Category MLB

MLB All Star Starters

Danny Vinik 3 Comments

The Major League Baseball season is nearing its midpoint and with that comes the 2008 All Star game in Yankee Stadium. With fans voting for the All Star starters, the game many times turns into a popularity contest with deserving players not voted in as starters. Here are those American League players who should be starting at the 2008 All Star game:

Designated Hitter: I find it funny this year that there are no designated hitters have good years. I will give the nod to David Ortiz (though he is injured) with his 13 home runs and 43 RBI, but his .252 batting average makes him a non-ideal candidate. Of the 6 players qualifying for DH, only Hideki Matsui has a batting average above .265, but Matsui has only 7 home runs and 34 RBI, hardly an All Star caliber season. No DH is slugging above .500, so with the lack of talent at DH this year, I select Ortiz as he is the most balanced player amongst designated hitters.

Catcher: There aren’t very many candidates in the AL for starting catcher, but it has to go to someone. With a .332 batting average and .417 on base percentage, Joe Mauer is my choice to start at catcher. He has only 2 home runs and 27 RBI, but no other American League catcher stands out. Mauer has made only 2 errors at catcher all season and has thrown out 34% of runners. Continue reading “MLB All Star Starters” →

Steroids: The Aftermath

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As I look at the statistics in MLB this year and compare them to certain stats over the past couple seasons, the effect of steroids (or lack of steroids) is clearly visible. In 2005, the average number of home runs per American League team was 182 while this year the average number of home runs per team is 149 (adjusted for 162 games). That is a drop of 33 home runs per team, nearly a 500 home run drop in the entire league.

Whenever I have a simple chat with someone about the effect of steroids in baseball, the same point is made consistently: Steroids were more prevalent amongst pitchers than batters. Well that may be true, but the stats clearly don’t support that supposition. Over the past couple seasons, pitching has dramatically increased while hitting is in decline. For instance, the average team ERA in 2006 was 4.56 in the AL, while in 2008, the average team ERA is down to 4.16. Each team is giving up nearly 1/2 a run less per game, a total of 64.2 less runs per team for the entire season. If there were more pitchers using steroids than hitters, wouldn’t batting increase as players stopped using steroids? The fact that the opposite has happened, that pitching has increased, indicates that more batters used steroids than pitchers. Having said that, it could also indicate that steroids help batters more than pitchers and not that more batters used steroids more than pitchers. Continue reading “Steroids: The Aftermath” →

2008 MLB Mid Season Report

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It is nearly the middle of June and Interleague Play is about to get underway so I have decided that it is a good point to look back at the first couple of months of the season

Best Team: Though not completely clear cut, this award goes to the Chicago Cubs who are currently 18 games above .500 and own the best record in MLB, a game and a half ahead of the Los Angeles Angels. They have scored 369 runs, second in Major League Baseball, but the Cubs have allowed the fifth least amount of runs in the entire league at 268. The 101 differential between runs scored and runs allowed is first in baseball and they also have the best ERA in the National League at 3.66. Alfonso Soriano leads the team with 15 home runs and seven of the Cubs’ eight daily batters have averages equal to or above .280. The Cubs possess the best team OPS in National League at .809 and have the third best bullpen ERA at 3.17. Leading in almost ever statistical category, offense or pitching, the Cubs have jumped to the top of league as they hope to win their first championship in 100 years.

Worst Team: One of my favorite awards, the Worst Team Award gives me a chance to look at the most incompetent, hopeless, and pitiful team that Major League Baseball has to offer. Though there are many candidates for this award, the Washington Nationals are most deserving. Though they only have the seventh worst ERA in MLB at 4.56, they have scored the fewest runs out of any team for the entire season at 243. The Nationals have the second lowest OBP (.310) and the lowest OPS (.666).  They have blown 14 saves in 27 opportunities and possess the third highest bullpen ERA at 4.37. All of these stats have combined to make the Nationals 15 games below .500, 6.5 games behind the fourth-placed New York Mets. Continue reading “2008 MLB Mid Season Report” →