The beautiful thing about baseball—at least in theory—is that the sport’s daily nature smooths out any irregularities in the data. This year, for example, the Mariners got out to a hot start by winning a lot of close games. When the luck ran out and the M’s win-loss record began to mirror their run differential more closely, they faded from the playoff race.
That makes statistical quirks so much more fun when they actually do occur, and this season had no shortage of them. Here are a few of our favorites.
The 30 teams in Major League Baseball combined for 40,993 hits and 41,177 strikeouts this season.