The Baseball Buffet for 10/25/2025

Issue #435

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 213th day of the season featured game one of the 2025 World Series:

• LAD 4, TOR 11 - Even though the game was tied 2-2 through five innings, you could sorta feel like things might go Toronto’s way. 22-year old rookie Trey Yesavage began the game by striking out Shohei Ohtani. Bo Bichette was back in the lineup, batting cleanup, while admittedly playing 2B for the first time in his major league career. And although the Dodgers struck first with runs in both the second and third innings, the Blue Jays were making Blake Snell work hard with seemingly countless foul balls. He gave up a 2-run HR to Daulton Varsho in the fourth that tied the game, let up a lot of baserunners overall (5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K), and reached 100 pitches before getting any outs in the sixth inning.
  
  That was the big inning for Toronto, as they not only got to Snell, but also Dodgers’ relievers Emmet Sheehan and Anthony Banda. The Jays tallied nine runs, including a grand slam by Addison Barger, the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history. Alejandro Kirk also added a 2-run HR, the first homer by a Mexican-born player in the World Series.
  
  Shohei Ohtani hit a 2-run HR in the top of the seventh, but that wasn’t nearly enough as Chris Bassitt and Eric Lauer pitched scoreless 8th and 9th innings to close it out.

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 six days’ newsletters I’ve already gotten over 500 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 noted above, Shohei Ohtani hit a HR in yesterday’s game, his sixth so far this postseason. Who is the only player in Dodgers history to have more HR in a single postseason? And who is the Dodgers all-time franchise leader in postseason HR?

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 25…

• 1917: The Yankees hire Miller Huggins as manager. "New York has been an also-ran franchise for most of the first 15 years of the team's existence, but will become a dynasty under Huggins, who will lead the team from 1918 until his death in 1929. The club will win its first three championships under Huggins, including the famed 1927 Murderer's Row team led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig."

• 1973: Future Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Willie McCovey are both traded. “The Chicago Cubs trade six-time 20-game winner Ferguson Jenkins to the Texas Rangers for third baseman Bill Madlock and utility man Vic Harris. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants trade three-time home run champion Willie McCovey, a Giant since 1959, together with minor leaguer Bernie Williams, to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Mike Caldwell.”

• 1978: Gaylord Perry becomes first to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues. “Gaylord Perry of the San Diego Padres becomes the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. Perry cops the National League honor with a 21-6 record and a 2.72 ERA.”

• 1986: The infamous Bill Buckner game. “Down to their last out at Shea Stadium, the New York Mets rally for three runs with two outs in the 10th inning against the Boston Red Sox to win 6-5 and push the World Series to a decisive seventh game. The tie-breaking run scores on Boston first baseman Bill Buckner's error on Mookie Wilson's grounder that passes between his legs.”

• 1987: The Twins win their first World Series championship. “In a World Series in which neither team lost a game in its home park, the Minnesota Twins win the World Championship behind starter Frank Viola and reliever Jeff Reardon, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2, in Game 7. The franchise's last championship had come in 1924 as the Washington Senators.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Pedro Martinez (1971)

• Hall of Famer

• 18-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1992-2009, mostly with the Red Sox, Expos, and Mets

• Eight-time All-Star, and winner of three Cy Young Awards (1997, 1999, 2000)

• Led his league in ERA five times: 1.90 in 1997, 2.07 in 1999, 1.74 in 2000, 2.26 in 2002, and 2.22 in 2003

• Led the AL in strikeouts three times, and had 200+ K in nine seasons

• Overall had a 219-100 (.687) record, 3,154 strikeouts in 2,827.1 IP, a 2.93 ERA, and a 154 ERA+

Juan Soto (1998)

• Was in the majors at the age of 19 with the Washington Nationals in 2018, and came in second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting after batting .292 with a .406 OBP, 22 HR, and 70 RBI

• Has so far had six seasons with 25+ HR, including a high of 43 in 2025

• Led the NL with a .351 average in 2020, 128 runs in 2024, and has led his league in walks four times

