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Bloops: #11 In ’11 For The Cardinals!

Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 28, 2011

Congrats to the St. Louis Cardinals for winning the 2011 World Series.

On September 24th, per CoolStandings.com, the Cards had a 6.8% chance of just making the post-season.  Just over a month later, they were the kings of baseball.

The story of the '11 Cardinals should go down in baseball history as one of the best comeback stories of all-time, no?

Posted in Bloops | 49 Comments »

David Freese breaks the all-time single-season post-season RBI record

Posted by Andy on October 28, 2011

With his 2-run double in the 1st inning of Game 7 tonight, David Freese now has 21 RBI this post-season, an all-time record. This particular stat of course favors players on good teams from the wild card era, who tend to have more games each post-season.

Before tonight's games, here were the all-time leaders:

Rk Player Year RBI ▾
1 Scott Spiezio 2002 19
2 David Freese 2011 19
3 Sandy Alomar 1997 19
4 David Ortiz 2004 19
5 Alex Rodriguez 2009 18
6 Ivan Rodriguez 2003 17
7 Ryan Howard 2009 17
8 Rich Aurilia 2002 17
9 John Valentin 1999 17
10 Barry Bonds 2002 16
11 Manny Ramirez 2007 16
12 B.J. Upton 2008 16
13 Fred McGriff 1996 16
14 Benito Santiago 2002 16
15 Nelson Cruz 2011 16
16 Albert Pujols 2011 16
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/28/2011.

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments »

Live Tweeting the World Series

Posted by Sean Forman on October 28, 2011

Baseball Reference (baseball_ref) on Twitter.

We've been live tweeting the World Series games this year and will be wrapping up our coverage tonight.  See our timeline (linked above) for some of the notes we pulled from our databases for last night's game.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

World Series Game #7s – Baseball-Reference.com

Posted by Sean Forman on October 28, 2011

World Series Game #7s - Baseball-Reference.com.

Complete list of World Series Game #7's.  Where do you expect tonight's game to rate?

Posted in Postseason | 17 Comments »

David Freese: now THAT was the best World Series performance in history

Posted by Andy on October 28, 2011

Forget Pujols' 3 homers already. Last night, David Freese put together the greatest single-game offensive performance in World Series (and all post-season) history:

Rk Player Date Series Gm# Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO WPA RE24 aLI BOP Pos. Summary
1 David Freese 2011-10-27 WS 6 STL TEX W 10-9 6 5 1 2 0 1 1 3 1 0 1 0.969 3.117 2.306 6 3B
2 Kirk Gibson 1988-10-15 WS 1 LAD OAK W 5-4 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0.870 1.796 4.830 9 PH
3 Steve Garvey 1984-10-06 NLCS 4 SDP CHC W 7-5 5 5 1 4 1 0 1 5 0 0 0 0.854 4.682 1.814 3 1B
4 Lance Berkman 2011-10-27 WS 6 STL TEX W 10-9 6 5 4 3 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0.832 3.655 2.546 4 RF
5 Charlie Keller 1941-10-05 WS 4 NYY BRO W 7-4 5 5 1 4 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 0.826 3.545 2.234 5 LF
6 Cookie Lavagetto 1947-10-03 WS 4 BRO NYY W 3-2 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0.822 1.881 6.750 1 PH
7 Michael Tucker 1998-10-12 NLCS 5 ATL SDP W 7-6 5 5 1 3 0 0 1 5 0 0 1 0.812 4.119 1.760 8 RF
8 Brian Jordan 1999-10-08 NLDS 3 ATL HOU W 5-3 6 5 1 3 1 0 1 5 1 0 0 0.806 4.271 2.742 4 RF
9 Stan Hack 1945-10-08 WS 6 CHC DET W 8-7 7 5 1 4 1 0 0 3 2 0 0 0.806 3.905 1.551 1 3B
10 Jimmy Rollins 2009-10-19 NLCS 4 PHI LAD W 5-4 5 5 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0.754 1.635 2.368 1 SS
11 Francisco Cabrera 1992-10-14 NLCS 7 ATL PIT W 3-2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0.737 1.674 10.750 9 PH
12 Gary Carter 1988-10-04 NLCS 1 NYM LAD W 3-2 4 4 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0.724 2.042 2.020 7 C
13 Devon White 1993-10-20 WS 4 TOR PHI W 15-14 6 5 2 3 1 1 0 4 1 0 1 0.719 4.189 1.767 2 CF
14 Thurman Munson 1978-10-06 ALCS 3 NYY KCR W 6-5 4 4 2 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0.718 2.719 1.582 3 C
15 Ivan Rodriguez 2003-10-03 NLDS 3 FLA SFG W 4-3 6 5 1 2 0 0 1 4 1 0 1 0.717 2.463 3.302 3 C
16 Gonzalo Marquez 1972-10-07 ALCS 1 OAK DET W 3-2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.710 1.646 6.990 8 PH
17 Dave Henderson 1986-10-12 ALCS 5 BOS CAL W 7-6 3 2 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0.703 1.208 2.480 8 CF
18 Erubiel Durazo 2003-10-01 ALDS 1 OAK BOS W 5-4 6 4 1 2 1 0 0 3 2 0 0 0.701 2.659 2.837 2 DH
19 Lenny Dykstra 1986-10-11 NLCS 3 NYM HOU W 6-5 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0.685 1.382 3.380 9 PH CF
20 Alex Rodriguez 2004-10-06 ALDS 2 NYY MIN W 7-6 6 6 2 4 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 0.684 3.182 2.105 2 3B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/28/2011.

