Baseball’s Best and Strangest: ‘Weird & Wild’ Names Aaron Judge, Odor-ous White Sox, and More in Its Players and Teams of the Month

Here at Weird & Wild World Headquarters, we are busily catching up. When you take a few weeks break from writing Weird and Wild essays and go overseas, amazing things happen in this sport. Is it not?

Are you prepared for this month’s Weird & Wild teams and players? They arrive in 3… 2… 1.

The Weirdest/Wildest Teams of the Month

It must be the cheesesteaks

I have spent the majority of my life in Philadelphia, as you may have heard somewhere. I believe I am thus in a position to state that it is not necessarily the coziest town on earth. But for some reason, it is all of a sudden become the most supportive baseball town in America. And it is a really unusual occurrence.

The Phillies are 23-3 in their last 26 home games since the second week of April. I find that to be absurd. In terms of sports, this is more realistic and less absurd: the Eagles had not won 23 straight games in Philadelphia during the regular season since 1946–1950!

And in the last 35 baseball seasons, only one team in a city has had a better home run streak in any 26-game stretch throughout the season: Torii Hunter’s 2006 Twins (24-2).

But hold on. The truly amazing aspect of this is about to happen: In extra innings, the Phillies lost two of those three games. This indicates that they have only lost one home game in almost two months when the game runs the full nine innings.

Yes, in Citizens Bank Park during that time, they had a 20-1 record in nine-inning games. Here’s why that is the kind of subject we examine in this column.

It started five seasons ago (in 2020) with Zombie Runner. Baseball overtime games have never been the same since those Zombie Runners ran out to second base to start extra innings. Thus, how many teams in this zombie-addled period have ever had a winning streak of this magnitude (20-1 in home games against non-zombies)? None, is the response! Naturally.

Until now. In the cheesesteak capital of the world.

It must be the No. 4 train

The Yankees are another group. Yankee Stadium is hardly the friendliest ballpark in America to attend, as the Twins will attest to.

As of right present, the Yankees have played ten series at home this year. The Yankees had won seven of those series in the Bronx, split two, and had not lost any until the Dodgers came to town over the weekend and won two out of three.

This would be another of those occurrences that is unique to a given year. Never in his playing career did Mickey Mantle cap cap a Yankees team that went this far into the season without dropping a series at The Stadium. Don Mattingly, Yogi Berra, and Reggie Jackson did not either.

In the original, second, and third iterations of Yankee Stadium’s history, only five previous Yankees teams have accomplished this feat:

• 1932 Yankees (9-0)
• 1936 Yankees (7-0-2)
• 1949 Yankees (9-0)
• 1996 Yankees (7-0-2)
• 1998 Yankees (6-0-3)

What is the commonality among those teams? Yes. The World Series was won by them!

(H/T James Smyth, YES Network)

The hurting home of the Braves

I do not know about you, but the Braves make me sad. And with good cause.

They lost a pitcher who was 20-3 the previous season and about 50 strikes ahead of the league leader in strikeouts.That was Spencer Strider, of course. After having surgery on his elbow ligament, he is out for the season.

They lost a pitcher who was 20-3 the previous season and about 50 strikes ahead of the league leader in strikeouts. That was Spencer Strider, of course. After having surgery on his elbow ligament, he is out for the season.

I started to reflect as a result. In the same season, how many teams have lost both the MVP and the 20-game winner?

Even though I doubt the Braves are interested in knowing the response, I asked the incredible Katie Sharp of Baseball Reference to look into this for me. (Incidentally, we agreed that players who missed at least 100 games the next season would be considered “out for the season.”).

MVP position players who missed at least 100 games the season after winning that accolade were the first group she worked with. Only five of those existed, and two of them existed before the present MVP award was established*:

• Rogers Hornsby, 1929-30 Cubs*
• Lew Fonseca, 1929-30 Indians*
• Hank Greenberg, 1935-36 Tigers
• Hank Greenberg, 1940-41 Tigers**
• Barry Bonds, 2004-05 Giants

 (*before the official BBWAA MVP award began)
(**Greenberg enrolled in the Army during World War 2)

But how many of those teams also suffered the loss of a 20-game champion from the prior campaign? The response is none, which is not shocking. Thus, the 2024 Braves are on their own—and regrettably, not precisely how they had envisioned for this campaign.

