BASE-BALL

[gonealookin]

With two consecutive bad extra-inning losses at home over the weekend, the fans chanting "Fire Tony!" yesterday and then today's game ending on a dumber than dumb bit of baserunning boneheadedness, I'd guess La Russa's departure is imminent.  That team should not be anywhere near this bad.

[NWI_Irish96]

On a brighter note, Notre Dame upset #1 Tennessee to go to their first College WS in 20 years, and Tennessee's team was so unlikable that most of the country was rooting for ND, which almost never happens in any sport.

[kevinb1994]

On a brighter note, Notre Dame upset #1 Tennessee to go to their first College WS in 20 years, and Tennessee's team was so unlikable that most of the country was rooting for ND, which almost never happens in any sport.

Wow! Go Irish.

[NWI_Irish96]

On a brighter note, Notre Dame upset #1 Tennessee to go to their first College WS in 20 years, and Tennessee's team was so unlikable that most of the country was rooting for ND, which almost never happens in any sport.

Wow! Go Irish.

So I do follow ND's team but don't watch a lot of college baseball otherwise. During the 3 game series, I noticed that Tennessee's hitters whined an awful lot about strike calls at the edges of the strike zone. One player, on an 0-2 count actually stuck his (padded) forearm into an inside breaking ball to try to get to first, and then complained when the ump (correctly) ruled that the player deliberately moved into the pitch. One player and a coach got tossed when the player cursed out the ump (using the f--- word) over a called strike on a 1-1 count. I later learned through Twitter that there had been several misconduct incidents with Tennessee's team throughout the season.

[CoreySamson]

The Astros threw a combined no-hitter against the Yankees today led by Cristian Javier's 13 strikeouts. It's the first no-hitter in the new Yankee Stadium.

[kurumi]

I'll always be a genial New York sports team hater, but have to note that both the Yankees (56-20) and Mets (47-29) are doing well right now. Their combined win percentage (.677) is better than any other single team.

By percentage, the top 5 teams are:
NYY
NYY+NYM
HOU
NYM
LAD

I wonder what the best combined record for a 2-team baseball city is (end of season, or, let's say, after at least 50 games). These would generally be NY, Chi, SF/Oak and LA.

[NWI_Irish96]

I'll always be a genial New York sports team hater, but have to note that both the Yankees (56-20) and Mets (47-29) are doing well right now. Their combined win percentage (.677) is better than any other single team.

By percentage, the top 5 teams are:
NYY
NYY+NYM
HOU
NYM
LAD

I wonder what the best combined record for a 2-team baseball city is (end of season, or, let's say, after at least 50 games). These would generally be NY, Chi, SF/Oak and LA.

Cubs and White Sox combined for .690 in 1906.

[kurumi]

Another thing: Yankees fans are well-represented in the parts of South Korea I was in (Seoul, Busan, Jeju). I saw dozens of NYY caps on the street.

In Busan was an MLB mall store that was about 70% Yankees, 28% Dodgers, and a couple of SF Giants and Red Sox caps. Those are your four MLB teams.

I saw one guy in Jeju dressed in both a Giants T-shirt and Dodgers cap, and their daughter had a Yankees cap. Covering all the "bases", I guess

Here's the selection at an airport shop:

[Bruce]

The Mariners are on a 13-win streak, the 2nd best in franchise history.

[kevinb1994]

The Mariners are on a 13-win streak, the 2nd best in franchise history.

I'm not sure many of us would like to see an Amazon World Series...

[epzik8]

I think the Orioles will make it to 2nd in the AL East

[Alps]

I think the Orioles will make it to 2nd in the AL East

As of this writing the entire East is over .500 and we're over 90 games into the season. Has this ever happened this late to a single division for all 5 teams?

[Takumi]

I think the Orioles will make it to 2nd in the AL East

As of this writing the entire East is over .500 and we're over 90 games into the season. Has this ever happened this late to a single division for all 5 teams?

The 2005 NL East had all five teams finish the year at .500 or better. Washington was last, at 81-81. (The flip side of that is that the NL West was horrible. San Diego won the division going 82-80, which was helped by going 5-1 against the Nationals. If the Nationals had one more win against the Padres, the last place team in one division would have had a better record than the winner of another division.)

[amroad17]

I think the Orioles will make it to 2nd in the AL East

As of this writing the entire East is over .500 and we're over 90 games into the season. Has this ever happened this late to a single division for all 5 teams?

The 2005 NL East had all five teams finish the year at .500 or better. Washington was last, at 81-81. (The flip side of that is that the NL West was horrible. San Diego won the division going 82-80, which was helped by going 5-1 against the Nationals. If the Nationals had one more win against the Padres, the last place team in one division would have had a better record than the winner of another division.)

In 1991, all seven teams from the AL West finished at .500 or better with the California Angels as the team at 81-81.  The AL East had four of the seven teams finish above .500 (Toronto won the division with a 91-71 record).  I guess most all the teams beat up on Cleveland as they finished with a 57-105 record.

