The Baseball Buffet for 10/11/2025

Issue #420

The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

The 198th day of the season featured one ALDS game:

• DET 2, SEA 3 - I start each edition of The Baseball Buffet by saying it will provide “baseball goodness”, and this game certainly was a big dose of that. Games rarely go 15 innings any more, but since the free-runner-on-second-base rule isn’t in effect in the postseason, this one went on for nearly five hours. And both teams were hungry entering this series, as the Tigers haven’t won a World Series since 1984, and the Mariners are still looking for their first title since joining the league in 1977.
  
  Tarik Skubal struck out 13 in six innings, allowing just two hits and one run. George Kirby did well too, not allowing any runs through five innings. But then he gave up a double to Javier Báez in the sixth, with Kerry Carpenter next up. Seattle manager Dan Wilson played the percentages: although Carpenter had been struggling in this postseason, he already had two singles in this game and he has a great history against George Kirby going 4-8 with 4 HR against him in regular season play and he hit a HR off him in game 1 of this series. Carpenter doesn’t hit lefties nearly as well as righties (he often sits against lefties in fact), so it made sense to bring in lefty Gabe Speier (2.61 ERA, 82 K in 62 IP during the regular season). But Carpenter had other ideas, and stroked a 2-run HR anyway, giving the Tigers the lead.
  
  Some strategy came into play in the seventh to tie game up. Kyle Finnegan had entered in relief of Skubal, and he walked Jorge Polanco and then allowed a single to Josh Naylor, but also secured two outs along the way. The Mariners announced pinch-hitter Dominic Canzone in place of Mitch Garver, so the Tigers brought in Tyler Holton. Wilson then elected to switch Leo Rivas as his pinch hitter instead. This was Rivas’ first postseason at-bat…and it was his 28th birthday too! The move worked, as Rivas singled to left to drive in Polanco knotting the game at 2-2.
  
  The game stayed 2-2 through regulation, and then even though both teams created many opportunities by getting runners to second base, they just couldn’t drive them in. Overall, the Tigers were 1-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 guys on base, while the Mariners were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and left 12 guys on base. Detroit used eight pitchers, including starter Jack Flaherty for the 13th and 14th innings, while Seattle used seven pitchers, including starter Logan Gilbert for the 10th and 11th, and ultimately starter Luis Castillo for one out in the 14th and all of the 15th.
  
  Finally, in the bottom of the 15th, the Tigers brought in Tommy Kahnle and J.P. Crawford hit a leadoff single. Randy Arozarena was hit by pitch, and then Cal Raleigh flew out, but Parker Meadows made a throwing error and Crawford advanced to third. Kahnle intentionally walked Julio Rodríguez to load the bases, which set up force outs everywhere and the chance for a double play. But then Jorge Polanco singled to right to drive in Crawford for the win, and the home crowd in Seattle went wild!

Today’s Trivia Question

According to Statcast data, which hitter had the highest average exit velocity, 95.8 mph, for the 2025 season? (Bonus points for each of the other four that you can name that were over 94 mph.)

League Leaders

It would seem likely that the two ERA leaders this year will also win their respective league’s Cy Young Awards. Here are the dozen qualified pitchers with an ERA under 3.00 for the year:

• 1.97 - PIT Paul Skenes - NL Leader

• 2.21 - DET Tarik Skubal - AL Leader

• 2.43 - HOU Hunter Brown

• 2.49 - LAD Yoshinobu Yamamoto

• 2.50 - PHI Cristopher Sánchez

• 2.59 - BOS Garrett Crochet

• 2.70 - MIL Freddy Peralta

• 2.86 - NYY Max Fried

• 2.87 - CIN Andrew Abbott

• 2.87 - SDP Nick Pivetta

• 2.94 - SEA Bryan Woo

• 2.97 - TEX Jacob deGrom

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. Unless otherwise noted, the descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.

📅 On October 11…

• 1910: An interesting exhibition series before the World Series. “With the AL having completed its schedule, but the NL still active for another week, Connie Mack arranges for his pennant-winning team, the Athletics, to play a series of five games against an All-Star team of players from the league's other teams, to tune up for the upcoming World Series. In the first game played today at Shibe Park, the All-Stars, led by P Walter Johnson, OF Tris Speaker and 3B Harry Lord and managed by Jimmy McAleer, win the game, 8-3, even though Ty Cobb, who has committed to play, is still missing after experiencing car trouble on his way from Detroit, MI to Philadelphia, PA. The All-Stars will win the first four games before Philadelphia takes the last one, then goes on to beat the Cubs in five games in the Fall Classic.”