• Surprised by tying (with Oneil Cruz) for the NL lead in stolen bases in 2025 with 38 (previous career high was only 12)

• Four-time All-Star playing a mix of RF and LF

• So far over an eight-year career he has 244 HR, 95 SB, a .282/.417/.531 slash line, and a 160 OPS+

Bobby Thomson (1923)

• Played in the low minors in 1942, but then was in the military from 1943-1945

• 15-year major league career, spanning from 1946-1960, mostly with the New York Giants and Milwaukee Braves

• Three-time All-Star

• Mostly played CF and LF

• Had 20+ HR in eight seasons, and 100+ RBI four times

• Thomson is most famous for his walk-off home run off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca to win the 1951 National League pennant. The home run, nicknamed the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", was immortalized by Giants play-by-play announcer Russ Hodges's excited multiple repetitions: "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" (see Wikipedia)

• Overall had 264 HR, 1,026 RBI, a .270/.332/.462 slash line, and a 110 OPS+

Smoky Joe Wood (1889)

• 14-year major league career, spanning from 1908-1922, with the Red Sox and Indians

• Was an elite pitcher during a relatively short period, with his best season coming in 1912 when he went 34-5 with a 1.91 ERA, 35 complete games, 10 shutouts, and 258 K in 344 IP

• Nicknamed Smoky Joe because of his strong fastball

• Unfortunately, in 1913 he slipped on wet grass while fielding a bunt, and broke this thumb. He would pitch in pain for the next few years, and still led the AL with a 1.49 ERA in 1915.

• He sat out 1916 and much of 1917, and then with the Cleveland Indians switched to being primarily a part-time outfielder since he had always been a capable batsman. His overall hitting numbers included a .283/.357/.411 slash line over 2,282 plate appearances.

Roy Smalley (1952)

• 13-year major league career, spanning from 1975-1987, mostly with the Twins, but with some time with the Yankees, Rangers, and White Sox

• Primarily a SS, but also played a little at the other three infield positions, and as a DH

• All-Star in 1979 wen he played in all 162 games and had career highs with 24 HR, 95 RBI, and 94 runs

• Overall had 163 HR, a .257/.345/.395 slash line, and a 103 OPS+

• His father, also named Roy Smalley, played 11 years in the majors from 1948-1958, also as a SS

Jack Doyle (1869)

• 17-year major league career, spanning from 1889-1905, with eight seasons for the New York Giants and the rest spread over nine different clubs

• Was a capable hitter, with high averages of .368 in 1894 and .354 in 1897

• Didn't have much power, but managed over 100 RBI in both 1894 and 1896, even though he only hit 3 and 1 HR those seasons, respectively

• Was a capable base-stealer, with 20+ steals in 12 seasons, and highs of 73 SB in 1896 and 62 SB in 1897

• Has the second most (Patsy Donovan) games played for any major league position player born in Ireland

• Overall had 518 SB, 977 runs, a .299/.351/.385 slash line , and a 105 OPS+

Today’s Matchup

Today we have game two of the 2025 World Series:

• LAD vs. TOR at 8:00pm ET - The Dodgers will try to regroup behind another pitching ace in Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1.83 ERA, 18 K in 19.2 IP), who threw a complete game in his last appearance in the NLCS on Oct 14th. The Blue Jays will counter with their most consistent starter of the season, veteran Kevin Gausman (2.00 ERA, 12 K in 14 IP).

⚾ I hope you enjoy the game today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Corey Seager hit 8 HR for the Dodgers in the 2020 postseason, which ended in them winning the World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays. The all-time Dodgers franchise HR leader in the postseason is Max Muncy. Here are the six guys with 10 or more:

• 14 - Max Muncy

• 13 - Corey Seager

• 13 - Justin Turner

• 11 - Duke Snider

• 10 - Steve Garvey

• 10 - Kiké Hernández

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.

• The 3 biggest questions for World Series Game 2, by Will Leitch at MLB, 10/24/2025

• What is an MVP?, by Will Pruden at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 10/25/2025

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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