surrendered

With the postseason now in full swing, it will be a long 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 continue today with our first look at the defensive side of the ball with home runs surrendered.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, which is to be expected as they are the teams I’ve seen most often.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the Expos jump to the top (or bottom, depending on your point of view) of the heap, with an even two home runs given up per game.  The Rockies, Phillies, Nationals, Diamondbacks, the Miami version of the Marlins, and Devil Rays are the only teams below one home run per game.  The remaining teams fall in between.

Home Runs Surrendered

Team Name Home Runs Surrendered
Chicago White Sox 800
Chicago Cubs 476
Minnesota Twins 98
Kansas City Royals 70
Cleveland Indians 61
Detroit Tigers 59
Houston Astros 57
Pittsburgh Pirates 54
Milwaukee Brewers 53
Seattle Mariners 53
Cincinnati Reds 51
Baltimore Orioles 47
St. Louis Cardinals 44
Texas Rangers 44
Los Angeles Angels Continue reading →
by admin

Team Stats: Batting Average

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 Continue reading →
by admin

RIP Bruce Sutter

Former Cub closer Bruce Sutter died this morning at the age of 69.  Sutter, elected to the Hall of Fame in 2006, spent five seasons with the Cubs from 1976 through 1980, earning four All Star nods, numerous MVP votes, and a Cy Young Award.  He was traded to the Cardinals prior to the 1981 season, where he would become one of the most recognizable stars of the game and a World Series champion in 1982.  He signed with the Braves as a free agent after the 1984 season, where injuries would bring his career to a premature end in 1988.  His career total of 300 saves is currently tied for 30th in MLB history.

Sutter began closing games for the Cubs late in the 1976 season, earning 10 saves before season’s end.  When Herman Franks became Cubs manager in 1977, he had Sutter closing games from the get-go.  Despite an August injury, he finished the year with a 1.34 ERA, 31 saves, and a 6.5 bWAR, finishing in sixth place for Cy Young voting and seventh place in MVP voting.  In 1979, Sutter led all of MLB in saves, with 37, for the first of what would be four straight seasons, earning the Cy Young Award along the way.

Following that year, Sutter became the first Cub to enter the new arbitration system.  The Cubs offered Sutter $350,000, an increase of nearly 50 percent from his 1979 salary, while Sutter asked for $700,000.  When the arbitrator awarded the higher figure to Sutter, the Wrigley family claimed they couldn’t afford it.  While Sutter put up another great season in 1980, the Cubs lost 98 games and, after the season, he was traded to the Cardinals for Leon Durham, Ken Reitz and Ty Waller.

Sutter still had one more important role to play in Cubs lore.  In 1984, while still a member of the Cardinals, he was on the mound in the ninth inning of a nationally televised game trying to hold on to a 9-8 lead.  Ryne Sandberg, at the time a young, unheralded second baseman not known for power, hit a home run to send the game to extra innings.  After the Cardinals plated two in the top of the 10th, Sutter came back out to once again try to wrap up the victory.  After two quick outs and a walk to Bob Dernier, Sandberg once again teed off, hitting his second game-tying home run in as many innings.  The Cubs would eventually win what is now known as “The Sandberg Game” in the 11th and Ryne Sandberg was on his way to becoming a star.

by admin

Breaking New Ground

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball became the first major professional sports league to sign a sponsorship agreement with a CBD brand.  The multi-year deal makes Charlotte’s Web the “Official CBD of Major League Baseball,” with the goal, according to a press release, to increase brand visibility among MLB athletes and fans.  The sponsorship deal coincides with the launch of the new WebTM SPORT – Daily Edge, a hemp-derived, broad-spectrum tincture that supposedly meets MLB’s standards for acceptable substances among players.  The MLB logo will appear on the bottle and Daily Edge will be available in gummies, topicals, and oral sprays.

MLB continues to push the envelope when it comes to sponsors that, should their players participate, would end in a suspension.  It will be interesting to see if any player who gets popped for a failed drug test in the future claims that this is all they were taking.

by admin

2022 Final Pitching Leaders

Yesterday, we looked at the leaders in the 33 games I attended this year on the offensive side of the ball.  With the newly expanded Wild Card round in full swing today, it’s time to wrap up our look back at the 2022 season with the pitching leaders, starting with everyone’s favorite pitching statistic:

Wins

Name Total
Reynaldo Lopez 3
Liam Hendriks 2
Lucas Giolito 2
Dylan Cease 2
24 tied with  1

Losses

Name Total
Michael Kopech 2
Johnny Cueto 2
Davis Martin 2
26 tied with  1

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Clayton Kershaw 0.00
Reynaldo Lopez 0.59
Marcus Stroman 0.79
Dylan Cease 1.00
Jimmy Lambert 1.13
Nestor Cortes Jr. 1.13