• 1911: The first league MVPs. “Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers and Wildfire Schulte of the Chicago Cubs win the newly established Chalmers Awards, which go to the league's most valuable players. Cobb batted .420 with an American League-leading 127 RBI, while Schulte led the National League with 21 home runs and 107 RBI. Using a point system - eight for a first-place vote, seven for second, and so on - the eight voting writers give Cobb the maximum 64 points. Winners receive Chalmers automobiles.”

• 1913: Eddie Plank outduels Christy Mathewson giving the A’s the World Series. “The Philadelphia Athletics win the World Series as Eddie Plank outduels New York Giants pitching great Christy Mathewson in Game 5. Plank allows only two hits in the Athletics' 3-1 victory, giving Philadelphia its third World Championship in the last four seasons.”

• 1948: Cleveland wins the World Series…and haven’t won it since. “The Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves, 4-3, to win the World Series in six games. Joe Gordon hits a home run in support of future Hall of Famer Bob Lemon, who earns a 4-3 victory - his second of the Series. After pitching a five-hit shutout in Game 3, rookie Gene Bearden retires the last five batters and gets the save.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Will White (1854)

• 10-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1877-1886, mostly with Cincinnati of the National League and later Cincinnati of the American Association

• An early star pitcher, he started and completed 75 games in 1879, throwing a mind-boggling 680 innings

• He led his league in wins with a 40-12 record in 1882 and a 43-22 mark in 1888, also led the league that year with a 2.09 ERA

• Overall had a 229-166 (.580) record, a 2.28 ERA, and a 121 ERA+

Orlando Hernández (1965)

• Had a 9-year major league career, spanning from 1998-2008, starting with the Yankees and then playing for three other clubs

• Nicknamed "El Duque" (Spanish for The Duke)

• Played for many years in his native Cuba, including on the Cuba national team, before defecting the United States. As a result, his major league career didn't start until his age-32 season when he went 12-4 with a 3.13 ERA as a rookie.

• Was a key member of the Yankees World Series champions from 1998-2000, going 8-1 in 10 postseason starts with a 2.20 ERA and 71 K in 73.2 IP

• Overall during the regular season he was 90-65 (.581) with a 4.13 ERA and 110 ERA+

Gregg Olson (1966)

• First-round draft pick (4th overall) by the Orioles in 1988

• 14-year major league career, spanning from 1988-2001, with six seasons for Baltimore before spending time with eight other clubs

• Won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1989 after posting 27 saves with a 1.69 ERA in 85 innings

• Was an All-Star in 1990 when he had a career-high 37 saves and a 2.42 ERA

• Had 25+ saves in six seasons

• Overall had 217 saves, a 3.46 ERA, and a 123 ERA+

Dmitri Young (1973)

• First-round draft pick (4th overall) by the Cardinals in 1991

• 13-year major league career, spanning from 1996-2008, mostly with the Reds and Tigers

• Played a mix of 1B, LF, and DH

• Two-time All-Star

• Hit 20+ HR three times, with a high of 29 in 2003

• Overall had 171 HR, a .292/.351/.475 slash line, and a 114 OPS+

Currently active players who were born on October 11 include BAL Tomoyuki Sugano and MIN Mickey Gasper.

Today’s Matchups

Today we have one NLDS game which will decide who plays the Dodgers in the NLCS:

• CHC vs. MIL at 8:08pm ET - As of the time of this writing, neither team has announced a starting pitcher. It is possible both teams will go with openers, and then leverage pitchers throughout the game based on matchups and other strategic considerations. Shota Imanaga could be a starter or long-man for the Cubs, while it would seem likely that rookie Jacob Misiorowski will see action in some capacity for the Brewers.

⚾ Enjoy the games today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

According to Statcast data, the top five in average exit velocity in 2025 were:

• 95.8 - PIT Oneil Cruz

• 95.4 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 94.9 - LAD Shohei Ohtani

• 94.3 - WAS James Wood

• 94.3 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

Cruz only hit .200 with 174 K, while Woods managed to bat .256 but had 221 K, only two short of the all-time record. If those guys could improve their contact and strikeout numbers, they could join Judge, Ohtani, and others as truly elite players!

Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

• Down 0-2? After tying NLDS, Cubs can look to these teams for inspiration, by Matt Kelly at MLB, 10/10/2025

• Baseball Will Break Your Heart, by Joe Posnanski at JoeBlogs, 10/10/2025

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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