August in Major League Baseball, by the numbers
Perhaps you've been on vacation, to camp, or toiling away at everyday life in unrelenting humidity. It's time to get back to baseball.
Here’s a very quick recap of August:
- At the end of July: The Orioles led the AL East by a half-game over the Blue Jays. At the end of August: the Blue Jays led the Red Sox by two games and the Orioles by four.
- At the end of July: The Indians led the AL Central by 4 1/2 games over the Tigers. At the end of August: nothing has changed.
- At the end of July: The Rangers led the AL West by six games over the Astros. At the end of August: the Rangers upped their lead to 8 1/2 games over Houston.
- At the end of July: The Nationals led the NL East by four games over the Marlins. At the end of August: the Nationals led the Mets by nine games and the Marlins by 11.
- At the end of July: The Cubs led the NL Central by 7 1/2 games over the Cardinals. At the end of August: the Cubs doubled their lead to 15 games over St. Louis.
- At the end of July: The Giants led the NL West by two games over the Dodgers. At the end of August: the Dodgers led the Giants by 1.5 games.
Now, for the eye-opening and frivolous numbers from a red-hot month:
1. The Cubs were 22-6, led by their pitching staff which had the best ERA in baseball in August (2.66). The Cubs and the majors were led by Kyle Hendricks’ 1.28 ERA, followed by Jon Lester’s 1.71. Jake Arrieta had the lowest batting average against (.150). On the South Side of Chicago, Carlos Rodon had the best ERA in the AL, at 1.47 (the ChiSox had a team ERA of 4.26).
2.
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Speaking of Lester, he faced 119 batters in August and allowed just four extra-base hits (two homers, two doubles), the fewest in baseball.
3. The Devo “Whip it Good” Award goes to the Cubs pitching staff, whiich posted a 1.10 WHIP (walks and hits per inning). The Twins and Diamondbacks were at the bottom at 1.61.
4. The Cubs were a delight to their fans at Wrigley going 14-2. The Royals got back in postseason contention after they had the best winning pct. on the road at .688 after going 11-5. The Brewers were the favorite visitors going just 3-10 on the road.
5. The Nationals were 17-11 and had the highest batting average with runners in scoring position, hitting .317. The Cardinals were 14-13, despite hitting an MLB-worst .190 with runners in scoring position.
6. Chris Sale (52) and Max Scherzer (51) led the majors in strikeouts. Vince Velasquez led the majors with a 12.30 strikeouts per nine. Kendall Graveman went 3-2 for the A’s, but in 39 2/3 innings he whiffed only 17 batters, a league-low 3.86 K/9 rate. Fortunately for Graveman, batters only hit .230 against him in the month.
7. R.A. Dickey has allowed 27 homers this season, but in August he only permitted one to the 127 batters he faced. The homer hitter was the Nick Buss of the Angels and it was his first (and so far only) major league homer.
8. Jered “Nightmare” Weaver had a .357 BAA, the worst in baseball in August. James Shields has always allowed a lot of homers, but the 12 he allowed in August were the most in baseball and the most he has allowed in any single month in his 11-season career.
9. These two talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk: Masahiro Tanaka walked one batter 39.0 August innings and Ivan Nova walked one in 31.1 IP. The Giants could not have been wild about Matt Moore who led the month with 21 walks in 37.0 IP. On the other hand, Moore’s slugging pct. against of .256 was the lowest in baseball.
10.
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Second basemen drew a lot of attention in August. Two at second were first in batting August: Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu made sweet music hitting .439 and the Red Sox gritty second baseman Dustin Pedroia was next in the majors hitting .406, a BA that should resonate in Boston since this is the 75th anniversary of Ted Williams hitting .406 for the season. There were ten players who hit below .200 for the month; none lower than the Royals second baseman Raul Mondesi who went 13-81 AB for a .160 BA.
11. Twins’ second sacker Brian Dozier led the majors with 13 homers in August; he has a career-high 32 so far this season already breaking the Twins season record for a second baseman that he set last year with 28. Dozier led the majors with 24 extra-base hits and 90 total bases in the month. But when it comes to August homers, the highlight was the Yankees’ Gary Sanchez who hit the first 11 homers of his career in the month.
12. The Blue Jays second baseman, Devon Travis, went 10-19 AB with runners in scoring position; his .556 BA was the best in baseball.
13. Brett Lawrie has 36 RBI in 384 PA on the season; Nolan Arenado had 36 RBI in 127 PA in August, the most ribbies in baseball.
14. Billy Hamilton stole 19 bases in August (he has 54 this season); the Orioles (2), A’s (3), Cardinals (4), Dodgers (4), and Mets (5) combined for only 18 steals.
15. The Cubs, Indians, Rockies, Tigers, Dodgers, and Mariners were each hit by 12 pitches, but the most bruised was Brandon Guyer who was plunked six more times in August bringing his league leading total to 29 for the season. He also led last season with 24 HBP.
16.
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Nobody struck out more frequently in August than Boston’s Jackie Bradley, Jr.; he whiffed 39 times. He was followed by three first basemen: Chris Davis, Brandon Belt, and Wil Myers who went down swinging 37 times each.
17. Butterfly in the Amazon Effect: The Brewers’ Chris Carter swung-and-missed an MLB-leading 85 times in August. The effect? The Brewers were 10-20 in the month.
18. Someone’s foul in St. Louis: The Cardinals’ Stephen Piscotty saw 494 pitches in April and fouled off 134 of them, the most in baseball.
19. Martin Prado hit .301 in the month for the Marlins but he must be impossible to go shopping with because he’s very picky: no one took more called strikes (119) than Prado in August.
20. The Indians were 16-14 in August led by Corey Kluber who went 5-0 with a 2.43 ERA. Danny Duffy of the Royals (20-9 in August) was the only other five-game winner in the month going 5-1 with a 2.51 ERA. Kluber’s teammate, Josh Tomlin, was the month’s biggest loser going 0-5 with an ERA of 11.48.
21. The Rodney Dangerfield “I don’t get no respect” Award goes to the Cleveland Indians, the only team in August not to draw an intentional walk. The Astros and Dodgers were the only teams to not throw an IBB.
22. The most selfish team in baseball in August were the Indians, the only team without a sacrifice.
23. There were 21 grand slams hit in August, hit by 21 different players. The Phils’ Michael Mariot showed great hospitality as the only pitcher allowing two grannies.
24. The Orioles were 10-for-10 in save opportunities in August; the only team without a blown save for the month. The Royals’ Kelvin Herrera was 10-for-10 in save opportunities. The Rockies on the other hand blew 8-of-11 save opportunities making them successful on just 27.27% of their save chances.
25. There have been 57 walkoff homers hit this season with 10 coming in August. There were five walkoff singles, three walkoff doubles, two walkoff walks, two walkoff HBPs, two walkoff errors, and four walkoff sac flies in August
As we close out August, Toronto’s manager John Gibbons has a great quote that sums up were we stand right now in baseball, "there’s not a lot of games left, but there’s a lot of games left.”
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