Truck Day was yesterday.
Next Stop: The Series!!It’s Truck Day, Red Sox fans! pic.twitter.com/tJkszVab3C
— Beyond the Monster (@BeyondtheMnstr) February 3, 2023
Truck Day was yesterday.
Next Stop: The Series!!It’s Truck Day, Red Sox fans! pic.twitter.com/tJkszVab3C
— Beyond the Monster (@BeyondtheMnstr) February 3, 2023
Mayer had a tough full-season debut in 2022, as he missed a month with a sprained wrist in the first half and struggled to drive the ball for four or five weeks after he returned, and then fought through some back tightness in July that may also have hurt his power. . . . The good news is despite the injury troubles, he still showed an extremely advanced approach at the plate, even when he wasn't at full strength, and finished strongly in Low A and after an early August promotion to High A, hitting .287/.435/.492 from July 1 through the end of the season. Mayer has a smooth left-handed swing that should get him to plus power when he fills out, with loft in his finish and evident hand strength already. . . . I haven't seen great bat speed from him . . . he might be a high-OBP, 25+ homer guy who doesn't hit for high averages if that's the case. He's a no-doubt shortstop with great actions and quick hands . . . and a plus arm. . . . [I] think he's going to be a star.
Rafaela is one of the smallest players on this ranking . . . but he was the big breakout guy in Boston's system this year after he started driving the ball a lot more often and emerged as a potential 70 or 80 defender in center. Rafaela, who was born in Curaçao, swings first and asks questions later, with a very fast bat and excellent bat control that helps him make contact even on pitches out of the zone, although it also leads to a lot of weaker contact on those same pitches. He doesn't miss fastballs and actually hangs in there (pun intended) well on curveballs, but given how high he starts his hands, he doesn't always have time to adjust on other pitches . . . His defense is elite and he's a 70 runner as well, so he doesn't have to hit that much to be a solid big leaguer, and he could be an above-average regular as a low-OBP, 20+ homer guy.
Casas is a boring prospect, but not in a bad way; he projects as an above-average or better regular at first base and he's ready to take over in Fenway right now, but he doesn't have a huge tool, no 80 power or elite defense and definitely not big speed. He's patient, disciplined, and has very good feel to hit, with hard contact that so far has produced a ton of doubles although there's no real reason to think he can't put more of those balls over the fence. Casas is big and very strong; his swing makes excellent use of his upper and lower half as he rotates his hips to get more power from his legs. . .. He's a first baseman who rakes, and should be the traditional slugger for that position, hitting for some average with a ton of walks and either 40-odd doubles or 25-plus homers.
Bleis is still growing into his frame, but shows exceptional ability to handle the bat, with the potential for huge power and lots of hard contact, and has a chance for every tool to end up above-average. He's an outstanding athlete who could stay in center depending on how he fills out and whether he stays an above-average runner. Right now he'll show big raw power, less in games, but it's clearly coming once he gets stronger and perhaps if he cuts down on some of the extra hand movement he has before he gets the barrel moving towards the zone. He needs to be more selective at the plate, with a little more swing and miss and a little less ball/strike recognition than you'd like, but it also comes with the enormous upside. He actually would be a perfect guy for short-season ball this year if that still existed, and I won't be shocked or too dismayed if he struggles early in Low A as an inexperienced 19-year-old. The high-average/25 homer upside is still there.
Baltimore - 6 (top prospect # 2)
New York - 6 (top prospect # 8)
Boston - 4 (top prospect #11)
Tampa Bay - 4 (top prospect #24)
Toronto - 1 (top prospect #47)
Many Red Sox fans have been less than impressed with the front office's recent actions. After enduring a dismal 2022 season that resulted in a last-place finish, fans watched Xander Bogaerts leave for San Diego as the team announced an increase in ticket prices.
Last weekend, Red Sox owner John Henry and Chief Baseball Officer Claim Bloom were booed and heckled at the team's Winter Weekend in Springfield, but if the only coverage you saw was NESN, you would not have known that, because the network saw fit to edit out the boos and catcalls.
NESN admitted it, too, although its excuse was as lame as its game production and camerawork (my emphasis).
