A curious look at MLB stats

Currently, the Yankees lead everyone in runs, home runs, walks, and runs batted in. They are slightly behind Boston in OPS (on base plus slugging) .801 to .797. They, however, are bested in one category by the Chicago White Sox. Hit by pitch. Yes, the south side boys get hit more than any other team: 67, 11 times more than the Yanks who are 2nd in that category. The Rangers lead in total bases. Meanwhile futility rests in St. Louis with 134 Ground into Double Plays, 24 more than second place Red Sox. Now here's a curious one. Intentional walks. The Dodgers lead with 46! In fact, the top 11 teams are all from the National League. The Red Sox have the highest amount in the AL with 36. Whereas the Yanks are currently 2nd to last in IBB with 17. Who is less intimidating than the Yankees? The Oakland A's apparently. Incredibly, the Yanks get intentionally walked once every .13 games. Ha! That's worse than the 2009 mark of 1 in .21 games. I guess teams feel like they can get the Yanks hitters out. Funny, the stats don't show that.

On to the pitching side though. The Phillies lead the league in ERA (3.07), WHIP (walk hits per inning pitched: 1.16), walks allowed (298), complete games (15), and shutouts (15). The only other team with comparable pitching right now is the San Francisco Giants who lead the league in HRs allowed (75), Ks (1036), batting average against (.229), hits allowed (958), and saves (43). Let's take a look at some of the funnier pitching stats. The Cincinnati Reds have balked 10 times, whereas the Rays have balked only twice. The league average is about 4.5 to 5. Talk about indecision. Where are the wild guys? In Detroit, where the pitchers have thrown 54 wild pitches. Imagine if A. J. Burnett were on that team? He's responsible for 15 of the 42 Yankees wild pitches. The next wildest pitchers are Oakland's Trevor Cahill, Seattle's Felix Hernandez, and an obscure National's reliever Henry Rodridguez with 12.

Let's round this article off with the fielding stats. Most errors committed belongs to Chicago Cubs with 103!! Almost double of the fewest errors committed: Philadelphia with 53. Not only are the pitchers wild in Detroit, so are the catchers with 54 catcher's wild pitches. Tied with Milwaukee on that stat. Who's got the best catchers? Cincinnati does with only 3 passed balls for the year. With the league average around 7, the Mets sure do look awful with 24 passed balls. I know catching R. A. Dickey's knuckleballs is difficult, but come on, 24?!? On a side note, the Red Sox are second with 21. Salty, you bastard! San Diego has 147 stolen bases, 27 more than the next two teams. Coincidentally, these two are tied for tops in the AL: Royals and Yanks. Unfortunately, the Royals have been caught stealing the most at 47.


So there you have it. Keep reading for more details and information as pennant races heat up and predictions are made!