MLB 2022 Regular Season Thread

[strummer]

Aaron Judge just hit his 62nd homerun

 

[King Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1577454639137828865

 

[alkeiper]

With Judge’s home run there are now no longer any home run records, legitimate or illegitimate, held by Roger Maris. Also, Roger Maris did not love his son.

 

[King Kamala]

Albert Pujols will have to go down as having one of the weirdest careers in sports history. First half of his career he seems like he is on pace to potentially be the GOAT, had a solid half decade plus where he was one of the WORST players in MLB then he weirdly ends his career with his best season in almost a decade.

 

[alkeiper]

Most players would have retired before, or would've kept going after this season. Most players would not even attempt to have this career path. Makes you wonder what the heck happened in Anaheim.

 

[King Kamala]

Makes you wonder what the heck happened in Anaheim.

Just the general feeling that everything has gone horrible in Anaheim for the past decade?

In a few decades, historians will look back on these late 2010s/early 2020s era Angels like the '60s Chicago Cubs...a team with multiple HOFers could be this crappy!?

 

[alkeiper]

Looking at the AL batting race. It's Arraez .315, Judge .311. Batting races lead to fun shenanigans. (see here) If Judge were to play today and Arraez were to sit, Judge would need to go 4-4 to pass Arraez's mark. If Arraez plays and goes hitless, Judge would need at least three hits to have a shot. (2-2 would do it if Arraez went 0-4.)

With Arraez fighting an injury and Judge playing without a day off to chase home runs, I'll be curious to see if either sits. If Arraez goes 1-1 and leaves the game he has the batting title.

 

[King Kamala]

If I'm Judge, I play at least part of the game to try and drive down the cost he'll have to pay for the #62 home run ball!

 

[alkeiper]

If I'm Judge, I play at least part of the game to try and drive down the cost he'll have to pay for the #62 home run ball!

That's what happens when you hit a home run in a mallpark.

 

[alkeiper]

Seriously, when you see video of Judge hitting that home run you see the video boards behind him. People complained about the "moat" at Yankee Stadium. At Globe Life Field, everything below those video boards is the moat!

 

[King Kamala]

I wonder if the guy who jumped off the bleachers in an unsuccessful attempt to grab the home run is OK!

 

[King Kamala]

Did some searching and that fan was unhurt but bounced from the stadium. Often, the no risk, no reward mindset backfires!

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Looking at the AL batting race. It's Arraez .315, Judge .311. Batting races lead to fun shenanigans. (see here) If Judge were to play today and Arraez were to sit, Judge would need to go 4-4 to pass Arraez's mark. If Arraez plays and goes hitless, Judge would need at least three hits to have a shot. (2-2 would do it if Arraez went 0-4.)

With Arraez fighting an injury and Judge playing without a day off to chase home runs, I'll be curious to see if either sits. If Arraez goes 1-1 and leaves the game he has the batting title.

I'm not sure how to calculate all these things, but Jeff McNeil (Mets) leads the majors with a .326 average. Freddie Freeman is hitting .322. Freeman is having a great year for the Dodgers, but it makes you think what he'd be hitting if he played for a team that he wanted to actually be on.

 

[alkeiper]

The calculations aren't difficult, but the number of possibilities are. The American League is of greater interest because of the triple crown angle. I don't think Freeman is especially motivated to add four points to his average on the final day.

 

[King Kamala]

Any interesting storylines headed into the final day, al besides the AL Triple Crown potentially being on the line?

 

[alkeiper]

Any interesting storylines headed into the final day, al besides the AL Triple Crown potentially being on the line?

1. Shohei Ohtani's final start of the season.

2. The Reds. 100 losses?

3. Stephen Vogt's final game (Athletics). Not that Vogt is particularly notable, but this will be the last career game for more than one player.

 

[King Kamala]

3. Stephen Vogt's final game (Athletics). Not that Vogt is particularly notable, but this will be the last career game for more than one player.

Speaking of moderately talented catchers of the 2010s, I saw on Twitter that last night was Kurt Suzki's farewell game.

 

[alkeiper]

Judge is sitting today. So Luis Arraez needs to go... 0 for 8 to lose the batting crown. He should sit too.

I guess go watch Ohtani today?

 

[King Kamala]

Hate watching the Reds with @Dandy is also an option.

It's also potentially (probably?) Nathan Eovaldi's last start for the Red Sox. So that too, I guess?

Edit- Except I'm a GD idiot and Eovaldi started last night!

 

[King Kamala]

Doing more digging for interesting storylines for today.

If The New York Yankees win today, there will be 5 100+ win teams, which would be the most 100+ win teams ever in an MLB season.

Alternately, if the Reds lose today, there'll be four 100+ loss teams. This would be the fourth time that's happened and three of which would be the last three consecutive 162 game seasons.

 

[alkeiper]

For some reason I thought the Yankees had 100 already.

The Judge focus is all about 62 home runs. But peep these second half statistics. 68 games. .349/.502/.785. 29 HRs, 61 RBIs. That's a 1.286 OPS. The REST of the team hit .224/.300/.361 in the second half.

According to Stathead (Baseball-Reference) that's 11th best as far as second half OPS's and I used a 225 minimum plate appearance standard. Only players with better marks are Bonds, Ruth, Ted Williams and Hornsby. Ryan Howard put up extremely similar numbers in his 2006 run.

 

[King Kamala]

For some reason I thought the Yankees had 100 already.

It's easy to forget now with them being on precipice of 100 win season but it looked like the Yankees were on the ropes and on verge of blowing their division lead in August.


I don't forget that part of the season because with the way the Red Sox season has gone, I need to derive joy where I can find it.

 

[Dandy]

Not sure what you guys are looking at but the Reds are 161-0 and going for the perfect season tonight. Votto is a shoo-in for MVP.

 

[alkeiper]

Here’s one. Nick Maton is going to bat against brother Phil in the Astros game!

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Freeman went 3-4 and ended the year batter .325. McNeil didn't start the game, so if he's not put in to PH, he'll be the first Met since Jose Reyes to win the batting title. The Mets currently lead the Nationals 9-0 in the 5th.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Luis Arraez won the AL Batting Title with a .316 BA. That (to me) seems like one of the lower averages to win the batting crown in MLB history. Even into the 1970s, you had guys like Rod Carew hitting well north of .340 most seasons.

In 1968 Yaz led the AL with a .301 (and .326 in 1967) but Pete Rose & Matty Alou both still get .330+ in the NL. In '67, you still had 5 guys hit .330+ in the NL.

 

[King Kamala]

Nailed it HQ, it is the lowest batting average to win an AL Batting Title since Yaz in 1968. Tony Gwynn won an NL Batting Title with a .313 average in 1988. More recently, Justin Mornreau won a batting title with a .319 average in 2014.

 

[alkeiper]

MLB hitters hit .243 this season, the 6th lowest average in MLB history. That includes two seasons from the 19th century. Lower batting champions than Arraez:

1905 AL Flick .305
1945 AL Stirnweiss .309
1966 AL Robinson .316
1968 AL Yastrzemski .301
1988 NL Gwynn .313

Luis Arraez has a .314 career batting average. He averages six home runs and three steals over 162 games. But he also walks more than he strikes out, he and Juan Soto are the only active players who have carried that over multiple seasons. Given that the Twins move him around the field so much I don't think he's a plus defender. He just goes up and hits. He has a skillset virtually no one else has in today's game.

 

[King Kamala]

Roger Maris Jr. Sets Single-Season Record For Most Annoying Son Of Famous Player

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Dandy acknowledges that Pete Rose Jr is the winner.