QUESTIONS OF BALANCE

And the Quizmaster makes a return

THE QUIZMASTER

Over the last decade, one of my favorite gigs was as the Quizmaster for the Chicago Sun-Times. Every Saturday, first just in baseball season, then throughout the year, in the center-spread of Sports Saturday, I would ask baseball questions. The nine questions were thematic and were designed to be fun and playful. They were seasonal and timely, and it just didn’t matter whether readers got the answer right or wrong, just as long as they had fun and learned a lot.

It will be a while in this new venture before I ask you nine questions, as I’m trying to encourage free readers to convert to paid subscribers. However, I’ll periodically include a question or two for you to give it a try. Here’s one for today:

Three visiting players have hit 50+ homers at Wrigley Field. Who are these terrific players?

Quiz Hint #1 - They are all Hall of Famers

WHICH TWO TEAMS WITH THE BEST RECORDS IN BASEBALL HAVE THE BEST PITCHING IN BASEBALL?

WHICH TWO TEAMS WITH THE BEST RECORDS IN BASEBALL HAVE THE BEST HOME RECORDS IN BASEBALL?

Mets starters have allowed a total of 12 earned runs in their first 12 home games.

I love it when there are explanations for why things happen that my simple mind can easily understand.

BTW: The Mets have won six in a row, the longest winning streak in baseball.

WHICH THREE TEAMS WITH WINNING RECORDS HAVE PLAYED .500 BALL FOR THE LAST 16 GAMES?

Okay, you should know that “Willie” (or the Giants (15-9) have hit .224 over these 16 games. The Giants lost last night to Milwaukee, 11-3, as Jose Quintana moved to 3-0. The Brewers must have a (legal) magical elixir to make pitchers better than they are.

Look at the numbers for these three Giants starters for the season. They have combined for 15 extra-base hits and two homers. Their teammate, Jung Hoo Lee, by himself, has 15 XBH, three homers, and a .315 BA.

“Mickey,” of course, is better known as the 14-10 Yankees. Their starting pitchers this season have a 4.69 ERA, 26th in baseball. And, when you leave out Max Fried’s 1.42 ERA, the remaining starters have a 5.87 ERA. All the Yankee talent and it’s on its way to a season with wins in the mid-80s.

Aaron Judge is 10-20 against lefties this season with an OPS of 1.800. He’s only hitting .386 against righties.

Quiz Hint #2 - They all played in multiple decades, and all played in the 1970s.

The 16-8 Dodgers are “the Duke,” in my little exercise in self-entertainment. Where would this team be without Tommy Edman? He now has eight homers, the most homers he's ever hit in a month. In his last 50 regular-season games, going back to last September 1, he has hit 14 homers. He’s never hit more than 14 homers in a full season. This season, he has two three-run homers and four go-ahead homers. The three-run homer he hit last night was the 15th homer of his career against the Cubs. The man has only hit 67 career homers, which is 22.3% of his career homers against the Cubs.

Here’s a Dodgers batting note: The 7-8-9 batters in their lineup are hitting .176 with a .256 OBP. Shohei Ohtani has 101 PA this season, only 29 with men on base. Ohtani has hit six homers this season, five solo shots and one two-run homer.

Let’s talk for a moment about the pitching of the Dodgers. The Dodgers have tossed 212.0 IP. Like the Marlins, the Dodgers starters have thrown 111.1 innings. You don’t want any sentence to begin with “Like the Marlins” and end with your team. The Dodgers bullpen has now thrown 100.2 innings, the first team in the bigs with over 100 bullpen innings thrown. The Marlins are next with 96.2. Here’s the craziest number: Dodgers starters are 6-4 and Dodgers relievers are 10-4.

Quiz Hint #3 - They are all members of the 500+ Homer club.

SO FAR, WHO ARE THE MAJOR LEAGUE LEADERS IN HOME RUNS?