MLB Season 2008 in Review Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1

The Angels were the only team to reach the 100-mark, going 100-62 in the season. Both the Cubs and Rays were the second best, winning 97 games.

Answer: 0

This was the sparsest home run season in a decade. Ryan Howard of the Phillies took his second home run title in the NL with his 48 in the season. The next NL bat was Adam Dunn's of the Diamondbacks who hit only 40 to be called the runner-up. Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers took the American League crown by hitting 37.

The last time only one player hit more than 40 home runs in a season was 1995, when Albert Belle of the Indians hit 50, at least 10 more than everyone else. If not for Howard's 48 in 2008, the last season that nobody hit over 40 was in 1986.

Answer: Seattle Mariners

The others played at least .500 ball. The Nationals went 59-102 in the NL East, then the Mariners went 61-101 in the AL West. The Mariners were the only team in the season that did not have a pitcher win 10 games.

Answer: Justin Verlander

The others were all National League pitchers, and didn't lose more than 11 games. Verlander won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2006 with his 17-9 record. In 2007 he went 18-6. The Tigers were happy until he went 11-17 in 2008. He helped the Tigers finish in last place in the AL Central with a 74-87 record. Barry Zito of the Giants and Aaron Harang of the Reds both lost 17 games in the NL.

Answer: Jamie Moyer

The others hadn't turned 23 yet. 2008 was the third season that Jamie was the oldest player in baseball. At the end of the season, he was just six weeks short of his 46th birthday. 2008 was his 22nd season, and he went 16-7 for the Phillies.

Answer: Angels

The others didn't play .500 ball on the road. The Angels were six games better than the next best road team, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Angels were the only team in the season to win 100 games, going 100-62. The other four teams to have a .500+ road record were the Brewers, Cubs, Mets, and Yankees.

Answer: John Smoltz

The others were all retired and never reached 3000 strikeouts. Smoltz was in his 20th season with the Braves in 2008. He appeared in only six games before a career-threatening injury early in the season put his glove on the shelf. John became the 16th pitcher in history to strikeout 3000 batters.

Answer: 1

The Dodgers were the only team to have a new manager for the full season that took a team to the postseason. Joe Torre left the Yankees after the 2007 season and took the NL Los Angeles club to a Western Division championship. The Brewers had a new manager, but only 12 games before the season ended with Dale Sveum replacing Ned Yost.

Answer: Houston Astros and Florida Marlins

The Astros and Marlins won 13 more games compared to 2007. The Cubs improved their endeavors by 12 games. The Padres had the worst drop-off winning 26 less games in 2008. The Dodgers improved only by two games, winning 84 in 2008.

Answer: White Sox

There were only four teams in 2008 to hit 200 or more home runs as a team. They were the White Sox with 234, the Phillies with 214, the Marlins with 208, and the Tigers with 200. The Giants hit a Major League low of 94 in 2008, compared to 131 in the previous season.

Answer: Chipper Jones

Jones of the Braves hit .364 in the season, although not even being in the top ten for most hits. Albert Pujols of the Cardinals was the NL runner-up with his .357 average. The AL winner was Joe Mauer of the Twins who batted .330.

Answer: Tim Lincecum

Lincecum threw 265 for the Giants in the National League. The others in the NL with 200+ were Danny Haren of the Diamondbacks, Johan Santana of the Mets, and Edinson Volquez who all threw 206, then Chad Billingsley of the Dodgers threw 201. The leaders from the mound in the American League were A.J. Burnett of the Blue Jays who notched 231, Ervin Santana of the Angels with 214, Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays with 206, and Javier Vazquez of the White Sox with 200.

Answer: New York Mets

New York fans led both leagues. The Yankees were first in the AL and pulled in 4,298,655 fans, while the Mets led the NL with fan attendance of 4,042,045. The Rays or Orioles didn't reach the two-million mark. The Phillies pulled in 3,422,583 fans for a fourth place ranking in the National League behind the Mets, Dodgers, and Cardinals, respectively.

