The Baseball Buffet for 10/24/2025

Issue #434

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 212th day of the season yesterday was another day of rest and preparation before the World Series gets underway in Toronto this evening, when the visiting Dodgers will face the Blue Jays.

Reader Survey

As the 2025 season winds down, I am conducting a reader survey! I am interested in feedback so I can plan for both the offseason and for the 2026 season too. After mentioning this in the past five days’ newsletters I’ve already gotten over 450 responses, which is outstanding — thanks everyone! If you’ve not participated yet, I’d love to hear from you… it only takes two minutes, so thanks in advance for your feedback!

Today’s Trivia Question

As I did yesterday with the Blue Jays, today we’ll consider some all-time Dodgers leaders. For this set, I’m only going to focus on the Los Angeles Dodgers, meaning the team’s records starting in 1958, not the entire history of the franchise (i.e., when they were in the Brooklyn). So for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are their all-time leaders in HR, Hits, SB, Pitcher Strikeouts, and Saves?

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 24…

• 1908: The birth of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. “Baseball's anthem, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, is introduced by singer Billy Murray. The songwriting team of Albert Von Tilzer (music) and Jack Norworth (words), who created the tune, had never seen a game before composing the immortal number.”

• 1972: Jackie Robinson dies of heart disease at only 53 years old. “Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson dies of heart disease at age 53. Robinson had become the first black major league player of the 20th century with the 1947 Dodgers.”

• 1992: The Blue Jays win their first World Series championship. “The Toronto Blue Jays take the major league baseball championship outside the United States for the first time ever, beating the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in 11 innings, in Game 6 of the World Series.”

• 1994: Greg Maddux wins his third consecutive Cy Young Award. “Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves becomes the first pitcher in major league history to win three straight Cy Young Awards, unanimously sweeping the National League honor. Maddux posted a 16-6 record with a 1.56 ERA, the third-lowest in 75 years.”

• 1996: The Yankees win the final game played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. “The New York Yankees lay claim to the last game played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Yankees, who finish the postseason with an 8-0 road record, are helped by poor Atlanta outfield defense and some great plays from their own outfielders as pitcher Andy Pettitte outduels John Smoltz, 1-0, in Game 5 of the World Series. The Braves will move into Turner Field in 1997.”

• 2012: Pablo Sandoval hits three HR in a World Series game. “Pablo Sandoval becomes the fourth player in World Series history to hit three homers in a game, after Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols, in leading San Francisco to an 8-3 win over Detroit in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series. Barry Zito pitches 5 2/3 innings for the win, as Tigers ace Justin Verlander is the loser.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Rafael Devers (1996)

• 9-year major league career so far, starting in 2017 and mostly spent with the Red Sox until he was traded close to half way through the 2025 season to the Giants

• Three-time All-Star at 3B, shifted to DH and 1B in 2025

• Has had 25+ HR six times, and 100+ RBI four times

• Led the AL with 54 doubles in 2019, and scored an impressive 129 runs that year

• So far has had 235 HR, a .276/.349/.506 slash line, and a 129 OPS+

Rafael Furcal (1977)

• 14-year major league career, spanning from 2000-2014, mostly with the Braves and Dodgers

• Won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2000 after posting 40 SB, 87 runs, a .295 average, and a .394 OBP

• Three-time All-Star as a SS

• Scored 130 runs in 2003, the first of four consecutive seasons with 100+ runs

• Had 20+ SB nine times, with a high of 46 in 2005

• Modest power with four seasons of 10+ HR

• Overall had 314 SB, 1,063 runs, a .281 average, and a .346 OBP

Eric Hosmer (1989)

• First-round draft pick (3rd overall) by the Royals in 2008

• 13-year major league career, spanning from 2011-2023

• Won four Gold Glove Awards at 1B, and was an All-Star in 2016 when he had a career high 25 HR and 104 RBI

• Hit a career high .318 the following season, to go with 25 HR, 94 RBI, and 98 runs

• Overall had 198 HR, a .276/.335/.427 slash line, and a 107 OPS+

Omar Moreno (1952)

• 12-year major league career, spanning from 1975-1986, mostly with the Pirates, but some time spent with the Yankees and three other clubs

• A speedy CF, he had 30+ SB seven times, including leading the NL with 71 SB in 1978 and 77 SB in 1979

• Was an important member of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates World Series champions, as he had career highs in SB with 77, runs with 110, and batting average at .282

• Overall had 487 SB and a .252 average

Rawly Eastwick (1950)

• Drafted in the third round by the Reds in 1969

• Worked his way up through the minors and then had an 8-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1974-1981, 3.5 years with the Reds and the rest spread across five other clubs

• Led the NL with 22 saves in 1975 and 26 saves in 1976, and so played a key role on the Reds World Series Championship teams those two years

• Overall had 68 saves, a 3.31 ERA, and a 112 ERA+

Arthur Rhodes (1969)

• Drafted in the second round by the Orioles in 1988

• Had a 20-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1991-2011, with nearly the first half spent with the Orioles, and the rest spread over eight different clubs

• Converted to a relief pitcher after his first few seasons, and had an impressive 1.72 ERA over 68 innings for the Mariners in 2001, and a 2.08 ERA for the Indians in 2005

• Was an All-Star in his age 40 season with the Reds in 2010, posting a 2.29 ERA that season

• Overall had a 4.08 ERA and 109 ERA+ in 900 major league games and 1,187.2 innings pitched

Ossie Bluege (1900)

• 18-year major league career, spanning from 1922-1939, all with the Washington Senators

• Provided good defense at 3B, with some time spent at SS and 2B

• Didn't have much power with only 43 HR in 7,458 plate appearances, but did have 15+ SB in five seasons

• Overall had a .272 average and a .352 OBP

Ed Williamson (1857)

• 13-year major league career, spanning from 1878-1890, mostly as a 3B and SS for Chicago in the National League

• Led the NL with 49 doubles 1883, and with 27 HR in 1884, which was the major league record until Babe Ruth hit 29 HR in 1919

• Overall had a .255/.332/.384 slash line and a 114 OPS+

In addition to Rafael Devers, other currently active players who were born on October 24 include BAL Colin Selby, PIT Chase Shugart, PHI Tanner Banks, and DET Gage Workman.

Today’s Matchups

Today we have game one of the 2025 World Series:

• LAD vs. TOR at 8:00pm ET - The Dodgers several days ago announced Blake Snell would start game one, and he’s been great this postseason with a 0.86 ERA over three starts, with 28 K in 21 IP. The Blue Jays have now said that Trey Yesavage will get the ball for game one, and s you might expect for a 22-year old rookie, he’s been less consistent this postseason (4.20 ERA, 22 K in 15 IP), with two strong starts and one where he gave up five runs in four innings.

⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

The all-time leaders for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1958-present) are as follows:

• HR - Eric Karros, 270 (Ron Cey had 228)

• Hits - Willie Davis, 2,091 (Steve Garvey had 1,968)

• SB - Maury Wills, 490 (Davey Lopes had 418)

• Pitcher K - Clayton Kershaw, 3,052 (Don Sutton had 2,696)

• Saves - Kenley Jansen, 350 (Eric Gagné had 161)

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.

• Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series Game 1 FAQ (8 ET, FOX), by MLB writers, 10/23/2025

• 3 things to watch for in Game 1 of the World Series, by Will Leitch at MLB, 10/23/2025

• Our expert picks for Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series, by Manny Randhawa at MLB, 10/23/2025

• 21st Century World Series Heroes Already Fading Away, by Mark Kolier at Almost Cooperstown, 10/24/2025

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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