The Baseball Buffet for 10/18/2025

Issue #427

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 205th day of the season featured game four of the NLCS and game five of the ALCS:

• TOR 2, SEA 6 - The Blue Jays outhit the Mariners 7-5 in this one, but they were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and left eight guys on base overall. Kevin Gausman pitched well (5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K), giving up a HR to Eugenio Suárez in the second inning. Bryce Miller also did well over four innings (4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K), but the Blue Jays managed to build a 2-1 lead after seven innings.
  
  In the bottom of the eighth, Cal Raleigh led off with a HR to tie the game. Two consecutive walks followed by Randy Arozarena being hit by pitch (he led the majors in HBP this year) loaded the bases. Suárez then hit his second HR of the day, this one a grand slam, off Seranthony Domínguez. With a four-run lead, the Mariners brought in their closer Andrés Muñoz and shut things down in the ninth to give the Seattle a 3-2 edge in the series.
   

• MIL 1, LAD 5 - By now we’re starting to run out of adjectives and praise for Shohei Ohtani. Yes, baseball is a team sport, these days involving at least ten guys guys per side—unless you are the Dodgers with Ohtani pitching and batting leadoff so you don’t use a DH that day. True, he had been struggling a bit offensively so far this postseason. But yesterday he led the Dodgers in epic fashion in sweeping the Brewers—the team with the best record during the regular season—four games to none to win the NLCS and advance to the World Series.
  
  Ohtani struck out 10 in six innings (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K). Four other relievers came in to finish out the game, with the only Milwaukee run coming off Blake Treinen in the eighth. On the offensive side, Ohtani went 3-3 with a walk and three solo HR. And to add to the spectacle, they weren’t cheap homers—they were rockets hit 446, 469, and 427 feet, and with exit velocities of 116.5, 116.9, and 113.6 mph.
  
  So yes, teammates Mookie Betts and Will Smith scored two other runs, driven in by Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández. So there is still room for growth—maybe next time Ohtani will throw a complete game and be solely responsible for all the runs the Dodgers score.

Active Leaders

It is interesting to see just how much lower Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom have been in career ERA than all of their contemporaries. Here are the eleven guys with career ERAs below 3.50, with minimum 1,000 innings pitched:

• 2.53 - Clayton Kershaw (has announced his retirement after this season)

• 2.57 - Jacob deGrom

• 3.01 - Chris Sale

• 3.03 - Max Fried

• 3.15 - Blake Snell

• 3.18 - Gerrit Cole

• 3.22 - Max Scherzer

• 3.28 - Zack Wheeler

• 3.32 - Justin Verlander

• 3.37 - Framber Valdez

• 3.38 - Logan Webb

And it is worth noting that although they are both 37 years old, because of injuries and a later start in the majors, deGrom (1,539.2 IP) has pitched barely half as many innings as Kershaw (2,855.1 IP).

Today’s Trivia Question

Continuing with a focus on ERA, who are the only two major league pitchers since 1920 who’ve had a lower career ERA than Clayton Kershaw, with a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched? (I set the start date as 1920 because before then pitching ERA numbers were much lower, with the overall league averages often below 3.00 during the deadball era.)

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 18…

• 1950: Connie Mack retires after 50 years managing the Athletics. “Connie Mack, at age 87, retires as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics after 50 years, and Jimmy Dykes is named to replace him. Mack, together with Ben Shibe, founded the Athletics in 1901.”

• 1972: The Reds beat the Athletics, even with some trickery against Johnny Bench. “The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0, in Game 3 of the World Series. Cincinnati wins despite some successful strategy by the Athletics. In the 8th inning, with runners at second and third, Oakland manager Dick Williams apparently calls for Rollie Fingers to intentionally walk Johnny Bench, only to have Fingers whistle a third strike past the confused Reds catcher. Pitcher Blue Moon Odom strikes out 11 Reds, but Jack Billingham is the winner as the Reds win their first game of the Series.”

• 1977: Mr. October hits three HR on three consecutive pitches. “Reggie Jackson becomes known as "Mr. October" when he hits three consecutive home runs in Game 6 of the World Series. Jackson leads the Yankees to an 8-4 victory and the World Championship over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jackson's three shots come on the first pitch off Burt Hooton, Elias Sosa and Charlie Hough. He drives in five runs and earns Series MVP honors.”

