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The major league leader in ERA takes the hill Monday when Ryan Dempster and the Chicago Cubs visit the St. Louis Cardinals (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET).

Dempster has allowed just four earned runs in five starts -- a 1.02 ERA -- but is 0-1. The Cubs have lost all of Dempster's starts, scoring a total of eight runs in the five games.

According to The Elias Sports Bureau, no pitcher in major league history has had an ERA as low as Dempster through five starts without a win.

He’s using his slider more often this season while decreasing the use of his fastball and splitter. That slider has been one of the best in baseball. Hitters are just 5-for-56 against Dempster’s slider this season, a paltry .094 batting average. (Last year through five starts, he allowed 11 hits against the slide piece.) Only one pitcher in baseball -- Matt Cain -- has a lower batting average against his slider (min. 50 PA ending with a slider).

Dempster’s opponent, Jake Westbrook, is off to a fine start of his own. He’s 4-2 with a 1.76 ERA and has pitched into the seventh inning in all six of his starts. Only Felix Hernandez and Roy Halladay have pitched into the seventh inning more often this season.

Westbrook has improved his slider by keeping it out of the middle of the strike zone. Last season, more than 21 percent of his sliders were in the middle-third of the strike zone and just 52 percent were away. This season, fewer than 13 percent of his sliders are in the middle and more than 62 percent are away from hitters. As the chart to the right shows, hitters are swinging at the pitch less but are missing it nearly twice as often.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH
• Skip Schumaker is hitting .417 (20-for-48) against Dempster, the second-highest batting average by any hitter with 40 plate appearances against him.

• Rafael Furcal is hitting .154 (6-for-39) against Dempster, the lowest batting average by any player with 40 plate appearances against him.

• Alfonso Soriano is hitting .120 (3-for-25) against Westbrook, the third-lowest batting average by any player with 25 plate appearances against him.

• David DeJesus is 7-for-26 against Westbrook, just a .269 batting average, but he’s the only Cub who’s homered off the Cardinals righty. Plus, only two players have faced Westbrook more often without a strikeout.

RIVALRY REVISITED
These two teams first met in 1892, when the Chicago Colts beat the St. Louis Browns 14-10 on Opening Day. The Cubs lead the all-time series 1,169-1,107. Since the start of the 2002 season, the series is tied 86-86.

The Chicago Cubs' Starlin Castro is in his age-22 season and already has accumulated more than 1,000 plate appearances. He also continues to improve, raising his batting average each season: .300 in 2010, .307 in 2011, .347 in 2012.

That sort of ability to put the bat on the ball is legitimately rare in baseball history. Among shortstops, Castro’s .308 lifetime batting average is the third highest through an age-22 season (see chart).

Castro is steadily improving his recognition of off-speed pitches. Across the board, his performance has improved against changeups, sliders and curveballs. Castro has a tremendously high batting average on balls in play against such pitches (.453) and leads all of baseball with a .393 batting average on off-speed pitches.

Also, his strikeout rate on off-speed pitches has decreased each season (from 20.1 percent in 2010 to 14.5 this season), and his OPS has increased from .699 in his rookie season to .895 in 2012.

While Castro’s future was already assured in Chicago, first baseman Bryan LaHair may have found a team to stick with, as well.

A 29-year-old minor league veteran, LaHair finally is getting a chance to play every day and is taking full advantage of it.

LaHair is absolutely destroying pitches on the outer half of the plate, leading all of baseball in both batting average (.436) and OPS (1.327) against such pitches.

On Wednesday, LaHair drove in the only run of the game on a pitch that was on the outside half of the plate.

Stats & Info insights into this morning's top sports stories.

1. CLIPPERS MAKE HISTORIC COMEBACK: The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 99-98, in Game One of their First-Round series. The Clippers trailed by 21 points at the end of the third quarter. The win tied the shot-clock era playoff record for the largest deficit overcome at the end of the third quarter. (2002 Boston Celtics vs New Jersey Nets)

2. BYNUM RECORDS TRIPLE-DOUBLE IN WIN: Andrew Bynum recorded a triple-double (10 Pts, 13 Reb, 10 Blk) in the Los Angeles Lakers 103-88 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game One on Sunday. According to Elias, was the first triple-double by a center in an NBA playoff game since May 7, 1993, when David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs (20 points, 17 rebounds, 11 assists) did it against the Portland Trail Blazers.

