The Baseball Buffet for 10/14/2025

Issue #423

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 201st day of the season featured game one of the NLCS and game two of the ALCS:

• SEA 10, TOR 3 - Whether it was nerves or something else, things didn’t start well for Toronto’s 22-year old rookie Trey Yesavage. He hit Randy Arozarena (not uncommon, as he led the majors in being HBP this year), walked Cal Raleigh, and then Julio Rodríguez hit a 3-run HR. Yesavage proceeded to strike out three guys to get through the first inning, and the Blue Jays got several hits off Logan Gilbert in the bottom of the frame, scoring two runs and then adding another in the second inning to tie the game 3-3.
  
  It was still 3-3 in the top of the fifth when Yesavage gave up a single to Arozarena, and then intentionally walked Raleigh. Louis Varland entered in relief, and struck out Rodríguez but then allowed a 3-run HR to Jorge Polanco. The Mariners scored four more in the next two innings, including Josh Naylor hitting a 2-run HR in the seventh. Meanwhile, three Seattle relievers pitched two scoreless innings each and the Mariners are now up two games to none.
   

• LAD 2, MIL 1 - Blake Snell gave a dominating performance, striking out 10 in 8 innings, while not walking any batters and only allowing one hit (a single to Caleb Durbin, who Snell then picked off first base.) Meanwhile, Aaron Ashby pitched a scoreless first inning as the Brewers’ opener, and then Quinn Priester threw four shutout innings as well. (This included a chaotic double play in the fourth inning—see Jordan Bastian’s article at MLB for details and video replay.)
  
  The Dodgers finally got on the board in the sixth, when Freddie Freeman hit a solo HR off Chad Patrick. Neither team scored in the seventh or eighth innings, and then in the top of the ninth Abner Uribe got into trouble by walking Max Muncy, giving up a single to Kiké Hernández, and then a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third. It made sense to then intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani, both to avoid pitching to him but also to set up outs at every base and a double play opportunity. Unfortunately, Uribe then walked Mookie Betts which drove in Muncy for a Dodgers’ insurance run.
  
  Roki Sasaki came in for Blake Snell to pitch the bottom of the ninth. After getting one out, he walked Isaac Collins and then gave up a ground-rule double to Jake Bauers. Jackson Chourio hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Collins, and advance Brandon Lockridge (who had pinch-run for Bauers) to third. Christian Yelich then walked, and the Dodgers brought in Blake Treinen to relieve Sasaki. Yelich stole second, and Treinen walked William Contreras to load the bases. The count was 2-2 on Brice Turang when he had to evade being hit by a very inside pitch. If he could have been a little less effective in doing so, and gotten hit by it then he would have taken first base and the game would have been tied. Unfortunately, on the next pitch he swung at a high fastball, out of the strike zone, and the game ended with a Dodgers’ victory.

Active Leaders

So far I’ve covered updated active leaders for HR and pitcher strikeouts, so I today I’ go with stolen bases. Until the past few years we’d seen a two-decade dip in SB rates, so not surprisingly this active leaderboard doesn’t have very high totals compared to past eras:

• 361 - Starling Marte

• 326 - Billy Hamilton (hasn’t played in the majors since 2023, but is still active having played in the Mexican league the past two years and very briefly at AAA Iowa as well)

• 325 - Jose Altuve

• 315 - Trea Turner

• 287 - Jose Ramírez

• 221 - Christian Yelich

• 220 - Andrew McCutchen

• 216 - Francisco Lindor

• 214 - Mike Trout

• 205 - Ronald Acuña Jr.

Today’s Trivia Question

Among the active top-10 for stolen bases listed above, which player has the highest SB success rate?

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 14…

• 1905: Christy Mathewson throws the fifth shutout of the five-game World Series. “Christy Mathewson shuts out the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-0, to give the New York Giants the World Series in five games. All are shutouts, with Mathewson getting three, Joe McGinnity one, and Charles Bender of Philadelphia one.”

• 1929: Three-run rally in the ninth inning earns the World Series championship. “The Philadelphia Athletics rally for three runs in the 9th inning to beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2, and take the World Series in five games. A two-run home run by Mule Haas ties the game and Bing Miller hits a RBI double to get the victory. There won't be another winning rally by a team down two runs in the 9th inning of a Series final game in the 20th century. The Arizona Diamondbacks, in 2001, will do it next.”

• 1965: Sandy Koufax’s second shutout gives the Dodgers the World Series. “Sandy Koufax pitches his second shutout to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins and the World Series in seven games.”

• 1972: Gene Tenace hits a HR in his first two World Series at-bats. “Catcher Gene Tenace becomes the first player ever to hit home runs in each of his first two at-bats in the World Series, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 3-2 opening-game victory over the Cincinnati Reds.”

• 1984: Kirk Gibson hits 2 HR to lead the Tigers to the championship. “Kirk Gibson hits two home runs to lead the Detroit Tigers to an 8-4 victory and the World Series in five games over the San Diego Padres.”

• 2000: Roger Clemens strikes out 15 in ALCS game. “Giving the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series, Roger Clemens strikes out a series record-setting 15 and one-hits the Seattle Mariners, 5-0.”