• 2004: The Red Sox stay alive with extra-inning win over the Yankees. “After 5 hours, 49 minutes and 471 pitches, the Boston Red Sox outlast the Yankees, 5-4, in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. The Red Sox, down three games to none at the start of the game, stage a remarkable 9th-inning comeback just to get to extra innings, when pinch-runner Dave Roberts steals second base with Mariano Rivera on the mound before scoring the tying run on Bill Mueller's single. Boston DH David Ortiz, who is the first player in history to hit two walk-off home runs during the postseason, completes the comeback win with a two-run shot in the bottom of the 12th. Less than 20 hours later, the teams will take the field for Game 5, the longest game in ALCS history.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Willie Horton (1942)

• 18-year major league career, spanning from 1963-1980, mostly as a LF with his hometown Detroit Tigers

• Four-time All-Star

• Had 20+ HR seven times and 100+ RBI three times

• Had a career-high 36 HR as a key member of the 1968 Tigers World Championship team

• Overall had 325 HR, 1,163 RBI, a .273/.332/.457 slash line, and a 120 OPS+

George Hendrick (1949)

• Drafted as the number one overall pick by the Oakland A's in 1968

• 18-year major league career, spanning from 1971-1988, as an OF for the A's, Indians, Padres, Cardinals, Pirates, and Angels

• Four-time All-Star

• Had 20+ HR six times and 100+ RBI twice

• Overall had 267 HR, 1,111 RBI, a .278/.329/.446 slash line, and a 117 OPS+

Roy Cullenbine (1913)

• 10-year major league career, spanning from 1938-1947, as a RF, LF, and 1B for the Tigers, Indians, Browns, and three other clubs

• Two-time All-Star

• Greatest ability was drawing walks, with 121 BB in 1941, and an AL-leading 113 BB in 1945

• Posted a career-high 137 walks in 1947, but his batting average dropped from .335 in 1946 to a lowly .224, so the Tigers dropped him and he retired

• He had developed some power with 15+ HR in his final four years, including a career-high 24 HR in 1947. At only 33 years old, and with increasing power and a .401 OBP, if they'd had a modern understanding of baseball statistics, perhaps the Tigers, or another team, would have kept him around longer!

• Overall had 110 HR, a .276/.408/.432 slash line, and a 132 OPS+

Yoenis Céspedes (1985)

• 8-year major league career, spanning from 2012-2020, mostly with the A's and Mets

• He was a strong performer for eight years in the Cuban National Series before leaving Cuba, becoming a free agent, and signing a four-year deal with the Oakland A's

• Had a strong rookie campaign in 2012 with 23 HR, 82 RBI, 16 SB, and a .292 average

• Two-time All-star, and won the Home Run Derby in both 2013 and 2014

• Had 20+ HR five times, with career highs of 35 HR and 105 RBI in 2015, while also winning a Gold Glove Award as a LF

• Overall had 165 HR, a .273/.327/.497 slash line, and a 125 OPS+

Currently active players who were born on October 18 include ATH Osvaldo Bido and BOS Patrick Sandoval.

Today’s Matchups

No games today—blame Shohei Ohtani for that, as he and the rest of the Dodgers swept the Brewers yesterday to win the NLCS, making today’s contingent game-five unnecessary. The Mariners and Blue Jays will play game six of the ALCS tomorrow in Toronto, with Seattle leading the series 3-2.

⚾ Enjoy the games today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

This was a bit of a tricky question, as the only two major league pitchers, with 1,000+ innings pitched, since 1920 with a career ERA lower than Clayton Kershaw’s 2.53… were both relievers: Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera and Hoyt Wilhelm. Here is the top-10:

• 2.21 - Mariano Rivera

• 2.52 - Hoyt Wilhelm

• 2.53 - Clayton Kershaw

• 2.57 - Jacob deGrom

• 2.63 - Bill Foster

• 2.65 - Bullet Rogan

• 2.73 - Satchel Paige

• 2.75 - Whitey Ford

• 2.76 - Dan Quisenberry

• 2.76 - Sandy Koufax

Foster and Rogan of course pitched in the Negro Leagues, and Satchel Paige did so for most of his career too. (Their numbers above are from baseball-reference.com and only include their time in leagues that are considered major leagues.)

Like Rivera and Wilhelm, Quisenberry of course was a relief pitcher. If you are curious what a top-10 list would look like that includes only AL and NL pitchers who were primarily starters, here it is:

• 2.53 - Clayton Kershaw

• 2.57 - Jacob deGrom

• 2.75 - Whitey Ford

• 2.76 - Sandy Koufax

• 2.84 - Spud Chandler

• 2.86 - Jim Palmer

• 2.86 - Andy Messersmith

• 2.86 - Tom Seaver

• 2.89 - Juan Marichal

• 2.91 - Bob Gibson

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.

• 13 reasons Shohei had the greatest game ever, by Sarah Langs at MLB, 10/18/2025

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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