MLB

Year: 1920

Record: 61-93

Win Percentage: .396

Win Percentage Change: -.175 from season before

Run Differential: -181

Pythagorean Record: 60-94

AL Finish: Seventh of eight

Manager: Hughie Jennings

Best Transaction

One of the better Halloween costumes at my annual party this year was Matt Holliday. Pretty simple, actually. But clever.

A guy just wore a Holliday jersey tee with baseball pants that had a Wiffle ball sewn into the crotch. It was funny because it was reductively true. Matt Holliday had indeed defined his 2009 season with one ill-timed nut shot and turned a routine fly out into a holiday meme.  

Now he’s preparing to turn this moment of failure into a legacy. Move over Don Denkinger—here comes Matt Holliday.

I wrote an article last week arguing that J.A. Happ doesn't deserve the National League Rookie of the Year. Apparently, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel agrees with me.

It's already Game Six of the World Series, and J.A. Happ has yet to start a game in either the NLCS or World Series. He's been used sparingly as a mid-game reliever and in occasional situations involving left-handed batters.

John Maine has been injury riddled for most of the 2008 and 2009 seasons, but the Mets do need to make a decision on whether he fits into their plans for the starting rotation in 2010.

After Johan Santana, the Mets starting rotation in 2009 was shaky at best, and even Santana was not healthy enough to finish the season as he required elbow surgery in August.

By the time the 2009 baseball amateur draft concluded last June, the Washington Nationals had added 50 players to their minor league system.

But really, other than the first two—Stephen Strasburg and Drew Storen—the other 48 were unknowns who would quietly slip into the anonymity of the low minor leagues, likely never to be heard from again.

In the first installment of looking at pitching options for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010, we took a look at Erik Bedard .

Injury-prone lefties may be popular this offseason, as Mark Mulder will be looking for employment as well. The Brewers may be near the top of his list of possible destinations, and Milwaukee should have equal interest in the former two-time All-Star.

As a follow-up to my recent article about Alex Rodriguez's productivity in the playoffs as a Mariner, here are some portions of an interview I did early this year with Kevin Kalal of the Tacoma Rainiers, the Mariners' AAA affiliate, in 1995. The excerpts deal with Kalal's impressions of A-Rod back then.

Johnny Damon and Alex Rodriguez provided the heroics for the Yankees in their 8-5 win Sunday night in Game Four of the 2009 World Series, but when there are heroes in the game of baseball, there also must be goats.

Unlike other sports, baseball is mostly a zero sum game.