The World Series came back to Chicago, the south side of Chicago that is, and ended an 88-year drought. This incredible streak, besting the 86-year skid that the Red Sox ended the year prior, was dwarfed only by their northern neighbors, who would wind up waiting 108 years before hanging another banner. The White Sox trip to the World Series would mark the first time since 1997 that an AL Central squad made it to the Fall Classic. It would also be the first time an AL Central team (since the division was created) actually won the title.
1.) Derrek Lee, Chicago Cubs: 99 Extra-Base Hits
Lee, a 1st Baseman who played for both the Marlins and Cubs during his career, had his best season in 2005. Since the year 2000, only 6 players have had more than 99 XBH, and no one has more than 99 since Derrek Lee did it in ‘05. The break down of Lee’s hits is truly impressive, having 50 doubles, 46 home runs and 3 triples to add up to his total of 99. He finished the season with 199 hits, meaning he had exactly 100 singles to reach his final amount. Lee also hit a league-leading .335, and finished 3rd in NL MVP voting. Truthfully, he may have had a case against Pujols and Jones that year to win it out right.
2.) Eric Milton, Cincinnati Reds: 134 Earned Runs Allowed
Not all stats are good, unfortunately. Milton put together one of the statistically worst pitching seasons of all time, at least of this century. Allowing 134 runs is tough to do, especially because in today’s game, someone struggling that much would likely be out of a job. Ironically, Milton had company in 2005, with Jose Lima of the Royals nearly having an identically historically bad season, giving up 131 earned runs. Milton also allowed 40(!) home runs, which certainly did not help.
3.) Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins & Roger Clemens, Houston Astros: Cy Young Snubs
So while this is not a specific stats that caused them to miss out on receiving a Cy Young award in 2005, there were a lot of factors that boggle my mind to this day. Santana, who wound up finishing 3rd in AL Cy Young voting, had a 0.61 better ERA than the eventual winner, Bartolo Colon. Santana also had 81 more strikeouts, and a better WHIP. Clemens, in the National League, finished with almost a full run (0.96) better ERA than Chris Carpenter, and a better WHIP (0.047) as well. The key factor that seemed to lose the awards for both of them was the Wins category. Santana had 6 wins less than Colon, and Clemens had 8 wins less than Carpenter.
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