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2024 MLB Season Thread - Catch All


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I'm not seeing how a PR was allowed by the umpires to enter the game if Sanchez never established himself as a runner?  If the Marlins tell the umpire "Pache running for Sanchez," the ump cannot approve that if Sanchez has yet to become a runner.  

We've also seen guys get hit by a pitch, injured, and replaced by a PR without touching first.   

I think everyone fucked that up, and the umpires didn't know what to do.

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just finished the maddux doc. it was ok. i’m disappointed that they didn’t even touch on the fact that he was the greatest defensive player ever at his position. the whole thing felt kinda rushed and incomplete. imo he deserved a better career documentary.

  • Hook 'Em 1
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JoePos:

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.383/.512/.865, 1.377 OPS, 24 doubles, 1 3B, 45 homers, 104 RBIs, 91 runs

Those are Aaron Judge’s numbers over the last 95 games.

I’ve been poking around through the archives, and I’m now convinced: That’s the greatest 95-game hitting stretch in the long history of baseball.

Of course, there are a whole bunch of ways of defining: “greatest hitting stretch in the long history of baseball.” For example, you could talk about batting average. These aren’t necessarily the greatest batting averages over a 95-game stretch—that sort of search proved a bit too strenuous—but I think they’re representative of all-time greatness:

In 1912, Ty Cobb had a .438 batting average over 95 games.

In 1941, Ted Williams hit .427 over a 95-game stretch from late May to the end of August.

In 1957, Mickey Mantle hit .402 over his best 95-game stretch.

In 1980, George Brett hit .413 over his best 95-game stretch.

Tony Gwynn hit .399 over his best stretch.

But I don’t think talking about batting averages is enough. Take a look at their OPS over those stretches:

Ty Cobb: 1.132 OPS

Ted Williams: 1.357 OPS

Mickey Mantle: 1.287 OPS

George Brett: 1.155 OPS

Tony Gwynn: 1.040 OPS

You will notice that Judge’s OPS the last 95 games is higher than any of those.

Or you could talk about home runs. There are 13 players in baseball history who have hit 40 home runs over a 95-game stretch. I’ll bet you could name a bunch of them. They are:

Babe Ruth, 4 times (1920, 1921, 1928, 1930)

Mark McGwire, 3 times (1996, 1998, 1999)

Sammy Sosa, 3 times (1998, 1999, 2001)

Aaron Judge, 2024

Giancarlo Stanton, 2017

Ryan Howard, 2006

Jim Thome, 2002

Barry Bonds, 2001

Juan Gonzalez, 1996

Reggie Jackson, 1969

Roger Maris, 1961

Ralph Kiner, 1949

Hank Greenberg, 1938

Some pretty darned good sluggers on there—and some pretty darned good sluggers NOT on there. But, again, Judge didn’t hit just 40 home runs. He hit 45. And when you look at players who have hit 45 home runs over a 95-game stretch, well, now you’re down to five:

Sammy Sosa in 1998: 50 home runs

Roger Maris in 1961: 47 home runs

Mark McGwire in 1998: 46 home runs

Barry Bonds in 2001: 45 home runs

Aaron Judge in 2024: 45 home runs

And, again, their OPS:

Sosa in 1998: 1.073

Maris in 1961: 1.133

McGwire in 1998: 1.164

Bonds in 2001: 1.373

Judge in 2024: 1.377

Wild, right? Plus, the context is totally different. Sosa, McGwire and Bonds all did their thing in a three-year span when, for a number of reasons, home runs were flying out like never before. And Maris’ incredible home run stretch, as great as it was, really was specifically and only a home run stretch. He hit just .301 during that time. Almost half his hits—47 of 108—were homers.

So, yeah, numerically and contextually—remember, the MLB batting average so far this year is .244 and the OPS is just .714—Judge’s stretch feels fundamentally different from any of those.

Looking around, I found only two other hitting spans that I would say compare favorably with Judge’s:

Babe Ruth in 1924—not remembered as one of his truly great years—had a 95-game span where he hit .431/.559/.847 with 33 homers and a 1.406 OPS.

Barry Bonds, 80 years later, in 2004, had a 95-game stretch when he hit .384/.613/.844 with 31 home runs and a 1.457 OPS.

But remember the context. Do you know how many pitchers Babe Ruth faced in 1924? A grand total of 69. That’s all year. Four of those pitchers are Hall of Famers, and there’s a pretty decent chance you could name only one of those four*.

*The four were 36-year-old Walter Johnson—the one you certainly could name—35-year-old Red Faber, 34-year-old Stan Coveleski and an up-and-coming 23-year-old named Ted Lyons. I don’t mean this to diminish the preposterous greatness of Ruth, I really don’t, but I sincerely doubt he faced a 90-mph fastball all year.

Bonds has a different story. He faced 200 pitchers in 2004, including some of the greatest ever (Unit, Clemens, Maddux, Pedro, Glavine, etc.) but he had reached a point where nobody wanted to pitch to him. In those 95 games, he was walked 147 times—75 of them intentional—which pumped up his on-base percentage to a ludicrous .614, more than 100 points higher than Judge’s.

But even taken at face value, I think Judge has done more damage than Bonds did. First, let’s get it out of the way that Judge has already faced 284 different pitchers. Sixty-two of those pitchers—SIXTY TWO!—have thrown him at least one 97-mph fastball. It’s fun but silly to compare Judge to Ruth; they were playing very different games.

As for Bonds’ 2004 amazing stretch, well, Judge has outslugged him by 50 points. he has scored more runs than Bonds did during his span and knocked in 34 more runs. As mentioned above, Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter I ever saw.

Aaron Judge these last 95 games has been BETTER THAN PEAK BARRY BONDS.

 

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Damn.

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Pirates manager Derek Shelton announced to reporters today that shortstop Oneil Cruz will be moved to center field. As to whether this is a permanent move or just an experiment, Shelton said “I think right now, we’re looking at him as a center fielder” per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on X. Isiah Kiner-Falefa will be the club’s primary shortstop for the rest of the year, per Hiles on X. 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/08/pirates-to-move-oneil-cruz-to-center-field.html

  • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
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Tonight Verlander is making his first regular season* start in Philly since 2007.  It's the longest such gap since Jaime Moyer went 18 years between starts at Wrigley.

 

*He did start Game 5 of the 2022 WS there.

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5 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Royals have caught the Guardians (who are 2 under since the beginning of June).

it’s the latest in the season the royals have been tied for or in first place since 2015.

The next season they managed to hang in there until June 15, but after that, the latest point they were tied or in first place was May 5 (2021).

 

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