The Baseball Buffet for 11/1/2025

Issue #442

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 220th day of the season featured game six of the World Series:

• LAD 3, TOR 1 - Kevin Gausman was using his splitter to carve up Dodgers’ hitters early on, getting five of his first six outs as strikeouts. He had 8 K In 6 IP overall, but ran into trouble in the third inning when doubles by Tommy Edman and Will Smith, and then a single by Mookie Betts, gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
  
  The Jays came right back with one run in the bottom of the frame, as Addison Barger hit a double, and then with two outs George Springer, who was clearly playing with pain, hit a single to center to drive him in. Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn’t pitch a complete game like in his last two starts, but he did well over six innings (6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K).
  
  The game remained interesting but neither team scored after the third inning. The Blue Jays threatened in the bottom of the ninth with Roki Sasaki on the mound, as he was a bit erratic starting with hitting Alejandro Kirk on the hand with a pitch. Addison Barger then hit a line drive to left-center, but it went directly to the base of the wall and got lodged there, making it a ground-rule double.
  
  Tyler Glasnow, the presumed Dodgers’ starter in a game seven, came in for Sasaki and got Ernie Clement to pop out to Freddie Freeman at first. With runners still on second and third, Andrés Gímenez lined to left fielder Kiké Hernández. He had to race in to make a running catch, and then was able to flip the ball to second base to double up Barger for the game-ending double-play.

Today’s Trivia Question

As noted below, Fernando Valenzuela was born on November 1st, 1960. He famously won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1981, which was the third of four consecutive Rookie of the Year Award winners for the Dodgers from 1979-1982. Can you name the other three? (As a bonus… how many can you name of the five consecutive Dodgers who won the NL Rookie of the Year Award from 1992-1996?)

Trivia answers are at the bottom of each newsletter.

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 November 1…

• 1951: Roy Campanella wins his first of three MVP Awards. “Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella is named National League MVP for what will be the first of three such awards.”

• 1962: Houston signs a young future Hall of Famer named Joe Morgan. “The Houston Colt .45s sign 19-year-old second baseman Joe Morgan as an amateur free agent. Morgan will make his major league debut next season, kicking off a 22-year Hall of Fame career.”

• 1966: Sandy Koufax becomes the first to win three Cy Young Awards. “Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax becomes the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award. He is a unanimous winner for the second straight year. This is the last year that only one award is given for pitchers in both of the major leagues.”

• 2010: The Giants win their first World Series championship since moving to San Francisco. “The San Francisco Giants win their first World Championship since moving to California in 1958, defeating the Texas Rangers, 3-1, in Game 5 of the World Series. Tim Lincecum pitches eight strong innings in besting the Rangers' Cliff Lee for the second time in the series, while World Series MVP Edgar Renteria has the key hit, a three-run homer in the 7th inning.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Bid McPhee (1859)

• Hall of Famer

• 18-year major league career, spanning from 1882-1899, all as a 2B with Cincinnati

• Major run-scorer, with 100+ runs in ten seasons, including highs of 139 in 1886 and 137 in 1887

• Led the AA with 19 triples in 1887, then had a career high 22 triples in 1890

• We lack SB stats for his first four seasons, but after that he had 30+ SB in ten seasons, including a high of 95 SB in 1887 in only 129 games

• Was a good fielding 2B, who led his league in assists six times, putouts eights times, and fielding percentage eight times

• Overall had 189 triples, 1,684 runs, 568+ SB, a .272/.355/.373 slash line, and a 107 OPS+

Fernando Valenzuela (1960)

• 17-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1980-1999, mostly with the Dodgers, and some time spent with five other clubs

• As a 19-year old in 1980, he had a 0.00 ERA in 17.2 innings over 10 relief appearances

• In 1981 he started the season with an 8-0 record in eight starts, with seven complete games, a 0.50 ERA, and 68 K in 72 IP. Fernando-mania was cut short by the strike that year, but he won the NL Rookie of the Year Award and the NL Cy Young Award after going 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA and league leading 180 K, 11 CG, and 8 shutouts

