2019 had an unusually high rate of home runs (1.39/team/game, versus 1.13 this year), but the league batting average was only a bit higher: .252 in 2019, versus .244 this year. Over the past five seasons (2020-24), the league-wide batting average has been essentially flat, in the mid .240s.
But, if you go back to the 30-year era of ~1980 to ~2010, the league-wide batting average was nearly always somewhere from .255 to .270, and it was consistently .260+ from 2000 to 2009. It hasn’t been above .257 since then.
On Monday, if the stars align, the announcer at Fenway will be making the announcement, “Now catching for the Red Sox: Danny Jansen; pinch-hitting for Danny Jansen Alejandro Kirk.” Then Jansen will become the first player in MLB history to appear in the same box score for both teams.
On June 26 Jansen was the Blue Jays catcher and was batting with an 0-1 count, when the rains came and the game was suspended. It will be resumed on Monday. In the meantime, Jansen was traded to the Bosox and their catcher in that game was relegated to the minors, so has to be replaced. If the manager has any historical imagination, he will surely replace him with Jansen, while the Jays will have to use a catcher, likely Kirk, to ph for Jansen.
Even better if the count had been 0-2, for then if the ph strikes out, Jansen will get charged with the K and get credit for the out!
Yesterday, on August 20, 2024, the Blue Jays beat the Reds 10-3. They hit five home runs; oddly, all of them were off the starting pitcher.
Exactly one year prior to that, on August 20, 2023, the Blue Jays beat the Reds 10-3. They hit five home runs; oddly, all of them were off the starting pitcher.
Last night in Kansas City, Johnny Cueto started the game for the Angels for his first start since almost a year ago. He pitched pretty well, allowing 8 hits and 3 runs in 6.1 innings, with 2 walks and 1 strikeout. He took the loss, as KC won the game 3-0.
Cueto, if you recall, was picked up by the Royals in the 2015 season. While his numbers during the year weren’t great (4-7), he won a couple of important games during the Royals playoff run, including the last complete game pitched in a World Series, Game 2 against the Mets.
When he was removed from the game in the 7th inning last night, KC fans gave him a standing ovation. It was a pretty cool moment.
I understand that’s how baseball works, but Servais wasn’t the problem. At least the way he managed the games. He did all the right things. Perhaps you can say he could have done something about the lack of hitting. But I don’t know about that.
The team is tanking hard, even by Mariner standards. It’s painful to watch (I have actually stopped watching)
He is actually having his best season, which is nuts when you consider how good his '22 season was and how poor his April was. Just please stay healthy.
In what can only be described as bizarre news, the Angels have given an extension to GM Perry Minasian. Precisely what Minasian has done to deserve continued employment in Major League Baseball is not clear.