Vogt’s up with that?

When do we declare that Stephen Vogt is an accomplished manager? I chose to hold off until after he had completed 60 games. My jury has returned with a verdict now.

That would be a yes!

Here is one method to approach things. He took Terry Francona’s place in Cleveland, a future Hall of Famer and a legend. Do we need to compare them? Oh my god, what the devil? Yes, of course we should.

Seasons Francona managed in the big leagues — 23
Seasons his teams started off 40-20 — zero

Seasons Vogt has managed in the big leagues — one
Seasons his teams started off 40-20 — one

Is it just me that thinks that is amazing? In addition to winning three Manager of the Year titles, Francona lost a third in a Game 7 and won two World Series. But the 2007 Red Sox led by Coco Crisp had the best 39-21 start out of all of his teams in 60 games. Francona’s finest start in Cleveland came from the 2020 squad, which played just those sixty games during the epidemic. The score was 35-25.

Perhaps you believed Vogt had the potential to be a fantastic manager. However, there is only one explanation for how he might have already led a squad that had a stronger start than the legendary manager who came before him. It is the

Baseball!

Your Sox smell!

Should we inform the fan clubs of Casey Stengel and Choo-Choo Coleman that the 2024 White Sox are exactly the squad they want? When describing any club, we usually hesitate to say, “worse than the 1962 Mets.” However, do you know who these White Sox are?

Even if you are, let’s check in on how it’s going — by which I mean: Yikes!

RUN DIFFERENTIAL: The Sox would end with a run differential of (gulp) minus-353 if they continued at their current rate. In the history of Ugly Run Differential, where would that stand? Examine it.

• Worst since 1900 — 1932 Red Sox, minus-349

• Worst of all time — 1899 Cleveland Spiders, minus-723!

• ’62 Mets run differential — minus-331

Would we be able to write about a difference that was over 20 runs worse than the 1962 Mets for the next 200 years? Not able to rule that out!

GAMES BEHIND — These White Sox are already 26 games behind the leaders after 66 games. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I do not believe the Guardians will be apprehended.

• Most games out of first after 66 games, modern era — 34 1/2, 1932 Red Sox

• Most games out of first after 66 games, divisional era — 29, 2001 Rangers

• ’62 Mets after 66 games — 26 out (on the way to 60 1/2!)

• 1899 Spiders after 66 games — 34 out (on the way to 84!)

They seem a little strange.With their victory on Friday over the Red Sox, the White Sox ended their longest losing run of any team in franchise history, which dated back 14 games.However, it appears that the one thing they excel at is building up unstoppable streaks.

Losing streaks by ’62 Mets before July — 17 … 9 … 7 … 4 … 4.

Losing streaks by ’24 White Sox so far — 14 … 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 4.

I could go on forever, but you get the picture. The White Sox in 2024. Making history the wrong way around.

They need a first aid kit

Here’s something the Blue Jays accomplished on May 4th that did not seem all that noteworthy at the time.

What do they call that, you know? a first-inning single that scored a run.

Why did we just force you to watch it, you ask? Since that was the last run the Blue Jays had scored in the first inning up to Saturday.

Their current run has brought them to within two games of the 31-game record held by Beauty McGowan’s 1931 Boston Bees for the most games not scored in the first inning in baseball history. And I do not have to tell you that does not make sense. Still, let us carry that out.

During that first inning, when the Blue Jays were not scoring at all, the Yankees scored 29 runs.

Three icons for the Dodgers bat in the first three slots in their lineup: Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, and Mookie Betts. During that first inning, when the Blue Jays were not scoring at all, just those three scored 16 times.

Since they have scored more runs in the second inning than any other club in baseball (45), the Blue Jays would like to petition the commissioner’s office to have all games begin in the second inning going forward.
Baseball …

It. Makes. No. Sense.