• He was 19-13 with a 2.87 ERA in 1982, and then led the NL in wins with a 21-11 record in 1986

• Six-time All-Star, and won a Gold Glove Award in 1986

• Was a good performer in the postseason, with a 1.98 ERA over 63.2 IP

• Was a good hitter for a pitcher, with a .200 average and 10 HR and 26 doubles in 1,044 plate appearances

• Overall had a 173-153 (.531) record, a 3.54 ERA, and a 104 ERA+

Larry French (1907)

• 14-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1929-1942, primarily with the Pirates and Cubs

• Had 15+ wins in nine seasons

• Still was effective in 1942 with a 1.83 ERA over 147.2 IP as a mixed starter and reliever, but his career was cut short by military service the next three years

• According to Wikipedia, he became a career sailor, also serving in the Korean War and finally retiring in 1969 with the rank of Captain

• Overall had a 197-171 (.535) record, a 3.44 ERA, and a 114 ERA+

Vic Power (1927)

• 12-year major league career, spanning from 1954-1965, mostly with the Athletics, Indians, and Twins

• All-Star in four seasons, and winner of seven Gold Glove Awards at 1B

• Modest power with 15+ HR three times

• Overall had 126 HR with a .284 average

Masahiro Tanaka (1988)

• 7-year major league pitching career, spanning from 2014-2020 with the New York Yankees

• Started in in his native Japan as an 18-year old and pitched seven years there, including a 19-5 record and 1.27 ERA in 226.1 IP in 2011

• Joined the Yankees for 2014 and was an All-Star going 13-5 with a 2.77 ERA in 20 games started

• Overall in the majors had a 78-46 (.629) record, a 3.74 ERA, and a 114 ERA+

• Until 2020 was good in the postseason, with a 1.76 ERA in 46 IP over 8 starts from 2015-2019

• Returned to Japan for the 2021 season and has continued pitching through 2025

Currently active players who were born on November 1 include ATH Brent Rooker, NYY Trent Grisham, SP Jeremiah Estrada, and MIN Anthony Misiewicz.

Today’s Matchup

The final day of the 2025 season features game seven of the 2025 World Series, with the Blue Jays and Dodgers tied with three wins apiece:

• LAD vs. TOR at 8:00pm ET - Tyler Glasnow only threw three (live-game) pitches to close out the game last night—could he still start or throw some innings today? Although he pitched on Tuesday, might Shohei Ohtani be called upon in this crucial game seven? (Starting the game would be one way to keep his bat in the lineup throughout the game as the DH too.) What about Emmet Sheehan or Clayton Kershaw as options? As of the time of this writing, a starter for the Dodgers has not been named.
  
  Meanwhile, the Blue Jays will give the ball to 41-year old future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, who will presumably be asked to give max effort for as long as he can, and then the Toronto bullpen will be leveraged from there.

⚾ I hope you enjoy the game today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

The four consecutive Dodgers who won the NL Rookie of the Year Award from 1979-1982 were:

• 1979 - Rick Sutcliffe

• 1980 - Steve Howe

• 1981 - Fernando Valenzuela

• 1982 - Steve Sax

The bonus question’s answers… yes, the Dodgers did one better in winning five consecutive Rookie of the Year Awards from 1992-1996:

• 1992 - Eric Karros

• 1993 - Mike Piazza

• 1994 - Raúl Mondesí

• 1995 - Hideo Nomo

• 1996 - Todd Hollandsworth

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.

• 7 key facts and figures to set up World Series Game 7, by Sarah Langs at MLB, 11/1/2025

• Best World Series moments on Halloween, by Bryan Horrorwitz (Horowitz) at MLB, 10/31/2025

• Movie Backs Dale Murphy For Cooperstown, by Dan Schlossberg at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 11/1/2025

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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