One of the nice things about playoff baseball is the opportunity to watch teams that you don’t see that often and, in so doing, see some players that may have flown under your radar. One such player is the Angels’ Joe Smith, a pitcher with a profile as anonymous as his name, but with a very different pedigree.
More after the jump on an anything but ordinary Joe.
Kansas City’s 29-year absence from the post-season has ended with a bang. But, this is not your typical playoff team.
More after the jump.
This season marks only the fifth time in major league history that three active players have had three or more seasons with a particular batting accomplishment. The players involved on those occasions are shown below. What is this unusual batting feat?
| Rk | 1935 | 1938-39 | 1960 | 2002-07 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Babe Ruth | Lou Gehrig | Mickey Mantle | Barry Bonds | Jose Bautista |
| 2 | Lou Gehrig | Jimmie Foxx | Ted Williams | Frank Thomas | Albert Pujols |
| 3 | Jimmie Foxx | Mel Ott | Eddie Mathews | Jason Giambi | Jason Giambi |
Congratulations to Richard Chester! With some help from others, he correctly identified that only in the years indicated were there three active players who had then compiled 3 seasons of 6 WAR, 35 home runs and 100 walks. Three such seasons is quite rare, with only two players achieving that feat in addition to those above. At no time have more than 3 active players concurrently achieved that distinction. More after the jump.
Jordan Zimmerman notched his first career no-hitter on Sunday thanks to a great catch (5:00 mark) by left-fielder Steven Souza to end the game.
With boxscores courtesy of baseball-reference.com and video from mlb.com, here’s a sampling of other stellar plays on the final out of a no-hitter.
Last Tuesday at Wrigley, Jake Arrieta fanned 13 Reds and faced only one batter over the minimum in a masterful one-hit shutout. That game crowns an impressive campaign in which Arrieta has posted this line, with every one of his rate stats a career best.
| Year | Age | Tm | W | L | G | GS | CG | SHO | IP | BB | SO | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 28 | CHC | 9 | 5 | .643 | 2.65 | 24 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 149.2 | 40 | 157 | 145 | 2.30 | 1.016 | 6.7 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 9.4 | 3.93 |
More on Arrieta’s breakout year after the jump.
A new tool in the Baseball-Reference Play Index allows analysis of player and team performance over any contiguous portion of a season, bounded by team game numbers. Thus, with every team having played at least 149 games as of Sep 15th, here is how this year’s playoff contenders have fared over the twenty games from 130 to 149.
| Rk | Tm | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LAA | 16-4 |
| 2 | BAL | 15-5 |
| 3 | SFG | 13-7 |
| 4 | LAD | 13-7 |
| 5 | DET | 13-7 |
| 6 | STL | 12-8 |
| 7 | PIT | 12-8 |
| 8 | WSN | 11-9 |
| 9 | TOR | 11-9 |
| 10 | CLE | 10-10 |
| 11 | SEA | 9-11 |
| 12 | KCR | 9-11 |
| 13 | NYY | 8-12 |
| 14 | OAK | 7-13 |
| 15 | ATL | 7-13 |
| 16 | MIL | 6-14 |
How have past playoff teams fared going down the stretch? Do hot teams stay hot, or does just making the playoffs render a team vulnerable to an October letdown? Are teams which clinch early better advised to coast down the stretch, or keep the pedal to the metal? More after the jump.
These are the only pitchers since 1920 with an unusual season pitching accomplishment. What is it?
| Rk ▴ | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Curt Schilling |
| 2 | Gaylord Perry |
| 3 | Jack Morris |
| 4 | Jerry Koosman |
| 5 | Tommy John |
| 6 | Stan Coveleski |
| 7 | Virgil Trucks |
Congratulations to donburgh and BryanM! They teamed up to identify the quiz players as the only pitchers since 1920 with a 20 win season aged 35 or older in the first year with a new team (or teams). Thus, they paid off on the gamble that was made in acquiring a proven but aging veteran. More after the jump.
What is the career accomplishment that is shared only by these players since 1901?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pete Rose |
| 2 | Jim Gilliam |
| 3 | Gregg Jefferies |
| 4 | Don Buford |
| 5 | Bobby Adams |
| 6 | Scott Spiezio |
| 7 | Frank LaPorte |
Hint: Jackie Robinson is the one HOFer who almost made this list
Congratulations to Artie Z.! He knew that these players always came up roses because they never came up short. Or, rather, as shortstop. The quiz players are part of a larger group of 63 players who all played 250+ games at both 2nd base and 3rd base since 1901, but only these seven never played a game at shortstop. Included in the larger group are 3 HOFers – Jackie Robinson who played shortstop once, and Paul Molitor and Frankie Frisch who both did so 50+ times. More after the jump.
These are the only pitchers of the past 30 seasons (since 1985) with an unusual single game accomplishment. What is it?
| Rk | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rick Porcello |
| 2 | Scott Erickson |
| 3 | Jim Bullinger |
| 4 | Roger Bailey |
| 5 | Zane Smith |
| 6 | Jeff Ballard |
| 7 | Brian Holman |
| 8 | Tom Glavine |
| 9 | Neil Allen |
| 10 | Walt Terrell |
Hint: there is a career context for this single game feat
Looks like I have another stumper! Voomo Zanzibar zeroed in on the main point straight off, that all of these pitchers have recorded an unlikely shutout with zero strikeouts. The extra wrinkle that eluded our readers was that each did so in the first whiff-less CG of his career. More after the jump.
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Yankee rookie Dellin Betances is having a season so far that puts him in the company of some of baseball’s all-time great relievers. What seasonal pitching feat has been achieved only by these players?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Gagne |
| 2 | Dellin Betances |
| 3 | Rafael Betancourt |
| 4 | Bruce Sutter |
| 5 | Mariano Rivera |
| 6 | Rollie Fingers |
| 7 | Tim Burke |
| 8 | Ted Abernathy |
| 9 | John Wetteland |
Hint: Betances will need to continue his strong performance the rest of the season to remain with this group.
Looks like I’ve stumped the panel on this one. The answer is that these are the only right-handed pitchers since 1901 to have a season with 80% of appearances in relief, 75+ IP and a ratio of ERA+ to WHIP exceeding 300. Betances’s ratio is currently at 347 times WHIP, so he has a good chance to still be on this list at season’s end. If he does, he will likely have the highest IP total for such a season (lefty or righty) since Bruce Sutter in 1977. More after the jump.