Stats the Fact, Jack-July 13, 2020
Stats the Fact, Jack-July 13, 2020
(A weekly look at three sports stats you may not know)
- In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been 46 players who had 1,000 or more career plate appearances and no home runs. Topping the list is Dave Eggler who played from 1871 to 1885. He had 2,598 plate appearances without a home run. Only one player who played this century was on the list of 46 players: Reggie Willits, an outfielder who played from 2006-11with the Angels. He had 1,014 career plate appearances without an HR. Of the current players, pitcher Johnny Cueto tops the list. He has 618 plate appearances and no home runs.
- Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls from 1984-85 until 1997-98. He had 29,277 points, 5,836 rebounds and 5,012 assists with the Bulls during that timeframe, most on the club in each category. Since the 1998-99 season until today, do you know who has the most career points, rebounds and assists as a member of the Bulls? Luol Deng tops the list with 10,286 points; Joakim Noah is number one on the rebound list with 5,387; and Kirk Heinrich had 3,811 assists for the Bulls since 1998-99, most in that category.
- There are 10 NFL teams who have a .500 or better record in the history of the NFL playoffs. The teams: New England Patriots (37-21, .638), Green Bay Packers (35-23, .603), Baltimore Ravens (15-10, .600), San Francisco 49ers (33-22, .600), Pittsburgh (36-25, .590), Oakland Raiders (25-19, .568), Dallas Cowboys (35-28, .556), Denver Broncos (23-19, .548), Washington Redskins (23-19, .548) and Carolina Panthers (9-8, .529).
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What’s happened to this year’s Opening Day pitchers?
Clayton Kershaw (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Usually, we think of a team’s Opening Day pitcher as their number one starter in the rotation. In many cases that is true. But in others cases, injuries, contract disputes, or other factors put a team’s best pitcher on the sideline when the season opens.
Let’s take a look at Opening Day 2013. Thirty different pitchers took to the mound as their team’s Opening Day hurler. The question is, how many of those pitchers who took the ball in their team’s first game of the year have had success so far in 2013?
First, did you know that three pitchers who were Opening Day starters this year are no longer with those teams? The three are Ricky Nolasco (he started Opening Day from Miami and was traded to the Dodgers), Ian Kennedy (he started for Arizona and was traded to San Diego, and Bud Norris (he started for Houston and was traded to Baltimore).
At the top end of the scale, two pitchers, Adam Wainwright (St. Louis) and Justin Masterson (Cleveland) have 13 wins so far this season. Seattle’s Opening Day starter Felix Hernandez is the only one of the 30 Opening Day starters who has a winning percentage of .700 or better (he is 12-5, a .706 winning percentage).
At the other end is Matt Harrison. He started Texas’s first game of the year and quickly fell to 0-2 before his season ended with lower back surgery.
Here’s a look at the current pitching records of the 30 Opening Day-2013 starters.
Wins, Pitcher (record, team)
13: Adam Wainwright (13-7, St. Louis); Justin Masterson (13-8, Cleveland)
12: Justin Verlander (12-8, Detroit); Felix Hernandez (12-5, Seattle)
11: Jhoulys Chacin (11-6, Colorado); Clayton Kershaw (11-7, LA Dodgers)
10: Jon Lester (10-7, Boston); C.C. Sabathia (10-10, N.Y. Yankees)
9: Ricky Nolasco (9-9, Miami/L.A. Dodgers); R.A. Dickey (9-11, Toronto)
8: Tim Hudson (8-7 Atlanta); Yovani Gallardo (8-9, Milwaukee); Edinson Volquez (8-10, Cincinnati); Chris Sale (8-11, Chicago White Sox); Bud Norris (8-9, Houston/Baltimore)
7: Matt Cain (7-8, San Francisco); Jason Hammel (7-8, Baltimore); James Shields (7-8 Kansas City); Jered Weaver (7-5, L.A. Angels)
6: Stephen Strasburg (6-9, Washington); Jeff Samardzija (6-11, Chicago Cubs); David Price (6-5, Tampa Bay)
5: Cole Hamels (5-13, Philadelphia); A.J. Burnett (5-8, Pittsburgh)
4: Jonathon Niese (4-6, N.Y. Mets); Johnny Cueto (4-2, Cincinnati); Ian Kennedy (4-8, Arizona/San Diego)
1: Vance Worley (1-5, Minnesota); Brett Anderson (1-4, Oakland)
0: Matt Harrison (0-2, Texas)
In addition:
* Of the 30 Opening Starters in 2013, only 13 have a record of .500 or better; seventeen have a record under .500.
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