Answer: Gary Sheffield

The others were all active in 2008, but didn't reach the 400 home run mark. The season ended for Sheffield and the Tigers on September 29. After coming back from a four-day suspension, Gary hit two home runs on the September 26th to reach 499, then went dry. He would have to sit out the offseason eyeing number 500. Sheffield hit 19 home runs in 2008, his 21st season.

Answer: Brandon Backe

Backe gave up 36 for the Astros. Ironically, the Astros improved their record in 2008 by 12 games. Aaron Harang of the Reds was the NL runner-up by dishing up 35. Paul Byrd of the Indians and Red Sox in 2008, led the American League with his 31 servings.

Answer: Manny Ramirez

Manny hit 68 RBIs in 100 games with the Red Sox, then batted in another 53 in 53 games with the Dodgers. He also hit 20 home runs for the Red Sox and 17 for the Dodgers.

Answer: Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro tied a record in 2008 for having 200+ hits in eight consecutive seasons. He tied the record of Willie Keeler, who set his mark from 1894-1901. Suzuki tied for the AL title in 2008 with Pedroia who also had 213 hits. Jose Reyes led the NL with 204.

Answer: Tampa Bay

All the others played below .500 ball at home in the season. The Rays won 20 more home games and went 57-24 in 2008, compared to their 37-44 home record the previous season. The second best home record belonged to the Red Sox who were 56-25, then the Cubs who went 55-26.

Answer: Alex Rodriguez

On September 3rd of the season, A-Rod hit number 549 to pass Schmidt. Rodriguez hit 35 in the season and ended it with 553 in his career. A-Rod was in his 15th season, while Schmidt played in 18 with the Phillies.

Answer: Minnesota Twins

The regular season ended with the National League division winners in the Phillies, Cubs, and Dodgers. The Brewers won the wildcard with their 90-72 record. In the American League, the season ended with Rays and Angels winning their respective divisions, then the Red Sox earning the wildcard spot.

The Twins and White Sox tied for the AL Central pennant which resulted in a one-game playoff. The White Sox won the playoff game on September 30th with the help of a Jim Thome seventh inning home run, winning the game 1-0, and leaving the Twins to pack their bags.

It was Chicago's only 1-0 win of the season.

Answer: Arizona Diamondbacks

The others were already below .500 ball to begin the season. The Diamondbacks jumped out to a 18-7 record, but would end the season at 82-80. The Rangers and Nationals had the worst start, both beginning the season by going 8-17. The Rangers would somewhat rebound, finishing second in the AL West. The Nationals would never see any light, finishing with a 59-102 record.

Answer: Dan Uggla (Marlins)

The American League finally won the game 4-3. The game ended at 1:38am Eastern time. It gave the 2008 future AL Champions the home field advantage for the World Series. Uggla was the National League's second baseman, playing in his second All-Star game.

Although his three errors set a game record, none of his errors resulted in runs scored by the American League. In his three seasons with the Marlins, Dan averaged 13 errors per season. He also averaged 30 home runs.

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

It had been 17 seasons since the Pirates finished a season over .500. In 1992, the team went 96-66 under the guidance of manager Jim Leyland. 1999 was the last time that they won over 75 games, going 78-83. Their season low in this streak was 62-100 in 2001.

Answer: Jerry Manuel

Randolph took the team to three consecutive seasons over .500 ball, and won the NL East in 2006. His 69 games in 2008 resulted in a 34-35 record. Manuel managed the White Sox until 2003, then took over the Mets in 2008 to a 55-38 record, and 89-73 overall. They finished three games behind the Phillies in the NL East.

Answer: Willy Taveras (Rockies)

After being the Rookie of the Year runner-up with the Astros in 2005, Willy doubled his season average with 68 thefts in 2008. Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox led the American League with 50. The last speedster to steal 100 bases was Vince Coleman of the Cardinals in 1987 when he stole 109.