Three’s a crowd (literally)

As of June 10, there have been 241,159 Oakland A’s fans in attendance throughout the entire season. They needed 35 games to reach that point. Is that not a tiny amount? Let me clarify just how little.

By April 2, the Dodgers had surpassed that total at Dodger Stadium. They needed six games to do it.

By April 23, even the Rays, who, believe us, would have a hard time telling you what the acronym, SRO, stands for, had already surpassed that amount.

And the reason for that is that the A’s are expected to draw slightly fewer than 559,000 fans overall this season, for reasons you really do not want to hear again. Does it also seem insignificant? Let me clarify just how little.

The last major-league team to record a full-season attendance below 700,000 was the Montreal Expos of 2001 under Peter Bergeron (not including the pandemic-affected seasons of 2020 and 2021). 642,745 baseball fans attended the always cozy Stade Olympique as a result.

The Cleveland Indians, led by Julio Franco, were the final American League team to fall short of 700,000. That year, they crammed 655,181 people into the huge Municipal Stadium. That is probably less people than saw all of Bernie Kosar’s 1985 Browns games combined.

The last team with fewer than 7,000 fans per game on average was Brian Kingman’s 1979 A’s. According to Baseball Reference, they averaged 3,787 attendance that year, drawing a total of 306,763 people because they were such a popular event. And that is not something we made up.

That A’s team did not, however, depart the city. Heading to Sacramento, I do not think this A’s team can outdraw the Dodgers, but I will bet my favorite flat screen that they can outdraw those A’s from 1979.

The Weirdest/Wildest Players of the Month

The Judge’s chambers

Dustin Pedroia was the American League MVP in 2008, a year in which he finished with 17 home runs. Conversely, since May 8, Aaron Judge has hit 17 home runs.

After slugging 26 extra-base hits in a single month, Judge was named the AL Player of the Month. The NL Player of the Month award was recently won by Bryce Harper. Over the season, he has 26 extra-base hits.

However, here’s another interesting fact about Judge that I came across, thanks to Chris Kamka of Marquee Sports Network: For the third time, Judge has made baseball history by becoming the first player to hit 20 home runs in a season.

I started to wonder how many other players from the live-ball era were able to make that claim. The next thing I knew, I was searching for that solution and had gone down a really interesting rabbit hole made available by STATS Perform’s amazing STATSPass search engine.

Babe Ruth was the first baseball player to hit 20 home runs in seven different seasons (including two where he led the league by more than two months), so you will not be surprised to hear that. But in the interim, Judge joined the following club:

Jimmie Foxx — 4
Mark McGwire — 4
Ted Williams — 3
Ken Griffey Jr. — 3
Jose Canseco — 3
Dave Kingman — 3

Whoa. Henry Aaron, what about him? Nope. “Just” two. Mickey Mantle? No. Just two for him. Adding two more to the group were Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell, Joe DiMaggio, and Dale Murphy. Judge’s deal is for seven seasons, although he is already at three.

Stated differently, I am happy that I have this leaderboard prepared. Why do I believe I might require it once more?

Top Gunnar

In the AL home run derby, however, there is a 22-year-old shortstop who is right behind Judge despite all those deep balls he is hit. Already, Gunnar Henderson has launched twenty of them.

So I started thinking: What if he winds up leading the league?

Shortstops who have led their league in HR (since 1901)

Alex Rodriguez — three times
Ernie Banks — two times
Fernando Tatis — 2021
Vern Stephens — 1945

But wait. This gets better. How about this list:

Leadoff hitters who have led their league in HR (since 1901)

Kyle Schwarber — 2022*

That asterisk, though, is quite large. With 46 home runs that season, Schwarber led the National League, although only 38 of those came when batting first. That comes to 82.6 percent, and I think that is close enough. No other modern-day home run champion has ever led off in more than 34 games throughout a season, according to STATS. That being said, home run leaders do not typically bat first.