3. RONDO EJECTED, CELTICS DEJECTED: Rajon Rondo was ejected for bumping a referee during the fourth quarter of the Celtics 83-74 Game One loss to the Atlanta Hawks. NEXT LEVEL: If Rondo is suspended, the Celtics offense will likely take a hit. The Celtics averaged over seven points more per 100 possessions with Rondo on the floor this season compared to when he was off the floor or out.

4. RAYS ROMP RANGERS IN SERIES: The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Texas Rangers, 5-2, taking two of three games in their weekend series against the defending AL champions. According to Elias, the Rangers had won each of their seven previous series this season, tying them for the second-longest streak of consecutive series wins to begin a season for a team that had gone to the World Series the previous year. The 1907 Chicago Cubs won their first 11 series and the 2003 San Francisco Giants won their first seven.

5. METS WIN A CLOSE ONE: The New York Mets defeated the Colorado Rockies, 6-5 in 11 innings. According to Elias, it was the second victory in franchise history in which the Mets allowed a pair of game-tying home runs in the 8th inning or later. The other was New York's classic 19-inning, 16-13 win at the Atlanta Braves on July 4, 1985.

Jose Reyes returns to Flushing, NY to face his former team, the New York Mets, starting tonight at Citi Field as the Miami Marlins begin a three-game set against the Mets.

Reyes began his career in the Mets organization before signing a six-year, $106 million deal with the Marlins this past offseason.

Reyes ranks in the top three in several career categories in Mets history: first in runs (735), triples (99) and steals (370); second in hits (1,300) and third in doubles (222).

With a healthy Reyes in the lineup, the Mets were a much different team, winning over 53 percent of the time, compared to a .437 win percentage without him in the lineup.

Check out the article written by ESPN The Magazine’s Jorge Arangure Jr. about Reyes and his return to New York.

Early Morning Baseball in Japan
The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers play the second game of their three-game set in Arlington tonight with Hiroki Kuroda facing off against Yu Darvish at 8:05 pm ET (9:05 am Wednesday in Japan).

This is just the seventh time that two Japanese pitchers have started against each other in MLB history and the first time since July 22, 2010 when Kuroda (the pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers) pitched against the Mets Hisanori Takahashi.

The two starting pitchers – who never faced each other in Japan – have had some struggles this season. Kuroda, who spent his first four years in the majors pitching for the Dodgers, is limiting right-handed batters to a .133 average (4-for-30). However, lefties are hitting .432 (19-for-44).

Darvish allowed four runs to the Seattle Mariners in the first inning of his first MLB start (April 9), but has allowed only four runs COMBINED in his 16⅔ innings pitched since (two starts).

A Look Back at Last Night
• During the Yankees 7-4 win over the Rangers, Derek Jeter went 4-for-5 with a double and RBI.

That was Jeter’s 42nd career four-hit game and the first time he’s had two four-hit games in April in his career (went 4-for-4 against the Baltimore Orioles on April 9).

On July 9, 2011, Jeter went 5-for-5 against the Tampa Bay Rays and in the process registered his 3,000th hit. Including that game, Jeter has hit .354 in his last 81 games. Among players with at 100 plate appearances since July 9, 2011, only three other players have a higher batting average.

In his previous 81 games (Sept. 17, 2010 to July 8, 2011), Jeter had batted just .274

• The Kansas City Royals lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1, the Royals 11th straight home loss dating back to last season (the longest home losing streak in franchise history).

Kansas City finished its homestand 0-10. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only two other teams in major-league history went 0-10 or worse on a homestand: the Seattle Pilots (a first-year expansion team that became the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970) lost all 10 games of a homestand in August 1969; and the Arizona Diamondbacks went 0-11 on a homestand in July of 2004.

• The Chicago Cubs scored its first walk-off win of the season by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Joe Mather's two-run single in the bottom of the ninth, his second career walk-off hit.

