Here s a group of accomplished pitchers who enjoy the distinction of a certain career accomplishment of which no other retired modern era pitcher can boast. More specifically, they did something twice in their careers that every other pitcher has done only once or, in most cases, not at all. The list and a clue are [ ]
Just uncovered this unlikely list of pitchers for you to ponder. More after the jump. Here s the list. Your job to is to identify the single game feat that has been accomplished in the modern era by only these ten pitchers. Rk Player 1 Wes Ferrell 2 Noah Syndergaard 3 Mark Thurmond 4 Tim Lollar [ ]
Continuing my post on exceptional pitching seasons, Part 2 looks at most exceptional pitcher seasons for rate statistics. More after the jump. As I did for Part 1, for this post I’ve made use of the Lahman database, compiled annually by Sean Lahman. This database has basic statistical information for all major leagues for every season [ ]
Most players can point to one season in their careers as their career year , when everything clicked, most of their luck was good, and their stat line was clearly head and shoulders above every other season of their careers. Last year I presented a post on everyday players whose best season by various statistical measures [ ]
Last season, Justin Turner hit the first walk-off home run of his career, a two-run pinch-hit blast against the Orioles on August 3rd that kept the Cubs just two games back of the division-leading Brewers. What the 40 year-old Turner may not have known was that he had become the oldest Cubs player to hit [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in the 145th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the second of two rounds of balloting adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1981. Rules and lists are after the jump. The new group of 1981-born players, [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in the 144th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the first of two rounds of balloting adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1981. Rules and lists are after the jump. The new group of 1981-born players, [ ]
We re through the wild-card round and almost through the division series. A brief snapshot of some of the more notable performances is after the jump. Wild Card Three of the series went the distance and the fourth was, as expected, a bit of a mismatch. The Guardians made an historic late season charge to overtake [ ]
Most players can point to one season in their careers as their career year , when everything clicked, most of their luck was good, and their stat line was clearly head and shoulders above every other season of their careers. For this post, I ll be identifying the most exceptional career years, with the largest improvement over [ ]
As we reach the All-Star break, Aaron Judge is having yet another monster season, leading the majors in all three slash categories, plus WAR, Hits and Total Bases, and leading the AL in Runs and Walks. Yet, somehow, Judge s 35 dingers are only second best this season, trailing nobody s pre-season pick for home run champ, [ ]
Cub centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is the first player this season to reach 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, a feat that was once rare for a full season, never mind half a campaign. More after the jump on players with seasons featuring explosive power/speed spans. With his fast start to the season, Crow-Armstrong joins [ ]
This Circle of Greats (COG) vote is not to induct anyone into the Circle. Instead, this round of voting will select three or more players who will be restored to the secondary ballot after having been previously dropped from eligibility. In this vote you may include on your ballot any major league baseball player who: – was born before 1981; and [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in the 143rd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the last of three rounds of balloting adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1980. Rules and lists are after the jump. The new group of 1980-born players, [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in the 142nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the second of three rounds of balloting adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1980. Rules and lists are after the jump. The new group of 1980-born players, [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in a runoff election to decide the winner of the 141st round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). Here are the career AL and NL stats for our two candidates. Player WAR OPS+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in the 141st round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the first of three rounds of balloting adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1980. Rules and lists are after the jump. The new group of 1980-born players, [ ]
The Dodgers and Yankees meet in the World Series for a record twelfth time, but their first meeting in 43 years. More on the World Series is after the jump. Twelve meetings in the World Series is easily the most for any pair of league champions. Here s the list: This is the 120th World Series, [ ]
August s AL Pitcher of the Month was the Blue Jays Bowden Francis. If you ve never heard of him, you re not alone. Despite that lack of notoriety, Francis, whose career totals prior to August included just 81⅓ IP and four starts, has turned in two of the more remarkable months of pitching of the modern era. [ ]
Shohei Ohtani showed us how superstars mark milestones, again! Four weeks ago, it was a walk-off grand slam to mark his joining the 40/40 club, Yesterday, it was a game for the ages as he became the first member of the 50/50 club. More after the jump. I ll get to 50/50 in a moment, but [ ]
Willie Mays passing last month serves to remind baseball fans of his spectacular and singular career. Widely regarded as baseball s most complete player, Mays excelled at all facets of the game, playing at a high level for almost the entirety of a career spanning 23 years. His passing also reduces to a very slender thread [ ]
One third of the way into the current season and it is the pitchers who have held the upper hand, with OPS declining by over 4% from the same period a year ago. Of course, one year ago everyone was trying to adjust to the new timing rules, and it was the batters who evidently [ ]
Pitchers tend to hold the upper hand to start the season, with batters warming up with the weather. But, some batters buck that trend and are hot to start the season, including some who do so on a regular basis. So, who are April s heroes? Spoiler alert: they re also the heroes in the other months [ ]
Ronel Blanco lived up to his name, turning in the young season s first no-hit game as the Astros romped 10-0 over Toronto. Blanco walked the first batter of the game and the next-to-last (both former Astro George Springer) but retired everyone else, as no Blue Jay reached second base. It was the 13th no-hit game [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in the 140th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the last of three rounds of balloting adds to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1979. Rules and lists are after the jump. The new group of 1979-born players, [ ]
This post is for voting and discussion in the 139th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the second of three rounds of balloting adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1979. Rules and lists are after the jump. The new group of 1979-born players, [ ]