However, as a leadoff hitter, Henderson has hit all 100 of his home runs. He is expected to turn 51 this year as well.

What is the number of men who have ever hit 50 home runs from the leadoff hole? It would not be wise to guess any. (In 1996, Brady Anderson did, in fact, hit 50 for the Orioles, however he only did so when hitting first.) As a leadoff player, only Acuña (41 last year) has achieved 40 or more hits.

And how many guys have been the league leaders in home runs scored while hitting all of their hits outside of the leadoff hole? That likewise would not exist.

So watch out for Gunnar Henderson. He’s Gunn-ing for some serious history.

Elly of the beast

While we are talking about shortstops who perform tasks that other people do not perform, Elly Cruz

The Reds have played 66 games so far this season. Additionally, their incredibly gifted shortstop already has 11 home runs and 34 stolen bases.

Have we comprehended how ridiculous that is?

Only two other players in history—Rickey Henderson (1985, 1990) and Eric Davis (1986) of the Reds—have amassed at least 10 home runs and 30 steals in their first 60 games of a season. How many players, though, have actually accomplished it in their team’s first 60 games?

I found exactly one: Elly De La Cruz.

He has 83 thefts and 27 home runs left in him. You know how many seasons in this sport have been similar to that one? You are a great guesser if you made no guesses!

Behind the Skenes

And then there is Paul Skenes, our new favorite electrifying baseball arm, who is been hitting monster hits for the Pirates lately. Is it certain that this man is a real person? Let us answer in the affirmative. However, I doubt we have ever seen somebody quite like him.

He’s now five starts into his major-league career. And already …

• Compared to Stephen Strasburg, with whom he is sometimes compared, he has thrown 53 more pitches at 100 mph or harder than Strasburg did over his whole career (29).

• He has amassed 80 more swings and misses than Shelby Miller, a former first-round selection pick, had during the whole previous campaign. on 663 pitches.

• In his first 27 innings in the major leagues, he has already recorded 38 strikeouts. I located three Hall of Famers from a little earlier era who did not strike out 38 batters in a season:

Jim Kaat, 1980 — 37 K, 134 2/3 IP
Jim Palmer, 1981 — 35 K, 127 1/3 IP
Catfish Hunter, 1979 — 34 K, 105 IP

And Skenes has passed all of them … in a month.

This is my suggestion, then. Do not do whatever it is you were considering doing on the day this guy pitches! See Paul Skenes perform his wizardry for the Pirates, if you can. You have never seen anything or anyone like it.

Arraez-aroni

And lastly, Luis Arraez. Now he works as a padre. However, that is essentially the only aspect of him that has undergone modification.

Is he going to be the hitting leader in his league for the third consecutive season—against the third different team?Of course he is on his way, but nonetheless.

For your convenience, the following players from the live-ball era have topped their league in batting average for a minimum of three consecutive seasons:

Rogers Hornsby (5)
Stan Musial
Rod Carew (5)
Wade Boggs (4)
Tony Gwynn
Miguel Cabrera

That is all there is to it. That includes Miggy, who will be standing on a podium in Cooperstown in 2028, along with the other five Hall of Famers. Does Luis Arraez intend to visit the Hall personally? Someday we should have a great talk about that. But set that one aside; we can not overlook one more accomplishment by Arraez.

How many four-hit games did he have last month, do you know? That makes four, then. He had just become a Padre for a month.

How many other Padres teams in history have had that many games in any given calendar month with four hits or more? The response is…none! Tony Gwynn was a Padre, indeed. However, June 1989, the three games with four hits or more, was his best month. Thus, he never carried it out.

Indeed, the Padres had players like Dave Winfield, Garry Templeton, Roberto Alomar, Steve Garvey, John Kruk, and a host of other well-known guys. However, they never accomplished this in any month.

Then, in his first month as a Padre, Luis Arraez appeared and accomplished it?With one exception, it would be nearly difficult to understand that. It is the

Baseball!

(Top image: Aaron Judge: Luke Hales / Getty Images; Elly De La Cruz: Jeff Dean / Getty Images)