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us over the last 20 years the Cubs had only one other home win against St. Louis after trailing in the ninth inning or later. That occurred on May 29, 1999, with a ninth-inning rally that featured a game-tying home run by Glenallen Hill and a walkoff double by Mark Grace. Mather became the first former Cardinals player to have a walk-off RBI for the Cubs against St. Louis since Jerry Morales on September 22, 1981.

Nate Jones contributed to this post

Don’t look now, but the Washington Nationals have zoomed to the top of the NL East following their 3-2, extra-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon.

The Nationals improved to 5-2, their best start since moving to Washington, and also win their first home opener since 2008. This is just the second time in the last 15 seasons the franchise has won five of its first seven games. In 2001, the Montreal Expos were 6-1 after seven games.

The Nats took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning but Brad Lidge blew the save, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks. Lidge had allowed just one run over his previous 16 appearances dating to August of last year.

The Nationals won it in the 10th inning thanks to a wild outing by Reds reliever Alfredo Simon. Simon hit Ryan Zimmerman to lead off the inning and Zimmerman eventually came around to score four batters later on Simon’s wild pitch with Roger Bernadina at the plate.

This was the Nationals’ fifth win on a game-ending wild pitch since moving to Washington in 2005. Entering Thursday, the Nats had lost their last six extra-inning games against the Reds and were 0-5 in one-run games versus Cincinnati over the last two season.

Gio Gonzalez got a no-decision but deserved the win, tossing seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and just two hits allowed.

Gonzalez had success going low as Reds hitters went 0-for-11 in at-bats ending with pitches down in the zone or below. Gonzalez also did a good job finishing off batters, allowing zero hits in 13 at-bats that reached a two-strike count.

Around The Diamond
• The Minnesota Twins came back from a six-run deficit against the Los Angeles Angels thanks to home runs from both Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. It was the first time that Morneau and Mauer homered in the same game since July 6, 2010.

• Matt Garza fell one out short of a shutout when he was pulled after 119 pitches in the ninth inning of the Chicago Cubs 8-0 win. Garza had his slider working, throwing 31 of them, as the Milwaukee Brewers were hitless including five strikeouts in nine at-bats ending with the pitch.

• The Detroit Tigers improved to 5-1 this season with a win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Austin Jackson scored a run and has now crossed home plate in all six games this season, the longest streak to start the season by a Tiger since Darrell Evans scored in the first eight games in 1986.

• Madison Bumgarner took a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2. Bumgarner recorded a career-high 14 ground-ball outs (including a double play) with eight of them coming in at-bats ending in sliders.

The San Francisco Giants won for the first time in four games this season behind the arm of Barry Zito, who threw a shutout against the Colorado Rockies. He was just the second visiting left-handed pitcher to throw a shutout at Coors Field, joining Tom Glavine who did it twice.

Zito hadn’t thrown a shutout since April 18, 2003. He made 274 starts between shutouts, the longest streak between shutouts in major-league history. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the third-longest streak of consecutive streaks without a shutout, but Tim Wakefield and Kirk Reuter both ended their careers without breaking the streak.

Darvish overcomes shaky start
Yu Darvish struggled early in his debut for the Texas Rangers, allowing four runs and seven runners to reach base (four hits, three walks) in the first inning. He settled down after that, allowing a single run on four hits and a walk in his final 4⅔ innings. With the Rangers scoring 11 runs, Darvish was able to pick up the win.

It’s the second straight season that Darvish had some trouble shaking off the rust in the opener. In his first start with the Nippon Ham Fighters last year, he allowed seven runs in seven innings. In his other 28 starts, he didn’t allow more than three runs in a game.

Quick hits
• The Atlanta Braves fell to 0-4 for the first time since 1988, when they lost their first 10 games. Dating to last season, the Braves have lost nine straight games.

• Daniel Murphy recorded his second career walk-off hit as the New York Mets improved to 4-0 for the fourth time in franchise history.

• Homer Bailey allowed three home runs to the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning. It was the second time in his career that he allowed three homers in a game. The last time the Cardinals hit three home runs in the opening frame was a loss to the Chicago Cubs on July 24, 2005.

• Derek Jeter and Matt Wieters each recorded four hits in the New York Yankees win over the Baltimore Orioles. It was the 41st time that Jeter recorded at least four hits in a game but just the second time for Wieters.

