Tuesday, July 11, 2023

The number of times each AL & NL team has had the leader in WAR for position players

The other day Luis Robert of the White Sox was tied with Wander Franco for the AL lead in WAR for position players (although he is second now). It got me wondering how many White Sox players have led the AL for a whole season. Here they are:
 
George Davis-1906 (7.2)
Minnie Minoso-1954 (8.2)
Dick Allen-1972 (8.6)
 
That is it in 122 seasons. I also wondered how all the AL teams have done. Data from Baseball Reference.

Team

Count

NYY

33

BOS

23

CLE

13

BAL

10

DET

7

MIN

7

OAK

6

SEA

6

LAA

5

CHW

3

TEX

3

HOU

2

KCR

1

MIL

1

TBR

1


Ruth has 10 of the Yankees 33 (he also had one with the Red Sox). I combined teams that moved but were the same franchise. The Orioles includes the Browns, for example.

So the White Sox (3) have the fewest of the eight original franchises while the next lowest of that group is the A's with 6. Two expansion teams, the Mariners and the Angels, are ahead of the White Sox.

Rickey Henderson led the AL in 1990 but he played for two teams (Yankees, A's). So that season was not counted for either team.
 
The Blue Jays are the only AL team to never have a leader. 

Here are the NL numbers (starting in 1900). I combined teams that moved but were the same franchise just like I did for the AL. The Giants includes their time in NY. The Braves includes their time in Boston and Milwaukee. MIL is for the Brewers. 
 

Team

Count

SFG

30

STL

24

PIT

23

LAD

9

PHI

8

CIN

7

ATL

5

CHC

5

HOU

3

SDP

3

WSN

3

COL

2

MIA

1

MIL

1

The Diamondbacks and the Mets are the only NL teams to never have a leader. Both the Astros and Brewers have had leaders in both leagues.

For the Brewers, Yelich did it in the NL and Yount in the AL.

For the Astros, Bagwell and Thon did in the NL and Correa and Bregman did it in the AL

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