Rays All Time Leaders – Through 2015

414_tampa_bay-rays-miscellaneous-2012With 5 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams.  We start things off today with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays began life in 1998 as the Devil Rays, dropping the Devil portion of their name in 2008.  I’ve seen them play 13 times, 5 as the Devil Rays and 8 as the Rays, including the 2008 ALDS, where they defeated the White Sox.

Home Runs

Name Total
B.J. Upton 5
Matthew Joyce 3
Ben Zobrist 2

Hits

Name Total
B.J. Upton 18
Ben Zobrist 16
Carlos Pena 9
Evan Longoria 9

Runs

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 11
B.J. Upton 9
Matthew Joyce 7

RBI

Name Total
B.J. Upton 11
Carlos Pena 8
Ben Zobrist 7

Doubles

Name Total
Ben Zobrist 3
Evan Longoria 3
Jason Bartlett 3

Triples Continue reading →

Playoff Batting Leaders

baseballs3Now that the Cubs have gotten past the Pirates in the Wild Card game and will face off against the Cardinals in the NLDS, it’s time to take our first ever look at the offensive leaders from the 17 post-season games I have attended since 2000.  So, without further ado, we start off with:

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 3
B.J. Upton 3
Moises Alou 2
Miguel Cabrera 2
Chipper Jones 2
Eric Karros 2
A.J. Pierzynski 2
Scott Podsednik 2
Manny Ramirez 2

Hits

Name Total
Moises Alou 9
Juan Uribe 8
Derrek Lee 8
A.J. Pierzynski 7
Mark DeRosa 7

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 6
A.J. Pierzynski 5
Continue reading →

Franchise Four – AL East

Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the American League East.

F4OriolesAt first glance, my picks for the Orioles were easy.  Upon further review, though, I find myself with 5 players for only 4 slots.  Cal Ripken Jr., Frank Robinson, and Jim Palmer take my first 3 slots.  The last one comes down to Brooks Robinson and Eddie Murray.  While Murray was by far the better offensive weapon, Robinson was quite possibly the best defensive third baseman of all time.  I’m going to stick with my initial gut feeling and go with Robinson.

F4RedSoxPlenty of Hall of Famers to choose from for the Red Sox, as 6 of the 8 have been elected to Cooperstown.  The first two slots have to go to Cy Young and Ted Williams, both of whom would be in the conversation for a league wide contest.  The final two slots would have to go to Carl Yastrzemski and newly elected Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez.  Conspicuous by his absence is Roger Clemens.

F4Yankees

Continue reading →

Active Batting Leaders – Through 2014

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersLast month, we looked at the overall leaders on both sides of the ball from all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2014.  With Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn hanging up their spikes after last season, we should see some new names on this list.  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 2015 season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 41
Alexei Ramierz 28
Carlos Quentin 28
Alex Rios 23
AJ Pierzynski 20

Hits

Name Total
Alexei Ramirez 261
AJ Pierzynski 237
Continue reading →