• The Boston Red Sox scored three runs in the ninth inning to avoid starting back-to-back seasons at 0-4 for the first time in franchise history.

• Starlin Castro went 0-for-5, snapping his streak of reaching base safely at 43 games. That was one short of the most for the Cubs in the Live Ball Era (since 1920). Riggs Stephenson reach base safely in 44 straight games in 1928.

The Milwaukee Brewers head to the Windy City to open a four-game series against the Chicago Cubs tonight (ESPN, 7 ET). The Brewers went 10-6 against the Cubs last season, their first winning season against Chicago since 2005. The Cubs were 45-34 against Milwaukee from 2006-10.

Starting Pitchers
Shaun Marcum takes the mound for the Brewers in his first start of the season. Marcum is coming off a career year in 2011 – his first in the National League after starting his career with the Toronto Blue Jays - as he set career highs with 33 starts and 200⅔ IP, and tied his career high with 13 wins.

The cutter will be Marcum’s weapon, a pitch he improved and increased his use of last season. In 2011, he threw his cutter 17.7 percent of the time and has a miss percentage of 26.0, compared to throwing it 15.9 percent of the time with a 22.2 miss percentage in 2010. In addition, Marcum allowed only two HR off his cutter last season, compared to seven home runs in 2010.

Chris Volstad is 1-1 with a sparkling 1.71 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers. He’ll be excited to see Milwaukee without Prince Fielder in the lineup. Volstad’s opponents’ batting average against lefties was fifth-worst in the majors last season.

Volstad’s performance against lefties has gotten worse each of his four seasons in the majors. In 2008, he allowed lefties to hit .243 against him, but saw left-handed hitters become more comfortable in each of the subsequent years – hitting .255 in 2009; .292 in 2010; and a career-high .305 against him last season. Only four other pitchers (min. 300 AB) had a higher opponent batting average against left-handed batters last season.

Stat of the Game
Milwaukee entered the season without Prince Fielder for the first time since 2005 (signed a free-agent contract with the Detroit Tigers). It’s only three games, but they are feeling his loss as their first basemen (Mat Gamel and Travis Ishikawa) are a combined 2-for-12 with five strikeouts and no extra-base hits. Fielder is hitting .417 with two HR and two strikeouts in three games with the Tigers.

Key Matchup
Chicago second baseman Darwin Barney is 3-for-7 with three doubles against Marcum, but the rest of the Cubs are 5-for-53 (.094) with two extra-base hits combined. David DeJesus is 0-for-16 with four strikeouts against him.

John Fisher contributed to this post

Stats & Info insights into this morning's top sports stories

1. THE BEST GOLFER WITHOUT A MAJOR? After the opening round of the Masters Tournament, Lee Westwood stands alone at the top at -5. Westwood has never won a major but has been a bridesmaid multiple times. This is the third time he’s opened a major with a 67, and both times he finished the major in second place.

2. TIGER ON THE PROWL Tiger Woods shot an even-par 72 at the Masters and is tied for 29th after the opening round. That might sound like he’s a ways back, but not for Tiger. The last time he was this far back after the opening round was 2005, when he was tied for 33rd. That year he went on to win the Masters, his last win there. Looking ahead to Friday, he’ll hope to repeat that 2005 success. He shot a 66 in the second round en route to his win.

3. PITCHERS DOMINATE OPENING DAY The Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians treated fans to free baseball on their Opening Day. The 16 innings they played made it the longest season-opening game in MLB history. But pitchers stole the show for the day. FROM ELIAS: Justin Verlander, Roy Halladay and Justin Masterson each allowed two hits in eight innings on Thursday while Ryan Dempster surrendered two knocks in 7⅔ innings. It was the first day on which four pitchers threw more than seven innings and allowed no more than two hits since Sept. 27, 1986.

4. NO MAGIC IN ORLANDO Dwight Howard scored just two points through three quarters in an Orlando Magic loss to the New York Knicks and finished with eight points for the game. It was just the third time this season that Howard failed to score in double-digits and two of those have come against the Knicks. His team’s woes continue: the Magic have lost five straight, their longest losing streak since Jan. 12-20, 2007.

