Oh, Those October LOBS!
Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 9, 2009
In Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS between the Twins and Yankees today, Minnesota had 12 hits, 2 batters hit by a pitch, and collected 7 walks on the evening. That's a total of 21 batters reaching base (in 11 innings worth of play). Yet, the Twins only scored 3 runs on the evening.
How many other times has a team had 21+ baserunners in a post-season game and scored 3 runs or less? Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Post Season Team Batting Game Finder, we can see the answer:
Cnt Date Series G Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB TOB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB Batrs +----+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+---+---+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+-----+ 1 2003-10-03 NLDS 3 SFG @FLA L 3-4 54 43 3 12 1 0 0 3 8 22 4 6 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 18 19 2 1999-10-17 NLCS 5 ATL @NYM L 3-4 67 55 3 13 6 1 0 3 10 25 5 19 1 1 0 1 1 3 1 19 22
Yes, besides the Twins today, it's only happened twice before in baseball history. I guess that makes it pretty hard to do, huh?
October 10th, 2009 at 9:32 am
And they both also lost 4-3.
October 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
*all three instances involved extra innings.
*edgar alfonzo played in both the '99 and '03 games, losing with one, winning with the other.
*joe nathan played in the '03 and '09 games, issuing a walk to his only batter in the first one, and blowing the save in the 2nd one.
October 10th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Most LOB in any postseason game of nine innings or less? According to PI,it was just a few days ago. The Dodgers in their win over the Cards in the NLDS opener on Wednesday left 16 men on base: 12 hits, 8 BBs, 2 HBP, and only 5 runs to show for it. No post-season game thaty was not an extra-inning game has ever seen more LOBs by one team. Amazingly enough, PI also shows that the Cardinals in that same game left 14 men on base (11 H, 5 BB, 2 HBP yet only 3 runs scored), which is also one of the ten highest 9-inning LOB totals in MLB post-season history.