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Paging Jayson Stark...

(The truth is, I don't regularly read Stark anymore, so it's very possible that he's published this and I simply missed it--but it seems like the sort of fact he'd use to fill some virtual column space. Anyway, here it is.)

Ryan Howard, as we know, led the National League in home runs this year with 48. It was remarked a few years back, I think by Baseball Prospectus, that it's actually unusual for the world champion to include the league home run leader (and that by implication, if I'm remembering it right, teams should be wary of breaking the bank for any one power hitter who might help put them over the top). This is actually true; it had been almost three decades since a world champion from the National League included the league's top slugger.

That team: the 1980 Phillies, led of course by MVP Mike Schmidt's 48 home runs. (The only other champ to include the league's top slugger was the 2004 Red Sox, which included Manny Ramirez and his league-best 43 bombs.) 

Okay, top-shelf analysis it ain't. But at least it took your mind off the misery that is the Eagles for a short while.