Move over, Kirk Gibson. Freese now has the highest single-game Win Probability Added in any post-season game.

By the way, Lance Berkman himself made #4 on that list, also from last night's game.

I don't know what will happen in the rest of Freese's career, but he has etched himself quite a place in the baseball history books. His totals so far this post-season: 17 games, 5 homers, 19 RBI, and a 1.235 OPS. Simply incredible.

Posted in Uncategorized | 97 Comments »

Most Exciting World Series Games Ever

Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 28, 2011

Using this query and another one, here's a list that I came up with:

Rk Tm Opp Date Series Gm# #Matching  
1 ATL TOR 1992-10-24     10  
2 STL TEX 2011-10-27     8  
3 NYM BOS 1986-10-25     7  
4 KCR STL 1985-10-26     7  
5 CHC DET 1945-10-08     6  
6 BSN CLE 1948-10-11     5  
7 ATL MIN 1991-10-26     4  
8 BAL PIT 1971-10-16     4  
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/28/2011.

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Rk Tm Opp Date Series Gm# #Matching  
1 NYG WSH 1924-10-10     9  
2 BOS NYG 1912-10-16     8  
3 FLA CLE 1997-10-26     7  
4 ATL MIN 1991-10-27     5  
5 BOS CIN 1975-10-22     5  
6 CIN OAK 1972-10-22     5  
7 BRO NYY 1952-10-07     4  
8 BOS STL 1946-10-15     4  
9 ARI NYY 2001-11-04     3  
10 SFG NYY 1962-10-16     3  
11 BAL PIT 1979-10-17     2  
12 BAL PIT 1971-10-17     2  
13 NYY PIT 1960-10-13     2  
14 PIT WSH 1925-10-15     2  
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/28/2011.

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Any games mentioned here that should be excluded? Any not mentioned that should be included?

Posted in Game Finders | 31 Comments »

Post-Season Game 6 Or Later, Home Team RBI In 8th & 9th Inning

Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 28, 2011

According to my rough scan, last night was only the third time in basebal history where we had a post-season Game 6 or later where the home team drove in runs in both the bottom of the 8th and 9th innings:

