Unusual Records

apparently that tied the record! the Detroit Tigers had the record to themselves before today, via two separate occasions:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=199505280DET

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200408080DET

i don't know how up to date baseball almanac is, though.

looks like just those two (or so it would seem; i don't actually have a b-ref subscription). looking it up led me to this insane game, in which the losing team hit six and neither starter got more than one out:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197905170.shtml

Thanks. They mentioned the more recent Tigers game just after I posted.

Kris Bryant's three home runs and two doubles tonight is the first time that's happened since 1913? That's so weird--much rarer than even four home runs.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmzlnvwWEAAlLaU.jpg

(former pirates opening day starter) oliver perez just joined this list of recent relievers with two hits in a game

the orioles have tied the major league record (set by themselves in 1998-99) by going 58 straight games without a triple

Jays striking out 61 times in a 4-game series (22/14/14/11) must be a record.

AP confirms

"Houston pitchers had a major league-record 61 strikeouts in the four-game series — three more than the previous mark set by Cincinnati pitchers against San Diego in 2008. Astros pitchers also set a three-game series record with 52 against Baltimore from May 24-26."

congrats to BCrawford, u hairy fuckin' stud, on yr 7-hit game.

The previous player to get seven hits in a game was Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Rennie Stennett on Sept. 16, 1975, at the Chicago Cubs. He did it in nine innings, the only big leaguer to accomplish that feat since before 1900.

brewers just became (i'm told) the eighth team since 1940 to score in every inning (assuming they don't have to play the bottom of the ninth)

there have been 18 perfect games since 1940

only eight?

update

It was the eighth time since 1961 a team has scored in each inning it hit during a nine-inning game, the Elias Sports Bureau said.

how bout my Brewers

Jays the first team since the '54 Indians to win five straight series in Yankee Stadium.

Second one today, not as interesting: Osuna first 21-year-old to reach 47 career saves.

Bad news: Donaldson removed himself from the game with a possible hand injury.

(Tyler) Naquin’s walkoff inside-the-parker was the second in club history, with the other coming in 1916 – by Braggo Roth at Dunn Field (later named League Park).

http://tribevibe.mlblogs.com/2016/08/20/photo-gallery-cleveland-indians-win-on-second-straight-tyler-naquin-walk-off/?partnerId=as_cle_20160820_65085866&adbid=10154466211519521&adbpl=fb&adbpr=46104914520

An e-mail to James points out that the Cubs had Rizzo, Szczur, Zastryzny, Baez, and Zobrist in their lineup at one point Friday night. I don't think Play Index will be of help here.

Cubs need to look into a trade for Rzepczynski

lance zawadzki is waiting by the phone

Just noticed who sent the e-mail: one "bobzeni"!

(Rest of ILB: "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...")

Reds bullpen gave up it's record setting 93rd HR breaking the record of 92 from the 1964 KC A's!

They still got a shot at 100 with 16 games to go! I'm sure Kris Bryant has a couple more 4-5 games with 3HRs and 2x2Bs left in him against Reds pitching.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/reds-reach-dubious-records-in-9-7-10-inning-loss-to-pirates/2016/09/17/f96d465a-7c93-11e6-8064-c1ddc8a724bb_story.html

@AJCassavell
Hunter Renfroe is the first player to be intentionally walked in his first big league plate appearance since Luis Lopez in 2001.

see also: https://twitter.com/johnmanuelba/status/778995833177972736

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-most-extraordinary-team-statistic

Reds pitchers have a -1.2 WAR. No pitching staff has ever finished with a negative WAR.

teixeira hit his 409th homer last night; it was the first (regular season) walk-off homer of his career

he had been the player to hit the most homers without a walk-off -- not sure who it is now

A true 2016 record pointed out by the Jays' broadcasters: Jays the first team to have their starters lead the league in IP without a complete game.

Matt Sussman, BP:

Ryan Schimpf finished the season with 20 home runs and 18 singles. Only he, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds (minimum 200 PA) can say they did that. Which means, of course, that Ryan Schimpf is not going to be a Hall of Famer.

the 2016 indians, plus these 14 other teams, are the only clubs to make the playoffs without hitting a grand slam

I thought there was another thread for general baseball weirdness...Anyway, in nine out of eleven seasons, the "most similar by age" for Alex Gonzalez of the Jays/Cubs was the other Alex Gonzalez. For their careers, they had a similarity score of 906.

