Magnificent Mediocrity
The stat heads over at Fivethirtyeight have spotted what they believe is the most mediocre team since 1901 and no it’s not the Nats. They came up with some fancy indexes having to do with run differential, team OPS and all that sort of thing and declare that (as of a few days ago) so far this year the 2018 Pittsburg Pirates are the closest to exact middle of the pack average team since 1901. Maybe I should shut up about how bad the Orioles and Royals are.
We Checked 50 Years Of Sports History To Find The Team That Stands Out The Least
As I assume you noticed by now that my musical tastes are limited to stuff from about half a century ago. This is the last top 40 like song which I remember liking at the time.
Yankees 7 Tigers 5 | Brewers 4 Nationals 1 | Phillies 2 Cubs 1
The Iron Giant Reaches A Milestone
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 300th career home run against the Tigers this week. He did it in 1,119 games and only Ralph Kiner, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard and Juan Gonzalez did it faster. Condolences to Gator.
Indians 3 Rays 0 | Blue Jays 6 Marlins 5 | Pirates 3 Braves 2
Making Money By Tanking
The Padres have been attempting to make marketing hay out of their badness.
For $99, a fan could purchase a “Five-Win Pass,” which provided a ticket to every home game until either the team won five or the season ended, on September 30. The deal rested on a simple fact: The Padres are bad. After the offer went into effect on July 27, it took 17 games in their native Petco Park for them to win five. In other words, a fan who bought in early could have gotten 12 extra tickets for their investment—a great deal, as long as they didn’t mind watching awful baseball.
This just popped into my head as something I felt like hearing.
Twins 10 Rangers 7 | White Sox 6 Red Sox 1 | Angels 3 Astros 0
Position-Less Baseball?
With fewer balls being put in play, strikeouts up, fly balls up and grounders down, who cares who’s playing third or short. Why not stick some guy in the infield who doesn’t play the position well but might hit a few more dingers. Besides if half the time you’ve got your shortstop playing shallow right field and your third baseman barely to the left of second aren’t they really just two plug and play guys with gloves?
Great. Not only do we get to see less defense what’s left isn’t as good. The stat heads below tell us all about how several teams are trending in this direction. I wish they’d point out how this is a result of all these stats being constantly run through spreadsheet blenders by people like them.
I’m being a downer today. Sorry. Maybe this will help.
Royals 9 Orioles 2 | Cardinals 12 Reds 5 | Athletics 7 Mariners 5
Never Cry About A Baseball Game
We were told a couple of days ago that Eric’s cancer is advancing faster than expected. His life is expected to end in some days rather than the previously forecast months. His parents were given the hope that there might be some good days in the coming weeks before saying goodbye. Instead, any significant amount of light is excruciating to him and he doesn’t want to leave his parents bedroom. The necessity of Methadone and Morphine is immediate. A couple of weeks ago we talked about what should a parent tell their dying child while he could still hear them. It looks like God has made that decision for them. Maybe it is a mercy.
Whenever I hear this come on the living room stereo, jerk that I am, I know it’s time for me to get out to my recluse in the garage because Mrs. Twins fan is thinking about our daughters death and going into meltdown.
Dodgers 3 Diamondbacks 2 | Padres 7 Rockies 0 | Giants 7 Mets 0
Fan Interference 
What can be said after that? Heavy sigh. And Godspeed to all.
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That’s a tough row to hoe, Happy, I feel for you. Will be down that road soon enough with my father, I think.
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