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 […]
Among the more robust RBI men in the game this year, there are four who belong to a family of sorts: let’s call it the Al Simmons Club (you’ll see why later on). Among other notables both hidden inside and blaring out of his Hall of Fame statistical record, Simmons […]
The 1895 Baltimore Orioles won more games than any other NL club that year and did so with a young array of talent that shimmers even when looking from a perch more than 125 years removed. By Baseball Reference’s accounting and evaluation, that club had a trio of position players […]
In every campaign from 1995 through 2002, Mike Piazza withstood the rigors of catching to emerge, by the end of the regular season, with at least 30 homers as part of his show and tell demonstration of what he did for the spring, summer and early part of fall. That’s […]
One week ago, Dodgers southpaw Clayton Kershaw layered in another rewrite to his work-in-progress Hall of Fame plaque – one more victory to expand his difference between career wins and losses to a plus 120; five more strikeouts to creep within a dozen punchouts of an even 3,000; yet another […]
As of right now, the big league leaderboard for OPS fans out to reveal a dozen players with a mark above .900. The reigning MVPs – Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani – are there, holding down the top two slots. Kyle Schwarber makes the cut as he positions himself for […]