Behind the Numbers

By Jacob Luft
SportsLine Staff Writer

Bang for the buck

George Steinbrenner might be one of the best owners in baseball, but he's not nearly the most efficient.

As usual, the world champion Yankees lead the AL East. But as good as they are, the Yanks are still costing their Boss a pretty penny or two.

Through June 30, the Yankees won 46 games. That's enough to put them in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year if the season ended today.

However, consider that the Yankees have a payroll of more than $94 million. Divide that by 46 Yankee victories and you get $2,052,008. That's what The Boss is paying for each of his team's wins.

Check out these AL standings based on our formula for efficiency. They're a lot different than what you'll find in your newspaper every day:

AL Standings
Team Payroll Wins Price per win Rank
Minnesota $23,250,407 29 $801,738 1
Oakland $30,695,927 37 $829,619 2
Chicago $33,970,988 37 $918,134 3
Kansas City $30,133,736 32 $941,679 4
Tampa Bay $43,643,020 33 $1,322,515 5
Seattle $53,387,434 39 $1,368,908 6
Toronto $53,854,017 39 $1,380,872 7
Detroit $49,405,394 33 $1,497,133 8
Cleveland $78,032,826 50 $1,560,656 9
Texas $79,730,917 45 $1,771,798 10
Boston $80,353,991 45 $1,785,644 11
Anaheim $62,550,018 35 $1,787,143 12
New York $94,392,399 46 $2,052,008 13
Baltimore $93,861,230 32 $2,933,163 14


In the AL, of the four teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, Cleveland had the best efficiency rating at No. 9. The Yankees have the worst at No. 13. If it weren't for the all-around pathetic Orioles, the Yankees would be dead last.

NL efficiency standings

The Dodgers are in last place in the NL West, so it's only fitting they are in dead last here too.

As far as efficiency goes, the Reds are the class of the league, tying for the NL Central lead and coming in at No. 4 here. At 39 wins, the Pirates are the best bargain in all of the major leagues.

San Francisco (No. 6) also is doing surprisingly well.

NL Standings
Team Payroll Wins Price per win Rank
Pittsburgh $30,380,577 39 $778,989 1
Montreal $28,155,619 30 $938,520 2
Philadelphia $38,462,591 40 $961,564 3
Cincinnati $42,084,206 43 $978,702 4
Florida $26,529,619 27 $982,578 5
San Francisco $51,286,153 43 $1,192,701 6
Milwaukee $45,384,848 35 $1,296,710 7
Houston $62,867,902 44 $1,428,815 8
St. Louis $54,245,653 37 $1,466,098 9
San Diego $59,894,248 37 $1,618,763 10
Atlanta $84,170,644 47 $1,790,864 11
Chicago $67,568,950 37 $1,826,187 12
Arizona $79,069,909 43 $1,838,835 13
New York $83,443,145 44 $1,896,435 14
Colorado $75,373,633 34 $2,216,871 15
Los Angeles $97,046,647 34 $2,854,313 16


Early to rise ...

With his recent home run surge, Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa became the first major-leaguer to reach the 30-home run mark this season.

Here's a look at others who have reached 30 home runs before the All-Star Break in recent history. Jose Canseco (28 homers) and Ken Griffey Jr. (27) have the rest of this week to make this list.

Thirtysomethings
Year Player Team Before break Total
1999 Sammy Sosa Chicago-NL 30 --
1998 Mark McGwire St. Louis 37 70
1998 Ken Griffey Jr. Seattle 35 56
1998 Sammy Sosa Chicago-NL 33 66
1998 Greg Vaughn San Diego 30 50
1997 Mark McGwire Oakland 31 58
1997 Ken Griffey Jr. Seattle 30 56
1996 Brady Anderson Baltimore 30 50
1994 Ken Griffey Jr. Seattle 33 40
1994 Matt Williams San Francisco 33 43
1994 Frank Thomas Chicago-AL 32 38
1989 Kevin Mitchell San Francisco 31 47
1987 Mark McGwire Oakland 33 49
1976 Mike Schmidt Philadelphia 31 38
1976 Dave Kingman New York-NL 30 37
1973 Willie Stargell Pittsburgh 30 44
1971 Willie Stargell Pittsburgh 30 48
1969 Reggie Jackson Oakland 37 47
1969 Frank Howard Washington 34 48
1969 Willie McCovey San Francisco 30 45
1964 Harmon Killebrew Minnesota 30 49
1961 Roger Maris New York-AL 33 61


Ventura the Marlin killer

Mets third baseman Robin Ventura wouldn't be having such a nice year if he didn't get to play the Marlins so often.

Check out his numbers against the Marlins compared to the rest of the major leagues.


Gone Fishin'
Ventura vs. the Marlins
AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO Avg. Slg.
47 7 21 4 4 20 4 6 .447 .787
Ventura vs. everyone else
AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO Avg. Slg.
239 34 61 15 11 42 28 54 .255 .498


Ventura's anti-Marlins binge has lifted the Mets to 9-3 record against Florida. The bad news for Mets fans is they play the Marlins for the last time on Thursday night.

Even more numbers

2 -- Home runs Orel Hershiser has allowed this year in 84 1/3 innings. That's the fewest per nine innings of any major-league pitcher.

3 -- Batters Cincy's Steve Avery walked to start the game on Tuesday against Arizona. The major-league record is four, held by three players and most recently tied by Texas' Roger Pavlik (April 18, 1997). Johnny Vander Meer first set the record as a Red in 1941. Avery finished with nine walks in a no-decision that night.

17 -- Balls hit into Yankee Stadium's center-field bleachers since it was remodeled in 1976. Detroit's Tony Clark became the 14th different player to do so on Wednesday when he belted a two-run homer.

903 -- Games the Mariners lost in 22-plus years at the Kingdome. They won 852.

2,517 -- Strikeouts racked up by Randy Johnson in his 12-year career. On Wednesday, he moved ahead of Christy Mathewson into 20th place on the career strikeout list when he rang up 17 in a loss to Cincinnati.

12,433 -- Buzzcuts given to Jay Buhner fans at the Kingdome over the years, including 130 women. During the first Buhner Buzz Night, 512 fans with freshly shaved heads cheered as Buhner scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

85,101 -- All-Star votes for Rockies first baseman Todd Helton (.294 average, 15 homers, 55 RBI).

88,140 -- All-Star votes for Tony Eusebio, Houston's light-hitting catcher (.241 average, 2 HR, 12 RBI).

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