Major League Season Review: 2010 Quiz

Answer: 0

The Yankees were the only team in 2009 to win 100 games when they finished the season with 103. The Philadelphia Phillies took the bragging rights in 2010 to have the best record in Major League Baseball with their 97-65 season. They improved by only four wins over the 2009 season, 92-70 in 2008, and a 89-73 record in 2007. Those Phillie records were all good enough to win the National League Eastern Division in every season.

Answer: Jose Bautista

After the 2008 and 2009 seasons were played without a player hitting 50 big ones, Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays had a tremendous season by hitting 54. He also batted .260 along with 148 hits and 124 RBIs. Jose was in his seventh season in the big leagues, and 2010 was the first time that he ever hit 20 home runs in a season. Albert Pujols of the Cardinals was the runner-up for the Major Leagues, and took the National League home run crown with 42. Albert was in his 10th season with the Cardinals, and hit 30+ home runs in every single season.

Answer: Alex Rodriguez

The others had not hit even 500 career home runs by 2010. Sosa retired in 2007 with 609 home runs. Sammy played in 18 seasons. A-Rod of the Yankees was in his 17th season in 2010. In early August, number 600 for Rodriguez came courtesy of Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Shaun Marcum. A-Rod became the seventh player in history to reach the 600-plateau. Later, his 610th home run moved him into the number 6 spot for career home runs at the time, ahead of Sosa. Rodriguez closed out the 2010 season with 613, behind Ken Griffey Jr with 630.

Answer: Atlanta Braves

The Braves tied for the third best record in the National League in 2010 with their 91-71 record. The division winners were the Phillies (NL East 97-65), Giants (NL West 92-70), and the Reds (NL Central 91-71).

Answer: C.C. Sabathia

Sabathia pitched for eight seasons in Cleveland before coming to the Yankees in 2009. His first season in the pinstripes saw him go 19-8. In 2010, he went 21-7, the best record in the season. He also had 197 strikeouts and an ERA of .318. Halladay of the Phillies took the bragging rights for posting the best record in the National League in the season by going 21-10. Wainwright of the Cardinals was the third and final pitcher to reach 20 wins with a record of 20-11.

Answer: 0

Major League Baseball had not seen a 20-game loser since 2003, when Detroit Tiger Mike Maroth went 9-21. Kevin Millwood of the Orioles led the American League in losses with his 4-16 record. Rodrigo Lopez of the Diamondbacks led the National League in losses with his 7-16 record. Lopez lost the final game of the season to the Dodgers. Both Zack Duke and Paul Maholm of the Pittsburgh Pirates both lost 15 games in the season, to stake claim as the National League runner-ups.

Answer: Albert Pujols

Pujols' 400th big one was dished up by Jordan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals. The Cardinals still lost the game 11-10 in extra innings. Pujols was not the youngest player to reach 400 home runs. That spot belonged to Ken Griffey Jr by a wide margin, who played mostly with the Mariners and Reds.

Answer: 2

The Seattle Mariners of the American League had a record of 61-101. The Pirates of the National League went 57-105. The Pirates' record was the worst showing since the 2005 Kansas City Royals who went 56-106. The Pirates did not have a 10-game winner, and had five pitchers lose in double-figures.

Answer: Carlos Gonzalez

The other National League players listed did not bat .300 in the season. Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies won the NL batting crown with his .336 average. Carlos had the most hits in the National League with 197. Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers led the Major Leagues with his .359 average.

Although leading the AL in average, Hamilton finished tied for sixth in hits (186) in the league behind Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners 214), Robinson Cano (Yankees 200), Adrian Beltre (Red Sox 189), Billy Butler (Royals 189), and Nick Markakis (Orioles 187).

Answer: Charlie Manuel

The other managers did not win 70 games in the season. Manuel took the Phillies to a 97-65 record in 2010, the best in baseball. It was his fourth consecutive NL East crown with the Phillies. Charlie took the Phillies to a World Series crown in 2008 against the Tampa Bay Rays, and watched his team lose to the Yankees in the 2009 World Series.

Answer: Cincinnati Reds

All the other teams listed lost more games in 2010 compared to their 2009 records. The Reds won 13 more games in 2010 with their 91-71 record to help them take the National League Central Division title. This was compared to their 78-84 record in 2009. The Tampa Bays also improved with 12 more wins in 2010 over their previous season.