5. STAMKOS STALKING 60 Two big happenings in the NHL on Thursday: the eight playoff spots in each conference were decided BUT the seeding of each team is still up in the air. Also, Steven Stamkos moved one step closer to a landmark when he scored his 59th goal of the season. Stamkos has one game left, at the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, and will try to become just the second player since 1996 to score 60 goals in a season.

Luke Scott: Signs one-year deal with Tampa Bay Rays
The player that the Rays hope they signed is the Scott of 2010, the one who prior to shoulder surgery in 2011, was one of the best power hitters in baseball against right-handed pitching.

That season, Scott was a fastball masher. His batting average (.372) and OPS (1.130) against fastballs, cutters, and sinkers from right-handers were each sixth-best in baseball, alongside the likes of Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto.

He was arguably the best hitter in baseball against hard stuff from righties in the lower-third of the strike zone and below.

He netted 41 hits and made only 37 outs when he made contact against such pitches. That included 11 doubles and five home runs. His miss rate of only 13 percent was three percentage points below the league average.

Scott’s numbers against right-handed pitching in 2010 represent a significant upgrade from those that the man he’s replacing at designated hitter, Johnny Damon, put up against right-handers last season (see chart on right).

-- Mark Simon

Paul Maholm: Signs one-year deal with Chicago Cubs
The 29 year-old Maholm, who rebounded from a dismal 5.10 ERA in 2010 to record a career-best 3.66 ERA in 2011, faces a stiff challenge in trying to repeat that breakout performance in Chicago.

Maholm is a worm-burning specialist, posting a ground-ball rate of over 50 percent in each of the last three seasons. Last season, he was most successful at getting outs on grounders up the middle.

That trend was hardly surprising given the defensive strengths of his two primary middle infielders, Ronny Cedeno and Neil Walker.

Cedeno ranked as the third-best shortstop turning batted balls into outs last season with a Plus-Minus rating of +15 overall. He was at his best on balls hit to his left, where he converted nine more balls into outs than the average shortstop.

Walker was below average overall in making outs, but most of his problems were in getting to balls hit to the first base/second base hole (-18). When going after balls hit up the middle, he converted an incredible 24 more of them into outs than the average second baseman.

Maholm now joins a Cubs team that is expected to have Starlin Castro at shortstop and Darwin Barney at second base in 2012. Castro was one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league and his biggest shortcoming was on balls hit up the middle, where he turned eight fewer balls into outs.

Barney ranked in the middle-of-the-pack defensively but his only strength was in getting to balls hit to the first base hole (+4). When going to his right on balls up the middle, Barney was below average, making two fewer plays than the average second baseman.

-- Katie Sharp

Kerry Wood: Signs one-year deal with Chicago Cubs
Wood got hit a bit harder in 2011 than he did in 2010 and much of the damage was done against pitches over the middle-third of the plate, height-wise.

Of the 16 extra-base hits Wood allowed last season, 13 of them came on pitches to that area. He only allowed three extra-base hits on pitches to that area in 2010.

Yet there is optimism for the Cubs with this deal as Wood showed considerable improvement in one critical area – limiting walks.

He cut his walks per nine innings nearly in half and much of the decline came against lefties. After walking nearly one-quarter of the lefties he faced in 2010, Wood walked only one out of every 10 opposite-handed batters in 2011.

Wood made the biggest jump in his ability to throw strikes against lefties when the count was full. In 2010, fewer than two-thirds of the 28 pitches he threw on a 3-2 count were strikes; in 2011, he threw 27 of his 29 3-2 pitches for strikes.

Because of that, he walked just two of the 19 lefties that reached full counts last season, after allowing more than half (10 of 19) to take a base in 2010.

-- Mark Simon and Katie Sharp

Each Sunday, ESPN Stats & Information reviews significant moves from the past week.

Marlins agree to terms with Heath Bell
Bell is the first free agent reliever to get a contract of at least three years from the Florida Marlins in their history, the first pitcher to do so since starter Alex Fernandez got a five-year deal in the 1996-97 offseason.

Bell's declining strikeout rate may explain why his deal was a year shorter and for $23 million less than Jonathan Papelbon's with the Philadelphia Phillies.

