There have been 3 games in post-season history in which one team had at least 3 players get at least 4 hits apiece:

All 3 games involved the Boston Red Sox.

Sixty-five years ago today, the Cardinals racked up 12 runs on the Red Sox to even the World Series at 2 games each before going on to win in 7 games. The Cardinals had a hit from every play and 4 each from Enos Slaughter, Whitey Kurowski, and Joe Garagiola.

Twelve years ago today, the Red Sox score a playoff-record 23 runs against the Indians, evening the ALDS at 2 games each before going on to win in 5 games. The Red Sox got 4 hits and 7 RBI from 3B John Valentin, 5 hits and 1 RBI from 1B Mike Stanley, and 4 hits and 3 RBI from C Jason Varitek, who had just played his first full season in the majors.

Seven years ago (but not today), the Yankees pounded the Red Sox 19-8 in Game 3 of the ALCS. New York went up 3 games to none but it was the last game they'd win in 2004, and the last game the Red Sox would lose. In this game the Yankees got 4 hits and 4 RBI from Gary Sheffield, 5 hits and 5 RBI from Hideki Matsui, and 4 hits and 3 RBI from Bernie Williams.

Since 1901, how many pitchers have logged at least 500 innings before their age 23 season while maintaining an ERA+ of 110 or better?

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Who said that the AL East underperformed this season? Two different AL East teams might meet in the 2011 World Series. How is that possible, you say? Especially given that the Yankees and Rays have already been eliminated and two teams from the same division can't meet in the Series anyway?

Well, from 1972 to 1993, the Brewers were in the AL East, and from 1969 to 1997 the Tigers resided in that division as well.

The Brewers switching leagues opens up all kind of unusual possibilities like this, including the '82 World Series rematch in the 2011 NLCS.

(This concept of this post was brought to you by Raphy.)

Here are the top players by position to play in the majors for both the Tigers and the Rangers:

C: Ivan Rodriguez, Mickey Tettleton
1B: Phil Nevin, Carlos Pena
2B: Dalton Jones
3B: Dean Palmer
SS: Scott Fletcher
LF: Willie Horton, Frank Howard, Frank Catalanotto
CF: Johnny Grubb
RF: Juan Gonzalez, Rusty Staub, Ruben Sierra
Utility: Matt Stairs
Starting pitchers: Kenny Rogers,  Joe Coleman, Frank Tanana, Denny McLain, Doyle Alexander
Relief pitchers: Doug Brocail, Mike Henneman, Dave Rozema, Francisco Cordero, Ugueth Urbina, Joaquin Benoit, Mike Marshall

In honor of the rematch of the 1982 World Series that will occur in the 2011 NLCS, here is a stab at the all-time team of players who appeared in the majors for both the Cardinals and the Brewers:

C: Ted Simmons, Darrell Porter, Mike Matheny
1B: Tito Francona
2B: Fernando Vina, Ronnie Belliard
3B: David Bell, Russell Branyan
SS: Royce Clayton, Ducky Schofield
LF:
CF: Jim Edmonds, Jose Cardenal
RF: Sixto Lezcano, Bernie Carbo, Tom Brunansky
Utility: Mark Sweeney

Starting pitchers: Pete Vuckovich, Jerry Reuss, Cal Eldred, Reggie Cleveland, Ray Sadecki
Relief pitchers: Ray King, Tony Fossas, Jesse Orosco, Mike DeJean

I limited myself to fairly well-known players even if they didn't play a lot for both the Cardinals and Brewers. I couldn't find anybody to put in left field thought!

Anyway, this isn't exactly a stellar team, although it's pretty deep at C and CF!

Since 1901, how many teams had 10+ players on their roster with at least 200 Plate Appearances, but, with fewer than 40 RBI that season?

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The Rangers 3-2 victory over the Tigers last night was the third consecutive game which they won by a single run. Here are the teams that have won at least 3 consecutive one-run games in the post season. Read the rest of this entry »

Is it just me, or it the list of October 8th birthdays really fun?

A few things that caught my eye:

• Doc Crandall played more than 300 games as a pitcher and nearly 100 additional games as a position player.
• Best names: Johnny Lush and Charlie Manlove
• Other great names: Ping Bodie, Tom Colcolough, Bob Mabe, Bob Skube, Doug Neff, Don Pepper, Ed Wingo, Monte Pfeffer
• Two first names: Jerry Reed, Mike Chris, Rex Cecil, Keith Reed, and of course, Wally Moses
• #15 and #16: Little Peoples

Add three more to the list - thanks to this year's LDS.

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It seems rare that professional sports games live up to the hype. Super Bowls come to mind, as do baseball matchups of ace pitchers. But last night's Cardinals-Phillies game was simply awesome, and a fitting low-scoring battle as we come down off the Steroids Era scoring high.

Anyway, we've seen lots of interesting ways to end a game or a season:

• Walk-off balks
• Walk-off hit-by-pitch
• Walk-off game-losing hits
• Game-ending triple plays and walk-off double plays
• Walk-off cycle
• Walk-off sac bunt
• Walk-off mystery hit
• Game-ending reaches on error
• Season-ending walk

We've also seen tons of athletes end their season with a torn ACL or Achilles--however that usually happens in the middle of a game and in the middle of the season.

But did you see this last night? Ryan Howard apparently (pending MRI results) tore his Achilles on the final play of the game, crumbling to the ground as the Cardinals rushed the field to celebrate their NLDS victory.

I cannot recall any team's season ever ending with a serious injury to a player. What a terrible shame for Howard and the Phillies--if indeed the injury is serious, it's tough to imagine him being ready for spring training in 2012.