OC Register: Whicker’s 60 for 30: A closer look at the 2021 MLB season

[AngelsWin.com]

Sixty fun facts for 30 major league clubs in 2021:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Dodgers: Reliever Phil Bickford inherited 22 runners and stranded 21.

Max Muncy had 11 home runs with men in scoring position, second only to Atlanta’s Adam Duvall in the National League.

San Francisco: The Giants led the National League in home runs for only the second time since 1972.

They and the Dodgers became the fourth and fifth teams since 2010 to win 100 games and fall short of the World Series.

San Diego: The Padres were 67-49 on Aug. 10 and were 12-34 thereafter.

Reliever Austin Adams gave up 24 runs and hit 24 batters.

Colorado: The Rockies were eighth in the NL slugging percentage, their lowest ranking since 2005.

Former Angel C.J. Cron hit 16 of his 28 home runs after the All-Star Game with a .974 OPS.

Arizona: Its relievers blew 28 saves in 50 opportunities, and Joakim Soria led the club with six saves.

Arizona had 52 wins with two four-game win streaks.

Milwaukee: The Brewers won the Central Division with a .233 team batting average.

Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta all had ERAs under 2.83 and WHIPs (walks and hits, per innings pitched) under 1.000.

St. Louis: Tyler O’Neill hit 13 of his 34 home runs during the Cardinals’ September run.

After Adam Wainwright passed the 75-pitch mark in a game, his ERA was 0.83, easily the best in baseball.

Cincinnati: Joey Votto, who turned 38 in September, hit 36 home runs in 129 games, and 53.2 percent of his batted balls had an exit velocity over 95 mph.

Eugenio Suarez’s OPS dropped from .930 in 2019 to .713, and he hit .198 with 171 strikeouts.

Chicago Cubs: After the Cubs sold off their veterans in the wake of an 11-game losing streak, they went from 42-44 to 71-91.

Rookie Frank Schwindel hit .342 in 56 games and drove in 40 runs.

Pittsburgh: The Pirates pitched no complete games and had 25 quality starts, the fewest in the league.

Bryan Reynolds hit .302 and was 10th in the league in OPS (.912). His 90 RBIs were 27 more than any other Pirate.

Atlanta: The Braves had an .822 OPS with men in scoring position, the best in baseball.

Austin Riley hit 19 of his 33 homers after the All-Star break.

Philadelphia: The Phillies had 70 save opportunities and converted 36.

J.T. Realmuto’s OPS of .782 was his lowest since 2016 with a career-high 129 strikeouts.

New York Mets: Francisco Lindor’s first year in New York featured full-season career-lows in doubles, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging.

In the 15 starts before he was injured, Jacob deGrom allowed 40 hits in 92 innings and had an 0.554 WHIP. The major league record is 0.737, by Pedro Martinez in 2000.

Miami: The Marlins’ 122 errors were 22 more than any other NL team.

Sandy Alcantara and Trevor Rogers had WHIPs of 1.075 and 1.150 but combined to go 16-23. In 29 of their 58 starts the Marlins scored two runs or fewer.

Washington: Juan Soto, who turned 23 last month, led the majors by hitting .396 with men in scoring position and by drawing 149 walks.

The Nationals went 17-42 after they traded Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to Los Angeles.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Houston: For the third time in five seasons the Astros led the league in batting average. They ranked 14th in striking out and have been 14th or 15th each of the past five years.

Reliever Phil Maton had a 1.618 WHIP in the regular season but gave up one earned run in 12⅓ playoff innings.

Seattle: The Mariners ranked 12th in scoring and eighth in run prevention and still won 90 games, probably because they were 33-19 in one-run games.

At 33, Kyle Seager hit .212 but he takes career highs in home runs (33) and RBIs (101) into free agency.

Oakland: Matt Chapman’s batting average has tumbled from .278 to .210 since 2018.

The A’s were 1½ games out of the AL West lead on Aug. 12 and finished nine games out.

Angels: With Mike Trout playing only 36 games and despite Shohei Ohtani’s handiwork, the Angels only drew 1.52 million fans, their worst full-season attendance mark since 1977.

Their pitchers led the league in walks (592), the first time that’s happened since 1972, and their hitters had a league-low 25 sacrifice flies.

Texas: Rookie Adolis Garcia hit 22 of his 31 homers before the All-Star break and struck out 194 times overall.

According to the Fielding Bible, the Rangers saved 86 runs defensively, the best in MLB.

Chicago White Sox: Their pitchers led the league in strikeouts, with Michael Kopech fanning 103 in 69 relief innings.

They were 93-69 but six games under .500 against playoff teams.

Cleveland: Former Padre Franmil Reyes cranked 30 home runs in 466 plate appearances.

Opponents had a .240 slugging percentage against closer Emmanuel Clase.

Detroit: The Tigers’ 77 wins were their most since 2016.

Robbie Grossman hit 23 home runs after hitting 28 in the previous four seasons.

Kansas City: Fourteen of Salvador Perez’s 48 home runs, an all-time record for a catcher, came on the first pitch.

Since they won the 2015 World Series the Royals are 114 games below .500.

Minnesota: Byron Buxton has played more than 92 games once in his seven seasons, but he had a 1.005 OPS in his 61 games this season.

Former Angel Andrelton Simmons had a .553 OPS with three home runs in 131 games.

Tampa Bay: Rookie Wander Franco reached base in 43 consecutive games and only struck out 36 times in 70 games.

The Rays lost 62 games, 12 via walk-offs.

Boston: The Red Sox led the league in errors (108) but still got to the ALCS.

Rookie Bobby Dalbec had a .673 OPS before the All-Star break, .955 after.

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New York Yankees: The Yankees grounded into an AL-worst 154 double plays and only hit .238 with men in scoring position.

Joey Gallo came over from Texas via trade, struck out 88 times in 58 games and hit .160.

Toronto: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the only hitter in MLB with 40 homers, a .300 average, a .400 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage.

Seven of Toronto’s nine regulars hit 20 or more home runs.

Baltimore: The Orioles gave up 5.9 runs per game and 258 home runs total.

Cedric Mullins had 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases and was the only 30-30 man in MLB.

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