The World Series will be a matchup between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks after the D’backs Game 7 victory over the Phillies. That series is discussed below, as well as some of the whacky regular season numbers produced in 2023.
Before we get to the baseball talk…
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NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS – THE DIAMONDBACKS
The D’backs weren’t expected to be here.
Maybe the Rangers weren’t either.
In fact, the duo was historically bad in the regular season.
They both made tremendous comebacks.
That is the strength of baseball. Seemingly everyone, well mostly everyone, has a shot in very short order.
The downside is that teams, that crush all season long, seemingly get swept away in a few days after six months of dominance. The playoff schedule isn’t helping either.
If you didn’t know it yet, and we all know you did but I just wanted to conscruct my setence that way, Corbin Caroll is a superstar, and he came to play in Game 7.
And he was part of a team that ran a lot.
Kevin Ginkel, flowing locks and all, is getting it done.
The world realized what we’ve been talking about for years here at FG.com… Ketel Marte is damn good and widely underappreciated.
In 12 games this postseason he’s hitting .358/.382/.604 to leawd the club with a .986 OPS.
Remember this for the World Series… which could be a long one…
and there is this too…
An old Giants alert…
By the way, Mattress Mack lost his ass.
WILD AND WHACKY NUMBERS…
Carlos Correa led baseball with 30 grounded into double plays. That was more than the 18 homers he hit or the 29 doubles be posted. Ty France was second with 25 GIDP, though he had more doubles with 32. There were 15 men who had 20 GIDP. Only two of those men had more than six steals: Xander Bogaerts 19 and George Springer 20.
Joey Meneses had 36 doubles. That was nearly double the total of 19 hit by Kyle Schwarber. The 19 hit by Swarber were more than the 17 hit by Max Muncy or the 16 hit by b. Think of it. Joey Menses hit three more doubles than Muncy+Judge, two guys that hit a combined 73 homers to 13 for Meneses.
Jose Ramirez led baseball with 22 intentional base on balls, one more than Shohei Ohtani. The Angels’ superstar had one fewer IBB despite having 93 fewer plate appearances. b had 40 homers and one IBB while Adolis Garcia had none and hit 39 homers and Jake Burger had zero with 34 bombs.
Juan Soto led baseball with 132 walks. He had more walks than Pete Alonso (65) and Marcell Ozuna (57). He had more walks than Ronald Acuna (84) and Luis Robert (30). He had more walks than Austin Riley (59) and Jorge Soler (66).
Bobby Witt went from 20 homers to 30. He also went from six triples to 11 to lead baseball in three baggers this season. That’s 17 triples the last two years for Witt or the same total as Amed Rosario (hhe hit eight and ninne the last two seasons). Witt also led baseball with 15 CS (he had 49 steals). Here are a couple of fellas who, combined, had 15 caught stealing.
CJ Abrams (4 CS, 47 SB)
Corbin Carroll (5 CS, 54 SB)
Andres Gimenez (6 CS, 30 SB)
Trea Turner (0 CS, 30 SB)
That foursome had the same 15 caught stealing as Witt but they also stole 161 bases, or more than three times as many.