The show tonight at 8p — as is always the case with television production, we made tweaks where needed to accommodate sound quality in the unique amphitheater environment at MGM and condensing a 90-min period to the hour-long format of the show. With that said, the lion share of the ownership/front office Q&A is included in the show.
John Tomase (NBC Sports) said disgruntled fans "turn[ed] the made-for-NESN event into the woodchipper scene from Fargo":
Simply put, the fans are not having this offseason, not one bit. They booed Henry when he walked onto the stage. They booed chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom when he tried to explain how much better off the team is now than three years ago. They booed the response to a question about the cost of attending a game.
They booed and booed and booed to the point that one attendee described it as "uncomfortable."
If the Red Sox didn't realize the world of hurt they were in with their fans before, it's clear now. The people have spoken. . . .
They directed most of their vitriol at Bloom . . . I believe Bloom believes what he's selling. It's just tough to share his vision, since a club that is effectively replacing Xander Bogaerts with Adam Duvall probably isn't going to improve.
One of the cringiest moments in video posted to Twitter occurred when Bloom tried to explain how far the Red Sox have come since 2020. The fans began booing him almost immediately . . . [H]e shifted to the decision to trade Mookie Betts, using the unfortunate homonym of "big bets" to describe the contract it would've taken to keep him, which led to another torrent of boos. . . .
It was the perfect evening for a franchise riven by dysfunction. The Red Sox have spent all winter in a bubble of their own making, insisting that everything is fine. If they expected a friendly audience on Friday, they encountered a revolt.
These three tweets (h/t Toucher & Rich) show the fans in atttendance were not buying management's bullshit. These tone deaf fuckers yapped about making Fenway Park "accessible" and how important it is to "grow" the next generation of fans and then unhelpfully point out there are a few tickets for every home game that cost only $9.00 . . . blah blah blah . . . It's fucking embarrassing.
Henry: I think the most informed thing I can say is that it's expensive to have baseball players, to have the best —
Audience: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! [for 20 seconds]
John Henry is finally facing Red Sox fans. pic.twitter.com/rAKDEMl88j
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) January 21, 2023
Chaim Bloom booed loudly when introduced at Winter Weekend. It went downhill from there. #RedSox pic.twitter.com/rRUP6bzhH0
— Mark Leonard (@Kupsey17) January 21, 2023
John Henry has made an appearance at Winter Weekend 😬 (via @bclouse) pic.twitter.com/w5lEKkYiro
— Gone Bridge Podcast (@GoneBridge) January 21, 2023
Babe Ruth's Lost 715th Home Run
By Allan WoodOn April 27, 1969, baseball fans learned that "one of the most hallowed statistics of all sports lore" – Babe Ruth's career total of 714 home runs – would be revised. Leonard Koppett of the New York Times reported on a "forgotten" home run hit by Babe Ruth in the summer of 1918. "It turns out," Koppett wrote, "that Ruth hit 715 home runs, not 714, and starting next year the official records will show that."
This surprising announcement came out of the creation of The Baseball Encyclopedia – the landmark reference work containing, for the first time ever, "a complete record of every man who ever played in a major league game" – which was published later that year, in August 1969.
. . .
From The Babe, published in 2019 by the Society for American Baseball Research in 2019.
My biography of Ruth was also included:
The Cameraman was at one point considered a lost film, destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire. However, a complete print was discovered in Paris in 1968. Another print, of much higher quality, although missing some footage, was discovered in 1991.
Who had a “Yankees Suck” chant going on during an NHL game in California on their bingo card? pic.twitter.com/B25pfa2kjj
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) January 9, 2023
UPDATED: Scroll down to sock divider.
One day after the Red Sox and Rafael Devers avoided arbitration with a $17.5 million contract for 2023, here comes the wonderful news that the Boston third baseman has agreed to rip up that deal while the ink is still wet in favour of a massive 11-year, $331 million extension.
Devers will report to camp next month in preparation for his seventh major league season. He will be 26 years old for the entire campaign. As mentioned, this mega-deal wipes away the arb-avoiding stop-gap and so will start in 2023 and take Devers through 2033 (his age-36 season). There are no opt-outs in the contract.