Alex Gonzalez #1 (1994-2006): 5528 PA, 137 HR, .243/.302/.391, 79 OPS+
Alex Gonzalez #2 (1998-2014): 6248 PA, 157 HR, .245/.290/.395, 79 OPS+

Not sure if there was a sizable similarity bonus for their names.

both played for Toronto as some point too!

I’m going to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure that I knew there were two different Alex Gonzalezes.

I don't know where to put this...

Posnanski was writing about Luis Tiant today. Where he and Gibson stood on July 4, 1968:

Gibson: 10-5, 1.13 ERA, 151 innings, 109 Ks, 31 walks, .180 batting average against
Tiant: 13-5, 1.11 ERA, 146 innings, 150 Ks, 43 walks, .161 batting average against

Tiant, at that point, was having a better season than what is generally considered the greatest season (or at least the equal of one of Pedro's big two) by a post-war starter.

Put it in the record books—the Mariners have hit a home run in 1️⃣5️⃣ straight games to start the season. 💥 pic.twitter.com/tIAHp1lZNC

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) April 11, 2019

Made me smile:

Today's news prompted me to look up Satchel Paige, wondering if he might be in line for any records. Not close. But I did find out that the active leader in complete games, Verlander with 26, is not in the Top 1,000 on the all-time list, but a whole bunch of guys with 1 are tied for 98th on the active list.

Can one game have any predictive value for the HOF? Found this reader e-mail to James today fascinating.

There are 13 pitchers who have had game scores of at least 100 in a 9 inning game. Of these, 9 are either in the Hall of Fame (Spahn, Koufax, Ryan, Randy Johnson, or have a very good chance to be selected (Schilling, Kershaw, Scherzer, Verlander, Gerrit Cole). The other four were Nap Rucker, Kerry Wood, Brandon Morrow, and Matt Cain. Can you think of anything else a player can do in 3% of his season that comes close to being this predictive of his chances of making the Hall?

And Wood and Cain had potential HOF careers derailed by injury.

20K games have (what should be) an 75% HOF success rate:
clemens, randy johnson, kerry wood, max scherzer

Can't seem to conjure one up on the internet, but I think a list of 15-plus-Ks/no-walks games also yields a high percentage of HOF'ers.

was wondering if 4 HR games might also be predictive but then I remember that Scooter Gennett had one

lol, I did the very same!

mark whiten is in *my* hall of fame

a clear hall of famer, it skews the sample

anyway four-homer games have five of 18 in the hall (and gil hodges was pretty close)

A reader wrote into James yesterday pointing out that Juan Marichal's debut--a 1-hit shutout--was the highest 9-inning Game Score of his career.

As mentioned in the piece, this last happened in 1990 with Eddie Murray.

https://www.mlb.com/news/starling-marte-batting-average-stolen-base-history

this is unbelievably stupid:

Enter: Willie McGee. He hit .335 in 542 plate appearances for the Cardinals, through Aug. 29. That day, like Marte, he was traded to the A’s, with whom he finished up the season. He hit .274 in 123 plate appearances in Oakland, finishing with a .324 average overall.

But since he was traded across leagues, that .335 average in the NL froze the moment he put on an A’s uniform. And since he was traded in August and had accumulated enough plate appearances to be qualified at the end of the season, he led the NL in batting average and won the batting title -- despite finishing the season in an A’s uniform, and with an overall batting average below Murray’s .330.

in the modern era, analysts try to systematize the game. but willie mcgee knew how to game the system, which is why he is an icon

i’m told that seattle has won 12 straight against oakland, all while the latter was 10+ games over .500, and that such a thing has never happened before

Toronto and Boston are a mess, but if they can rouse themselves enough over the weekend to win two (Toronto) and one (Boston) games, the AL East will have four 90-win teams.

https://baseballcloud.blog/2021/09/24/divisional-diversity-4-90-win-teams-2-100-win-teams-0-90-win-teams/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=divisional-diversity-4-90-win-teams-2-100-win-teams-0-90-win-teams

This has happened only once before in the divisional era: 1978, also the AL East (the Bucky Dent year), but when there were seven teams. It's never happened since going to six divisions in 1993.

i’m stoked for the madness but as a Boston fan i have to say i think they’re least deserving of the four so should probably just forfeit on principle

They're more deserving than the Mariners, though, and that's who's probably going to take the wild card.