Category / Baseball

by jim

Busted

White Sox catcher Welington Castillo was suspended 80 games today for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.  Castillo tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO).  In a statement, Castillo said, “The positive test resulted from an extremely poor decision that I, and I alone, made. I take full responsibility for my conduct.”

Castillo signed with the White Sox this winter as a free agent, intended to be a stop gap behind the plate and, depending on his performance, a trade chip that could help the rebuild effort.  That would seem somewhat unlikely at this point.

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20 Ks 20 Years Later

20 years ago today, a young rookie pitcher, making just his fifth major league appearance, would cement his place in Cubs lore and make history.  Rookie Kerry Wood took the mound against the Houston Astros on a Wednesday afternoon and, while giving up only a single hit, he struck out 20 batters, tying Roger Clemens’ record.

Of course, Wood spent the rest of his career trying to live up to the promise of this start.  An elbow injury near the end of the season led to Tommy John surgery, which cost him all of the 1999 season.  Wood came back in 2000, but never was able to stay healthy enough to truly fulfill the promise he showed that rainy Wednesday afternoon.  2003 was his best season, and his last full year as a starter, as injuries forced him to move to the bullpen for good starting in 2006.

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2018 Tickets – Northside Edition

After making their third consecutive NLCS appearance last season, the Cubs have once again kept their season ticket package toned down for 2018, letting the product on the field speak for itself.  We start, as usual, with the box, which highlights the expected stars of the 2018 season, including Jon Lester, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras, and Javy Baez.

Inside the box, aside from the tickets themselves, were a few “goodies”, as has been the custom the last few years.  The highlight is a print of the artwork found on the tickets themselves, highlighting the expected stars of the 2018 season.  In addition to that, there was a commemorative season holder pin, a season ticket holder patch, a cell phone wallet, and some new ticket lanyards.

Finally, the tickets themselves.  The Cubs have moved away from the action shots of players for this years tickets, going instead with artists interpretations, but have switched the ticket orientation back to portrait from landscape, which is somewhat disappointing.

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All Time Team Records

The 2018 baseball season gets underway today, with an early start brought about due to the last collective bargaining agreement, which added additional off days for each team throughout the year.  To celebrate, it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have identified as having attended dating back to 1984. The Cubs look to avenge last year’s NLCS loss and make it back to the World Series, while the rebuilding White Sox hope to finally start seeing their young talent blossom.  The 2018 season should be an exciting one on both sides of town.

All-Time Team Records
Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 13 2 0.867
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 13 9 0.591
New York Yankees 14 10 0.583
Colorado Rockies 8 6 0.571
Los Angeles Angels 16 13 0.552
Boston Red Sox 16 13 0.552
Kansas City Royals 27 24 0.529
Chicago White Sox 284 256 0.526
Chicago Cubs 209 189 0.525
Continue reading →
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2018 Predictions

The 2018 baseball season is scheduled to kick off tomorrow, the earliest date in history (not counting special series outside of North America) with a full slate of games featuring all 30 teams.  For the eighth consecutive year, I’ve looked into the crystal ball to make my picks for the upcoming season.

American League

East: Yankees

Central: Indians

West: Astros

Wild Cards: Red Sox, Angels

AL Champion: Yankees

Cy Young: Chris Sale

MVP: Giancarlo Stanton

National League

Continue reading →

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Active Pitching Leaders – Through 2017

baseballs3Last week, we looked at the active leaders in games I’ve attended through 2017 on the offensive side of the ball.  With spring training winding down and opening day less than a week away, let’s take a look at the defensive side of the ball and the active pitching leaders, which will be losing a couple of former White Sox starters from their 2008 Division Championship team.

Wins

Name Total
Chris Sale 21
Jake Peavy 11
Jon Lester 8
Jose Quintana 7
Nate Jones 6
C.C. Sabathia 6

Losses

Name Total
Jose Quintana 15
Chris Sale 12
Jake Peavy 9
Carlos Rodon 7
Tom Gorzelanny 7

ERA (> 35 IP)

Name Total
David Robertson 2.17
Nate Jones 2.28
Zach Duke 2.38
Johnny Cueto 2.43
Hector Santiago 2.43

ERA (> 70 IP)

Name Total
Jon Lester 2.89
Chris Sale Continue reading →
by jim

2018 Games Of Interest

Due to some ill-conceived (in my opinion) changes to my ticket plan by the White Sox, there are a smaller number of games this year.

Fireworks Night

April 20
August 17 (Elvis Night)
September 7

Other Fun Stuff

April 7 – White Sox Winter Hat
May 5 – Los White Sox Soccer Jersey
May 19 – Star Wars Night and Hawk Solo Bobblehead
June 2 – 1983 Replica Road Jersey
June 6 – Wrigley Field Scoreboard Clock
June 16 – Hawaiian Floppy Hat
June 18 – Jason Heyward Bobblehead
July 23 – Javy Baez Bobblehead
August 11 – Jim Thome Bobblehead

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Active Batting Leaders – Through 2017

baseballs2Last month, we looked at the overall leaders on both sides of the ball from all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2017.  Now that Opening Day is right around the corner, let’s take another look at those numbers, limiting it to players that are still active heading in to the 2018 season.  A few notable retirements will completely change the complexion of these lists.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 27
Gordon Beckham 15
Melky Cabrera 14
Dayan Viciedo 14
Avisail Garcia 13

Hits

Name Total
Gordon Beckham 144
Jose Abreu 137
Melky Cabrera 130
Adam Eaton 102
Geovany Soto 97

Runs

Name Total
Gordon Beckham 83
Jose Abreu 67
Alejandro de Aza 57
Adam Eaton 51
Melky Cabrera 50
Avisail Garcia 50

RBI

Name Total
Jose Abreu 78
Gordon Beckham 70
Melky Cabrera Continue reading →
by admin

All Time Batting Leaders – Through 2017

baseballs2Last week, we took our annual look at the all time leaders in pitching stats for the 882 games I’ve attended (and identified) between 1984 and 2017. With the full White Sox roster reporting to camp on Saturday, it’s time to move over to the other side of the ball and take a look at the offensive stat leaders for those games, starting with our first category:

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 93
Sammy Sosa 42
Aramis Ramirez 41
Derrek Lee 40
Jermaine Dye 40

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 366
Alexei Ramirez 300
Derrek Lee 255
AJ Pierzynski 239
Aramis Ramirez 234

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 200
Derrek Lee 140
Alexei Ramirez 134
Aramis Ramirez 120
A.J. Pierzynski 106

RBI

Name Total
Paul Konerko 235
Aramis Ramirez 158
Alexei Ramirez 140
Derrek Lee 134
Jermaine Dye 108

Doubles Continue reading →