Did You Know?
4/25/2003

You may have known that the Stanhope Mighty Men and the Honolulu Sharks combined for 20 runs in their recent slugfest. But Did You Know what was the highest-scoring game of the year this season?

Thursday night's battle royale between the Mighty Men and the Sharks turned out to be the seventh time this season that two teams have combined for 20 or more runs. The even score put up by the two squads is tied for the fifth-most scored this season.

Highest Scoring Games

More Did You Know:

  • Arkansas has the best record in 20+ run games, with a 2-0 record; Newark, Stanhope and Vancouver are all 1-0. Tijuana and Brooklyn are each 1-1. Phoenix and Columbia have the worst record, at 0-2, while Honolulu is 0-1.
  • Newark and Tijuana combined for the most runs in a game this season on April 17, when the Sugar Bears crunched the Banditos, 15-8. The two teams drilled 28 hits, including nine home runs, plus 12 walks and two hit batsmen. Each squad used five pitchers. Manny Ramirez went 3-for-4 with 2 HR, 2 BB, 3 RBI and 4 R for Newark, while Josh Phelps was 3-for-5 with 2 HR, 2 R and 3 RBI.
  • A month later, Arkansas and Phoenix tied that record, also combining for 23 runs as the Golden Falcons outlasted the Dragons, 13-10. Arkansas had a 10-6 lead with two outs in the ninth, but Garret Anderson tied it up with a grand slam off Cliff Politte. In the bottom of the ninth, Orlando Palmeiro stroked a clean single off Troy Percival and was bunted over to second; the Dragons responded by intentionally walking Larry Walker. Percival then coaxed John Olerud into flying out, but he couldn't close the deal: Lance Berkman won it with a walk-off home run.
  • The Rattlesnakes mounted a heroic comeback of their own in their 21-run battle with Tijuana, but ultimately came up short. Trailing 9-2 in the top of the ninth, Columbia would score six runs off three different pitchers before the first out of the inning. The Rattlesnakes would score twice more, sending 13 men to the plate, as they exploded for eight runs to take a 10-9 lead. But it would not be enough. In the bottom of the ninth, closer Mike Williams gave up four singles to blow his first save of the season and give the Banditos an improbable 11-10 win. It's fitting that Williams was singled to death in the ninth: The two teams combined for 35 hits -- tied for the most of any game this season -- and 23 of them were singles.
  • In Thursday's game, Stanhope proved to be the mightier team as they outslugged the Sharks, 13-7. The game got off to a rip-roaring start as the Mighty Men, behind a three-run home run by Eli Marrero, scored four in the first; the Sharks responded with three in the bottom of the frame, including a two-run shot from Shawn Green. But the Sharks completely unraveled in the top of the second as the Mighty Men blew it open with six runs without an extra base hit: Four singles, three walks, an error and a passed ball. The two teams combined for 23 hits, including three doubles and four home runs.
  • The only 20-run slugfest that needed extra innings was Vancouver's wild 11-9 win over Brooklyn, which saw several lead changes before finally ending in the 13th inning. Vancouver was up 6-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, but Brooklyn tied it up with two-run sixth and seventh innings, then went ahead on a pinch-hit solo home run by Scott Spiezio. Vancouver reclaimed the lead in the top of the ninth when Jeff Bagwell slammed a two-out, two-run shot off Robb Nen, but Brooklyn's Junior Spivey responded with a dinger of his own to lead off the ninth against Billy Wagner, tying the game at 8. The two teams then traded scoreless frames until the top of the 13th, when back-to-back doubles off Brooklyn's sixth pitcher of the night, Vladimir Nunez, gave Vancouver a three-run cushion. But the wild game wasn't over yet: With two outs in the bottom of the 13th, Jack Wilson stroked an RBI single off Mike Timlin. Down by two, with Spiezio on second and Wilson on first, Spivey came up with the chance to be the hero again, but this time he flew out to Steve Finley just shy of the 412-foot sign in center field. The two teams combined for 35 hits, six home runs, nine walks, 23 strikeouts and three errors. The two teams combined for 10 pitchers, who threw a total of 410 pitches.
  • There also have been six games where the two teams combined for 19 runs, and five with 18 runs.
  • One of the league's highest scoring games -- Newark's 13-5 beat-down of Brooklyn -- happened on Opening Day. The 18 combined runs held the season record until five days later, when the Sugar Bears again broke double digits in an 11-8 win over Hoboken. No team would cross the 20-run threshhold until Week 2, when Arkansas edged Phoenix, 11-9.

