808 OPS in 97 games in 2001, he was out of the game the following year. After hitting 70 homers in 1998 and another 65 in 1999, it didn’t look like he was slowing down. What’s also interesting is how quickly things can change. While it’s not surprising that McGwire is among MLB’s Home Run Derby winners, he didn’t do it in 1998 - it happened in 1992. If you’re going to be on the most home runs in a season list, you might as well do it right. He hit an incredible 245 dingers during this span, accounting for approximately 42.0% of the 583 homers he slugged during his career. Over a four-year span from 1996 through 1999, McGwire never hit fewer than 50 homers, leading the league on three occasions. When looking at the seasons surrounding 1998, it’s crazy the number of homers he hit. In addition to leading baseball in home runs, he also led the league in walks (162), on-base percentage (.470), slugging percentage (.752), OPS (1.222), and OPS+ (216). He produced 8.5 fWAR during this campaign, and he produced more than 7.0 fWAR just one other time (7.3 in 1996 with Oakland). Support MLB Daily Dingers by checking out the merch shop! Mark McGwire, 1998: 70 HomersĪs we’ll see, Mark McGwire’s 70-homer performance for the Cardinals was easily the best season of his career. This performance came in the midst of a 14-year span where he hit at least 33 homers per season. But it’s not like he wasn’t already a prolific home run hitter.
And yes, his 73 homers are an outlier since he never hit more than 49 in any other season. He’s the only player not named Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, or Rogers Hornsby to be on this list. There have been 10 different seasons with a player producing at least 12.0 fWAR in baseball history. Let’s put his season-long performance in perspective, though. Bonds was so good that he nearly had 40 homers by the All-Star break. It was his first of two consecutive years posting a wRC+ of at least 230 and 12.0-plus fWAR. This led to an equally ridiculous 235 wRC+ and 12.5 fWAR. In 664 plate appearances, Bonds hit 73 home runs and collected 137 RBI while scoring 129 on his own.
We’re here to talk about the video-game numbers he put together in real life. Yes, I’m aware of the implications PEDs may have had on Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 2001 season.
0 kommentar(er)
