Tag / Cardinals

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All Time Team Records

After a long winter, the 2023 baseball season gets underway today.  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.  Last year, I tied 2012 for my 16th highest game total of all time, a big drop-off from the year before, and managed to see 20 out of the 30 teams, so there should be some nice changes.

The White Sox look to bounce back after a disappointing 2022, with a new manager hoping to regain the AL Central crown and move past the ALDS in the post-season, while the Cubs are finally hoping to be back in the conversation when it comes to the NL playoff picture.  The 2023 season should be an interesting one on both sides of town.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 2 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 15 2 0.882
Cleveland Guardians 2 1 0.667
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
New York Yankees 19 12 0.613
Colorado Rockies 11 7 0.611
Boston Red Sox 19 13 0.594
Los Angeles Angels 20 15 0.571
Toronto Blue Jays 15 12 0.556
Philadelphia Phillies 11 9 0.550
Washington Nationals 7 6 0.538
Cleveland Indians 31 27 0.534
Chicago White Sox 351 321 0.522
Chicago Cubs 226 211 0.517
Houston Astros Continue reading →
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2023 Predictions

After three straight seasons of strange occurrences, the 2023 baseball season looks to kick off tomorrow without any COVID or lockout effects in sight.  For the thirteenth consecutive year, I’ve looked into the crystal ball to make my picks for the upcoming season.

American League

East: Yankees

Central: Guardians

West: Astros

Wild Cards: Blue Jays, Mariners, White Sox

AL Champion: Yankees

Cy Young: Alek Manoah

MVP: Julio Rodriguez

National League

Continue reading →

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Team Stats: Games Per Team

Today, we wrap up our look at the all-time rankings for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 1040 games I’ve identified that I have attended.  Opening Day is just under two months away and spring training camps are getting ready to roll in just a week or two, so let’s finish things off with the total number of games per team.

With the newly unbalanced schedule starting this year, the Central Division in each league will not score as heavily going forward.  In fact, you have to drop down to seventh place in the current rankings to find a team not in the Central Division and to tenth place to find the first team that was never in the Central.  The addition of expanded interleague play should also shake things up a bit moving forward.

Games Per Team

Team Name Total Games
Chicago White Sox 672
Chicago Cubs 437
Minnesota Twins 68
Kansas City Royals 62
Detroit Tigers 59
Cleveland Indians 58
Houston Astros 49
Pittsburgh Pirates 46
Milwaukee Brewers 41
Seattle Mariners 40
Cincinnati Reds 40
Texas Rangers 39
Baltimore Orioles 36
Los Angeles Angels 35
St. Louis Cardinals Continue reading →
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Team Stats: Home Runs

It will be two months until baseball returns to Chicago, so 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 offensive side of the ball with home runs.

As you might expect by this point, the White Sox and Cubs, based on the raw numbers, are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are, as always, the teams I’ve seen most often.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the California incarnation of the Angels and the Guardians are the only teams at or above two home runs per game.  The Nationals and the Anaheim version of the Angels are the only teams with less than a home run every other game.

Home Runs

TeamName TotalTriples
Chicago White Sox 811
Chicago Cubs 498
Cleveland Indians 72
Kansas City Royals 68
Detroit Tigers 66
Minnesota Twins 65
Seattle Mariners 58
Texas Rangers 49
Boston Red Sox 49
Houston Astros 48
Milwaukee Brewers 45
New York Yankees 44
St. Louis Cardinals 42
Oakland Athletics 42
Baltimore Orioles Continue reading →
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Party Of One

The baseball world had turned its attention to snowy hamlet of Cooperstown in upstate New York, where the votes were tallied and the 2023 Hall of Fame class is now complete with one additional member.  Former Phillies and Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen scored 76.3% of the vote to earn enshrinement in his sixth election.

Four others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Todd Helton, who jumped up to 72.2% and seems like a lock to be elected next year.  Billy Wagner came in with 68.1% and has two more attempts to make it over 75%.  Andruw Jones got a big lift, jumping up to 58.1%.  Finally, Gary Sheffield, with just one election left, rises to 55% and looks unlikely to make that final jump in his last year.

