I get a kick out of the KFC ad campaign asking where the nugget comes from on a chicken. This is a lead in to touting their popcorn chicken. And nowhere in the ad do they answer where popcorn comes from on a chicken.
But, I digress.
17 players had at least 100 rbi this year.
Almost half of those 17, eight, did not finish with 100 runs scored.
Prince Fielder
Ryan Howard
Mark Teixeira
Michael Young
Victor Martinez
Adrian Beltre
Paul Konerko
Troy Tulowitzki
You're probably way ahead of me after looking at the list, but most of these players share two things.
Except for Tulowitzki, all are, or well on their way to becoming sloths or base cloggers.
The other thing being that all these players usually hit four or five in their lineups. Teixeira being the noteable exception there.
For those of you who lost out on cash because of a few runs, something to remember while drafting.
11 pitchers had at least 200 strike outs this year.
Of those 11 pitchers, only three are not on a playoff team this year.
Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, and Tim Lincecum.
Eight pitchers had at least 17 wins, only Kershaw and Weaver are not on playoff teams.
Pitching and playoffs, simpatico.
A trivia question-
Last year, Roy Halladay and Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young awards.
Prior to them, how many active Cy Young pitchers are still throwing for the same team with which they won that award?
-Answer at the bottom of this post
If Matt Kemp wins the NL MVP and Clayton Kershaw wins the NL Cy Young award, it'll be the first time since 1962 that the winners of these awards came from the same team and that that team is not in the playoffs.
In 1962 Maury Wills and Don Drysdale won the awards for the Dodgers while the Giants played in the World Series.
Only eight players had 90 bases on balls this year.
In 2000, at the height of the steroid era, when the walk was more of a weapon, 17 batters had at least 100 freebies.
Bill James once compared Juan Samuel to Walter Matthau, saying that both are hard to cast.
James probably would compare an overweight actor to Drew Stubbs as well.
Stubbs shares the same speed and power attributes as Samuel.
This year, Stubbs led the Major Leagues in striking out. That hasn't been done by a primarily top of the order hitter since, you guessed it, Juan Samuel in 1984.
The answer to the trivia question-
Only two.
Tim Lincecum twice with the SF Giants.
Chris Carpenter in 2005 with the STL Cardinals.