Stats

Historically, the Texas Rangers have been one of the best clutch hitting teams in baseball. Michael Young has taken the lead in that department, especially in the All Star Game. For those that don’t remember Young has two game winning hits in the Summer Classic.

That’s all changed this year, much to my surprise.

Young is known as one of the best clutch hitters in baseball. Any baseball fan knows that.

Although many refer to baseball's current generation as the "steroid era," far from the only changes in the game can be traced to medically enhanced physiques. Pitcher wins, losses, and saves, batting average, RBI, errors and bunting all seem to be on the way out in favor of adjusted ERA, BABIP, VORP, range factors, and pitch counts, all leading to a newer era in baseball influenced by the work of sabermetrics—trying to measure objectively what leads to wins and losses, challenging the conventional wisdom, and often upending it.

In 1930, Hack Wilson hit 56 home runs to set the National League's single season home run record. The mark stood until Mark McGwire's 70 home runs in 1998.

In 1930, the eight National League teams hit 892 home runs, for an average of 112 home runs per team. In 1998, the 16 National League teams hit 2,565 home runs, for an average of 160 home runs per team.

May 7: A day Dodgers fans would like to try and forget. 

Manny Ramirez, immediately embraced by the Dodger Stadium faithful after coming from the Boston Red Sox in a trade last July 31, found out he was forced to sit out the next 50 games for his actions.

Cubs fans know what it's like to have fear.

The fear of a playoff sweep. The fear of a fan interfering with a ball. The fear of the $6 beer spilling in the bleachers.

Some players, more than others, strike that same fear into Cubs fans every time they take the field. As they look to break the infamous 101-year curse, the Cubs are extremely thankful there is no team like this.

Starting Pitcher—Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

Past three seasons against Cubs: 2.87 ERA, 1-2, five games

Immediately following his appearance on ESPN's First Take, in the midst of a 30-game hitting streak, Ryan Zimmerman proceeded to go 0-for-3 in the Washington Nationals' 6-3 win over the San Francisco Giants, thus ending his run at history.

If you are a Detroit Tigers' fan, you had most likely never heard of Josh Anderson before April 10th, when he started in left field on Opening Day against the Rangers.

Anderson was acquired by Detroit on March 30th, just 11 days before his first start with his new team. The Tigers gave up minor league pitcher Rudy Darrow to the Braves in return for the outfielder.

This is Josh Anderson's third team in three years, but by the way he is playing right now, it looks like he may have found his home.

It was during the 1990 Major League Baseball season that I gained a reputation among friends for my ability to predict the future. And all for what, at least to me, was just plain and simple logic.

A few days before the season got under way, I made a series of predictions as to how the season would turn out, including the final standings, league leaders in various categories, and who would win the major awards.

Each and every player in the top 10 is an A + offensively and overall. But, I will also list a defensive letter grade with each player so you know where they stand in that category, the way I see it.

Here it is. Unblurring history. The way it really was.

10. Arky Vaughan (1940s) defensive rating: C +

He finished his career with a .318 BA and a .406 OB%. The guy could flat out hit and he was certainly one of the best pure hitting Shortstops in history.

As I was thinking about typing up a story to publish and thought to myself, now that Manny Ramirez has been caught cheating and people like David Ortiz are "all of the sudden" on a power shortage, what affect will the new steroid policy have on baseball? I went immediately to home runs, which led me to this:

What are the top five baseball achievements we will never see in our lifetime?

50 Home Runs in a Single Season