If they (and we) are fortunate, defending MVPs Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge will end their respective seasons with somewhere north of 150 games played – an almost daily entry across six months of regular season baseball. In contrast, the best pitchers will present their arms and offerings – if […]
120 years ago, a Reds center fielder named Cy Seymour emblazoned his 10th Major League season with a line so far beyond anything he’d accomplished before and anything he’d do in his final six years after this pinnacle: a startling, awe-inspiring mountain flanked by short, rolling hills. In 1905, left-handed […]
I wonder, in whatever realm franchises possess some sort of collective consciousness, if the Expos still have nightmares about the Barry Bonds experience from 2000. In nine games that season, Montreal pitchers were tagged for eight doubles and seven homers by the Giants’ left fielder. There were also two singles […]
On May 25, 2008, in front of more than 46,000 folks at Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw struck out seven Cardinals batters, including three in the first inning. That Sunday afternoon, Kershaw was just a couple of months past his 20th birthday and wearing #54 on the back of his Dodger […]
Across 16 seasons, representing seven franchises, while manning first (a lot) and third (a little) and adding about equal time behind the dish and as a DH, Carlos Santana has drawn 1,315 walks in 9,094 plate appearances. “So what?” you might ask. Here’s what. There are 23 players in baseball […]
The NL roster for the 1920 season counted eight clubs; in order of finish that year: the Robins (Dodgers), Giants, Reds, Pirates, Cubs, Cardinals, Braves, Phillies. From that season to the one currently being unfurled, each franchise can crane its metaphorical neck from one end to the other, gazing at […]
Since June of 1920, there have been 138 pitchers to wend and wield and wind and whiff and wow to the tune and rhythm of at least five starts and five wins with no losses during this first month of summer. Athletics right-hander Slim Harriss was the first to brand […]
Yes, pace can be a dangerous navigator, a “The sign is pointing askew” proposition – blindly follow the arrow’s point toward the extrapolated destination and all sorts of problematic surprises might await, perhaps camouflaged by regressions to the mean or hiding behind rocky slumps or lying among Injured List stints. […]
In 1978, the lanky, towering right-hander J.R. Richard became the first Astros pitcher to lead the NL in any one of the three Triple Crown categories, pacing the Senior Circuit with 303 strikeouts. As a follow-up, Richard ticked off another box, the first ERA title for Houston (that same season, […]
Jacob deGrom started attacking (and silencing) big league hitters for the official accounting on May 15, 2014, when he allowed a single run over seven innings (and took the loss in a 1-0 affair). The right-hander was 25 years old for this debut and with four hits and two walks […]