FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: October 10, 2026
A few weeks ago, I led the mailbag with some quick thoughts on the thrilling AL Central race between the White Sox and the Guardians. When I wrote that introduction, Cleveland had just won two of its final three regular-season games against Chicago, and the two teams were tied atop the division.
Neither club was all that good, but each was intriguing in its own way. The White Sox, of course, had the worst playoff odds of any team in the American League on Opening Day and were coming off three straight 100-loss seasons. The Guardians, meanwhile, were postseason regulars, and this year, they had trailed Chicago in the standings for most of the summer before mounting a September comeback. Cleveland maintained its division lead for the rest of the season, but only barely. The Guards finished 85-77; the Sox, 84-78. Their head-to-head records were also separated by just one game, with Chicago holding the advantage there. Now, as the two teams enter tonight’s ALDS Game 5 in Cleveland, the margin between them remains as thin as garlic slices in a mafia movie. Both clubs still aren’t exactly playing crisp baseball — the series has featured bewildering bullpen decisions, befuddling ABS challenges, and more hit-by-pitches (six) than home runs (four) — but they’ve been a ton of fun to watch.
In this week’s mailbag, we’re answering your questions on the worst regular-season players to start regularly for a playoff team, the best starting pitcher matchups in a postseason Game 3, and holy WAR. But first, I’d like to remind you that this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for an upcoming mailbag, send me an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
Matt is the associate editor of FanGraphs. Previously, he was the baseball editor at Sports Illustrated. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Men’s Health, Baseball Prospectus, and Lindy’s Sports Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @ByMattMartell and Blue Sky @mattmartell.bsky.social.
I really thought we would get a Delmon Young sighting in the negative WAR article, but, alas he was “only” -0.9bWAR, -1.2 fWAR. Close but no cigar.
He is still has the worst arm I’ve ever seen in a LF & had terrible range to boot.
I don’t think you watched much Khris Davis in the outfield
Of course the Pirates had one of whe worst regulars starting in the playoffs, despite only making the playoffs like 4 times in the last 45 years.
Jose Lind was clearly the answer JD was looking for. Everyone else was a good player playing badly, but not Lind.
Also, answering a Pirate fan’s question with a Pirate, when that Pirate, who played exclusively due to his glove, made a critical error that helped lead to one of the most devastating playoff losses of all time, followed by 21 years of losing baseball… hard to beat that for an answer.
As a card collector of that era, Lind is definitely the answer. I would also suggest that Sabathia-Verlander probably comes closest to rightly answering Q2. Clemens-Martinez is of course epic by nature, but those were Roger’s off years. Schilling was great, but John Burkett’s 5.1 WAR ain’t doing it for me.
Sabathia-Verlander was too HoFers in close-to-peak form.
Now let’s see whether it’s likely that Sale v YY will end up on that career WAR table when their careers are done.
Sale is at 63.5. He’ll be 38 at the start of next year but he is defying the traditional aging curve. Let’s be generous and say that he has four more good seasons to come, putting him around 73 WAR total.
Yamamoto is at 12.4 because of his arrival late from Japan. That’s a real challenge. We need 48 WAR from him to crack the table. It’s conceivable if he can remain durable and produce at his current level until his mid-30s. 4 WAR/year through age 35 would leave him 16 WAR short, with several years of decline to get there.
Maybe this is a job for ZiPS.
Solid papal analytics
I thought the answer was going to be Dave Pope, a right-fielder for the Cleveland Indians, who is most notable for being the player seen jumping for Dusty Rhodes famous 260′ blast that ended Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.
Ooh, old Dusty Rhodes, led to the river…
Dave Pope was almost the answer to two mailbag questions today! Willie Pope was the player named Pope with the most WAR.
Those players had the worst years but all had good to great careers.
Truly bad is someone like Onyx Concepcion who had -0.5 bWAR as the starting SS for the World Series champion Kansas City Royals in 1985, and 0.0 bWAR for his 390 game career.
Onyx Concepcion is at least a 2 WAR name, though.
And only got one at bat for the rest of his career after that season.
Bu October, even KC had given up on Onyx: Buddy Biancalana started all the playoff games.
Onyx Concepcion
Buddy Biancalana
C’mon, now you’re just making up names….