Counting this year’s Yankees, teams starting 3 or more nonpitchers age 36+ in any LCS game have now lost 8 of 9 series, and teams doing that in more than one game have lost 7 of 8 series:
# of elders* (# of games) — Team — LCS result — Notes
- 5+ elders (5 games) — 1986 Angels — lost — 2 games with 6 elders, 3 with 5 (also 1 with 4, 1 with 3)
- 4 elders (7 games) — 2004 Astros — lost
- 4+ elders (5 games) — 2000 Mariners — lost — 2 games with 5 elders
- 4+ elders (2 games) — 2001 Mariners — lost — 1 game with 5 elders (also 1 with 3)
- 3+ elders (2 games) — 2012 Yankees — lost — 1 game with 4 elders
- 3 elders (3 games) — 2004 Yankees — lost
- 3 elders (3 games) — 1972 Tigers — lost
- 3 elders (2 games) — 1983 Orioles** — won — won WS
- 3 elders (1 game) — 1996 Cardinals — lost
The combined record in LCS games when starting 3+ elders is 14-19.
Combined LCS stats of all starting nonpitchers age 36 and up (including Marco the Great):
- 579 ABs, .244 BA, .385 SLG.
As for the World Series: There have been just 5 WS games in which a team started 3 nonpitchers age 36+ (and never more than 3). Those teams went 0-5 in games, 0-3 in series (2005 Astros, 2002 Giants, 1983 Phillies). Teams starting 2+ nonpitchers in any game of a WS went 38-56 in those games, 13-15 in those series.
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* I designated the teams according to the “# of elders” grouping that they used most frequently in that LCS.
** In the ’83 World Series, Baltimore beat the geriatric Phillies, whose regular lineup included Pete Rose (42), Joe Morgan (39), Mike Schmidt (33), Garry Maddox (33), Gary Matthews (32), Ivan de Jesus (30) and Bo Diaz (30), plus two starts by Tony Perez (41) and one by Steve Carlton (38).
