Stat Leaders

 

Luke Voit (above) and DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees closed out the regular season with a noteworthy accomplishment: they're the first teammates to lead a league in home runs (Voit) and batting average (LeMahieu) since Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron of the 1959 Milwaukee Braves. Short season or not, their ability to produce consistently and stay healthy deserves recognition. But -- and you knew there was a "but" coming -- can this predict the future?
In 1959, there was a National League playoff. The Braves and Dodgers finished the regular season tied. So, just like 1951, the Dodgers found themselves in a best-of-three game showdown to decide the pennant. The Braves dropped the opening game 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium (where both Mathews and Aaron were held hitless); then back at the L.A. Coliseum, game two also went the Dodgers way, 6-5, with Brooklyn legend Carl Furillo delivering the walk off RBI single in the bottom of the 12th. Oddly, 1959 was one of only two seasons during the '50s (and one of just two spanning 1949-'64) that the Yankees didn't win the pennant.

So what does that mean for our 2020-model crystal ball (equipped with GPS and backup camera)? Who's to say. The Yankees will be in Cleveland for a best-of-three round with the Indians. And the Braves, where Marcell Ozuna and Austin Riley, now fill the shoes of Aaron and Mathews, will host the Reds starting Wednesday in a National League Wild Card series. And, because fair is fair, Milwaukee, the city spurned by the Braves in the mid-'60s, will be playing -- you guessed it -- those Dodgers in their opening round series.

Where will it lead? The Dodgers and Rays were the best teams over the course of 60 games. But last year's champs were the Washington Nationals, the #2 Wild Card club. One thing more, the Marlins, perhaps baseball's biggest surprise, are back in the tournament for the first time since 2003, when, as a Wild Card, they marched to a World Series title, stunning the heavily favored Yankees.

So, toss your dice in the air, or let your cat's paw glide across the gaming app of your phone. There is no way to predict which team will be holding the trophy five weeks from now.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Street and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more