Baseball’s Best (and Worst) is nearly four and a half years old. I started this newsletter on Labor Day 2020, and I’ve issued at least one new edition every week since then. My usual output is two stories per week, though I’ve extended myself to five on several occasions.
Today’s submission brings my total number of entries since September 2020 to precisely 500. I’m marking the milestone by harkening back to 11 stories that attracted high levels of reader interest.
This menu is limited to the 2020-2023 span, since 2024’s stories seem to be too recent for reminiscence. Click on any underlined headline to go back to the original piece.
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No. 9: Facts, not fiction (September 29, 2020)
The 2020 season was the weirdest ever. Two months, 60 games, no travel beyond a team’s section of the continent. The playoffs were conducted as if a full intraleague schedule had been played, which wasn’t the case at all. I proposed that we acknowledge reality: There were three leagues, not two, in 2020.
No. 15: The true greatness of Joe Morgan (October 20, 2020)
Joe Morgan, who died in October 2020, was truly one of the greatest players of any era. I proved the point by examining his tremendous 1976 season for the Cincinnati Reds.
No. 50: Top starting pitchers of the 21st century (February 19, 2021)
So who would it be? Randy Johnson? Clayton Kershaw? Max Scherzer? Justin Verlander? My 10-part formula gave the nod to Kershaw after analyzing all starters between 2000 and 2020. Verlander was the runner-up.
No. 65: Putting Sandy Koufax in a time machine (April 13, 2021)
Sandy Koufax was a strike-throwing machine in an era when strikeouts were much harder to come by. He’d probably have a field day if he were reincarnated in today’s free-swinging environment. I did the math, and the answer was what you would expect. Koufax would have dominated the 2020s.
No. 124: Overdue honors (November 5, 2021)
I suggested that 15 clubs needed to retire the uniform numbers of deserving players and managers who had been ignored to that point. Some of that advice was subsequently accepted — as with the Dodgers and Fernando Valenzuela — but most of it still applies today.
No. 167: Worst fan support in the Modern Era (April 5, 2022)
“What else do you have to do to draw fans in this place?” Tampa Bay star Evan Longoria asked plaintively after the Rays made the playoffs in 2010. Nobody has ever found an answer. My calculations determined that the Rays have received the worst support from any fan base in the majors.
No. 214: Worst batters of all time, sort of (September 16, 2022)
I examined batting records at five-year intervals from 1876 to the present, determining the worst hitter in each league during each half-decade. The only player to finish last in two separate periods was Joe DeMaestri, a shortstop who kicked around the American League in the 1950s.
No. 275: Why Tommy McCarthy? (April 7, 2023)
Not everybody who has been enshrined in the Hall of Fame deserved the honor. That was especially true of Tommy McCarthy, a 19th century outfielder who was elected to Cooperstown in 1946. I determined that McCarthy had the very weakest resumé of any of the hall’s inductees.
No. 302: TTDMS: Five innings for a win (May 16, 2023)
One of my occasional features is abbreviated TTDMS, which stands for “things that don’t make sense.” That’s certainly true of the rule that requires a starting pitcher to work five innings to qualify for a win, while a reliever needs to throw only a single pitch to be in line for a W.
No. 373: Best options for MLB expansion (August 23, 2023)
If and when Rob Manfred decides it’s time to expand, Major League Baseball should grant franchises to Montreal and Charlotte. I reached that conclusion after analyzing the relative merits of 37 American, Canadian, Caribbean, and Mexican markets that are currently outside the MLB umbrella.
No. 404: Prepare to abandon Florida (October 17, 2023)
I got on Tampa Bay’s case again in this story, and I added Miami for good measure. Both markets have proven to be completely apathetic about baseball. I suggested that it was time for the major leagues to opt for the intelligent course of abandoning Florida.