That's largely due to the issues Bell had with his two-strike curveball from 2010 to 2011, as noted in the chart on the right.
--Mark Simon

Angels trade with Rockies for Chris Iannetta
Iannetta should bring much-needed offensive production behind the plate to the Los Angeles Angels, whose catchers last year had the third-worst OPS in the majors. Iannetta hit just .238 in 2011, but still managed a .370 on-base percentage.

Iannetta's 16 percent walk rate (third-best in MLB) comes from having the fourth-lowest chase percentage in the majors (17.4 percent) among players with at least 400 plate appearances.

However, Iannetta struggled at the plate away from the friendly confines of Coors Field. His road OPS of .587 was third-worst in the NL, compared to a home OPS of .975 that ranked ninth-best in the NL (minimum 200 PA).

The home-road differential of 388 points was the highest for anyone in the NL by more than 100 points (The next-highest major leaguer was Adrian Beltre’s 341-point difference).

Check out the heat maps at the top of this story for more on the difference between Iannetta at Coors versus on the road.
-- Katie Sharp

Cubs sign David DeJesus to two-year contract
One of Theo Epstein’s first moves as General Manager of the Boston Red Sox was the signing of Bill Mueller, a 32-year-old with above-average contact and on-base skills.

Epstein and Chicago Cubs GM Jed Hoyer have made a similar move early in their tenures with the signing of DeJesus to be the club’s starting right fielder.

DeJesus, who turns 32 on December 20, brings a .284/.356/.421 career slashline to the Cubs, similar to Mueller’s .286/.370/.399 entering 2003. DeJesus’ .240 average in 2011 was a career-low, as was Mueller’s .262 in 2002.

DeJesus posted a career-low Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) in 2011, despite the fact that his batted-ball rates were mostly in line with his career averages.

DeJesus should be a defensive asset for the Cubs. His 13 Defensive Runs Saved in right field ranked third in baseball last year.

Baseball Info Solutions, the company that devised the Defensive Runs Saved metric, does video review of every play in every game.

They tag plays into 80 sub-categories of Good Fielding Plays (Web Gem-type plays that result in an unlikely out or deny baserunner advancement), and Defensive Misplays & Errors (in which the fielder does something identifiably wrong, which comes with a negative consequence).

DeJesus was also one of the best in the league Good Fielding Plays, with 29 in 2011, fourth among rightfielders

DeJesus also limited his mistakes. His Good Play/Misplay Ratio of better than 2-to-1 rated second-best (to Gold Glove winner Nick Markakis) among those who played 750-or-more innings played at the position.

--Dan Braunstein and Jacob Nitzberg

Tigers re-sign Ramon Santiago
Santiago has shored up some statistical deficiencies on defense the last two seasons (improving from -16 Defensive Runs Saved in 2008-2009 to 13 in 2010-11). He still has one offensive issue to focus on improving in 2012-- dealing with being behind in the count.

Santiago hit .093 against offspeed pitches (curveball, slider, changeup) in pitcher’s counts last season, the fifth-worst rate in the majors, well below the major-league average, .196.

What had been rumored and discussed for weeks is official now in Chicago, as Theo Epstein has been named the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.

Epstein will try to lead the team to an elusive World Series title, something that loyal Cubbie fans haven’t seen in over 100 years. Despite Epstein’s championship pedigree with the Boston Red Sox, he faces a huge challenge in getting the Cubs to the level of a team that can compete for a World Series ring.

There’s no question that Epstein inherited significantly more talent when he became the general manager of the Red Sox than what he has here in Chicago. In November of 2002, the Red Sox had just completed another successful season with 93 wins and a plus-194 run differential. The Cubs lost 91 games last year and were outscored by over 100 runs.

Using Wins Above Replacement (WAR), we can assess the level of top-end and overall talent both organizations had at the time of Epstein’s arrival.

The biggest difference between the two teams is clearly in the pitching department. The 2002 Red Sox had accumulated 29.0 WAR, which was the second-highest total that season, compared to just 13.3 for the 2011 Cubs.

Furthermore, according to WAR, the Cubs last season had no elite players and just one player (Matt Garza) with a WAR above 5.0. The 2002 Red Sox, on the other hand, had three players with a WAR of at least 5.0, and one (Pedro Martinez) who had an MVP-caliber season with 8.3 WAR.

