The Tigers have locked up the most dominating pitcher in baseball through 2020. (2021 if he takes the 8th year option…and an extra $22 million.)
Highest paid pitcher in baseball. He’ll be 37 (or 38) when the contract expires.
Now that the ALCS and NLCS are set baseball fans are looking at quite the history represented by the four teams. In fact it may be the most successful foursome since the LCS began in 1969.
Between the Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, and Tigers they have earned 48 World Championships, 93 pennants, and made 114 playoff appearances.
They have played a total of 74,878 games with a combined winning percentage of .515. (The Cards started playing in 1882, the Giants in 1883, the Yankees and Tigers in 1901.) The Giants have more wins than any other team in MLB history (10,616); the Cardinals are 4th (10,283). The Yankees are 8th overall and 1st in the American League with 9,318 wins. The Tigers are 12th with 8,828 - oddly enough 4th in the AL behind the Red Sox and the Indians (!).
The teams have had 12 of the 16 Triple Crowns in MLB history. They have won 22 Rookie of the Year Awards, 64 MVPs, and 14 Cy Youngs. (The Tigers have two pitchers who have won both in the same year - Justin Verlander in 2011 and Willie Hernandez in 1984.)
Combined the Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, and Tigers have 62 Hall of Famers (based on HOFers who most identified with the teams) - which is about 20% of the total. The Giants have the most with 23. The Yankees are only 3rd.
So these are old and good teams. And have been for over 100 years. Baseball is wonderful.
[If you can’t get appreciate the history, here’s one hater fact for you: all four LCS teams have payrolls over $100 million. (This is the 2nd time this has occurred. The first was 2009 with the Yankees, Angels, Dodgers and Phillies.)]
Images:
Christy Mathewson - 1915 Cracker Jack - courtesy of vintagecardprices.com
Buster Posey - 2010 Bowman - courtesy of sfweekly.com
Stan Musial - 1953 Topps - courtesy of whig.com
Chris Carpenter - 2010 Sports Illustrated for Kids - autographsforsale.com
Babe Ruth - 1933 Goudey Gum - vintagecardprices.com
Derek Jeter - 2002 Topps - halloffamememorabilia.com
Ty Cobb - 1914 Cracker Jack - vintagecardprices.com
Justin Verlander - 2005 Bowman - monstermarketplace.com
Here are the most interesting pieces of info:
- If the Yankees lose and the Orioles win, one-game playoff tomorrow (Thursday). So, yes.
- If the Yankees lose the and A’s win the A’s are the number one seed. The. A’s. are. the. number. one. seed.
- If the A’s beat the Rangers they win the AL West. Only the fifth team to win a division after being back by at least 13 games (June 30) in a season. (1914 Braves, 15 games; ‘78 Yanks, 14; ‘51 Giants, 13; & ‘95 M’s, 13) Three of those four went to the World Series, two won it.
- Neither the Tigers nor the Orioles can be the number one seed.
via Wahoo Sam
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. (AL edition)
Schedules for the AL playoff contenders:
Yankees
12 home, 16 away - opponents’ winning % (as of 9/4): .497
Orioles
13 home, 14 away - opponents’ winning %: .512
Rays
15 home, 12 away - opponents’ winning %: .529
Tigers
12 home, 16 away - opponents’ winning %: .487
White Sox
16 home, 12 away - opponents’ winning %: .483
Rangers
13 home, 15 away - opponents’ winning %: .502
A’s
11 home, 17 away - opponents’ winning %: .546
Angels
16 home, 11 away - opponents’ winning %: .530
In one of those great baseball coincidences, the Yankees (2), Rangers (3), Tigers (7), and Angels (8) are all in the top ten in per game attendance. While the Orioles (23), White Sox (24), A’s (29), and Rays (30) are in the bottom ten.
Cobb has 66? Think of how incredible that is. He played 24 seasons - that’s an average of 2.75 10-game (or more) hitting streaks A YEAR. He’s the only player with 2 35-game hitting streaks (40 - 1911; 35-1917) and had six 20-game hitting streaks.
He averaged 1.38 hits per game. Rose had 1.19 hits/game. Jeter? 1.28.
