Tag / Tigers

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Welcoming An Old Friend

After a good run, although against some of the dregs of the major leagues, put them back over .500 and only four games behind the NL Central leading Reds, the Cubs moved from sellers to buyers, making a move this afternoon to re-acquire Jeimer Candelario from the Nationals.  Candelario made his debut with the Cubs back in 2016, earning a World Series ring for his five-game effort.  With the Cubs looking to repeat as champions, he was traded the following July to the Tigers for the immortal Alex Avila and Justin Wilson.

Six years later, he returns, in exchange for lefty pitcher D.J. Herz and shortstop Kevin Made.  Both have a good shot at sticking in the big leagues, but are from the second tier of Cub prospects.  I guess if you find yourself just four games back at the trading deadline, you have to go for it, but odds of the Cubs 1) making the playoffs and 2) doing anything even if they happen to sneak in are extremely low.  Since it doesn’t appear that they gave up too much for him, I guess you can live with this move.  But if a losing streak comes up now that the Cubs are facing upper division teams again, you have to wonder if it was worth it.

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Looking Ahead To 2024

Using the extra off day in the All-Star break, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2024 schedule on Thursday.  For the second year in a row, MLB is keeping with a balanced schedule, playing 52 games against division opponents, 64 games against non-division opponents in the same league, and 46 interleague games, with series against every team in the opposite league.  With the White Sox entering an uncertain second half of 2023 following a disappointing year and a half during what should have been the prime of their contention window, and the Cubs looking to take the next step forward in their rebuild, the 2024 season looks to be an interesting time in the city of Chicago.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox open their season on March 28 against the Tigers, kicking off a six-game homestand that also features the Braves.

Aside from the Braves, the new interleague schedule sees the Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Rockies, and Nationals travelling to Chicago, while the White Sox will go on the road to face the Phillies, Marlins, Cardinals, Brewers, Diamondbacks, and Padres. The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a two-game series at Wrigley Field in early June followed by a mid-August tilt at Guaranteed Rate Field that leaves both teams the rare Sunday off-day.

After a west coast trip in mid-September, the season wraps up with a mid-week home battle against the Angels followed by a trip to Detroit to finish up the year.

On the north side, the Cubs also open their season on March 28, heading out on the road for the first time in five years to battle the Rangers.  After a three-game series, they open the home portion of the schedule against the Rockies.

Aside from the Rangers, the Cubs will head out on the road to face the Mariners, Orioles, Guardians, Red Sox, and Royals, while the A’s, Twins, Angels, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Tigers will be coming to Wrigley.

Only six of their 26 games in September are against their NL Central rivals, which could make a difference if the Cubs find themselves in contention.  They end the year with a three-game tilt at home against the Reds.

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2023 All Star Break Standings

For the first time since 2001, the Midsummer Classic returns to Seattle and T-Mobile Park.  As the stars of the baseball world gather in the Pacific Northwest for tonight’s showdown, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 24 games, featuring 60% of the teams in the league, that I attended in the first half of the baseball season, a disappointing one on both sides of town.

2023 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Philadelphia Phillies 2 0 1.000
Toronto Blue Jays 2 0 1.000
Miami Marlins 1 0 1.000
San Francisco Giants 1 0 1.000
Cleveland Guardians 1 0 1.000
Chicago Cubs 3 1 0.750
Chicago White Sox 10 10 0.500
Tampa Bay Rays 1 1 0.500
St. Louis Cardinals 1 1 0.500
Seattle Mariners 1 1 0.500
Baltimore Orioles 1 1 0.500
Detroit Tigers 0 1 0.000
Houston Astros 0 1 0.000
Milwaukee Brewers 0 1 0.000
New York Mets 0 1 0.000
Pittsburgh Pirates 0 1 0.000
Boston Red Sox 0 2 0.000
Kansas City Royals 0 2 0.000
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It Hasn’t Been A While

Coming in to the 2023 season, I had seen every team since the pandemic-stricken 2020 season save two: the Pirates, who I had last seen in 2019, and the Marlins, who I hadn’t seen in person since 2013.  This week, I knocked both of those teams off the list, with the Marlins coming through Guaranteed Rate Field this past weekend and the Pirates in town at Wrigley Field this week.

Less than halfway through the 2023 season, I’ve already seen fourteen of the 30 clubs, just under half.  That number jumps to 25 when we turn the clock back to 2022.  That’s 83% of the league that I’ve seen in less than a season and a half.  The remaining five I saw in 2021, and I’m sure at least two or three will make an appearance in the second half of 2023.  Anyway, here’s a look at each team and the last time I saw them play.

Most Recent Game By Team

Team Name Date
Washington Nationals 5/19/2021
St. Louis Cardinals 5/26/2021
San Diego Padres 6/1/2021
Boston Red Sox 9/11/2021
Cincinnati Reds 9/28/2021
Seattle Mariners 4/12/2022
Los Angeles Angels 4/30/2022
New York Yankees 5/15/2022
Los Angeles Dodgers 6/8/2022
Texas Rangers 6/12/2022
Atlanta Braves 6/18/2022
Toronto Blue Jays 6/20/2022
Colorado Rockies 7/27/2022
Oakland Athletics 7/30/2022
Continue reading →
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Back Up To Twelve

The Oakland A’s, formerly of Philadelphia and Kansas City, announced yesterday that they may be on the move again soon.  After a 20-year saga to find a new, publicly financed stadium in the Bay Area, the team has signed a binding agreement to purchase 49 acres in Las Vegas with the hopes of having a new stadium ready to start the 2027 season.  In a statement, commissioner Rob Manfred said: “We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year.”

Removing Oakland from my active stadium count means I would now have twelve parks to get to in order to finish off the set.  I’ve made two trips to the stadium once known as Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, first in 1999 and again in 2008, seeing the Tigers and Orioles respectively.  Should this new stadium actually get built and a move actually take place, it would give me reason to visit Nevada for the first time since 2018.

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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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Travelling The 50 States – Texas

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 28th state to be added to the Union: Texas.

State: Texas
Joined the Union: 1845
Visits: 4

After my dad moved there while I was in high school, I’ve made four trips to the Lone Star State, first in 1992 and most recently in 2005.

My first trip to the Dallas metroplex came in the summer of 1992.  My dad had moved there about two years earlier, and this was the first time my sister and I had been invited to visit.  I was there for a week, while my sister stayed for two, since I was getting ready to go away to college for the first time.  The activities I remember from that week include a trip to the rodeo, spending time in the swimming pool, and going to the former book depository to see the exhibit on the assassination of JFK.

I returned solo in 1998.  My only recollection from this trip was making my first visit to The Ballpark In Arlington, seeing the Rangers defeat the Royals in a high scoring affair.

My next visit came three years later, in early May of 2001.  Again, I don’t remember much about the trip, other than two additional visits to the Ballpark, first to see the Rangers lose to the Tigers and then, two nights later, to see them top the White Sox 2-0.

My latest trip to the Metroplex was in 2005.  The things I remember from this trip include trying to scam free WIFI from the house next doon, since my dad did not have a network set up, and a four game series between the Rangers and White Sox at the renamed Ameriquest Field, which the Rangers took three games to two.

Will I return?  Probably, some day.  The Rangers have built a new ballpark and I’ve never been to Houston, so I have to make those trips at some point.  Thanks to Purdue’s epic collapse in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, I don’t have to worry about traveling to Houston in April for the Final Four.

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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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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 →