Going into last night's game, Adrian Gonzalez had 54 RBIs. That counts for exactly 25% of the Padres 216 runs total. That's a lot, but if he and the Padres can come anywhere close to holding their respective paces, it'll break a Major League record that's stood for 36 years and one that is, interestingly enough, held by a Padre.
In 1972, Nate Colbert drove in 22.75% of the Padres total runs for the season. Not counting the strike shortened season of 1981, there are only 8 players total who've driven in at least 20% of their teams runs in a season.
Team RBI
Year Player,Team RBI Runs Pct.
1981 George Foster, Reds (+) 90 348 25.8
1972 Nate Colbert, Padres 111 488 22.7
1935 Wally Berger, Braves 130 575 22.6
1959 Ernie Banks, Cubs 143 673 21.2
2001 Sammy Sosa, Cubs 160 777 20.6
1961 Jim Gentile, Orioles 141 691 20.4
1919 Babe Ruth, Red Sox 114 564 20.2
1968 Frank Howard, Senators 106 524 20.2
1981 Bill Buckner, Cubs (+) 75 370 20.2
1970 Frank Howard, Senators 126 626 20.1
(+) Strike-interrupted season
Look how rare it is to get to 20%, much less 21% or 22%. If Adrian manages 25%, it will be an unprecedented record that could very well be never again matched. It's early, but I say we go for it.
MVP?
[one of a few HTs: Cardboard Gods]