Another potential pitfall for Epstein moving forward is that two of the Cubs top five contributors by WAR this past season are likely to depart in the winter, as Ryan Dempster and Aramis Ramirez both have options on their contracts worth a combined $30 million.

The 2011 regular season finished, arguably, in one of the most exciting fashions in baseball history. Now that the postseason has been set, let’s take a look back at which players won batting and pitching titles this season.

AL Crowns
• For the second consecutive year, Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays claimed the home run title. His 43 on the season were two ahead of the New York Yankees' Curtis Granderson. He's the first to claim the crown in two straight years since Alex Rodriguez did it in 2002-03.

• Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers - who also led the league in doubles with 47 - was the AL (and MLB) batting champion at .344. He is the second Tigers player to win the batting title in the last 50 seasons (Magglio Ordonez in 2007).

• Although Granderson and Robinson Cano started the day one-two in the AL RBI race, it was Mark Teixeira who came up big for the Yankees on Wednesday. His five-RBI game gave him 111 on the season and propelled him into fourth place. The last time three teammates finished within the top four of their league's RBI race was the 1966 Baltimore Orioles. That year, Frank Robinson (122) won the AL RBI race, while teammates Boog Powell (109) and Brooks Robinson (100) finished second and tied for fourth, respectively.

NL Crowns
• Jose Reyes singled in his first at-bat Wednesday and was promptly subbed out for a pinch runner. That left the New York Mets' leadoff hitter with a batting average of .337, potentially caught only by Ryan Braun who started the day at .335. Ultimately he finished the game 0-for-4 for a season average of .332, giving Reyes - and the Mets franchise - their first-ever NL batting champion. Reyes won the NL batting title in only 126 games played this season. That's the fewest amount of games played for a batting champion since Manny Ramirez hit .349 in 120 games played in 2002.

• Prince Fielder and Matt Kemp were tied for the NL home run lead entering Wednesday, but with just three innings left in the season, Kemp launched his 39th of the season out of Chase Field and claimed the title outright. Fielder finished with 38 and was followed by Albert Pujols' 37. The last season the National League leader did not finish with at least 40 HR was in 1992 when Fred McGriff had 35. Kemp also finished as the National League RBI leader with 126, six above Fielder.

• Starlin Castro led the National League in hits this year with 207. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 21-year-old Castro is the youngest player ever to lead the NL in that category, breaking the mark set in 1918 by another Chicago Cubs player, Charlie Hollocher, who was 22 years, 83 days old on the final day of that war-shortened season.

Other Point of Interest
• Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw both won the pitching Triple Crown in their respective leagues (Wins, ERA and Strikeouts). While the pitching Triple Crown has been won several times in MLB history (most recently by Jake Peavy with the San Diego Padres in 2007), this is the first time there’s been dual pitching Triple Crowns since 1924.

The New York Mets host the Chicago Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball at 8 ET on ESPN in the rubber game of a three-game series. Prior to the game, the Mets will hold a Sept. 11 Remembrance Ceremony.

Former closer John Franco will throw the first pitch to Mike Piazza, who hit a dramatic home run in the Mets 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 21, 2001 – the first major league game in New York after the 9/11 terror attacks. In addition, a 300-foot-by-100 foot American flag will be unveiled; Marc Anthony – who sang the national anthem on Sept. 21, 2001 – will repeat the performance; and Queens native (and American Idol finalist) Pia Toscano will sing “God Bless America.”

On the mound
Matt Garza takes the mound for the Cubs, his first career start against the Mets. Garza is having the best season of his career, according to ERA. He has lowered his ERA nearly half a run from 3.91 last year to 3.52 this year.

However, the road hasn’t been kind to Garza this season. In 12 road starts, he’s 3-5 with a 4.84 ERA, more than double his home ERA (2.64). In addition, the opposition is hitting .279 against him on the road, compared to .230 in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.

For the Mets, 40-year-old Miguel Batista takes the mound. Batista - playing for his 10th MLB team (tied with Bruce Chen for the second-most teams played for among active pitchers, behind Octavio Dotel, 12) - earned his 100th career win in his first start with New York (Sept. 1).