[Alps]

Those are two examples AT .500. I did say "over" (:

[kevinb1994]

Atlanta did drop their balls in 1988 when they went UNDER .500. The rest of the NL West was over that!

The same is for the 2008 season. The Orioles went under while the rest of the AL East was over.

[Takumi]

Those are two examples AT .500. I did say "over" (:

The aforementioned 2005 Nationals lost their last game. So the latest a division has had all teams over .500 is the second to last day of the season.

[amroad17]

^ This is correct as California won its last three games to finish at .500.

I took some time to look over the last 33 years of MLB Standings in "Baseball Reference" and found that no division had every team over .500 with the closest being the 1991 AL West (7 team division) and the 2005 NL East (5 team division).  However, I did find one instance in which every team in one division finished under .500.  It was the 1994 AL West.  Yes, it was the strike year but at the time of the shutdown, Texas was leading the AL West with a 52-62 record with Oakland 1 game back at 51-63.  Seattle was 49-63, 2 back, and California was 47-68, 5.5 back.  If the season ever was played in full would Texas have gone 30-18 or would Oakland have gone 31-17 down the stretch to finish with a winning record?  I don't believe so.  This may have been the only season to date in which a team would have won the division with a losing record had the full season been played.

[Henry]

I took some time to look over the last 33 years of MLB Standings in "Baseball Reference" and found that no division had every team over .500 with the closest being the 1991 AL West (7 team division) and the 2005 NL East (5 team division).  However, I did find one instance in which every team in one division finished under .500.  It was the 1994 AL West.  Yes, it was the strike year but at the time of the shutdown, Texas was leading the AL West with a 52-62 record with Oakland 1 game back at 51-63.  Seattle was 49-63, 2 back, and California was 47-68, 5.5 back.  If the season ever was played in full would Texas have gone 30-18 or would Oakland have gone 31-17 down the stretch to finish with a winning record?  I don't believe so.  This may have been the only season to date in which a team would have won the division with a losing record had the full season been played.

The NFL knows how it feels to have a division winner finish below .500; it has happened three times, all of them involving a division from the NFC (West/Seahawks in 2010, South/Panthers in 2014, and East/Washington in 2020), while it has yet to happen in the AFC. That being said, MLB (and the NBA) should be lucky not to have a full season go this way.

[CoreySamson]

The Mariners are on a 13-win streak, the 2nd best in franchise history.

I can see them winning the WS this year. It would be apt, considering the franchise's chaotic story. Just imagine, they make it into the playoffs as a 6 seed, they beat the AL Central winner, they play the Yankees in the ALDS, win in 5 games, beat the Astros in the ALCS, and beat the Dodgers in the WS. Calling it now. Always beware the team that gets hot late.

And on the under/over .500 divisions conversation...

The 2014/15 Southwest Division in the NBA had every team finish above .500 and all 5 of them made the playoffs. The last place finisher, the New Orleans Pelicans, finished 4 games above .500, which is pretty ludicrous considering the NBA has a 82 game season. No team in the division that year had a divisional record over 9-7 or below 7-9, which shows how evenly matched they were. On the flip side is the 2018/19 Southeast Division, which only had one team, the Orlando Magic, finish above .500, and even they finished a paltry 42-40.

[Alps]

The Mariners are on a 13-win streak, the 2nd best in franchise history.

I can see them winning the WS this year. It would be apt, considering the franchise's chaotic story. Just imagine, they make it into the playoffs as a 6 seed, they beat the AL Central winner, they play the Yankees in the ALDS, win in 5 games, beat the Astros in the ALCS, and beat the Dodgers in the WS. Calling it now. Always beware the team that gets hot late.

$500 says you're wrong

[Bruce]

Mariners winning the World Series right after this drought would be very Mariners. I don't think it will happen, though.

If the Ms do make it to the postseason, the city is going to go nuts.

[epzik8]

Mariners winning the World Series right after this drought would be very Mariners. I don't think it will happen, though.

If the Ms do make it to the postseason, the city is going to go nuts.

They're the only team who has never been to a World Series, so I would love to see them shed that.

[KCRoadFan]

Mariners winning the World Series right after this drought would be very Mariners. I don't think it will happen, though.

If the Ms do make it to the postseason, the city is going to go nuts.

They're the only team who has never been to a World Series, so I would love to see them shed that.

I would as well, because it looks like my Royals (again) won't be making the playoffs...

[Henry]

Mariners winning the World Series right after this drought would be very Mariners. I don't think it will happen, though.

If the Ms do make it to the postseason, the city is going to go nuts.

They're the only team who has never been to a World Series, so I would love to see them shed that.

I would as well, because it looks like my Royals (again) won't be making the playoffs...

Thirded! I hope the Mariners make at least one World Series trip before I die, so that MLB can stake its claim to being the only sports league with all of its teams having played for a championship.