On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox, saw a small increase in support, finishing with 33.2% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, dropped even more, down to 19.5%.  Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 12.9% in his second go-around.  Mark Buehrle jumped back up to 10.8% in his third time on the ballot, living to fight another day.  Former Cub pitcher John Lackey nabs a single vote.

Thirteen players will fall off the ballot after failing to score 5% of the vote.

As for the newest Hall of Famer, I’ve seen Rolen play 18 times.  He joins Fred McGriff, who was elected by the veteran’s committees in December, in the class of 2023.  They will both get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 23.

Scott Rolen’s numbers in games I’ve attended were:

Continue reading →

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Team Stats: Earned Run Average

With less than three 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 wrap up the defensive side of the ball today with earned run average.

Both the White Sox and Cubs find themselves in the middle of the pack for team ERA, with the Cubs coming in at 14th with 4.00 and the White Sox at 17th with a team ERA of 4.20.  The Anaheim iteration of the Angels lead the way, finishing mere percentage points below 2.60.  The Devil Rays are on the opposite end of the spectrum, clocking in just over 5.95.

Earned Run Average

Team Name ERA
Anaheim Angels 2.59620377314948
Arizona Diamondbacks 2.92054914270955
Washington Nationals 3.16720186512999
Montreal Expos 3.4000755572346
Los Angeles Dodgers 3.41129032258065
Colorado Rockies 3.58507711650256
Los Angeles Angels 3.65023417507605
San Francisco Giants 3.69195184152779
Boston Red Sox 3.70899413615711
Oakland Athletics 3.84286934244236
Tampa Bay Rays 3.87647371109753
Miami Marlins 3.9375
Philadelphia Phillies 3.96004525766009
Chicago Cubs 3.99524314872638
New York Mets Continue reading →
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Team Stats: Runs Batted In

It will be less than three months until baseball returns to Chicago, so 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 offensive side of the ball with runs batted in.

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 most often.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the California iteration of the Angels and the Guardians lead the way as the only teams over seven.  The Nationals and the Miami incarnation of the Marlins are the only teams that failed to average three runs batted in per game.

Runs Batted In

Team Name RBIs
Chicago White Sox 2943
Chicago Cubs 1899
Cleveland Indians 286
Minnesota Twins 261
Kansas City Royals 247
Detroit Tigers 247
Houston Astros 221
Milwaukee Brewers 194
Texas Rangers 182
Boston Red Sox 174
Pittsburgh Pirates 172
Cincinnati Reds 169
Seattle Mariners 161
New York Yankees 160
Baltimore Orioles 148
Los Angeles Angels 137
St. Louis Cardinals 135
Los Angeles Dodgers 126
Oakland Athletics 124
Florida Marlins 120
Toronto Blue Jays 115
Arizona Diamondbacks 101
Tampa Bay Rays 96
Atlanta Braves 85
Philadelphia Phillies 79
San Diego Padres 76
San Francisco Giants 76
New York Mets 71
Colorado Rockies 64
Washington Nationals 40
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 32
Cleveland Guardians 22
Montreal Expos 19
California Angels 15
Anaheim Angels 7
Miami Marlins 4

Runs Batted In per Game

Team Name RBIs per Game
California Angels 7.5
Cleveland Guardians 7.33333333333333
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6.4
Arizona Diamondbacks 5.94117647058824
Boston Red Sox 5.4375
Florida Marlins 5.21739130434783
New York Yankees 5.16129032258065
Cleveland Indians 4.93103448275862
Milwaukee Brewers 4.73170731707317
Texas Rangers 4.66666666666667
Houston Astros 4.51020408163265
Chicago White Sox 4.37946428571429
Chicago Cubs 4.34553775743707
Los Angeles Dodgers 4.3448275862069
Toronto Blue Jays 4.25925925925926
Cincinnati Reds 4.225
Detroit Tigers 4.1864406779661
New York Mets 4.17647058823529
Tampa Bay Rays 4.17391304347826
Baltimore Orioles Continue reading →
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Travelling The 50 States – Missouri

Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 24th state to be added to the Union: Missouri

State: Missouri
Joined the Union: 1821
Visits: 23

Despite being right next door, I’ve only made two visits to the Show Me State, first in 2001 and then again in 2018.

