Baseball Franchise Rankings

This blog also counts as my vote for the Walter Johnson award for the best pitcher in the AL and NL for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  For more information about the group go to http://baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com/

AL

1. Verlander: 24-5, 250 K, 0.92 WHIP, 2.40 ERA. 1st in Wins, ERA, K’s, and WHIP. Led the Tigers to the playoffs. Nuff said.

2. Weaver: 18-8, 198 K, 1.01 WHIP, 2.41 ERA. 3rd in Wins, 2nd in ERA, 8th in K’s, 2nd in WHIP. ERA and WHIP a lot lower than CC’s gives him the 2nd spot.

3. Sabathia: 19-8, 230 K, 1.23 WHIP, 3.00 ERA. 2nd in Wins, 2nd in K’s counts for a lot to give him 3rd.

4. Wilson: 16-7, 206 K, 1.19 WHIP, 2.94 ERA. Better overall numbers than Shields.

5. Shields: 16-12, 225 K, 1.04 WHIP, 2.82 ERA. The losses hurt a little, dropping him to 5th.

NL

1. Kershaw: 21-5, 248 K, 0.98 WHIP, 2.28 ERA. T-1st in wins, 1st in K, 1st in WHIP and ERA. Hands down #1.

2. Halladay: 19-6, 220 K, 1.04 WHIP, 2.35 ERA. 3rd in wins, T-3rd in K, 2nd in ERA.

3. Lee: 17-8, 238 K, 1.03 WHIP, 2.40. T-4th in wins, 2nd in K, 3rd in ERA.

4. Kennedy: 21-4, 198 K, 1.09 WHIP, 2.88 ERA. T-1st in wins, 8th in K, 7th in ERA.

5. Kimbrel: 46 saves, 127 K’s, 1.04 WHIP, 2.10 ERA as a rookie. Pitched the Braves deep into the season until his arm fell off and the team fell apart.

Earlier this season, I wrote about 100 game winning seasons and how they correlated to winning the World Series.  The posting was related to my favorite team, the Red Sox, as they were on pace to win over 100 games before the fell apart late in the season. Hopefully my previous blog will not be blamed for their collapse.

With the Phillies losing to the Cardinals in the NLDS, it seemed relevant to re-post something about this topic, as the Phillies won 102 regular season games and did not win the World Series.

The data below is updated to include this year’s Phillies team.

Does winning 100 games or more in a season result in a World Series Championship?

There have been 97 instances in Major League Baseball history that a team has won 100 games in an individual season.  92 of those 97 were in a year in which there was a World Series.  A team won 100 or more games in 1892, 1898, 1899, 1902, and 1904, but there was no World Series in those seasons.

• 34 times the team won the World Series = 36.96%
• 29 times the team lost the World Series = 31.52%
• 63 times (34+29) the team made it to the World Series = 68.48%
• 12 times the team lost in League Championship Series = 13.04%
• 10 times the team lost in League Division Series = 10.87%
• 7 times the team finished 2^nd in their league or division and didn’t make the postseason = 7.61%

Therefore, 58 times (29+12+10+7) the team that won 100 or more games in a season has not won the World Series. This is 63.04% of the time, which is almost two-thirds of the occurrences.

Baseball Franchise Rankings tells the untold stories of how teams were in contention, but came up short of achieving a goal. The book features samples of summaries that explain what happened to teams in individual seasons in which they had a chance to win something, but did not. If the team had performed better, they would be a more successful franchise in comparison to others.

After winning their 2nd division title in 1989 the Blue Jays were closing in on back to back division titles in 1990. Toronto led the American League East Division by 1.5 games over Boston on September 24th with eight games left in the season. But the Blue Jays fell out of first place by losing four games in a row, which included two games in a three game series against the Red Sox.  Toronto went 2-6 after the 24th while Boston went 6-3 and the Blue Jays finished the season in second place two games behind Boston.

Sept 3

Let’s see how my predictions for September 1st turned out.  Standings as of September 1st (Followed by how many I got right, Bolded). Previous months results below.

AL East: Boston, New York, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Baltimore (5 of 5)

AL Central: Detroit, Chicago (tied), Cleveland (tied), Minnesota, Kansas City (3 of 5)

AL West: Texas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle (2 of 4)

AL: 10 of 14 = 71%

NL East: Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York, Washington, Florida (3 of 5)

NL Central: Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Houston (6 of 6)

NL West: Arizona, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Colorado, San Diego (3 of 5)

NL: 12 of 16 = 75%

Total: 22 of 30 = 73%

August 1st Percentage Correct: 19 of 30 = 63%

July 1^st Percentage Correct: 17 of 30 = 57%

June 1st Percentage Correct: 12 of 30 =40%

May 1st Percentage Correct: 18 of 30 = 60%

Baseball Franchise Rankings tells the untold stories of how teams were in contention, but came up short of achieving a goal. The book features samples of summaries that explain what happened to teams in individual seasons in which they had a chance to win something, but did not. If the team had performed better, they would be a more successful franchise in comparison to others.

In 1985 the Blue Jays won their first division title and played Kansas City in the ALCS.  Toronto won 3 of the first 4 games of the series to take a commanding series lead.  In Game 5 the Blue Jays gave up two runs early in the game and had the bases loaded in the top of the 6th with two outs, but their next batter up grounded out.  Their last nine batters were retired in order and they lost the game 2-0.  Toronto also left two runners on in the 5th inning of that game.  In Game 6 the Blue Jays trailed by 2 runs late in the game and left 2 runners on in both the 7th and 9th innings and lost the game 5-3. Toronto lost Game 7 6-2 and lost the series they led 3-1.  They were only 1 win away from making the World Series.

To this date, the Blue Jays have made it to and won 2 World Series, occurring in 1992 and 1993.