In 2011, Jose Valverde converted all 49 save tries in the regular season (allowing just 3 runs in the process), and added 3 more without fail in the postseason.

But in his first outing of the new campaign, he blew Justin Verlander‘s 2-0 lead in the 9th, allowing Ryan Sweeney‘s 2-out tying triple.

And this: The number of times during his magical march to the Cy Young & MVP Awards that Verlander left with a lead but didn’t cash a win? Yep, that would be zero.

Still, the Tigers and their fans walked off happy in the 9th on Austin Jackson‘s 3rd hit.

UPDATE: I’ve created a new free challenge here for tomorrow.

Those of you who’d like a quick stat challenge, click here to join a FanDuel league I set up. This is a one-day league (just today) and is free to enter. Draft a team and see if you can beat my team.

You have only a couple more hours to enter, so hop to it!

The Cardinals opened their championship defense Wednesday night, along with the New World portion of the 2012 MLB schedule, landing the “Marlins 2.0” by a score of 4-1. While everyone was gaping at the kaleidoscopic new ballpark (and maybe wondering if there’d ever be another game with the roof open), here’s what I found in the box score:

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(1)  The Cards’ win over the Marlins was the first Opening Day game since 2008 in which neither team had a homer or a triple.  In ’08, both the Angels/Twins and Padres/Astros Opening Day games saw no triples or homers. 

(2)  Yoenes Cespedes had an extra-base hit in each of his first two major league games this past week.  Going back to 1918, the record for most games with an extra-base hit from the beginning of a career is held by — I’ll tell you after the jump — Continue reading →

Those tuned in to ESPN for the almost-opener in Miami heard Dan Shulman say that the 2011 Cardinals had 9 different pitchers record at least 1 save.

What’s your gut sense — was that an all-time record? The point here is not to look it up (that’s my job!), but just to say what you think.

(By the way, Shulman was mistaken; only 8 different Cardinals got a save last year, and that includes the postseason, where Jason Motte got all 5 saves. But for the sake of discussion, let’s pretend he was right.)

Here is quick PI tip to help you enjoy opening day.  (It doesn’t require a subscription, although if you want one, the PI is currently available for free.)

To find the results of every team’s opening game since 1871:

• Use the  “Team Winning and Losing Streaks Analyzer“
• Change “Games in Streak” to 1.
• Set “Year” to “All Years”.
• Set  “Team” to “All Teams”.
• Select  “From beginning of season only ” or  Set  “Starting with game” 1.

The results are easily copyable into a spreadsheet.

A few of the many interesting things that you can find with this information:

• Since 1903, the  team that would ultimately win the World Series won on opening day 65% of the time. Those same teams fared better in the second game of the season winning 73% of those games.
• Since 1903, teams that won their first game of the season, posted a .508 winning percentage in subsequent games. Teams that lost had a .492 winning percentage in their remaining games.
• Since 1901, the team with the biggest win in their first game was the 1955 Yankees who beat the Senators (in their second game) 19-1.
• Since 1901, the team with the worst loss in their first game was the 1912 Dodgers who lost to the Giants 18-3.
• There have been 10 opening day ties involving 19 teams (The 1933 Giant’s opener was the Dodger’s third game) since 1871.  However, only 2 of those games took place after 1933. In 1965, the Cubs and Cardinals opened with an 11 inning 10-10 tie.  35 years later, the Brewers and Reds were tied at 3 through six when their game was called.

The PI Game-Finders may be a easier tools for many opening day searches (most wins in the last 10 years etc.), but the Winning and Losing Streaks Analyzer can be a valuable alternative with the added benefits of runs scored and allowed, final season record, postseason finishes and a  greater range of years.

A new baseball season is upon us (at least here in North America).

To get into the swing of things, since 1918, what do these players (and only these players) have in common?

Congratulations to John Autin, who solved the quiz in (gulp!) 7 hours, 53 minutes. The quiz answer is that these 7 players are the only non-pitchers who, since 1918, have appeared in 5 or more opening day games, but never as a starter.

Since 1918, career leaders in Opening Day games:

Home Runs
8, Frank Robinson and Ken Griffey, Jr.
7, Adam Dunn, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays and Babe Ruth Continue reading →

Ray Narleski, a standout reliever for Cleveland in the 1950s, died last week at the age of 83. Here’s the obituary that ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer; here is his B-R Bullpen page, and a note from WasWatching.

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