The Red Sox have not officially announced the deal, so it is uncertain whether the extension will begin in 2023 or 2024. MassLive.com writer Chris Cotiilo tweeted: "For CBT purposes, Red Sox could keep Devers' 2023 hit at $17.5M (his agreed upon salary) or fold it in to larger deal ($30.09M for 11 years). It can be done both ways. Haven't gotten an answer on what the plan is (and team officials not confirming deal)."
Jen McCaffrey's article at The Athletic reveals a bit about Devers's mindset and maturity:
But this isn't just about on-field production. The organization is also investing in Devers, the person, someone who's embraced a growing leadership role. A team — especially the Red Sox — doesn't dole out a contract of this magnitude without trusting that Devers will continue to develop into the veteran leader and clubhouse presence he's shown glimpses of becoming in recent years. . . .
Devers has already shown a desire to be more of a force among his peers, something that will be crucial as a new wave of Red Sox talent arrives.
In recent years, Devers has made a concerted effort to learn more English so that he can connect more easily with his English-speaking teammates. It's not something anyone told him to do, but something he took upon himself, knowing what it would mean for his career and the unity of the team.
Devers had a breakout season in 2019, leading the majors with 359 total bases, topping the American League with 54 doubles and 90 extra-base hits, and finishing with an OPS of . 916. He belted more home runs (32) that year than he had hit in his previous two seasons combined. And despite having 212 more plate appearances than he had in 2018, he struck out two fewer times.
Devers had a down year in 2020, but roared back in both 2021 and 2022. He was one of the Red Sox's few bright spots last season, finishing fifth in the AL in slugging and OPS and tied for third in extra-base hits. Over the last four seasons (2019-22), Devers leads all MLB batters in doubles (149) and extra-base hits (264) and he leads the AL in hits (591) and total bases (1,078).
Devers's 333 extra-base hits are the most of any player in Red Sox history before his 26th birthday. He also got to 100 dongs faster (486 games) than all but two Red Sox players: Ted Williams (467) and Tony Conigliaro (469). Devers holds franchise single-season records among third basemen for most homers (38 in 2021) and doubles (54 in 2019).
On the minus side, Devers has led the AL in errors by a third baseman for five consecutive seasons. At some point, he will be a full-time DH.
Devers is the 13th player to sign a contract worth $300+ million. Nine of those contracts have been signed in the last three off-seasons.
SoSHer drbretto: "I can't believe I've lived to see a day here where an 11 year, 331 million dollar contract didn't cause a complete existential meltdown."
Jumping off something another SoSHer posted: When David Ortiz was Raffy's age right now, he was a league-average hitter with the Twins. It's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison and it would be fool-hardy (and unfair to Devers) to expect Raffy to put up Flo-like production (Tiz had a 1.026 OPS at age 36; 2013 was his age 37 season), but . . . through age 25:
Devers: 2958 PA: .283/.342/.512, .358 wOBA, 123 wRC+
Ortiz: 1176 PA: .261/.351/.446, .345 wOBA, 101 wRC+
Chapman had already established himself as one of the single best relievers of the decade. He threw harder than anyone in baseball; he hadn't given up a single home run all season; and he was a lefty.
Chapman struck out Hanley on three straight fastballs at the top of the zone to begin the ninth. Then he started Devers [then 20 years old, only 14 games into his major league career] off with a 103-MPH fastball on the inside corner. Looking at the replay now, it's not clear that Devers even saw the pitch. He stepped out of the box, stared out at the mound for a moment, shook his head, and then stepped back in — just in time to watch another 103-MPH fastball barely miss outside. This was something he'd never seen before, and it's why, typically, players with only 9 AAA games under their belt aren't called upon to face All-Star closers in the middle of a pennant race.
Devers finally took the bat off his shoulder on the third pitch, a 102-MPH fastball up and out of the zone, but he didn't come close to making contact. . . . Chapman was in complete control, primed to close out the game and put the heat on the division-leading Sox down the stretch. With an unproven rookie standing 60 feet, 6 inches away, Chapman didn't mess around, going back to a 103-MPH heater up in the zone. . . .
After news reports last week that Alexandra Eckersley, the 26-year-old daughter of Dennis Eckersley, had been arrested for abandoning her newborn baby in the New Hampshire woods, the former Red Sox pitcher and broadcaster has filed a guardianship petition to adopt the child.