    • 10/17/2002

    You already know that the Arkansas Golden Falcons set the all-time record for most wins in a season by going 120-42 this year. But Did You Know what other records fell this season?

    With a 120-42 mark, the Arkansas Golden Falcons set a league record for most wins in a season. The Vancouver Iron Fist had held onto the record for five years, going 118-44 in 1997. The Iron Fist had also held the previous record, 107-55, in 1994, to break the previous high of 104-58 set by the '92 Austin Outlaws and tied by the '93 Golden Falcons.

    Arkansas also set the record for most home wins in a season, going 64-17 to break another mark previously held by the '97 Iron Fist, 58-23. The Newark Sugar Bears also surpassed the old record this season, going 61-20 at home.

    One bit of consolation for the '97 Fisters: Their 60-21 road mark still stands. Arkansas went 56-25 on the road, the best in baseball, but still shy of the record; Newark had the second-best mark, at 48-33, followed by Vancouver at 45-36.

    No other team records fell this season. Newark came within .005 percentage points of tying the league record for highest team slugging percentage (.518, set by Arkansas in 1997), but their .361 OBP was well short of the .395 team OBP recorded by Arkansas in '94. Newark's 289 home runs were 16 short of the league-record 305 they slammed two years ago, and they were 243 RBI were short of the 1,199 they knocked in during the 1996 campaign. No other team batting records even came close.

    No team pitching records -- except wins, naturally -- were challenged. The Golden Falcons' league-best 3.41 ERA wasn't near their own league record of 3.13, set in 1992, and they also came up 202 Ks short of the league record for strikeouts (1,563), which they set two years ago. Their 13 shutouts were five short of tying the '98 Iron Fist's record, and 47 team saves were 10 short of the league record set by Vancouver two years ago.

    Most Valuable Barry?

    Bonds By the end of the season, Arkansas's Barry Bonds had rewritten the record book. The 39-year-old slugger pulled off two feats for the first time this year: Winning the traditional Triple Crown (batting average, home runs and runs batted in) and the so-called Sabermetric Triple Crown (batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage). No player had done either before.

    Bonds won the batting title, hitting .346 (164-474); his closet rivals were Stanhope's Bernie Williams (.324) and Phoenix's Ichiro Suzuki (.320). His 176 RBIs were 31 more than second-place's Sammy Sosa of Vancouver, and his 72 home runs were 17 more than Luis Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez.

    Bonds also led the league in on-base percentage, becoming the first player in league history to reach base in more than half of his plate appearances (.520); Honolulu's Jason Giambi was a distant second, at .438, and no other player posted a .400 OBP. He broke the record of .485, set by Gary Sheffield with Louisiana in 1997.

    He set a league record in slugging percentage, shattering the old record of .757 set by Ryan Klesko in 1996. Phoenix's Luis Gonzalez had the second-best slugging percentage this season, but he wasn't even visible in the rear-view mirror at .651.

    That said, Bonds's 1.410 on-base plus slugging percentage blew away the old mark, 1.221, set by Klesko in '96.

    With 163 runs scored, Bonds tied the record for most runs in a season, set by Chuck Knoblauch with Arkansas in 1997. However, it should be noted that runs scored totals are not available from the first few years of the league.

    The only player not named Bonds to set a batting record this season was Phoenix's Juan Uribe, who set the modern (Diamond Mind Baseball era) record for most triples, with 20. Lance Johnson had previously held the DMB record, slamming 17 with Toledo in 1997. Columbia's Cristian Guzman also eclipsed Johnson's mark, legging out 18 triples. Of course, nobody will ever touch the all-time record of 62 -- that's right, 62 triples -- hit by Cheyenne's Deion Sanders in 1993, during the Microleague era.