Date Series Gm# Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score   Inn RoB Out Pit(cnt) RBI WPA RE24 LI Play Description
1960-10-13 WS 7 Dick Groat PIT NYY Bobby Shantz down 7-4 1B b8 12- 0 3 (1-1) 1 0.14 1.00 3.23 Single to LF (Ground Ball thru SS-3B Hole); Cimoli Scores; Virdon to 2B
1960-10-13 WS 7 Roberto Clemente PIT NYY Jim Coates down 7-5 1B b8 -23 2 5 (1-2) 1 0.10 0.90 4.17 Single to 1B (Ground Ball to Weak 2B-1B); Virdon Scores; Groat to 3B
1960-10-13 WS 7 Hal Smith PIT NYY Jim Coates down 7-6 HR b8 1-3 2 5 (2-2) 3 0.64 2.62 5.14 Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF); Groat Scores; Clemente Scores
1960-10-13 WS 7 Bill Mazeroski PIT NYY Ralph Terry tied 9-9 HR b9 --- 0 2 (1-0) 1 0.37 1.00 2.23 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF)
1964-10-14 WS 6 Bill White STL NYY Jim Bouton down 8-1 Out b8 -23 0   1 -0.01 -0.04 .36 Groundout: 1B-P; Flood Scores; Brock to 3B
1964-10-14 WS 6 Bob Skinner STL NYY Steve Hamilton down 8-2 1B b9 1-3 1   1 0.01 0.73 .21 Single to CF; Shannon Scores; Buchek to 2B
2011-10-27 WS 6 Allen Craig STL TEX Derek Holland down 7-4 HR b8 --- 1 2 (0-1) 1 0.06 1.00 .56 Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF)
2011-10-27 WS 6 David Freese STL TEX Neftali Feliz down 7-5 3B b9 12- 2 4 (1-2) 2 0.54 1.93 3.34 Triple to RF (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Pujols Scores; Berkman Scores
2011-10-27 WS 6 Ryan Theriot STL TEX Scott Feldman down 9-7 Out b10 -23 1 5 (1-2) 1 -0.14 -0.04 4.67 Groundout: 3B-1B (Weak 3B); Descalso Scores
2011-10-27 WS 6 Lance Berkman STL TEX Scott Feldman down 9-8 1B b10 12- 2 5 (2-2) 1 0.47 1.06 6.44 Single to CF (Line Drive); Jay Scores; Pujols to 3B
2011-10-27 WS 6 David Freese STL TEX Mark Lowe tied 9-9 HR b11 --- 0 6 (3-2) 1 0.38 1.00 2.19 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF)
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/28/2011.

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Of course, the Cardinals, last night, scored in the bottom of the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th innings. What a game!

Posted in Event Finders | 5 Comments »

Post-Season Game 6 – 2 Out RBI In 9th Inning When Trailing

Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 28, 2011

Before tonight, here's the other times where it has happened:

Cr# Gm# Date Series Gm# Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score   Inn RoB Out Pit(cnt) RBI WPA RE24 LI Play Description
1 1 1906-10-14 WS 6 Solly Hofman CHC @CHW Doc White down 8-2 1B t9 1-3 2   1 0.00 0.95 .06 Single to LF; Evers Scores; Gessler to 2B
2 1 1930-10-08 WS 6 Chick Hafey STL @PHA George Earnshaw down 7-0 2B t9 -2- 2   1 0.00 1.00 .01 Double to LF; High Scores
3 1 1968-10-09 WS 6 Julian Javier STL DET Denny McLain down 13-0 1B b9 12- 2   1 -0.00 1.00 .00 Single to RF; Maris Scores; Cepeda to 2B
4 1 1977-10-18 WS 6 Vic Davalillo LAD @NYY Mike Torrez down 8-3 1B t9 1-3 2 1 (0-0) 1 0.01 0.94 .19 Single to 3B/Bunt; Garvey Scores; Baker to 2B
7 3 1985-10-16 NLCS 6 Jack Clark STL @LAD Tom Niedenfuer down 5-4 HR t9 -23 2 1 (0-0) 3 0.73 2.53 6.85 Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF); McGee Scores; Smith Scores
9 2 1992-10-13 NLCS 6 David Justice ATL PIT Tim Wakefield down 13-2 HR b9 1-- 2 3 (1-1) 2 -0.00 1.88 .00 Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Treadway Scores
10 1 1992-10-24 WS 6 Otis Nixon ATL TOR Tom Henke down 2-1 1B b9 12- 2 3 (0-2) 1 0.47 1.16 6.51 Single to LF (Ground Ball thru SS-3B Hole); Blauser Scores; Smith to 3B; Nixon to 2B/Adv on throw to Hm
11 1 1996-10-26 WS 6 Marquis Grissom ATL @NYY John Wetteland down 3-1 1B t9 1-3 2 1 (0-0) 1 0.06 0.93 2.97 Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Klesko Scores; Belliard to 2B
12 1 1997-10-14 NLCS 6 Keith Lockhart ATL FLA Kevin Brown down 7-3 1B b9 12- 2 5 (1-2) 1 0.03 1.00 .56 Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Blauser Scores; Colbrunn to 2B
13 1 2004-10-20 NLCS 6 Jeff Bagwell HOU @STL Jason Isringhausen down 4-3 1B t9 12- 2 1 (0-0) 1 0.33 1.00 5.47 Single to LF (Line Drive); Ensberg Scores; Beltran to 2B
15 2 2006-10-18 NLCS 6 So Taguchi STL @NYM Billy Wagner down 4-0 2B t9 -23 2 5 (1-2) 2 0.02 1.71 .49 Double to LF (Line Drive); Encarnacion Scores; Rolen Scores
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/28/2011.