Batista is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three starts this season (including one start with the St. Louis Cardinals on April 22). Batista’s last loss as a starter was July 19, 2008. He is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in eight starts since then.

Matchup to watch
Jason Bay is hitting just .218 (19-87) since August 13, despite hitting .452 (14-31) during his current nine-game hitting streak. Bay is 5-20 (including postseason) in his career against Garza, but hasn’t faced him since 2009, when he went 3-15. However, those three hits were all for extra bases (double and two triples).

Stat of the game
Starlin Castro leads the NL with 186 hits and is projected to finish with more than 200 this season. He would be the first Cubs player to have a 200-hit season before turning age 22.

Justin Verlander became the first 19-game winner in the majors Monday night with a strong performance against the Tampa Bay Rays. Verlander struck out eight and allowed three hits over seven innings.

He has now won seven straight starts, the second time this season he's accomplished that feat. (He's the first pitcher with a pair of streaks like that since Frank Viola, with the 1988 Minnesota Twins).

In that span, he's gone at least seven innings and posted at least seven strikeouts.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's the first pitcher with a streak that long reaching those parameters since Pedro Martinez did so over the 1999 and 2000 seasons, both years in which Martinez won the AL Cy Young award.

In addition, Verlander reached 19 wins in 127 team games, the fastest a Tigers pitcher has gotten to 19 wins since Mickey Lolich reached 19 wins in 114 team games in 1972.

Verlander joins Martinez and Greg Maddux as the only pitchers in the divisional era to post a WHIP of less than 0.90 (minimum 20 decisions).

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Verlander is 18-0 this season when the Tigers have scored at least three runs in his starts.

The last pitcher to finish a season 18-0 or better in games in which his team scored at least three runs was Martinez (19-0 in 2002 in starts when the Red Sox plated more than two runs).

ELSEWHERE AROUND THE MAJORS:

•Cliff Lee led the Philadelphia Phillies to a 10-0 win over the New York Mets, with seven shutout innings and seven strikeouts. Lee has won his past four decisions (allowed two runs in last 31 innings), and 10 of his past 12 decisions overall. He's 10-2 at home this season and is 6-1 against New York teams since 2008 (2-0, 0.43 ERA vs the Mets).

•With a scoreless inning in Monday’s 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves reliever Jonny Venters continued an amazing recent run of success. Venters has now pitched 22 2/3 scoreless innings, a streak that began on July 4. In that span, opponents are 8-for-75 against him with 27 strikeouts (albeit, with 14 walks). Left-handed hitters are 2-for-24.

Left-handed hitters have missed on 33 of their 41 swings against Venters’ slider. He ranks first in the majors in miss percentage against his slider (80.5 percent)

Mark Simon contributed to this story

Five teams won in walk-off style Tuesday, tied for the most walk-off wins on a single day this season.

The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 in 11 innings on Martin Prado's third career walk-off hit. It’s the second straight night the Braves won via walk-off, their major-league-leading 22nd last-AB win this season. It’s their 10th walk-off win, tied with the Giants for second-most in the bigs (Royals – 11). It's the Giants' eighth walk-off loss, only six teams have more.

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 in 11 innings on Garrett Jones’ second career walk-off HR. It’s the 11th last-AB win for the Pirates this season, only four teams have fewer. For the Cardinals, it’s their 11th walk-off loss this season, tied for the most in the major leagues.

The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 on Mark Kotsay's 10th career walk-off hit (second this season, both with the bases loaded). The Brewers have won 18 of their past 20 games for just the second time in franchise history. It’s their 18th final-AB win -- only three teams have more -- and L.A.'s fourth walk-off loss, only three teams have fewer.

The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs 6-5 on a walk-off grand slam from Brian Bogusevic, just his second career home run and first career walk-off hit. The Astros have the fewest wins in baseball, but eight of them have come via the walk-off -- only four teams have more this season. It’s Carlos Marmol’s eighth blown save this season, tied for the major league lead.

And in the night’s final game, the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 14 innings on a Juan Pierre walk-off single, his seventh career walk-off RBI. The White Sox have just four walk-off wins this season, they entered the game tied for last in the majors in that department. It’s the ninth walk-off loss for Cleveland, only four teams have more this season.