By Other Fun Notes
– For the fifth time in six years, Yadier Molina led the majors among catchers who qualified for the batting title in fewest stolen bases allowed. Only AJ Ellis had a higher CS percentage than Yadier, but he also allowed 35 stolen bases (Yadier allowed 26) while catching 1,043 fewer innings.
– The Cardinals finished the season with a +187 run differential. After a brief glance at their Baseball Reference page, this would appear to be the fifth-best run differential in the team’s history (not counting the years when the Browns/Maroons/Perfectos were in the AA):
+275 – 1942
+220 – 1930
+201 – 1931
+196 – 2004
+187 – 2013
– In case you didn’t notice, the rookies for the Cardinals were good this year. Really good. Matheny had to lean on the farm system quite a bit this year, and they not only responded, they excelled.
Not counting the contributions of Maikel Cleto, the rookie pitching staff combined for the following:
3.10 ERA, .230 avg against, .352 slugging against, 2.93 K/BB ratio
How’d the veteran pitchers do? Not counting Rob Johnson’s appearance:
3.58 ERA, .259 avg against, .373 slugging against, 2.67 K/BB ratio.
Not too shabby.
Anyways, that’s it for now, folks. I’ll be posting during / after each series. In the meantime, let’s go Cardinals.
97 down. 11 to go.