The baby "was found unclothed, freezing, and alone in the darkness in a wooded area . . . on Sunday night . . . The baby was found uncovered and struggling to breathe on the floor of a tent . . . Efforts were then made to provide warmth and the baby was taken to an area hospital for additional treatment." The baby was suffering from hypothermia.
Dennis Eckersley and his family released a lengthy statement, expressing their shock at the news. They stated Alexandra had chosen to live on the streets for the last six years and pointed out that New Hampshire's mental health system is, like the systems in so many other states, in utter shambles.
When a state deliberately slashes the number of available beds from 2,500 to fewer than 150, as New Hampshire has, and drastically cuts or eliminates other essential services (because everyone wants lower taxes, right?), it guarantees that people who desperately need help will end up in situations like this, giving birth outside at 1:00 a.m. in 15-degree weather. And we will read stories like this – with far worse outcomes – again and again and again.
We are utterly devastated by the events that unfolded on Christmas night when our daughter Allie delivered a baby while living in a tent. It is heartbreaking that a child was born under such unthinkable conditions and in such tragic circumstances. We learned with everyone else from news reports what happened and are still in complete shock. We had no prior knowledge of Allie's pregnancy.
We are extremely grateful to the first responders in Manchester, NH for saving this innocent newborn boy and to the hospital staff for everything they are doing to ensure his well-being.
Allie is our beloved daughter who we adopted at birth. Though it is painful to share, we feel it necessary to offer greater context of Allie's circumstances and background. Allie has suffered from severe mental illness her entire life. Allie was hospitalized numerous times for her illness and lived in several residential programs. We did our very best to get Allie all of the help and support humanly possible.
Once Allie became an adult there was even less we could do because she was legally free to make her own decisions as long as she was not a danger to herself or others. Under existing laws, there was simply no way to force her to receive treatment. Nonetheless, we continued to support her as best we could.
Since she was twenty, Allie chose to live on the streets in New Hampshire. As in many states, the mental health system in New Hampshire is broken. The state hospital used to have 2,500 psychiatric beds. Now there are less than 200 for more than 1.2 million citizens and the state was forced to eliminate another 48 beds this fall because of staff shortages. Without adequate inpatient beds for crisis, treatment and stabilization, a state mental system fails.
We have always offered Allie a path home but she has made other choices. We hope Allie now accepts the treatment she desperately needs for her mental health issues. We also hope that all those who have heard this tragic story withhold judgment about our daughter until all the facts come out.
We are in the process of filing a guardianship petition so that we may receive information and have decision making with respect to Allie's son.
We thank you for your support and prayers for this beautiful, innocent baby boy. We hope people understand what an agonizing situation this is and we respectfully ask for privacy. Accordingly, we will have no further comment on this matter for the time being.
Troy Lynch, WMUR:
Eckersley was arrested on Monday. She is accused of telling first responders she gave birth to a prematurely born baby boy on a soccer field. Crews searched in the wrong area for an hour before police said she informed them of the true location of the tent, officials said.
First responders raced down a footpath in the dark to reach the child, who was described by fire officials as moving, not crying, exposed and in the cold, without a blanket and next to a bed covered in blood. The temperature was around 15-18 degrees. . . .
[Alexandra Eckersley] has pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child, falsifying physical evidence and reckless conduct.
Nathan Eovaldi has left for Texas and Rich Hill is Pittsburgh bound, but do not fear. The Red Sox have made another off-season splash by signing Corey Kluber to a one-year deal with a club option for a second.
Unfortunately, next season will not be 2017.
The Red Sox are the Klubot's fifth team in the last five seasons. Kluber, who will be 37 next season, had the lowest walk rate in the majors last year (1.2 per nine innings). He threw 164 innings in 31 starts, and walked 21.
Boston will head into next spring with at least seven starters for five spots: Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock, James Paxton, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, and Kluber.
Fans may be down on Bloom, but he is obviously hoarding money to give to Ohtani.
Incredible up close footage taken by Yankee Frankie Crosetti of 47 year old Babe Ruth batting off of 55 year old Walter Johnson (416 game winner) in Aug. 1942 to raise $$ for War Bonds. This would be the last time Ruth would take cuts at Yankee Stadium—he finishes with a homerun. pic.twitter.com/BRYhCoQh8S
— Spiro’s Ghost (@SpiroAgnewGhost) December 24, 2022
Justin Turner has agreed with the Red Sox on a contract for next season, with a player option for 2024.