    Oh, and just in case he needs a couple more plaques on his wall: Bonds is on pace to draw 179 walks, which would break McGwire's record of 176 in 1996; and on track to score 164 runs, which would edge out Chuck Knoblauch's record of 163 (set with Arkansas in 1997). However, it should be noted that runs scored totals are not available from the first few years of the league.

    Still Standing

    Bonds's .346 batting average didn't challenge Neon-Deion's record batting average of .384, also set with Cheyenne in 1993, or the modern mark of .365, set in 1998 by Arkansas's Frank Thomas.

    And he came up just one homerun shy of Sosa's DMB era record of 73, set with Vancouver in '99. The all-time mark is 84, set by Newark's Mark McGwire in 1996, remains out of reach.

    Bonds also was 5 RBIs short of Sosa's 181 in 1999, and didn't come close to another apparently unassailable Microleague era record, Klesko's 225 in '96; and he drew 170 walks, just shy of McGwire's 176 in 1996.

    Ichiro came within nine hits of tying Jim Eisenreich's DMB record, set with Newark in 1997, of 238. Sanders' holds the all-time record thanks to that eye-popping '93 campaign, with 295.

    Honolulu's Giambi came within four doubles of tying Terry Shumpert's record of 69 two-baggers, set two years ago with Stanhope.

    Pitching Records

    Only one pitching mark fell this year, but several rookies came very close to getting their names in the record books.

    Pedro

    Arkansas's Pedro Martinez snapped a two-year-old record for winning percentage (minimum, 15 decisions), winning .913 of his decisions (21-2). The old mark, .875, was held by Jerusalem's Mariano Rivera, who went 14-2 in 2000. The previous best mark by a starter was Austin's Jose Rijo, who went 18-3 (.857) in 1992.

    However, the league's win record -- 26, set by Greg Maddux with Vancouver in 1998 -- wasn't challenged. Hoboken's Joel Pineiro tied Martinez for the league with 21 wins.

    Columbia rookie Mark Buehrle led the league with a 2.32 ERA (minimum 150 IP), tantalizing close to the modern record of 2.31, set by Austin's Derek Lowe two years ago. The all-time record, 1.90, was set by Sid Fernandez, pitching for Sacramento and Austin in 1994.

    Buehrle's 0.979 WHIP (150+ IP) was just short of breaking Pedro Martinez's record 0.859 WHIP, set with Arkansas last year. And Pineiro, who averaged 6.8 hits per 9 innings, couldn't catch Austin's Nolan Ryan's, who gave up 6.1 hits per 9 in '92.

    It wasn't just the youngsters who came close. Vancouver's Greg Maddux, averaging 0.9 walks per 9, just missed slipping past Arkansas's Bob Tewksbury (0.8 BB/9 in 1993); Newark's Randy Johnson, with a league-best 11.9 strikeouts per 9 innings, was well short of his own record of 12.9 K/9, set in 1996.

    Harrison's Wade Miller suffered the ignominy of leading the league with 19 losses, but at least he won't be listed in the history books. That dubious honor still belongs to Waikiki's Chris Bosio and Charlotte's Rick Sutcliffe, who each lost 21 games in 1993.

    Stanhope's Rivera and Phoenix's Troy Percival tied for the league lead with 34 saves, with Vancouver's Billy Wagner in third at 32. Wagner's all-time record of 41 saves in 2000 will therefore stand another year. The record for blown saves -- 15 by Harrison's Derek Lowe last season -- also remains standing, with Wanaque's Kazuhiro Sasaki and Honolulu's Ugueth Urbina tying for the league lead with 9.

    Percival led the league in relief points (Wins + Saves x 2, minus Losses + Blown Saves), with 69 (4-2, 34 SV, 5 BSV), nowhere near Wagner's league record of 86 (6-4, 41 SV, 4 BSV), which he also set during the 2000 campaign.

    And another record set by a Vancouver reliever -- 16 relief wins by Jeff Zimmerman in 2000 -- also remains standing. Brooklyn's Vladimir Nunez came closest, vulturing 11 wins out of the 'pen.