As far as basic, unweighted pitching stats are concerned, strikeouts are the standard for demonstrating a pitcher’s performance. A single game performance with a large number of Ks can be enough for a starting pitcher to make a highlight reel but it is very difficult to maintain a high level of strikeout consistency against Major League hitters across an entire season.

What is the single-season strikeout record in Major League Baseball? Let’s have a look and count down the top 10 most strikeouts in a single season. For the purposes of this list, we will only be including strikeout records recorded in the live ball era, defined by Baseball Reference as 1920 onward. 

Unlike some other notable MLB franchises, the New York Mets haven’t been around for well over a hundred years, so their team history may not seem as storied as some others. Their first season was 1962. That 40-120 year was a rough start for New York’s second team at the time. Only a few years earlier, the Dodgers left for Los Angeles and the Giants moved to San Francisco. After a rough start to the decade, the Miracle Mets of 1969 won a World Series in only the franchise’s eighth season. Then the ‘86 Mets had one of the wildest seasons in baseball history on their way to the team’s second world title. Since 1962, the Mets have supplied the sport with many memories and some potent sluggers. Today we are going to look at the leading home-run hitters that launched bombs in Queens.

Is there a more overlooked basic statistical category in baseball than doubles? While home runs can put runs on the board with a single swing, a double instantly puts a runner in scoring position and more often than not, can bring baserunners home. Though not scrutinized in the way batting average, RBI and hits are, doubles are a great indicator of a solid player who gives his team a chance to win game after game. Let’s look at who has the most doubles in a single season in baseball history.

The 2023 Major League batting champ, Luis Arráez, was able to hit over .350 on the season. Maintaining a .350 average over a career, however, is a very difficult feat.

Batting average is one of the key traditional statistics in baseball, and batting average records are some of the most lauded in the game. It takes a high level of consistency and skill to hit for average and any player who can hit for over .350 in their career, no matter the era, solidifies their place in baseball history. The list of who has the highest batting average of all time is a list of some of the greatest hitters of the early 20th century. Given advances in pitching and fielding skills, it’s highly unlikely we will ever see these records broken. Here are the players with the highest batting averages of all time. 

In the famous words of iconic Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas, “That ball is outta here!” The Phillies have been around since 1883. This team and its fan base have endured a lot of heartache in 140 years; I know this all too well. As a franchise, they have lost more games (11,259 entering the 2024 season) than any team in MLB history. Every fan of the Phils knows about Black Friday in 1977, Joe Carter’s walk-off blast in 1993, Ryan Howard collapsing in 2011, and then losing the last two at home in the 2023 NLCS. However, this list will focus on something more celebratory: the top home-run hitters in Philadelphia Phillies history. This group is a nice blend of names from yesteryear and modern times. A few of these guys helped bring championships to Philadelphia, so hopefully Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber can do the same.

Remember getting baseball cards when you were a kid? You would turn a card over to read a player’s stats, and you instantly scanned to their home runs and RBIs. Those were the money stats and often the barometer for a guy’s value in the view of fans. Home runs are pure power numbers, and undoubtedly handfuls of RBIs come with those blasts, but the great thing about RBIs is that you can collect them without hitting homers. A skilled situational hitter can drive in a run with a single, a bunt, a walk, a sacrifice fly, a well-placed grounder, etc. Yes, it is easier to eat up four steaks with a grand slam, but that isn’t always necessary to help your team win.

These are the five MLB players with the most RBIs in a single season. All of these men are in the Hall of Fame, but only one of them eclipsed the 500-homer milestone. Another would have if not for a horrible health diagnosis. It’s also worth noting that all of these offensive onslaughts came between 1927 and 1938. That must have been the golden era for RBIs. If you do deeper digging, you’ll find that only two players have had a 160-RBI season since the 1930s. Let’s cut the rambling and see who has the most RBIs in a single season.

The most stressful, high-pressure role in baseball is that of the closing pitcher. This pressure is why the save merits its own statistical category, those three outs at the end of a game while your team is ahead are the most critical three outs a pitcher can make. Saves take composure, skill and confidence. Only a handful of players have made more than 50 saves in a season. These are the most saves in a season in MLB history. 

Is there an athletic accomplishment more Americana than hitting a home run? America has been celebrating home runs since the early 1900s. Think about how often the term home run is used in everyday metaphors of life. The home run is a definitive part of American culture, so home runs will always bring smiles (or frowns, depending on your rooting interest), and they will carry with them sheer excitement and wonderment. Many of baseball’s most memorable images are momentous home runs: Bobby Thomson’s shot heard round the world, Hank Aaron’s #715, Ozzie Smith’s unlikely blast to walk off the Cards in the NLCS, and Joe Carter stomping around the Skydome turf to clinch the World Series. This list will spotlight the players with the most home runs in a single season. Since there are some repeat offenders, only seven sluggers will make an appearance for their Ruthian seasons; hint and pun intended. In the words of the immortal Joe Buck, “Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!”

One of the great things about baseball is that it’s played until it’s over. It’s not possible to run out the clock or stall for time. And, the 2002 All-Star Game notwithstanding, there are no ties. Both teams have to keep playing until one team wins. And while that might be exhausting for players, it can be great fun for fans. The cost of going to an MLB game is well-documented, so when we get to watch more than nine innings, it feels like we’re getting a bargain. Every once in a while, games will go on-and-on-and-on and lucky fans end up seeing the equivalent of two whole games. That’s what happened with all the games below. Here are the ten longest games in AL/NL history, by innings played.

With the postseason in full swing, it seems the perfect time to look at legendary postseason games. And what can be more legendary than two games in one? There have been more than a few games that last 18 innings in the history of postseason baseball. And since extra-inning games don’t begin with a runner on second in the postseason, there’s a chance we could see additions to this list in the coming weeks.