• 2003: The infamous Bartman game. “Holding a 3-0 lead and needing only five more outs to reach the World Series for the first time since 1945, the Chicago Cubs give up eight runs on five hits, three walks and an error to the Florida Marlins. Chicago appears to come apart after a Cubs fan, sitting along the left-field foul line at Wrigley Field, tries to catch a foul ball that is about to be caught by Cubs' outfielder Moises Alou for the second out of the inning, although the bigger blow comes when SS Alex Gonzalez misplays a routine double play grounder a few moments later. The Cubs also will lose the seventh and final game of the NLCS.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Oscar Charleston (1896)

• Hall of Famer

• 18-year major league career in the Negro Leagues, spanning from 1920-1941

• According to the data available at baseball-reference.com, won three Triple Crowns by leading his league in BA, HR, and RBI in 1921, 1924, and 1925

• Led his league in HR five times, RBI four times, runs six times, hits three times, and SB twice

• Overall had a .365/.449/.616 slash line and a 185 OPS+ in 3,880 recorded plate appearances

Al Oliver (1946)

• 18-year major league career, spanning from 1968-1985, playing the first ten seasons for the Pirates and the rest spread across Rangers, Expos, and four other clubs

• Played a mix of CF, LF, 1B, and DH

• Seven-time All-Star

• Won a batting title in 1982 with a .331 mark for the Expos, while also pacing the NL with 204 hits, 43 doubles, and 109 RBI

• Was a high-average hitter with modest power, hitting 15+ HR five times

• Overall had 2,743 hits, 1,189 runs, 1,326 RBI, 219 HR, a .303/.344/.451 slash line, and a 121 OPS+

Harry Brecheen (1914)

• Slowly worked his way up through the minors for many years, pitching three games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1940 and then becoming a regular in the majors in his age-28 season in 1943

• 12-year major league career, all with the Cardinals, except for his final season in 1953 for the St. Louis Browns

• Two-time All-Star, including in 1948 when he led the NL with a 2.24 ERA to go with a career-best 20-7 record

• Did well for the Cardinals in three World Series, compiling a 0.83 ERA across 32.2 innings

• Overall had a career regular season record of 133-92 (.591), a 2.92 ERA, and a 133 ERA+

Tommy Harper (1940)

• 15-year major league career, spanning from 1962-1976, spending his first six years with the Reds and the rest with six other clubs

• Led the NL with 126 runs in 1965

• Was an All-Star in 1970 when he had a career-high .296 average, 31 HR, and 82 RBI

• Played all three OF positions, 3B, and 2B

• Biggest strength was his speed on the bases, leading his league with 73 SB in 1969 and 54 SB in 1973. Had 25+ SB in nine seasons.

• Overall had 146 HR, 408 SB, a .257/.338/.379 slash line, and a 101 OPS+

Joe Girardi (1964)

• Drafted by the Cubs in the fifth round in 1986

• 15-year major league career as a catcher, spanning from 1989-2003, mostly with the Cubs, Rockies, and Yankees

• A good defensive backstop, he was a light hitter with a .267 average and 36 HR in 4,535 career plate appearances

• Has had an extensive career as a manager, first with the Marlins in 2006, then the Yankees from 2008-2017, and finally the Phillies from 2020-2022. Led the Yankees to a World Series championship in 2009, and overall has a 1,120-935 (.545) managing record.

• Has been a color analyst for the MLB Network, Marquee Sports Network, and YES Network

Currently active players who were born on October 14 include TEX Merrill Kelly and MIL Julian Merryweather.

On a personal note, I met Joe Girardi and sat next to him during my hour-long appearance on MLB Now on the MLB Network in February 2019, when I was promoting my book (see www.nowtakingthefield.com).

Today’s Matchups

Today we have game two of the NLCS (pitching stats are from the regular season):

• LAD vs. MIL at 8:08pm ET - The Dodgers took game one, and today Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.49, 201 K in 173.2 IP) will try and pitch as well as Blake Snell did yesterday. The Brewers will counter with their ace, Freddy Peralta (2.70 ERA, 204 K in 176.2 IP).

⚾ Enjoy the games today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Amongst the ten active players with the most stolen bases, Trea Turner has the highest success rate:

• 85.6% - Trea Turner

• 84.9% - Mike Trout

• 84.0% - Christian Yelich

• 82.2% - José Ramirez

• 81.9% - Billy Hamilton

• 80.9% - Francisco Lindor

• 80.4% - Ronald Acuña Jr.

• 78.3% - Starling Marte

• 77.2% - Jose Altuve

• 71.0% - Andrew McCutchen

Interestingly, amongst active players with 80 or more career stolen base attempts, eight have a higher SB success rate than Turner:

• 90.8% - Josh Lowe

• 90.7% - Byron Buxton

• 88.1% - Kyle Tucker

• 88.0% - Oneil Cruz

• 86.8% - Bryson Stott

• 86.7% - Andrés Giménez

• 86.5% - Tommy Edman

• 86.0% - Corbin Carroll

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.

• What to watch for in NLCS Game 2 after a wild nail-biter to open the series, by Will Leitch at MLB, 10/14/2025

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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