The Royals got to superb setup man Tyler Holton of the Tigers Friday afternoon as Kansas City scored five runs against him in the ninth inning to extend a 1-0 lead into an 8-0 victory. Holton faced six batters, giving up two hits, two hit batters, and a walk. Holton came into the game with an opposition batting line that would be the envy of most relievers, .187/.235/.308. Note in those splits that Holton often pitches in the eighth and ninth innings, and those splits are among his best. This was easily the worst appearance of Holton’s career. On 8/27/2023, the Astros got to him for four runs ..read more

The occupants of the two oldest ballparks meet in Boston as the Cubs take on the Red Sox. Shota Imanaga faces Kutter Crawford. The starters offer two of the three lowest ERAs in the majors. Imanaga walks very few batters, while Crawford has yet to allow a home run. The Yankees battle the Brewers with Luis Gil taking on Colin Rea, the battle of the short last names. Gil simply blows batters away, striking out 29 in 19 2/3 innings. That makes up for the 17 walks. He has yet to allow a home run. Rea has not been hurt by home runs this season compared to his entire career. Enjoy ..read more

For the past few years Baseball Musings tried to help with playing Beat the Streak. The Day by Day Database keeps track of hit streak of at least five games. In addition, two programs produce top ten lists of players with a high probability of a hit. Here are the top picks my programs produced for use in Beat the Streak. This post mostly explains the ideas behind the calculations. In addition, this post shows tests on the Neural Network (NN). This post discusses an NN that includes the ballpark. I updated the models, and the results of those tests are here. The Log5 Method yields these top p ..read more

Juan Soto of the Yankees remains on top of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. He went one for four with a double and a walk in 3-1 Athletics win, keeping his OBP and slugging percentage high. Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers trade slots as Betts reached base three times with a walk, single and double on Thursday, while Ohtani drops to third with an 0 for 4, ending his hit streak. Los Angeles beats Washington 2-1. William Contreras of the Brewers ranks fourth as he posted a two for four day with a walk and a home run, his fifth of the season. He currently ranks second in both ba ..read more

The Day by Day Database is up to date ..read more

Jose Ramirez of the Guardians posted a good day at the plate, three for four with a grand slam. Despite that Ramirez appears to have lost his plate discipline, giving him a .260 BA and a .271 OBP. Ramirez walked just twice this season; in his last three years he walked at least 69 times, and in his career he owns a .353 OBP. You can see in his plate discipline numbers that he is swinging a lot more, and mostly at pitches outside the strike zone. He is chasing poor pitches, which simultaneously lowers both his hits and his walks. Maybe a day like today will be a turning point to the great Ramir ..read more

The Twins beat the White Sox 6-3 Thursday afternoon, dropping Chicago’s record to 3-22 after 25 games. How bad is that? Chicago matched Cincinnati in 2022, Detroit in 2003 and Washington in 1894 as teams that opened 3-22. Baltimore began 2-23 in 1988. ESPN.com So three times in the 21st century after only happening twice before. The only hitters in the lineup today having decent seasons were were back up catcher Korey Lee and outfielder Gaving Sheets. The order did collect nine hits and four walks in the game but went 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position ..read more

For the past few years Baseball Musings tried to help with playing Beat the Streak. The Day by Day Database keeps track of hit streak of at least five games. In addition, two programs produce top ten lists of players with a high probability of a hit. Here are the top picks my programs produced for use in Beat the Streak. This post mostly explains the ideas behind the calculations. In addition, this post shows tests on the Neural Network (NN). This post discusses an NN that includes the ballpark. I updated the models, and the results of those tests are here. The Log5 Method yields these top p ..read more

William Contreras of the Brewers returns to the top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. The catcher hit leadoff on the road and went three for four with a walk in a 3-2 win over the Pirates to move into fifth place. At the top stands Juan Soto of the Yankees. He homered and walks in a 7-3 win over the Athletics, his OBP now at .431. Dodgers Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts sit second and third respectively after an 11-2 win over the Nationals. Betts posted a slightly better game. Both doubled (Ohtani three times), but Betts went four for six to Ohtani’s three for six. Note that rookie ..read more

The Day by Day Database is up to date ..read more