By Woodrow Carroll
The odds were not in the Chicago Cubs’ favor when they took the field Sunday, April 23 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, even though the Cubs were at home in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. The Dodgers had pitcher Clayton Kershaw on the mound.
Of all the Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers who have won 200 or more games in their careers, Kershaw has the highest winning percentage among them. The Dodgers saw to it that Kershaw’s winning percentage received a slight boost by beating the Cubs, 7-3.
Kershaw’s victory raised his season won-loss record to 4-1, and, it allowed the Dodgers, who got off to slow start to the 2023 campaign, to reach the .500 record at 12-12.
Kershaw’s victory was the 201st of his MLB career. Lifetime, Kershaw improved to 201-88 to give him a winning percentage touching on 70%. Obviously, Kershaw, 35, will continue on his path.
Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford was the percentage king for those with 200 or more victories entering this season. Ford, who pitched his entire career with the New York Yankees starting in 1950, closed his career with a 236-106 lifetime record. Some quick math tells us that Ford won more than 69% of his decisions.
Kershaw’s position as the lifetime winning percentage leader of 70%, might be a bit tenuous. A couple of bad outings and his winning percentage drops. Still, it is a nice to contemplate.
There is a bit of a mystery surrounding Jose Abreu, namely, a power outage.
September 13, 2022, Abreu hit a solo home run against the Colorado Rockies as a member of the Chicago White Sox. The game was not memorable. The White Sox beat the visiting Rockies, 4-2.
At that time Abreu was in his ninth season in a Chicago White Sox uniform. Abreu this season is with the Houston Astros, having signed a three-year contract with the defending World Series champion Astros in November 2022.
The quirky thing surrounding Abreu is the power outage. In his nine campaigns with the White Sox, Abreu hit 243 round-trippers and his home run against Colorado last September his last.
Abreu opened this season with a 10-game hitting streak. Six of those hits were against White Sox pitching. The Astros played host to the White Sox to open the season. The teams split a four-game series, just no home runs for Abreu who collected six hits in 16 at bats against his former team.
In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Abreu hit 19 home runs in just 60 games in what might have been his best season. Had the season played out in its entirety it clearly had the makings of career highs for Abreu. The 60-game schedule in 2020 provided a small sample; yet, was good enough to earn Abreu American League Most Valuable Player honors.
After playing 23 games, the White Sox are proud possessors of another team record, no triples! The wags will point out that no White Sox player has hit for the cycle this season. Triples are exciting if not uncommon.
For example, in 1979 the Kansas City Royals’ George Brett finished with 20 triples. The best in MLB. Brett had both power and speed.
Back to the real world! After a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Monday, April 24, the White Sox won-loss record was 7-16. The only salvation for the White Sox might be the team’s location in the American League Central Division. The Minnesota Twins (13-10) was the only team in the AL Central with a winning record entering this week. The Twins are not viewed as a threat by most observers for postseason glory.