Strikeouts

Name Total
Lucas Giolito 32
Michael Kopech 26
Liam Hendriks 22
Continue reading →
by admin

2022 Final Batting Leaders

Another baseball season is in the books, with the White Sox disappointing their fans by not just failing to return to the now-expanded postseason, but also failing to post a winning record.  The Cubs, meanwhile, struggled as expected in the first half of the season but managed to put together a decent enough second half, leading some to believe that a big offseason of free agent signings will put them right back in contention.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 33 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Gavin Sheets 6
Jose Abreu 4
Luis Robert 4
A.J. Pollock 3
Eloy Jimenez 3

Hits

Name Total
Jose Abreu 31
Tim Anderson 26
Gavin Sheets 23
A,J. Pollock 20
Luis Robert 19

Runs

Name Total
Luis Robert 15
Jose Abreu 13
Continue reading →
by admin

2022 Final Standings

After a delayed start to the season thanks to the long lockout last winter, we’ve managed to get through a 162-game schedule just a couple of days later than initially planned.  The new, expanded postseason is set and will go on without either Chicago team for the first time since 2019.   I ended up attending just 33 games, tied with 2012 for my 16th highest total of all time.  I only managed to add one new stadium, bringing my total up to 28.  All told, I managed to see 20 of the 30 teams.

2022 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Los Angeles Dodgers 2 0 1.000
Texas Rangers 1 0 1.000
Baltimore Orioles 1 0 1.000
New York Mets 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
New York Yankees 2 1 0.667
Cleveland Guardians 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 16 14 0.533
Minnesota Twins 2 2 0.500
Houston Astros 1 1 0.500
Detroit Tigers 1 1 0.500
Colorado Rockies 1 1 0.500
Chicago Cubs 2 5 0.286
Atlanta Braves 0 1 0.000
Los Angeles Angels 0 1 0.000
Toronto Blue Jays 0 1 0.000
Oakland Athletics 0 1 0.000
Seattle Mariners 0 1 0.000
Tampa Bay Rays 0 1 0.000
Kansas City Royals 0 1 0.000
by admin

2022 Predictions Revisited

Six months ago, at the dawn of the lockout-delayed 2022 baseball season, I made my annual predictions as to who would win what.  With the regular season coming to an end today, it is time revisit those predictions and see what, if anything, I got right.

American League

East: Blue Jays

Well, that’s one down.  The Yankees have owned the division pretty much from day one.

Central: White Sox

After running away with the Central Division in 2021, the White Sox were a consensus pick to repeat.  Unfortunately, the baseball gods had other ideas.  While the White Sox struggled all year to put things together, the Guardians hung around long enough to get really hot in September and run away with the division.

West: Astros

Hey, here’s one I got right.  The Astros once again find themselves at the top of the division, winning their fifth title in six years.

Wild Cards: Yankees, Angels, Red Sox

The AL East was particularly strong this year, as both the Blue Jays and the Rays make it to the expanded Wild Card round.  Rounding things out are the Mariners, who make the postseason for the first time since 2001 after missing out on the final day of the season last year.

AL Champion: Yankees

The Yankees have struggled in the second half, so they aren’t the locks they looked like early in the year.  At this point, you have to assume the Astros are the team to beat.

Cy Young: Lucas Giolito

That seems very unlikely.  Justin Verlander seems like the popular choice, with Dylan Cease and Shohei Ohtani likely to also get support.

MVP: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Aaron Judge already has his name engraved on this award.

National League

Continue reading →

by admin

The Tony LaRussa Era Has, Once Again, Come To An End

White Sox manager Tony LaRussa, who has been out with a health issue since August 29th, announced his retirement today, ending two years of controversy and underachievement.  In a written statement, LaRussa admitted to a second health problem, one he had been putting off until this offseason. and the necessary recovery time as to why he would not be returning.  His two-year stint, following a ten-year retirement, ends with one division title, one playoff victory, and a possibly one of the most disappointing seasons in the history of the franchise.  LaRussa, who turns 78 tomorrow, leaves the game for a second time as the second winningest manager in Major League history.

The announcement officially starts a new search for GM Rick Hahn, who had his plans for a new manager kiboshed two years ago when owner Jerry Reinsdorf insisted on LaRussa, who the team had fired in 1986 and which Reinsdorf considered one of his biggest regrets.  Among the likely candidates to be considered are current bench coach Miguel Cairo, who has been the acting manager in LaRussa’s absence, former big league managers Bruce Bochy, Joe Girardi, or Joe Maddon, the hot bench coaches of the moment, and, based on past history, former White Sox players with no professional coaching experience like A.J. Pierzynski, Jim Thome, or Paul Konerko.