Most batters in a game
Posted by Andy on July 16, 2007
Sorry for my absence...had a bit of a vacation.
Anyway, a neat feature I found on the PI Team Batting Game Finder is that the results can be ranked by total number of batters in the game (for one team).
Limiting the results to just 2007, here are the top games:
Cnt Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB **Batrs**
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+---+---+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+-----
1 2007-07-03 PHI @HOU L 4-5 55 53 4 16 7 0 0 4 1 1 8 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 12 22
2 2007-06-20 STL KCR W 7-6 61 53 7 17 3 0 1 6 7 2 14 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 15 22
3 2007-05-08 CHC PIT L 3-4 58 55 3 14 1 0 0 3 2 2 12 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 10 22
4 2007-04-23 CHC MIL L 4-5 51 43 4 11 3 0 1 4 6 1 10 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 11 22
22? That seems like a lot. Right away, I noticed that the games were all played in NL parks, so this stat includes pitchers who appeared in the game, and hence in the boxscore, but didn't necessarily get a place appearance.
So perhaps it's actually more interesting to look at games played using the DH rule.
First, restricting the results to only games where an AL team played an AL team:
Cnt Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB **Batrs**
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+---+---+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
1 2007-07-06(2) MIN @CHW W 12-0 48 40 12 15 2 0 6 12 7 0 7 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 9 15
2 2007-07-02 TBD @CLE L 2-10 37 32 2 4 0 0 0 2 4 0 11 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 8 14 3 2007-06-25 BOS @SEA L 4-9 42 35 4 8 2 0 0 4 5 0 8 2 0 0 1 1 2 0 11 14 4 2007-04-15 CHW @CLE L 1-2 36 32 1 6 0 0 0 1 3 0 12 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 14 5 2007-04-10 MIN NYY L 1-10 34 31 1 5 1 0 0 1 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 14
That first game was the back end of that doubleheader where the Twins beat up on the White Sox. (Remember the first game was the worst loss for any team scoring at least 14 runs...)
These days, for an AL team to use 15 batters is pretty rare, given that all teams are carrying at least 11 pitchers (that leaves only 14 non-pitchers.)
Then, to see if any interleague games beat 15, I switched the criteria to limit to interleague games where an NL team was the visitor:
Cnt Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB **Batrs**
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+---+---+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
1 2007-06-20 LAD @TOR L 1-12 33 32 1 6 0 0 1 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 13
2 2007-06-13 STL @KCR W 7-3 43 38 7 14 2 0 0 7 2 0 4 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 9 13
plus interleague games where the AL team was the home team:
Cnt Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB **Batrs**
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+---+---+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
1 2007-06-19 TOR LAD L 1-10 33 32 1 6 2 0 0 1 1 0 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 13
2 2007-05-18 LAA LAD W 9-1 38 34 9 11 3 0 0 9 2 0 3 0 0 2 1 0 2 0 5 13
Anyway, I think this is an interesting feature. I would guess that searching back in the archives by "most batters" would reveal some of the more interesting games that have been played.
July 16th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Actually, I find the 22 "batter" NL games most interesting, since they are all games where not only did the manager go through his whole bench and relief corps but also had to dip into the rotation for either an inning of relief or, more typically, a pinch hitter. So in the first game, Moyer struck out pinch hitting in the 13th.
The Twins game with 15 batters was essentially an NL game for them after the injury to Redmond made Mauer switch from DH to catcher, leaving the Twins pitchers to pitch.
Once the rosters expand in September, then this type of study becomes less interesting. But would be interesting to see the most batters (w/ or w/o pitchers) ever (or at least in the last 20 years) outside of September.
July 16th, 2007 at 10:19 am
"leaving the Twins pitchers to pitch."
Er, of course I meant "to bat." -- Michael Cuthbert
July 16th, 2007 at 10:41 am
True. Like I said, games leading this category will almost always have something interesting happening.
July 16th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Agreed! They do all tend to be interesting games (except for some of the September pitching-change-every-minute sleepers). Here's a 23 player game, Atlanta-Colorado, Aug 19, 1999, 14 innings, with Atlanta using every position player, the whole bullpen, Glavin as a PH and Mulholland getting the save in the 14th. (Smoltz started). Or a 23 player loss for the Padres, June 24, 1990 against Atlanta, where pitcher Dennis Rasmussen--having a great year with the bat (ended .290 w/ an OPS near .700)--hit a 3-RBI pinch hit double--pitcher Ed Whitson pinch ran for him.
If you want to reach 23 men used in a game, it seems to help to have an awful outing by your starter followed by a slow steady climb back to a tie with a long stretch of run-scoring extra innings. Cheers!