Giancarlo Stanton just turned in a month for the record books. His 18 home runs in August are tied for second all-time for any month with Rudy York, two homers behind Sammy Sosa's June of 1998. But, his numbers weren't just good in August. They've been great the entire second half.
In 45 games (195 PA) since the All-Star break, Stanton is hitting .313/.419/.825 with 25 home runs and 52 RBI. I went to my trusted friend Play Index to see how good these numbers actually were. First, let's just compare Stanton's numbers to other second halves. The number that pops off the page with Stanton is the .825 SLG. With hitters that have at least 198 PA in the second half, Stanton ranks 6th in SLG.
2nd Half SLG
| Player | Year | SLG | HR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Bonds | 2001 | .908 | 34 |
| Babe Ruth | 1920 | .868 | 26 |
| Ted Williams | 1957 | .855 | 18 |
| Babe Ruth | 1921 | .838 | 27 |
| Barry Bonds | 2004 | .832 | 22 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 2017 | .825 | 25 |
| Barry Bonds | 2002 | .825 | 19 |
Barry Bonds was very good, in case you were unaware of that fact. Looking at the top 50, the most recent second half besides Giancarlo was Manny Ramirez' 2008 with the Dodgers. Can Giancarlo continue to hang with these legends in September? Probably not, but I'll be rooting for it. Next, let's take away the second half tag. How does Giancarlo's second half fare against any half—first or second? He only drops down to 11th.
Any Half SLG
| Player | Year | SLG | HR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Bonds | 2001 (2nd) | .908 | 34 |
| Babe Ruth | 1920 (2nd) | .868 | 26 |
| Ted Williams | 1957 (2nd) | .855 | 18 |
| Babe Ruth | 1921 (1st) | .851 | 32 |
| Babe Ruth | 1921 (2nd) | .838 | 27 |
| Babe Ruth | 1930 (1st) | .837 | 32 |
| Babe Ruth | 1920 (1st) | .834 | 28 |
| Barry Bonds | 2004 (2nd) | .832 | 22 |
| Lou Gehrig | 1927 (1st) | .830 | 29 |
| Barry Bonds | 2001 (1st) | .826 | 39 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 2017 (2nd) | .825 | 25 |
Babe Ruth, also good at baseball. His 1921 season was INSANE. Ruth's slugging percentage from both the first and second half rank in the top five. Crazy! One more note here, the next 2017 half on this list is Mike Trout's first half at 44th.
How good were Ruth and Bonds? Of the top 25 halves of baseball in terms of slugging percentage, they appear 14 times (seven each).
Baseball is here! And more importantly, that means the over/under game is back. It seems as though everyone is an expert this time of year. Somehow we convince ourselves that we are better at predicting baseball outcomes than everyone else. Well, AFITB is putting that to the test for the third year in a row. Think you know more about baseball than us? You probably do. But go ahead and prove it anyway.