60 For 30: Fun facts at the break
Sixty fun facts about 30 baseball teams as we wait for the Nationals, Athletics and Diamondbacks to join the Big 10:
NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
New York (58-35): Taijuan Walker was 7-11 with a 4.47 ERA last year. This year he’s 7-2, 2.58, with four home runs given up, down from 26.
In Francisco Lindor’s second season with the Mets he has 66 RBIs, three more than in the 2021 season.
Atlanta (56-38): The Braves are 34-13 since they called up rookie Michael Harris to play stellar centerfield and collect 19 extra base hits.
Matt Olson, Freddie Freeman’s replacement, leads the NL with 34 doubles. Freeman is second with 31.
Philadelphia: (49-43): Kyle Schwarber has only 69 hits, but 29 are home runs.
Since Rob Thomson replaced Joe Girardi as manager, the Phils are 27-14.
Miami (43-48): Third baseman Jon Berti leads the NL with 28 steals in 58 games. He had eight last year in 85 games.
At the 2017 winter meetings, the Marlins got Sandy Alcantara (pictured), Zac Gallen, and Daniel Castano from St. Louis for Marcell Ozuna, who is now in Atlanta. Alcantara leads the NL in ERA, Castano is a promising starter and Gallen is one of Arizona’s best starters, after the Marlins got All-Star Jazz Chisholm for him.
Washington (31-63): In the past season and a half, Juan Soto has 224 walks and has struck out 147 times.
Nationals have lost 36 of 44 games against the rest of the N.L. East.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
Milwaukee (50-43): In the 263 games since Christian Yelich led the NL in batting average, slugging percentage on-base percentage and OPS (slugging plus on-base), he has 29 home runs and 104 RBI.
Brewers have seven pitchers who average more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings, led by closer Josh Hader (15.4).
St. Louis (50-44): The Cardinals traded J.D. Drew to Atlanta for Adam Wainwright in 2004. Drew retired after the 2011 season. Since then Wainwright has won 124 games.
Paul Goldschmidt leads the NL with a 1.004 OPS and a .330 batting average.
Pittsburgh (39-54): Its .222 team batting average would be the third worst in franchise history behind 1884 and 2020.
Pirates are in third place despite the fact they’re dead last in NL runs, batting average, OPS, slugging and on-base.
Chicago (35-57): Since the halfway point of 2021, the Cubs are 62-102.
David Robertson, 37, has 13 saves and a 1.93 ERA in 33 games. He had thrown only 18 and two-thirds innings since 2019.
Cincinnati (34-57): Third baseman Brandon Drury, on his third team in three years, has an OPS of .864. His career OPS is .736.
Rigththander Hunter Greene is 3-11 and has given up an MLB-high 23 home runs in 890 and one-third innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
Los Angeles (60-30): Clayton Kershaw’s lifetime WHIP of 1.001 is fourth alltime and third among starters (Addie Joss, Ed Walsh, Mariano Rivera).
Tony Consolin leads the NL in wins, WHP and batting average-against. At 28, he’s also two years older than Cody Bellinger.
San Diego (52-42): Its starting pitchers lead the NL in quality start percentage (53) Next best is 43 (Phillies).
Eric Hosmer’s 35 RBI rank 13th among the league’s first basemen.
San Francisco (48-43): En route to 104 wins, last year’s Giants were 31-17 in one-run games. This year’s Giants are 12-19.
Shortstop Brandon Crawford, coming off an MVP-caliber season, is hitting .215 and his OPS has dropped 266 points to .629.
Colorado (43-50): C.J. Cron has nearly a quarter of the Rockies’ homers (21 of 85). The club ranks 12th in NL longballs, worst in 15 seasons.
Rockies lead the league in save percentage but their overall bullpen WHIP is third-worst.
Arizona (40-52): At 32, Madison Bumgarner has won 32 games in his past five-and-a-half seasons, and his 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings is a career low.
Waived by Cleveland, reliever Kyle Nelson has given up one home run in 29 and two-thirds innings.
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
New York (64-28): Last year, the average score of a Yankee game was 4.4 to 4.1. This year it’s 5.4 to 3.2.
Matt Carpenter (pictured) hit .169 and .194 in his final two years in St. Louis. This year he spent the first 21 games with the Rangers’ Triple-A team in Round Rock. The Yankees signed him and he is hitting .354 with 31 RBI in 31 games.
Tampa Bay (51-41): Lefty Shane McClanhan, whose MLB debut was in the 2020 World Sreies, leads the AL in WHIP, ERA and batting-average against.
Isaac Paredes, picked up from Detroit prior to Opening Day, has 13 home runs in 182 plate appearances.
Toronto (50-43): Alejandro Kirk, at 5-foot-8 and 245, leads AL catchers with an .882 OPS.
Blue Jays lead the league in batting with a .262 average. Twenty years ago, the average team batting average in the AL was .264.
Boston (48-45): Red Sox have lost 26 of their past 33 games against Tampa Bay.
Their bullpen is the victim of seven walkoff losses and has the worst save percentage in the league.
Baltimore (46-46): Jorge Mateo leads A.L. shortstops in runs saved and leads the league in stolen bases.
The much-improved Orioles have an ERA of 3.97, their best since 2014.
AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL\
Minnesota (50-44): Twins are fourth in the league in home runs but have been shut out nine times.
Byron Buxton, who homered in the All-Star Game and had 23 in the first half, has played 73 games. In seven seasons he has played over 100 games only once.
Cleveland (46-44): Shortstop Andres Gimenez leads the AL with a .384 average with runners in scoring position (RISP).
Reliever Eli Morgan has stabilized the bullpen with an excellent 0.653 WHIP — 21 hits in 41 and one-third innings.
Chicago (46-46): It leads the AL in RISP average and is second in batting average, but only seventh in runs scored.
Dylan Cease leads the AL in strikeouts and walks and is third in ERA but did not make the All-Star team.
Detroit (37-55): Led by closer and trade target Gregory Soto, the Tigers have the best save percentage in the league.
Former first-overall draft pick Spencer Torkelson has five home runs and is hitting .197.
Kansas City (36-56): The Royals’ relievers are allowing an average of 1 1/2 baserunners per inning.
Bobby Witt Jr., 22, leads the club in his rookie season with 13 home runs and 47 RBI.
AMERICN LEAGUE WEST
Houston (59-32): Framber Valdez has posted 16 quality starts in 18 starts, best percentage in the league for a staff with a league-leading 2.95 ERA.
Jose Altuve (pictured) has a slugging percentage of .518, two points higher than Giancarlo Stanton’s.
Seattle (51-42): The streaking Mariners lead the AL in bullpen WHP, although Marco Gonzales has lost six games in which he has delivered a quality start.
Ty France, once a 34th-round draft pick by San Diego, has a RISP average of .362.
Texas (41-49): The Rangers were 14th in AL home runs last year so they signed Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. Now they’re fourth.
Lefty Martin Perez has a 2.68 ERA. His previous career low was 3.62, in 2013.
Anaheim (39-53): The Angels have struck out 900 times, 83 more than any other AL team.
They also are winless since June 27 in games in which Shohei Ohtani is not the starting pitcher.
Oakland (32-61): Only six individual hitters in baseball have a lower OPS than Oakland’s team figure of .603.
Playing in front of an average crowd of 8,600, the A’s are 11-31 at home.