My first trip occurred in June of 2001, where a weekday day game between the Cardinals and the Cubs convinced my friend Pete and I to take a road trip.  Standing room tickets were all that was available, so we stood with the riff raff to watch the Cubs defeat the hometown Cardinals 5-2, despite Todd Dunwoody getting the start in right field over Sammy Sosa.

My second trip across the Illinois border came in 2015 while heading to Memphis for an Elvis-themed trip.  On the way to Memphis, we made a brief stop in Sikeston, Missouri for lunch at Lambert’s Cafe, where they throw dinner rolls at you, and so Michael could cross another state off his list.

My most recent visit came on my birthday weekend in 2018, when I headed down to St. Louis, with the rest of the family, for an exciting marching band competition.  After spending most of the day at the former home of the Rams, we found a late-night diner to celebrate birthdays alongside a population of drunks looking for Halloween fun.  Sunday morning breakfast, across the street from the Chess Hall of Fame, ended the trip before a long drive home.

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Team Stats: Strike Outs

The new year means there is less than three 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.  After a break for the holidays, we continue today on the defensive side of the ball with strike outs.

As always, the White Sox and Cubs are the leaders in this category based on the raw numbers, as they are the teams I’ve seen in action most often.  When you adjust the numbers per game, both teams still fare well, placing fourth and third respectively.  The California version of the Angels lead the way. with an even nine strike outs per game.  The Miami iteration of the Marlins and the Devil Rays bring up the rear with an even five strike outs per game.

Strike Outs

Team Name Strike Outs
Chicago White Sox 5387
Chicago Cubs 3558
Kansas City Royals 463
Minnesota Twins 457
Cleveland Indians 440
Detroit Tigers 407
Houston Astros 350
Milwaukee Brewers 320
Pittsburgh Pirates 295
Seattle Mariners 271
Los Angeles Angels 254
Cincinnati Reds 251
Texas Rangers 247
New York Yankees 240
Boston Red Sox Continue reading →
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Team Stats: Doubles

It will just over three months until baseball returns to Chicago, so 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 offensive side of the ball with doubles.

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 most often.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the Guardians, Blue Jays, and Rays all come in with more than two doubles per game.  The Miami iteration of the Marlins are at the bottom, with 1 double every other game, followed by the California incarnation of the Angels, who went double-less.

Doubles

Team Name Doubles
Chicago White Sox 1026
Chicago Cubs 757
Minnesota Twins 107
Kansas City Royals 103
Detroit Tigers 99
Houston Astros 98
Cleveland Indians 95
Milwaukee Brewers 74
Pittsburgh Pirates 67
Boston Red Sox 64
Texas Rangers 64
New York Yankees 57
Toronto Blue Jays 57
Baltimore Orioles 55
Los Angeles Dodgers 53
Cincinnati Reds 53
Oakland Athletics 50
St. Louis Cardinals 49
Seattle Mariners 48
Tampa Bay Rays 47
Los Angeles Angels 45
Florida Marlins 38
Philadelphia Phillies 36
San Francisco Giants 35
Arizona Diamondbacks 34
New York Mets 31
San Diego Padres 31
Colorado Rockies 30
Atlanta Braves 29
Washington Nationals 14
Montreal Expos 8
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8
Cleveland Guardians 7
Anaheim Angels 4
Miami Marlins 1
California Angels 0

Doubles per Game

TeamName Doubles per Game
Cleveland Guardians 2.33333333333333
Toronto Blue Jays 2.11111111111111
Tampa Bay Rays 2.04347826086957
Houston Astros 2
Arizona Diamondbacks 2
Boston Red Sox 2
Anaheim Angels 2
New York Yankees 1.83870967741935
Los Angeles Dodgers Continue reading →