Turner, who turned 38 last month, will be the team's designated hitter and probably spend some time at first base. He will be paid $8.3 in 2023 and, if the option is exercised, $11.4 in 2024.
Boston's DH for the last five seasons, J.D. Martinez, inked a one-year deal with the Dodgers.
On Thursday, the Red Sox officially announced the signing of outfielder Masataka Yoshida, 29, to a five-year contract (2023-27), reportedly worth $90 million (the figure was not made official). He will wear #7 and play left field.Right back at you, Masataka. pic.twitter.com/iIDSqnbT3i
— Red Sox (@RedSox) December 15, 2022
He's someone that we like, we've spent a lot of time on. Really, really good hitter, [gives a] quality at-bat and a great talent. . . . There is a foundation here to be able to do some things and be able to handle an at-bat a certain way. The way the swing works, the way that he sees the ball -- those things do tend to translate really well for whatever environment the player is in.
I'm Masataka Yoshida. I'm 29 years old. I have played for the Orix Buffaloes for seven years. I don't speak English. [I'm] so nervous. I want to learn English, and I want to speak it. I'm honored to be with Red Sox Nation. I'll do my best. Thank you. . . .Obviously, the Red Sox organization is the best one of all 30 teams. So that's why I chose it. . . . The Green Monster, it's really tall -- I was surprised. . . . I haven't experienced leading off. That's why I said maybe I don't have confidence to hit as a leadoff hitter, but whatever they say, I'll do. I'm going to play hard, that's all. I just want to keep doing the same thing [as] what I did in Japan -- make good contact and get on base.
Xander Bogaerts has agreed to a 11-year contract with the Padres, for worth $280 million. Reports are the deal includes a full no-trade clause and no opt-outs.
Bogaerts first signed with the Red Sox as a 16-year-old in 2009. He turned 30 last October and leaves Boston having played the most games at shortstop in Red Sox history (1,192). In ten seasons, he hit .292/.356/.458, for an .814 OPS and 117 OPS+, and was a member of two World Series champions: 2013 and 2018.
It's not my money, of course, but that deal is nothing I would have wanted the Red Sox to saddle themselves with. Shelling out an average of $25 million per in Bogaerts's age 38-41 years? No, thank you. According to ESPN Stats & Info, "Bogaerts' deal is the longest contract ever signed at age 30 or older."
Alex Speier (Globe) tweeted:
According to a major league source, the Red Sox were "really far" from the Padres offer – and their offers were short of $200M. Just a huge gap in where the Padres went.
Peter Abraham (Globe) added:
Bogaerts, a source said, wanted to give the Sox a last chance to improve their offer. But there was what was described as a "huge gap" between the teams and Bogaerts felt he had no choice but to choose the Padres.
Of course, he had a choice. But, hey, good for X and best of luck in San Diego.
It remains to be seen who will be our shortstop coming next April. If Trevor Story slides over from second, who will play second? The chatter will likely pivot to Carlos Correa, who is two years younger than Bogaerts and has some shared history with manager Alex Cora.
I assumed Chaim Bloom would let Bogaerts go and concentrate on inking Rafael Devers to a long-term deal. The first part of that plan was super easy. Do not fuck up the second half.
Players Rank Not Always Shown By His Fielding Average
The Ground He Covers and the Balls He Shirks Not Recorded
It always has been maintained that fielding averages are misleading in the estimate of the real abilities of players. That a player, for example, who leads the league at second base, according to the figures compiled by Mr. [Nick] Young [National League president] every fall, does so because he is a cautious player, who does not take the chances that other men in the position go after and who in doing so make errors that may put them far down in the list in the so-called "averages." On this account many close critics always watch the totals of chances recorded opposite each player's name and attach more importance to that column than they do to the "percentage of chances accepted," which is supposed to determine the rank of the player.
. . . In order to give some estimate of the work of the National League players in this particular, the Chicago Tribune has compiled a table of percentage of chances to the game accepted by players [chances per game] the last season, in accordance with the official figures given out by President Young. The worst defect about the table will be the fact that no allowance can be made for instances where players have participated in only part of a game.
