Merry Christmas everyone. For some holiday frivolity, here’s the best starting lineup among players born on Christmas Day.
| P | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | LF | CF | RF |
| Pud Galvin | Gene Lamont | Walter Holke | Nellie Fox | Gene Robertson | Bill Akers | Rickey Henderson | Ben Chapman | Jo-Jo Moore |
Strength on the mound, at second and in the outfield. The rest of the team is after the jump. Continue reading
What is the sweetest way to win a game of baseball against your closest rival? Is it dominating your opponent in their own backyard? Maybe it’s through an impressive individual performance, perhaps coming from an unlikely source. Or is it a gutsy come-from-behind win, culminating in a walk-off hit in front of a full house of partisans?
If it’s the latter, then it’s difficult to imagine a happier set of fans than those of the Los Angeles Dodgers in June of 1974 after one dramatic series versus the rival San Francisco Giants.
Andrew Benintendi had the most excruciating plate appearance of last night’s World Series Game 2. It wasn’t because he was over-matched against Ryu Hyun-jin’s pitching; there were no Stanton-esque hacks at diving curveballs. Nor was there the nervous tension of accumulating foul balls, piling on the pressure for batter, pitcher and fan alike.
No, the at bat merely took an absolute age.
These two “original 16” franchises renew their post-season “rivalry”, a mere 102 years after their only previous World Series matchup. A look back and a look ahead to this year’s Fall Classic are after the jump. Continue reading
As the regular season reaches its conclusion, here’s a look at various statistical accomplishments of the 2018 season for players on each of the 30 teams. You may already know some of them, but for many, I think, you’ll read them here first. More after the jump. Continue reading
The post-season qualifiers are all determined in the AL, but it’s a different story in the NL with two divisions in a virtual dead heat with 5 days left in the season. After the break, a closer look at the races in the NL’s Central and West divisions. Continue reading
This month began with all three NL races hotly contested, as no division leader held more than a 3½ game lead, with 8 of the 15 teams within 4 games in their division and two more within 7½ games. With two wildcard spots up for grabs, there should be many twists and turns before the five post-season berths are finally determined on or about September 30th.
This post takes a look back at some similar Septembers since the three division league alignment was introduced in 1994. Specifically, I’ll be looking at seasons when a league’s three division leaders all had no more than a 5 game lead as September play began. More after the jump.
Thanks to Richard Chester for providing this fun assortment of odd statistical facts.
Probably will be tough to top the Manny Machado deal as the most significant of the trade deadline season. Machado could help the Dodgers win it all this season. Or, he may not, and he may not be back next year. So, we’ll just have to wait to see how it works out. But, we can look back at some deadline deals of the past, those that worked out and the many that didn’t. More after the jump. Continue reading
Search features for accessing the archive of HHS posts have been expanded. Click the Search link at the top of the HHS main page to try them out. More details are after the jump. Continue reading