The Baseball Buffet for 10/4/2025

Issue #415

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 191st day of the season didn’t have any games, as the eight remaining teams were preparing for the ALDS and NLDS. See below for quick previews of today’s games!

Today’s Trivia Question

Max Scherzer has played in the postseason with five different clubs: Tigers, Nationals, Dodgers, Mets, and Rangers. If he plays in any games with the Blue Jays this year, that would be his sixth team—which would tie the record. Four other players have done this, can you name them?

League Leaders

Some of the guys on final Saves leaderboard were just eliminated from the playoffs, but some still remain:

• 42 - KCR Carlos Estévez - AL Leader

• 40 - SDP Robert Suarez - NL Leader

• 38 - SEA Andrés Muñoz

• 33 - TOR Jeff Hoffman

• 32 - BOS Aroldis Chapman

• 32 - PHI Jhoan Duran

• 32 - CIN Emilio Pagán

• 30 - MIL Trevor Megill

• 29 - ATL Raisel Iglesias

• 29 - LAA Kenley Jansen

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 4…

• 1906: The Cubs finish with all-time greatest winning percentage. “The Chicago Cubs win their 116th game of 152 played for a winning percentage (.763) that has not been matched since.”

• 1922: Entire World Series broadcast over the radio. “For the first time, the entire World Series will be broadcast over the radio. Writer Grantland Rice does the announcing of the New York Giants-New York Yankees Series for station WJZ, in Newark, NJ, whose signal is relayed to WGY in Schenectady, NY.”

• 1925: Harry Heilmann wins close batting race, and Ty Cobb and George Sisler pitch. “Harry Heilmann gets six hits in Detroit's doubleheader sweep over the Browns, 10-4 and 11-6, to edge out teammate Ty Cobb for the batting crown, .393 to .389. Cobb bats over .300 for the 20th time. In the second game, fans see the unusual spectacle of two managers, both famous hitters, pitch against each other in the season finale. George Sisler of the Browns and Ty Cobb of Detroit both pitch in relief for the two clubs. Cobb is perfect in his one inning, while Sisler holds Detroit scoreless in two.”

• 1944: An all-St. Louis World Series begins. “The only all-St. Louis World Series opens with the Browns, as the visiting team, beating the Cardinals on George McQuinn's home run, 2-1. Denny Galehouse is the winning pitcher and Mort Cooper the loser despite allowing just two hits.”

• 1955: The Brooklyn Dodgers win their only World Series. “The Brooklyn Dodgers win their only World Series with Johnny Podres beating the New York Yankees, 2=0 in Game 7.”

• 1969: MLB begins the NLCS and ALCS era. “Major League Baseball holds its first league championship games. In the National League Championship Series, the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-5, and the Baltimore Orioles defeat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in the American League Championship Series.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Frankie Crosetti (1910)

• 17-year major league career, spanning from 1932-1948, all as a SS for the Yankees

• Two-time All-Star, and was generally good defensively

• Most often hit leadoff, and for very powerful Yankees lineups, so even though a career .245 hitter he scored 100+ runs four times, including highs of 137 in 1936 and 127 in 1937

• Had 10+ SB five times, including a career high and AL-leading 27 SB in 1938

• Modest power, with 10+ HR four times and a high of 15 HR and 78 RBI in 1936

• Had a knack for getting hit by pitches, and led the AL in HBP an impressive eight times

Jered Weaver (1982)

• Drafted in the first-round (12th overall) by the Angels in 2004

• 12-year major league pitching career, spanning from 2006-2017, almost entirely with the Angels

• Three-time All-Star

• Led the AL in wins with a 20-5 record in 2012 and with an 18-9 mark in 2014

• Also led the AL with 233 strikeouts in 2010

• Overall had a 150-98 (.605) record, a 3.63 ERA, and a 111 ERA+

• Younger brother of Jeff Weaver, who had a 11-year major league pitching career

Charlie Leibrandt (1956)

• 14-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1979-1993, mostly with the Reds, Royals, and Braves

• Won 13+ games in six seasons, with his best season coming in 1985 when he went 17-9 with a 2.69 ERA

• Overall had a 140-199 (.541) record, a 3.71 ERA, and a 108 ERA+

Currently active players who were born on October 4 include PIT Oneil Cruz, ATL Sean Murphy, DET Jace Jung, SEA Jackson Kowar, and AZ Casey Kelly.