The Sporting News, November 20, 1897
Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt were named the 2022 Most Valuable Players in the American and National leagues. Judge received 28 of 30 first-place votes, with Shohei Ohtani receiving the other two.
Justin Verlander and Sandy Alcantara were both unanimous Cy Young Award winners.
Red Sox representation: Xander Bogaerts finished ninth and Rafael Devers finished 14th in AL MVP voting. Bogaerts received one fourth-place vote, two votes for fifth, and one for seventh. Devers received one vote for seventh, one for eighth and three for tenth.
BBWAA vote charts and individual ballots here.
Mike Emeigh, a fellow member of the Society for American Baseball Research, shared some data on the extra-inning-runner-on-second and its effect on the length of games.
The rule was first used during the 2020 season.
2019 2020-21
Games Played 2429 3327
Extra-Inning Games 208 (8.6%) 284 (8.5%)
Extra-Innings Played 478 (2.3) 397 (1.4)
Runs Scored 422 (.88/EI) 808 (2.04/EI)
EI Games Lasting At Least 12 innings 59 (28.3%) 22 (7.7%)
EI Games Lasting At Least 15 innings 16 (7.7%) 1 (0.35%)
Longest Game (Innings) 19 16
Average Length of EI Game (Innings) 11.3 10.4
The percentage of games that are tied after nine innings has stayed the same, but there are, as you would expect, more runs scored per extra-inning and a much higher percentage of games are decided by the eleventh inning.
What is interesting: Using the EIROS shortens the average extra-inning game by only one inning.
In April 2021, I wrote:
In 2019, MLB teams played 2,429 games. (I searched for games in which the winning team pitched 9.1+, 10.1+, and 11.1+ innings.
2,221 games were completed in nine innings, or 91.5%.
2,312 games were completed in ten innings, or 95.2%.
2,370 games were completed in eleven innings, or 97.6%.
The entire 2019 season had a grand total 59 games that lasted more than two extra-innings. (That averages out to two games per team. Checking a few teams: Red Sox (6 games, 3-3), Yankees (3 games, 1-2), Padres (1 game, 1-0), Nationals (1 game, 0-1), Royals (1 game, 0-1).)
37 games went more than 12 innings. That's 1.52%. Or one game per week.
Excessively long games is not a problem.
I have written before that it is now possible for a pitcher to throw a perfect game and lose. Or, to put it another way, a pitcher can allow no opposing batters to reach base and lose the game when an opposing batter scores a run. Do we need any other reasons never to institute such a rule?
SABR's Trent McCotter made the same point in the summer of 2020 when he wrote:
[I]t is now possible for a team to have more runs scored than baserunners – a logical impossibility under the rules used for the last 150-plus years of baseball.
In the spring of 2021, McCotter stated:
MLB's supposedly temporary rule . . . saved only about (on average) 75 seconds of time on the field in each game, given the average time of an inning. Other disagree, but as for me, I'd rather give up 75 seconds, get rid of the gimmicky rule, and revert to the one that was good enough for the first 150 seasons.
Phillies - 000 001 000 - 1 3 0In Game 1, Houston's Aledmys Diaz, with his team trailing the Phillies 6-5 with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, tried to keep a potential game-saving rally going by extravagantly leaning his left elbow into a pitch. But instead of loading the bases for the Astros, the play was nullified by plate umpire James Hoye. Diaz was in violation of Rule 5.05(b), which says a batter must make an effort to avoid geting hit with a pitched ball. Two pitches later, Diaz grounded out, giving the Phillies a series-opening win.
