The Best 50-Game Stretches in Baseball History

Last season, the Houston Astros had one of the worst runs in MLB history, losing 43 out of 50 games during July and August. I wrote about the worst 50-game stretches ever then, but now, almost exactly a year later, I have reason to write about the best 50-game stretches, because the Los Angeles Dodgers have been on an incredible run. At the end of play on June 21, the Dodgers were 30-42, in last place in the NL West, and baseball's biggest disappointment. Since then though, LA has gone 42-8, taken over 1st place and built a commanding lead, and become the betting favorites to win the World Series. How often does a team go on a run this good?

Each Team's Madduxes and Madduxes Against

Hall of Fame pitcher AND fashion icon

Last night Major League Baseball's official Twitter feed referenced the Maddux. Sadly, they did not mention my name, or link to the original post on the topic, but it was still really, really cool to see them mention it. I did a Twitter search for mentions of the Maddux, and found dozens and dozens, most of which probably have no idea that I came up with the term. These things seem like a sign that the Maddux is really becoming a thing (thanks in large part to Jonah Keri giving it a whole lotta love), which is pretty darn cool for me. In addition to my original post on the Maddux, where I explained what it is, and listed a bunch of factoids relating to it, I've put together a few other posts with Maddux-related info. This post will list how many Madduxes each team has thrown, and also how many each team has had thrown against it.

Six Extra-Inning Games on One Day

Earlier this year, I wrote about MLB being on-pace this season for a record number of extra inning games. That's still true, though the pace has fallen from 272 to 254 (the record is 237). Yesterday went a long way towards the quest to break that record, as there were 6 different games that went to extra innings. That's not a record (quite), but it's close. The record for most extra-inning games on the same day is 7, and that's happened twice. Including those two days, there have been 6 or more extra-inning MLB games on the same day ten times*.

Random Ballplayers: Bret Saberhagen (also Felix Hernandez)

I first started paying attention to baseball in 1986, my first year of playing t-ball. There was no internet (not that I was old enough to put it to good use, had it existed), and cable TV wasn't something my family would have for years. Baseball cards, the sports section of the Chicago Tribune we had delivered each weekday, and Mr. Coughlin (the father of two friends who lived across the alley from me) were the sources of whatever baseball knowledge I had. In 1986, the Kansas City Royals were the defending World Series champions and Bret Saberhagen was the reigning American League Cy Young winner. A rudimentary understanding of baseball statistics and one look at the back of any of his cards would have made it clear, even to a 6-year-old, that Saberhagen was a fantastic pitcher.