Answer: Cincinnati Reds

This was not close. The Reds took the National League Central title with a 91-71 record, 34 games ahead of the NL Central last place Pirates who posted a 57-105 season record. The Reds won their division by 5.0 games ahead of Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Answer: 0

Juan Pierre of the White Sox led the Majors in 2010 with 68 thefts.
The only two other players to reach the 50-mark in the season were Michael Bourn of the Astros with 52, and Rajai Davis of the Athletics who stole 50. Jose Reyes of the Mets who stole 78 in 2007, was the only player to steal more than 75 bases in the 19 seasons since 1992.

Answer: 16

Again, 16 of the 30 teams reached at least the .500 mark in the season in 2010. Both the Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers won their last game of the season to reach the 81-81 mark. The other teams included to have a .500 or better season were the National League Phillies, Braves, Reds, Cardinals, Giants, Padres, and Rockies.

In the American League it was the Rays, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Twins, White Sox, and Rangers.

Answer: Francisco Rodriguez

Only Lidge of the Phillies was an active player in 2010. K-Rod of the Mets was also the youngest in history to save 100, 150, and 200 career games. Rodriguez was 28 years old in 2010, in only his ninth season in the Majors. He went from 32nd to 26th on the all-time in the season. Francisco had 25 saves in the season, well below his career high of 62 in 2008 with the Angels.

Answer: Jamie Moyer

The others were already retired. Jamie was a Phillie in 2010 wearing a uniform in his 24th season. He passed former Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts when he gave up his 506th. Moyer gave up 20 more home runs in the season, and ended the season with 511 for his career. Roberts died six weeks before Moyer broke his record.

Answer: Nobody did

The others listed did not finish the season with even 2300 career hits. At season's close, Derek Jeter of the Yankees was the closest active player to the 3000-hit plateau. Jeter had 179 hits in 2010, and finished the season with 2926 for his career.

Answer: Toronto Blue Jays

This wasn't even close as the others listed did not hit more than 150. The Blue Jays smacked a tremendous 258 home runs in the season, 47 more than the runner-up Red Sox with 211. Jose Bautista led the team with his 54, and Vernon Wells was runner-up for the Jays with 31 of his own. The Yankees was the only other team in the season to reach 200 home runs by hitting 201.

Answer: Trevor Hoffman

The other save specialists had been retired for at least 10 seasons. At the age of 42, Hoffman was in his 18th season while wearing a Milwaukee Brewer uniform. Number 600 came on September 7, 2010 against the Cardinals.

Answer: Angels

The Angels played host for the third time in their franchise history. The National League won the game 3-1, after Boston's David Ortiz took the Home Run Derby honors. Brian McCann of the Braves became the first catcher in history to win the All-Star Game MVP Award.

Answer: 2

On May 9, Dallas Braden of the Athletics threw a perfecto against the Tampa Bay Rays. Only 20 days later, fans saw Roy Halladay of the Phillies throw a perfect game against the Florida Marlins. These were the 19th and 20th perfect games thrown in professional baseball history which began in 1871. Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies threw a no-hitter on April 17 against the Braves, and Ed Jackson of the Diamondbacks threw a no-no against Tampa Bay on June 25.

Answer: Arizona Diamondbacks

The others did not reach the 1000 team strikeout mark. The Diamondbacks struck out 1517 times as a team with a batting average of .250. The Diamondbacks and the Florida Marlins were the only teams to reach the 1300-plateau, with the Marlins being downed 1375 times. On the other end of the spectrum, the Royals struck out the least amount of times in the season with 905 being whiffed, yet still finished the season with a 67-94 record.

Answer: New York Yankees

The others listed did not make it to the playoffs in 2010. The American League's three divisions were won by the Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers. The Yankees finished with a 95-67 record, one game behind the Ray in the AL East, and with the second best record in the American League.

Answer: Seattle Mariners

The other teams were in the upper half for team home runs by hitting at lease 180 in the season. The Seattle Mariners was the team to show their weakest power bats by hitting only 101 home runs in the season. It was more than 150 home runs behind the Major League team leader. Designated-hitter Russell Branyan led the Mariners with his 15 home runs.

Answer: 5-3

Strasburg was the next phenom in baseball with the Nationals until arm problems suspended his career. He pitched a total of 68 innings and had an amazing 92 strikeouts over 12 games. He did not receive much run support from his teammates as the Nationals went 68-93 in the season.