Today’s Matchups

Today we have game one for all four ALDS and NLDS matchups (pitching stats are regular season totals):

• CHC vs. MIL at 2:08pm ET - A matchup of NL Central rivals, with Matthew Boyd (3.21 ERA, 154 K in 179.2 IP) up against Freddy Peralta (2.70 ERA, 204 K In 176.2 IP). The Cubs eclipsed the Brewers during the regular season, just barely, 7 games to 6. This is the first meeting of the two teams in the postseason.

• NYY vs. TOR at 4:08pm ET - This one is an AL East division matchup, with Luis Gil (3.32 ERA, 41 K in 57 IP) taking on Kevin Gausman (3.59 ERA, 189 K in 193 IP). The reason the Blue Jays won the division was because they were 8-5 against the Yankees this year. This is the first time these two teams have met in the postseason. (Note: see below for the very broad range of success, and lack thereof, for Kevin Gausman against various Yankees hitters.)

• LAD vs. PHI at 6:38pm ET - The Dodgers took care of the Reds in two games, but now face the Phillies, with the opening pitchers being Shohei Ohtani (2.87 ERA, 62 K in 47 IP) and Cristopher Sánchez (2.50 ERA, 212 K in 202 IP). The Phillies took four of six games from the Dodgers during the regular season. This is the sixth time LAD and PHI have met in the postseason, with the Phillies having won the most recent two series in 2008 and 2009.

• DET vs. SEA at 8:38pm ET - The Tigers survived the rise of the Guardians, and will go with 24-year old Troy Melton (2.76 ERA, 36 K in 45.2 IP) in game one, with the Mariners countering with George Kirby (4.21 ERA, 137 K in 126 IP). The Mariners took four of six games from the Tigers during the regular season. This is the first time DET and SEA have faced each other in the postseason.

HR Watch

Predicting who might hit a HR on any given day is a challenge. But here are a few to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• DET Kerry Carpenter, 4-8 with 4 HR vs. SEA George Kirby

• NYY Aaron Judge, 17-48 (.354) with 6 HR vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• NYY Giancarlo Stanton, 10-30 with 4 HR vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• NYY Amed Rosario, 4-14 with 2 HR vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• LAD Teoscar Hernández, 5-12 with 2 HR vs. PHI Cristopher Sánchez

• LAD Alex Call, 2-10 with 2 HR vs. PHI Cristopher Sánchez

Hits Watch

In addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are some others who have done well against their opposing SP today:

• NYY Paul Goldschmidt, 10-22 with a HR vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• NYY José Caballero, 5-10 vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong, 5-11 with a HR vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

• CHC Kyle Tucker, 5-11 vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

Who might struggle today?

Betting against any given player to not get a hit is tough, as guys in the starting lineup get at least one hit in a game more often than not. That said, here are some guys who clearly have struggled against their opposing SP today:

• CHC Ian Happ, 2-32 with 14 K though one hit was a HR vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

• CHC Dansby Swanson, 2-20 with 8 K though one hit was a HR vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

• CHC Seiya Suzuki, 3-23 with 12 K though one hit was a HR vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

• CHC Carson Kelly, 1-10 with 4 K vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

• MIL Jake Bauers, 1-11 with 2 K vs. CHC Matthew Boyd

• NYY Cody Bellinger, 2-22 with 6 K vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• NYY Jazz Chisholm Jr., 0-13 with 5 K vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• NYY Anthony Volpe, 3-24 with 10 K though one hit was a HR vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• LAD Freddie Freeman, 1-11 though only 1 K vs. PHI Cristopher Sánchez

• DET Javier Báez, 1-11 with 3 K though one hit was a HR vs. SEA George Kirby

⚾ Enjoy the games today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

As noted in this article by Brian Murphy at MLB, if Max Scherzer plays in this postseason with the Blue Jays, that would tie the record of postseason play with six clubs currently held by:

• Josh Donaldson: A's (2012-14), Blue Jays (2015-16), Cleveland (2018), Braves (2019), Yankees (2022), Brewers (2023)

• Fernando Rodney: Tigers (2006), Rays (2013), Cubs (2015), D-backs (2017), A's (2018), Nationals (2019)

• David Wells: Blue Jays (1989, 1991-92), Reds (1995), Orioles (1996), Yankees (1997-98, 2002-03), Red Sox (2005), Phillies (2006)

• Kenny Lofton: Cleveland (1995-96, 1998-99, 2001, 2007), Braves (1997), Giants (2002), Cubs (2003), Yankees (2004), Dodgers (2006)

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.

• Do first-round byes disrupt hard-earned momentum? Not so fast, by Mike Petriello at MLB, 10/3/2025

• A Tribute To The Late Davey Johnson, by Andrew Sharp at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 10/4/2025

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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