Baseball (2019 Retail Edition)

The Washington Nationals, who did not even win their own division, won the World Series for the first time in franchise history dating to the 1969 Montreal Expos and did it in the first World Series when every game was won by the visiting team. In this ripe-for-replaying season like no other, most teams had a slugger or a group of sluggers who set franchise or Major-League records. After all, the 30 teams combined for the most home runs in history – 671 more than the prior record!

Only one man – the Mets’ Pete Alonso, who set the rookie record with 53 HR – but a record 28 men hit 35 and a record 43 hit 30. The Minnesota Twins set the all-time mark with 307 HR with a record eight men who hit at least 20. The Yankees hit 306, with a record 14 men reaching double-figure HR. Arizona and Philadelphia combined for a record 13 HR in one game. In one June week, two teams hit four consecutive HR, two pitchers gave up five in a game and two men hit for the cycle. That same week, Colorado’s Charlie Blackman had a record 15 hits for a four-game series, in which the Rockies and Padres set a record with 92 runs.

Though no pitcher was safe, many had remarkable seasons, especially while striking out a record number of batters – more strikeouts, in fact, than hits allowed. Cy Young winners Justin Verlander and Houston’s Gerrit Cole were the only 20-game winners, only the second pair of teammates to strike out 300 and were 1-2 in American League ERA. They, teammate Zack Greinke, St. Louis’s Jack Flaherty and the Mets’ Jacob DeGrom had WHIPS below 1.00, with nine other starters below 1.10.

A glittering rookie class that included Alonso, Fernando Tatis Jr., Yordan Alvarez, Keston Hiura, Victor Robles, Eloy Jimenez and pitchers Mike Soroka, Dakota Hudson, Chris Paddack and many more made big first impressions.