The Baseball Buffet for 10/12/2025

Issue #421

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 199th day of the season featured one NLDS game:

• CHC 1, MIL 3 - All four runs in this one came from solo homers. Brewers’ catcher William Contreras got things going in the bottom of the first, and then the Cubs evened it up with a solo HR by Seiya Suzuki in the second. Both teams’ gameplan was to use an opener (Drew Pomeranz for Chicago, Trevor Megill for Milwaukee), and then go with someone who is usually a starter for some bulk innings, if possible. Former Brewer Colin Rea didn’t last too long for the Cubs (2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K), giving up a HR to Andrew Vaughn. Jacob Misiorowski gave up the Suzuki dinger, but then settled in for four solid innings (4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K).
  
  After Daniel Palencia and Caleb Thielbar put in some work, Andrew Kittredge gave up a HR to Brice Turang in the seventh inning, putting the Brew Crew up 3-1. Having already used their closer Megill as the opener, Milwaukee entrusted the final two innings to Abner Uribe (1.67 ERA over 75.1 IP during the regular season), and he threw two scoreless innings to help the Brewers advance into the NLCS.

Active Leaders

Having covered all of final major statistics leaderboards in recent weeks, I’m pivoting now to walking us through the active career leaders, updated for the full 2025 season. I’ll start with HR, showing every active player who has 300 or more:

• 453 - Giancarlo Stanton

• 404 - Mike Trout

• 372 - Paul Goldschmidt

• 369 - Manny Machado

• 368 - Aaron Judge

• 367 - Freddie Freeman

• 363 - Bryce Harper

• 353 - Nolan Arenado

• 340 - Kyle Schwarber

• 335 - Carlos Santana

• 332 - Andrew McCutchen

• 325 - Eugenio Suárez

• 303 - Salvador Perez

Of course, Judge and Schwarber have reached those totals in significantly fewer plate appearances than the guys ahead of them.

Today’s Trivia Question

On that note, consider who has hit homers at the highest rate. More specifically, how many of the all-time top-10 can you name who had the fewest at-bats per HR? I’m using the leaderboard from baseball-reference.com, which sets the minimum to be included at 3,000 career plate appearances. (Hint: four of the all-time top-10 in AB per HR played in 2025.)

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 12…

• 1907: The Cubs run their way to a World Series championship. “Chicago Cubs pitcher Three Finger Brown shuts down the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, to win the World Series. Chicago steals four bases for a total of 18 in the five-game Series, winning four, and the other ending in a tie.”

• 1948: Casey Stengel is hired as Yankees manager. “The New York Yankees name Casey Stengel their manager, replacing Bucky Harris. Stengel, who receives a two-year contract, will lead the Yankees to five consecutive World Championships beginning in 1949.”

• 1982: Mike Caldwell and Paul Molitor star as the Brewers take game 1. “Paul Molitor of the Milwaukee Brewers sets a World Series record by collecting five hits against the St. Louis Cardinals as Brewers starter Mike Caldwell posts a 10-0 shutout in Game 1.”

• 1990: Three Reds’ pitchers combine for an NLCS one-hitter. “Danny Jackson, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers combine on a one-hitter as Cincinnati beats the Pirates, 2-1, to win the NLCS in six games.”

• 1997: Livan Hernandez strikes out 15 in an NLCS game. “Florida Marlins rookie Livan Hernandez matches Mike Mussina's one-day old League Championship Series pitching record, with 15 strikeouts in a three-hit, 2-1 win in Game 5 of the NLCS. Hernandez, who would not have started if not for an injury to Alex Fernandez, wins his second game of the Series and earns MVP honors.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Joe Cronin (1906)

• Hall of Famer

• 20-year major league career, spanning from 1926-1945, mostly with the Senators and Red Sox

• Seven-time All-Star shortstop, and AL MVP in 1930 when he batted .346 with 13 HR, 17 SB, 126 RBI, and 127 runs

• Had modest power, with 15+ HR five times and a career high of 24 in 1940, but nonetheless was a strong run-producer with 100+ RBI in eight seasons

• Led the AL with 18 triples in 1932, and with 45 doubles in 1933 and 51 doubles in 1938

• Was a good defensive SS, often amongst the league leaders in several SS statistics

• Overall had 170 HR, 118 triples, 1,233 runs, 1,424 RBI, a .301/.390/.468 slash line, and a 119 OPS+

Rick Ferrell (1905)

