Did you know that the 2007 Yankees are on pace for 959 runs?
For comparison's sake, that's more than the 2004 Red Sox (949), but just a tad less than the 2003 Red Sox (961).
Everyone talks about the year that A-Rod is having, but they're ignoring the significant effort being put forth by the Yankee offense as a whole. There are a slew of Yankees who are approaching 100 RBI. In a season where several regulars started slowly, it's quite an achievement.
The offense is much more than Alex Rodriguez. Sure, A-Rod is the ringleader with 52 HR and 140 RBI, but there's a lot around him. Jorge Posada is hitting .338 with 20 HR and 85 RBI -- surely in the midst of earning an exorbitant 3-4 year contract for an aging catcher, and I doubt he'll ever approach these #s again.
After slow starts, Bobby Abreu and Robinson Cano have been very good. Abreu with 16 HR (yeah yeah yeah ... diminished power, I know), 94 RBI, and surprisingly, 23 stolen bases (the quietest base stealer in the league?). Cano with 16 HR, 80 RBI. Add in Matsui with 23 HR and 92 RBI.
It's safe to say that Matsui and Abreu will join A-Rod in the 100 RBI club. With 18 games left and the Yankees probably looking to rest him, Posada will fall just short. And Cano only has a shot at 90, reasonably.
So let's assume the Yankees have 5 players who reach 90 RBI. What other teams, in recent memory, have managed to pull that off or even come close?
I went digging through my favorite resource, baseball-reference.com, and came away with these results:
* The 2003 Red Sox: Remarkable, really. 8 players with 85 RBI or more in their lineup, and 4 with 96 or more. In order: Nomar (105), Manny Ramirez (104), David Ortiz (101), Kevin Millar (96 ... wait, do I need reading glasses?), Trot Nixon (87), Bill Mueller (85), Jason Varitek (85), Todd Walker (85). And the only regular below that figure? A not so shabby leadoff man by the name of Johnny Damon, who has had more than 75 RBI five times during his career.
* The 2002 Yankees: Giambi (122), Soriano (102), Bernie Williams (102), Posada (99), and Robin Ventura (93). Yes, they did it!
* The 2000 White Sox: Frank Thomas (143), Magglio Ordonez (126), Paul Konerko (97), Carlos Lee (92), Jose Valentin (92).
* The 2000 A's: Giambi (137), Tejada (115), Ben Grieve (104 ... does anyone remember this guy? There are several awful seasons with the Devil Rays that I've completely blocked out), Eric Chavez (86), Matt Stairs (81), Terrence Long (80)
I wasn't able to go through the NL statistics yet, but I'll be sure to do that when I'm ready to waste more time.
By the way, here are some giant offenses within the past decade of AL play: 2000 White Sox (978), 2000 Indians (950), 2000 A's (947 ... remember when the A's scored runs?), 1999 Indians (1,009!!!), 1999 Rangers (949 ... yes, they made the playoffs fairly regularly once upon a time), 1998 Yankees (965 ... even more amazing considering their top hitters were Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez).
And while it's 11 years ago, here's a shout out to the 1996 Mariners (993), 1996 Indians (952), and 1996 Orioles (949 ... the year Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs).
***UPDATE: After going back and looking at NL teams with 5 guys sporting 90+ RBIs, here's what's been discovered so far:
2006 Atlanta Braves -- Andruw Jones (129), Francoeur (103), Brian McCann (93), Adam LaRoche (90), Chipper Jones (86) ... they missed by 4 RBIs
2003 Atlanta Braves -- Gary Sheffield (132), Andruw Jones (116), Javy Lopez (109), Chipper Jones (106), Robert Fick (80) ... a weak 5th man, they were off by 10 RBIs
2001 Houston Astros -- Jeff Bagwell (130), Lance Berkman (126), Moises Alou (108), Vinny Castilla (82), Richard Hidalgo (80) ... a weak 4th and 5th man
2000 San Francisco Giants -- Jeff Kent (125), Barry Bonds (106), J.T. Snow (96), Ellis Burks (96 ... wait, Ellis Burks was on the Giants?), Rich Aurilia (79) ... once again, Rich Aurilia keeps a team from becoming something special.
September 12, 2007
RBI Baseball
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2 comments:
The big question for the Yankees is still whether they'll be able to sustain this offensive juggernaut in the playoffs. Am I mistaken, or would the Pinstripes be matched up against the Angels if the playoffs started today?
One other thing to note...of those other teams that you listed with multiple 90+ RBI men, I don't believe any of them made the World Series (or did I miss someone?)
In a short series, anything can happen. And to be completely trite, the regular season means nothing.
Look at recent Yankee teams -- many entering the playoffs with the best record in the league -- and their respective fates.
The 2002 Yankees, whom I mention in my post, lead the league in scoring.
Which is irrelevant when your pitching staff allows 31 runs in 4 games, as the Yankees did in losing to the eventual World Series winner, the Angels. Pettitte, Mussina and Wells were all knocked out before the start of the 6th inning.
One can make the case that the 2003 Red Sox were done in by a vengeful God or Grady Little. I leave them out of this picture.
The 2000 White Sox had the best record in the American League. And they got swept by the wildcard winner, the Seattle Mariners. The White Sox were held to 7 runs over 3 games in that series. Outside of getting to Freddy Garcia in the opener (and eventually losing that game because of Keith Foulke), they were shut down. By Paul Abbott of all people, who won 43 games his entire career, and Aaron Sele -- who was actually a decent pitcher at this stage of his career, but always very hittable. Sele was an All Star in 2000, but he had a 4.51 ERA and allowed more than a hit an inning -- he was definitely a beneficiary of good run support. [Did you know that Aaron Sele won 69 games between 1998 and 2001 with the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners? His ERA during those four seasons was 4.27]
The 2000 A's had a hard fought 5 game series against the Yankees, who eventually won the World Series . It could've gone either way, but one interesting statistical observation emerges: the A's hit 239 home runs during the 2000 season. Well more than 1 a game. And against the Yankees in that series? They hit 2 total. No homers from Giambi (43 on the season), Tejada (30), Grieve (27), Chavez (26), or Stairs (21). Throw the other run producer for that team into the picture, Terrence Long, and they went a combined 24 for 100 against the Yankees (.240).
Outside of an 11 run outburst against the Yankees in game 4 (when they pummeled Clemens), the A's offense never scored more than 5 runs in any game.
So can a great offense collapse in a 5 game series? Of course.
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