Triple Crown Trio (a great baseball card newly created based on the 1968 Topps set)

In 1968, there were three active Triple Crown winners. That is the last year there were that many. I suggested this idea to Jason K. Woodburn, who has a Twitter account called "Custom Cards OTD in Baseball" (@custom_baseball). He created this card. 

Topps often had cards like this that featured two or three big stars photographed together. Unfortunately, Topps did not have such a card in 1968, although they could have because Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown in 1967, Frank Robinson did it in 1966 and Mantle in 1956. All three were active in 1968 (then Mantle retired the next year, not playing in 1969). Maybe there was never a time when all three were at the same place. 

 

Annual Games Behind For The St. Louis Browns, 1901-43

They finally won a pennant in 1944. Prior to that, they had only one season when they finished less than 5 GB (1922, 1 GB). There were only two others when they were under 10 GB (1902 5 GB & 1908 6.5 GB).

So that 1922 season in very anomalous. In 1921, they finished 17.5 GB and in 1923 they were 24 GB. In both seasons they fell out of contention very early on. In 1921, the were behind by at least 10 games from June 16 to the end of the season. In 1923, it was from June 29 on.

The bar chart below illustrates their GB for each season. 1922 is a cabin in a sea of skyscrapers. 

Temperatures in some major league cities at about 8 pm central time

Boston 50 (with a low tonight of 44 & rain starting in 78 minutes-a game might still be going) 

New York 56 (low will be 52 with a little late night rain) 

Pittsburgh 51 (with a low of 48) 

Cleveland 46 (with a low of 46 & rain starting in 30 minutes) 

Detroit 40 (with a low of 38)

Chicago 37 (with a low of 32)

St. Louis  41 (with a low of 39)

Minneapolis 32  (with a low of 29 & wind gusts of 15 mph so wind chill will be 17)

Denver 38 (with a low of 32 & wind gusts of 15 mph)

There is no snow predicted anywhere but in recent days both Minneapolis and Denver have had snow and even lower temperatures than tonight.

So some tough weather for baseball. What would MLB do if they had a Twins-Rockies series with sub-freezing temps and snow like they had within the last week? Move the games to a neutral site? One with a roof like Milwaukee? 

So far in the series, Dodgers lead Rays in OPS .832-.631. You should be watching since the Dodgers might be the closest thing to the 27 Yankees you will ever see and wouldn't you want to watch the 27 Yanks in color and HD?

The Dodgers finished with a .194 OPS differential (.821 - .627). Only the 1927 Yankees were higher since 1901 (.201 using BB Ref, .196 using Retrosheet). Next highest was 2019 Astros at .167

Dodgers, Rays and OPS differentials (A Rays victory would be historic upset)

LA season OPS differential) .194 (.821 - .627) only 27 Yanks better

Rays season OPS differential) .057 (.753 - .696)

Dodgers have .137 edge in regular season OPS. Biggest upset in world series I could find is 1906 when Cubs had .132 edge but lost to White Sox

But it was only a 60 game season so maybe Dodgers are not that good and Rays are better than .057. But look at playoffs

LA for each playoff series
.166 (.637 - .471)
.269 (.815 - .546)
.103 (.850 - .747)

Rays for each playoff series
.215 (.769 - .544)
-.050 (.713 - .763)
-.076 (.675 - .751)

Weighted avg by number of playoff games LA = .155, TB = -.025

Yes, negative for the Rays
 

 

Update on Juan Soto's Great Career Start

This is an update on the last post. Since the season is over I thought it would be a good time to do this.

I used Stathead to find the OPS+ leaders thru age 21 with 1000 or more PAs. Juan Soto in great company. 11 of the other 14 are in the Hall of Fame (one of the three not in the Hall is Trout who most likely will be).

Carroll had several good years. But his OPS+ fell to 87 at age 26 in 1891 (just 2 years after a 183 that led the NL). That was his last season. He still finished with a 136 career OPS+ in 3290 PAs.

Magee had over 2000 career hits and a 137 OPS+.

Rk	Player	OPS+	PA
1	Mike Trout	166	1490
2	Ted Williams	161	1336
3	Jimmie Foxx	157	1302
4	Rogers Hornsby	155	1199
5	Ty Cobb	153	1823
6	Juan Soto	150	1349
7	Mel Ott	146	2064
8	Eddie Mathews	145	1274
9	Mickey Mantle	144	1552
10	Fred Carroll	141	1104
11	Frank Robinson	139	1344
12	Sam Crawford	136	1116
13	Ken Griffey Jr.	135	1805
14	Sherry Magee	133	1686
15	Arky Vaughan	131	1210

Juan Soto's OPS+ through ge 21 puts him outstanding company

OPS+ leaders thru age 21 1000+ PAs. Juan Soto in great company. Of course, this year is not over yet. But still pretty impressive Mike Trout 166 Ted Williams 161 Jimmie Foxx 157 Rogers Hornsby 155 Ty Cobb 153 Juan Soto 147 Mel Ott 146 Eddie Mathews 145 Mickey Mantle 144 Fred Carroll 141 Frank Robinson 139

 Here are all the guys with 8+ offensive WAR through their age 21 season. Soto is 21st out of 26 in PAs.

Rk	Player	oWAR	PA
1	Mike Trout	19.3	1490
2	Mel Ott	16.4	2064
3	Ty Cobb	15.7	1823
4	Ken Griffey Jr.	14.5	1805
5	Alex Rodriguez	14.4	1523
6	Rogers Hornsby	13.3	1199
7	Ted Williams	13.2	1336
8	Jimmie Foxx	13.2	1302
9	Mickey Mantle	13	1552
10	Vada Pinson	12.4	1523
11	Cesar Cedeno	12.2	1651
12	Al Kaline	11.6	1939
13	Frank Robinson	11.4	1344
14	Eddie Mathews	11.2	1274
15	John McGraw	11.2	1682
16	Carlos Correa	10.7	1092
17	Arky Vaughan	10.7	1210
18	Sherry Magee	10.6	1686
19	Juan Soto	10.2	1279
20	Tony Conigliaro	9.8	1657
21	Johnny Bench	9.7	1292
22	Robin Yount	9.6	2324
23	Stuffy McInnis	9.3	1288
24	Ronald Acuna Jr.	8.5	1202
25	Bryce Harper	8	1489
26	Roberto Alomar	8	1313