• Hall of Famer

• 18-year major league career, spanning from 1929-1947, all as a catcher with the Browns, Senators, and Red Sox

• Seven-time All-Star and received down-ballot MVP votes four times

• Could hit for a high average, with four seasons over .300, but didn't have much power, with only 28 HR in 7,076 plate appearances

• Good defensively as a catcher, was frequently amongst league leaders in various statistics

• Had an overall .281 average and .378 OBP

• Younger brother was Wes Ferrell who had a 15-year major league pitching career

Ketel Marte (1993)

• So far has had an 11-year major league career, starting out with Seattle but playing mostly with Arizona

• Did not show much power in the minors or his first several seasons in the majors, but then hit 32 HR with 92 HR in 2019, his first of three All-Star campaigns so far

• Started out a as a SS, has played some CF, but today is primarily a 2B

• Has hit 25+ HR four times, and so far has 171 career HR, a .281/.351/.472 slash line, and a 121 OPS+

Sid Fernandez (1962)

• Drafted in the third round by the Dodgers in 1981, worked his way up through the minors, but was traded to the Mets after the 1983 season

• 15-year major league pitching career, mostly with the Mets, but with some time for four other clubs

• All-Star in 1986 when he was 16-6 with a 3.52 ERA and 200 K as part of the Mets championship team's starting rotation

• All-Star again in 1987, and overall won 12-16 games in five seasons

• Had a career 114-96 (.543) record, a 3.36 ERA, and a 111 ERA+

Tony Kubek (1935)

• 9-year major league career, spanning from 1957-1965, all with the Yankees

• Won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1957 after batting .297 and playing good 2B defense

• All-Star in three seasons

• Was an important member of six Yankees pennant winners and three World Series champions

• A back injury at the end of his age-29 season in 1965 cut his career short

• Upon retiring Kubek went into sports broadcasting, something he did for nearly 30 years

• Recipient of the 2009 Ford C. Frick Award, an honor bestowed on broadcasters by the Baseball Hall of Fame

Glenn Beckert (1940)

• 11-year major league career, spanning from 1965-1975, as a 2B mostly with the Cubs

• Four-time All-Star, and won an NL Gold Glove Award in 1968

• Led the NL with 98 runs in 1968, and hit a career-high .342 in 1971

• Didn't strikeout much, leading the NL in highest AB/SO five times

• Had a career .283 batting average, but didn't have much power, with only 22 HR in 5,572 plate appearances

José Valentín (1969)

• 16-year major league career, spanning from 1992-2007, mostly with the Brewers and White Sox

• Never an All-Star in part due to his high strikeouts (seven 100+ K seasons) and low batting average (.243)

• But had power with six seasons of 20+ HR, with a high of 30 HR in 2004, and a total of 249 career HR

Today’s Matchups

Today we have game one of the ALCS (pitching stats are from the regular season):

• SEA vs. TOR at 8:03pm ET - The two expansion teams from 1977 are meeting in the ALCS. Starting in game one will be Bryce Miller (5.68 ERA, 74 K in 90.1 IP) vs. Kevin Gausman (3.59 ERA, 189 K in 193 IP).

⚾ Enjoy the games today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

The top-10 leaderboard for lowest AB per HR (minimum 3,000 career plate appearances) is:

• 10.61 - Mark McGwire (7,660 PA)

• 11.15 - Aaron Judge (5,002)

• 11.76 - Babe Ruth (10,628)

• 12.92 - Barry Bonds (12,606)

• 13.32 - Shohei Ohtani (4,329)

• 13.36 - Kyle Schwarber (5,384)

• 13.76 - Jim Thome (10,313)

• 13.79 - Joey Gallo (3,403)

• 13.85 - Giancarlo Stanton (7,177)

• 14.11 - Ralph Kiner (6,256)

Others below 15 are Harmon Killebrew, Pete Alonso, Sammy Sosa, Mike Trout, Ted Williams, Mann Ramirez, Adam Dunn, and Ryan Howard.

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.

• LCS matchups are set! Here's what you need to know, at MLB, 10/11/2025

• LCS Power Rankings: Each club's reason to believe, reason for concern, by Will Leitch at MLB, 10/11/2025

• 3 storylines to watch in Mariners-Blue Jays ALCS Game 1, by Will Leitch at MLB, 10/11/2025

• Our expert picks for the Mariners-Blue Jays ALCS, by Jared Greenspan at MLB, 10/11/2025

• Baseball is Always Old and Always New, by Joe Posnanski at JoeBlogs, 10/11/2025

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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