Astros - 000 004 00x - 4 7 0
The pitch was clocked at 98.9 mph pitch, which is the fastest pitch Alvarez has hit for a homer in his four-year career (104 dongs, regular season and postseason combined).YORDADDY TO THE MOON. pic.twitter.com/4BiiPpjcTM
— Houston Astros (@astros) November 6, 2022
the lowest ERA: 0.83 (5 earned runs in 54.1 innings)the lowest opponents' batting average: .126the lowest opponents' on-base percentage: .215the lowest opponents' slugging percentage: .208
the lowest opponents' OPS (of course): .423the lowest WHIP: 0.75
On Sportsnet, Dave Flemming and Dan Plesac acted like the Astros held an insurmountable lead when the game was 0-0. Once the sixth inning was over, and Houston actually did have an insurmountable lead, we wisely decided to watch the rest on mute.Chas McCormick's imprint on the warning track following his catch last night. 🤯
— Houston Astros (@astros) November 4, 2022
(h/t: Flip Lehman, @TracesofTexas) pic.twitter.com/83BY4KH12H
Astros - 100 100 010 - 3 9 0
Phillies - 100 000 010 - 2 6 1
"There have been 3 postseason no-hitters and the team that was no-hit led off the next game with a HR TWICE
Tonight Phillies2010 NLDS G2 Reds (also at CBP!)""The Phillies are the 6th team in MLB history to hit a leadoff HR the game after being no-hit, including postseason
it actually happened after the OTHER PS no-no here, too!
2010 NLDS G2 CIN4/29/03 SF9/12/91 SD7/4/70 OAK9/19/68 SF
h/t @EliasSports"
Since Schwarber did not actually "le[a]d off the next game", but led off the first inning for his team, in the bottom of the first because his team was playing at home, it would be far more accurate to say "the team that was no-hit had their first batter in the next game hit a home run".
Jayson Stark of The Athletic has some great factoids related to last night's historic game:
First, here are Cristian Javier's last six starts:
September 14 at Tigers: 6 innings, 2 hits
September 20 at Rays: 5 innings, 1 hit
September 25 at Orioles: 6 innings, 1 hit
October 1 vs Rays: 6 innings, 2 hits
October 22 at Yankees: 5.1 innings, 1 hit (ALCS Game 3)
November 2 at Phillies: 6 innings, 0 hits (World Series Game 4)
That's only seven hits allowed in six starts (34.1 innings)!
Over those six starts, opposing hitters are 7-for-105. That's .067. There was one relief appearance in that stretch: In ALDS Game 1 on October 11, Javier went 1.1 innings out of the pen, facing five batters and allowing one hit. Throw that in, and opponents are an anemic 8-for-110 (.073) against him since September 14.
According to Baseball Reference's database, which is nearly complete over the last 107 years, no pitcher has ever had six straight regular season and/or postseason starts of five innings or more, allowing two hits or fewer. No one.
The 2022 Phillies now hold the dubious distinction of being the only team in major league history (regular season or postseason) to hit five home runs in one game and get no-hit in their next game. There have been three instances in the regular season of teams hitting four dongs and then getting no-hit:
1956 Phillies - September 23-25 (No-hitter: Sal Maglie, Giants)
1964 Mets - June 20-21 (No-hitter: Jim Bunning, Phillies)
2015 Mets - June 7-9 (No-hitter: Chris Heston, Giants)
The Astros had five games in 2022 in which their starting pitcher allowed no hits and struck out at least nine:
June 25 — Cristian Javier (7-0-0-1-13, 115)
August 23 — Justin Verlander (6-0-0-0-10, 91)
September 16 — Justin Verlander (5-0-0-1- 9, 79)
October 4 — Justin Verlander (5-0-0-1-10, 77)
November 2 — Cristian Javier (6-0-0-2- 9, 97)
Five starts in just over the last four months. According to STATS, no other team has made five starts like that over the last 35 seasons combined.
In the last 117 World Series (1903-2021), there has never been more than two consecutive games in which a team led by 5-0 or more. But in World Series #118:
Game 1: Astros lead 5-0
Game 2: Astros lead 5-0
Game 3: Phillies lead 7-0
Game 4: Astros lead 5-0
It's happened in two games in a row . . . in both cities.
Astros - 000 050 000 - 5 10 0
Phillies - 000 000 000 - 0 0 0
Houston batted around in the fifth inning, scoring all of their runs in a 5-0 win that re-knotted the series at two wins apiece. The Astros guaranteed that they will play at least one more game in Houston.This ball thrown by Christian Javier in tonight’s combined #WorldSeries no-hitter, and signed by the game’s @astros pitchers and catcher Christian Vazquez, is headed to the @baseballhall. It was just the second no-hitter in the history of the Fall Classic. pic.twitter.com/VTZD7QfbsO
— Jon Shestakofsky (@Shesta_HOF) November 3, 2022
“I really don’t give a shit” pic.twitter.com/vu5sLKh3yU
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) November 3, 2022