Records are made to be broken but one would be hard pressed to argue this year’s achievements deserve much more than a footnote in the history books.
Hitting .400 in 60 games is not the same as doing it over 162. It can’t be. Not when one hitter battles injuries and cold streaks for upwards of six months and the other guy only does it for two. The game itself is similar but the journey and hardships that must be overcome are not.
The same could be said for just about every MLB record that involves percentages. Some might be at risk this year, and while they might be fun to track, they don’t have to be taken too seriously. All schedules are not created equal and this one doesn’t match up with the ones that came before. Since the late 1880s, MLB never has had teams play fewer than 100 games, until now. The year of the coronavirus is unique.
Still, small sample sizes don’t mean records have to be ignored completely. Let’s look at some of the bigger numbers at risk:
Will anyone hit .400? The late Ted Williams was the last player to reach this milestone when he hit .406 in 1941. Since the start of the modern era in 1900, there have been nine players to bat .400 or above. George Sisler did it twice while Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby did it three times each. Prior to 1900, 13 players hit above .400, including Canadian Tip O’Neill, who finished with a .435 average for St. Louis during a 126-game season in 1887.
MLB entered play on Saturday with three players hitting better than 400: Colorado outfielder Charlie Blackmon (.447), San Francisco infielder Donovan Solano (.444) and New York Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu (.439). A couple of things to remember: former Blue Jay John Olerud hit .400 as late as Aug. 2 — 105 games into his season — before finishing the 1993 season batting .363; and Tony Gwynn had a shot at history the following year with a .394 average over 110 games before a strike cancelled the season.
How low can ERAs go? Hall of famer Bob Gibson owns MLB’s modern-era record with a 1.12 ERA over 304 2/3 innings in 1968. This year’s ERA champion won’t pitch even a third of that workload. A better comparison for 2020s top finisher might be Tim Keefe, who in 1880 posted the lowest ERA in MLB history at 0.86 in a season that lasted 84 games. Texas Rangers right-hander Lance Lynn currently has the best shot among qualified starters with a 1.11 ERA through five outings.
Is this the season a pitcher is perfect? Among pitchers who logged enough innings to quality for the ERA title, only five in the modern era posted winning percentages above .900. Roy Face owns the record of .947 after he went 18-1 with a 2.70 ERA out of the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen in 1959. Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson are the most recent examples after Maddux went 19-2 (.905) and Johnson went 18-2 (.900) in 1995. Aaron Sanchez owns Toronto’s best mark of .882 when he went 15-2 in 2016.
It’s far too early to know which pitchers might be in the mix for this, but with most starters expected to be limited to 12 outings, anything more than one loss would make those winning percentages unachievable. Names to keep an eye on include Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole (4-0), Cleveland righty Shane Bieber (3-0) and Atlanta left-hander Max Fried (3-0), but many other starters have similar undefeated records this early.
Is the on-base percentage mark untouchable? Good luck to any player chasing this one. Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds holds the record with a .609 OBP across 147 games in 2004. By comparison, Mike Trout led all major-leaguers last season with a .438 OBP. Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper and Cincinnati’s Jesse Winker entered play on Saturday tied for the top spot this season at .484. Shortstop Bo Bichette led all Blue Jays players with a .387 OBP while Toronto ranked 25th in baseball as a team at .301.
Which teams have the best shot playing the percentages? The 1906 Chicago Cubs own baseball’s best single-season winning percentage after they finished 116-36 (.763). The Seattle Mariners own the best mark for a 162-game season with a 116-46 record (.716) in 2001. The lowest winning percentage belongs to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders who finished 20-134 (.130). The New York Mets possess the worst percentage of the modern era with a 40-120 (.250) record in 1962.
The Cubs entered play Saturday at a record pace with a 13-4 record (.765) while Oakland was the top American League team at 14-6 (.700). The Pirates owned the dubious honour of possessing the worst record at 4-14 (.222) with the Boston Red Sox close behind at 6-14 (.300).
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"short" - Google News
August 16, 2020 at 06:24AM
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The numbers in a short MLB season could end up being anything but average - Toronto Star
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