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Of course, the Rangers just homered now - taking away from the excitement of what the Cards did in the 9th...

Posted in Game Finders | 33 Comments »

Exciting World Series Game Sixes

Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 27, 2011

Here's one possible list -

Rk Tm Opp Date Series Gm# #Matching  
1 ATL TOR 1992-10-24     23  
2 CHC DET 1945-10-08     21  
3 BOS CIN 1975-10-21     18  
4 KCR STL 1985-10-26     17  
5 ATL MIN 1991-10-26     16  
6 BOS NYM 1986-10-25     15  
7 BAL PIT 1971-10-16     15  
8 CHW CIN 1919-10-07     15  
9 MLN NYY 1958-10-08     14  
10 BRO NYY 1956-10-09     14  
11 NYG NYY 1951-10-10     12  
12 CHC DET 1935-10-07     12  
13 BRO NYY 1952-10-06     11  
14 PHI TOR 1993-10-23     10  
15 BSN CLE 1948-10-11     10  
16 BRO NYY 1947-10-05     10  
17 DET STL 1934-10-08     10  
18 PIT WSH 1925-10-13     10  
19 ATL CLE 1995-10-28     9  
20 NYG NYY 1936-10-06     9  
21 NYG WSH 1924-10-09     9  
22 BOS CHC 1918-09-11     9  
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/27/2011.

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Any here that you would not include? Any missing that should be included?

Posted in Game Finders | 114 Comments »

Roy Smalley Jr.

Posted by Andy on October 27, 2011

I was stunned to see on our front page that Roy Smalley Jr. had died, but it turns out that I was just confused.

I know that both Roy Smalley and his father of the same name played in the majors, and I always assumed that Roy Smalley Jr. was the decent-hitting middle infielder who played mainly for the Twins in the 1970s and 1980s. This Smalley (who, incidentally, is Roy Smalley III, not Roy Smalley Jr.) just turned 59 two days ago and is certainly way too young to have passed away (and thankfully he has not.)

It's Smalley's father who is Roy Smalley Jr. He was a light-hitting shortstop for mainly the Cubs and Phillies in the late 1940s and 1950s, and he died a few days ago at the age of 85.

Anyway, it's a shame that it took Mr. Smalley's death for me to correctly figure out who was who, but I'm glad that I finally did.

Roy Smalley Jr.'s 1950 season was quite interesting. He had career highs in HR, RBI, SLG, and a few other categories, and most by a large margin. He also had a career high in strikeouts and even led the league in that category. He had good power for a shortstop from that era, averaging 11 homers per 162 games for his career.

On a separate note, I will be live tweeting Game 6 of the World Series tonight. You can subscribe to my feed @AndyBBREF. This is sort of an experiment---not sure whether I will continue tweeting after tonight, but at least tonight you can get real-time stat updates during the game.

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments »