On Opening Day this year, the Cardinals and Rays played a game in which they each scored six-plus runs in the sixth inning. We were only hours into the 2026 season, and already researchers at Elias Sports Bureau were combing through the records to find that an April 19, 1890, game between the Boston Beaneaters and Brooklyn Bridegrooms marked the last time two teams had scored that many runs in a single inning in an opener.
Thus began our daily dose of bonkers baseball stats.
Now that the 2026 season is just about in the books, let’s turn to those books to see what strange, season-long stats have made it special.
All stats are through Tuesday’s games. As usual, thanks to researcher Sarah Langs, who is bonkers in the best of ways, for her help compiling this list!
.673
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s OPS at the one-third mark of the Cubs’ season. This, from a guy who went on to post a 10-fWAR (FanGraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement) season and will likely run away with the National League MVP Award.
There’s never been a turnaround like it. Among the previous 56 players to have a 10-fWAR season, these were the lowest OPS marks as of the one-third mark:
Eddie Collins, 1909 Philadelphia A’s: .826
Mike Trout, 2012 Angels: .835
Honus Wagner, 1908 Pirates: .894
Trout, 2013 Angels: .920
Wagner, 1905 Pirates: .924
As you can see, no one had come close to an OPS as low as PCA’s in the first third of the season en route to such an extraordinary WAR tally. PCA had only been worth 1.4 fWAR at that point. Now, we can say he’s had arguably the greatest individual season in the history of the Cubs’ not-so-young franchise. An in-season surge for the ages.
200+
Both the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski (223) and the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler (217) have ERA+ marks over 200, meaning they have been more than twice as good as the league average. That’s why they’re the presumptive favorites for the Cy Young Awards.
First of all, it’s unusual to have two pitchers with an ERA+ of at least 200 in a single season. That’s only happened two times in a full season this century -- 2015 (Jake Arrieta and Zack Greinke) and 2018 (Jacob deGrom and Blake Snell).
But what’s doubly amazing here is that the Miz and Schlittler are both in their second seasons in the big leagues. The only other pitchers in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) to have an ERA+ of at least 200 in either their first or second season were Doc Gooden in his legendary 1985 campaign (229) and Paul Skenes in his Cy season last year (226).
81
Wins for the White Sox. That is by far the most by a team after three consecutive 100+ loss seasons. The previous high had been 70, by the 2014 Astros, 1965 Washington Senators and 1925 Boston Braves.
No team has made the playoffs following even two straight 100-loss seasons. The Sox can become the first.
106
Walks for Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez -- the most in the Majors.
If Alvarez can somehow attain the AL’s Triple Crown in these final days – he needs to rally past Pete Alonso for the RBI title -- he wouldn’t just be the first to achieve that feat in either league since Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He’d also be only the second player to win a Triple Crown and also lead the league in walks. Ted Williams did it in 1942 and 1947.
For you kids out there, you want to hit like Ted Williams. That’s a good thing.
16
The number of players this season who have homered in their MLB debut. That’s a new record, three more than the previous high in 2022.
1
Saves for Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, who also happens to be the MLB innings leader (212). Since the save became a stat in 1969, the only time, according to Elias, that a pitcher recorded a save in a season in which he led MLB in innings pitched was when Phil Niekro did it in 1978.
2
Number of teams for whom Jo Adell has hit the longest home run of the season. He hit a 449-footer for the Angels on May 10 and then, after a midseason trade, hit a 455-footer for the Guardians on Aug. 18. No other player in the Statcast Era has hit the longest homer for multiple teams in the same season.
3.98
Guardians All-Star Parker Messick’s strikeout-to-walk ratio. Messick could be a rookie finalist for the AL Cy Young Award because of command that is highly unusual for someone with so little Major League experience. The only other rookie in the Modern Era (since 1900) with at least 180 innings and a higher K/BB was Hall of Famer Don Sutton (4.02) with the 1966 Dodgers.
6.7
Tigers rookie sensation Kevin McGonigle’s bWAR (Baseball-Reference’s Wins Above Replacement model). That’s the highest ever for a player in a debut season in which he spent most of the year at 21 or under. The previous high was 6.6, achieved three times –- by Albert Pujols in 2001, Frank Robinson in 1956 and that Ted Williams guy we mentioned earlier in 1939.
1.16
Cam Schlittler’s road ERA. That’s the third-lowest in the Live Ball Era for a pitcher with at least 100 road innings. The only lower marks belonged to Hall of Famers Bob Gibson (0.81) in 1968 and Greg Maddux (1.12) in 1995. (Neither, notably, was in his second MLB season at the time.)
235
Shohei Ohtani’s ERA+ in 85 2/3 innings pitched.
It’s way too easy to normalize Ohtani and to even shrug off his two-way season, given that injury issues forced him to stop pitching in early July. But this isn’t normal! In the Modern Era, there have only been eight other AL/NL starters to have an ERA+ at least that high with at least 85 innings pitched:
Jacob deGrom, 2021 Mets: 373
Pedro Martinez, 2000 Red Sox: 291
Greg Maddux, 1994 Braves: 271
Maddux, 1995 Braves: 260
Bob Gibson, 1968 Cardinals: 258
Clayton Kershaw, 2016 Dodgers: 237
Clay Buchholz, 2013 Red Sox: 237
Obviously, it’s inherently more impressive to put up that level of ERA+ when pitching a fuller season. But you know what else is impressive? Putting up an ERA+ that high while also producing a .902 OPS in nearly 600 plate appearances.
Again, not normal. Even for Ohtani.
47
The MLB-leading steals total for Nationals second baseman Nasim Nuñez, who is otherwise struggling offensively this season. Nuñez has a .529 OPS. The only other player in the modern era with an OPS below .550 who still somehow managed to swipe 40 bags was Rollie Zeider (.548 OPS, 49 steals) of the 1910 White Sox.
.374
Slugging percentage for Cal Raleigh. The same Cal Raleigh who hit 60 home runs last season. Of the previous nine times a player had a 60-homer season, the lowest slugging percentage in the follow-up year had been Roger Maris’ .485 mark in 1962. That’s still more than 100 points higher than Raleigh, who went from ranking third among MLB qualifiers in SLG last year (.589) to ranking in the bottom 25 now.
42
Blown saves by the Nationals, a new MLB record. The previous high had been 36 by the 121-loss White Sox in 2024. You could say the Nats “blew” that one away.
217, 28
Strikeout totals for Phillies teammates Kyle Schwarber and Luis Arraez, respectively. Schwarber is vying for the MLB strikeout lead, while Arraez (who arrived from the Giants in a Trade Deadline deal) will finish last among MLB qualifiers in K's.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there have only been four instances in the Expansion Era (since 1961) in which the MLB strikeout leader and the guy with the fewest strikeouts (again, among qualifiers) finished the season on the same team … and two of them also involved the Phillies!
1963 White Sox: Dave Nicholson (most K's), Nellie Fox (fewest K's)
1965 Phillies: Dick Allen (most), Cookie Rojas (fewest)
1976 Phillies: Mike Schmidt (most), Dave Cash (fewest)
1982 Angels: Reggie Jackson (most), Tim Foli (fewest)
0.8
Let’s finish you off with the fastball. This is the percentage of all pitches in MLB this year that have been clocked at 100+ mph. It’s not just that this is the highest percentage of the pitch-tracking era (going back to 2008); it’s that it’s not even close. There has been a 43.5% increase in the number of 100+ mph pitches … just since last year!
All the more reason why you have our permission to ignore any old-timers who try to tell you guys threw just as hard back in the day.