The Baseball Buffet for 11/16/2025

Issue #457

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! ⚾

With all of the other awards announced this week, I didn’t call attention to the All-MLB first and second team winners that were also announced. This recognition doesn’t have the cachet that the MVP, Cy Young, and other traditional awards have, in part because many players get honored, but also because the awards were only established in 2019. The voting is 50% from fans and 50% from a panel of experts. So… for readers who might be interested, here are the players who were selected (OF, SP, and RP lists are in alphabetical order)

2025 All-MLB First Team

• C SEA Cal Raleigh

• 1B TOR Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

• 2B AZ Ketel Marte

• 3B CLE José Ramírez

• SS KCR Bobby Witt Jr.

• OF NYY Aaron Judge

• OF SEA Julio Rodríguez

• OF NYM Juan Soto

• DH LAD Shohei Ohtani

• SP BOS Garrett Crochet

• SP NYY Max Fried

• SP PIT Paul Skenes

• SP DET Tarik Skubal

• SP LAD Yoshinobu Yamamoto

• RP BOS Aroldis Chapman

• RP PHI Jhoan Duran

2025 All-MLB Second Team

• C LAD Will Smith

• 1B ATH Nick Kurtz

• 2B MIL Brice Turang

• 3B TBR Junior Caminero

• SS TOR Bo Bichette

• OF NYY Cody Bellinger

• OF AZ Corbin Carroll

• OF CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• DH PHI Kyle Schwarber

• SP HOU Hunter Brown

• SP MIL Freddy Peralta

• SP PHI Cristopher Sánchez

• SP PHI Zack Wheeler

• SP SEA Bryan Woo

• RP NYM Edwin Díaz

• RP SEA Andres Muñoz

Of these 32 total All-MLB selections in 2025, the Mariners and Phillies led with four selections each, while the Yankees and World Series champion Dodgers both had three. The Blue Jays, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Mets and Red Sox each had two.

Today’s Trivia Question

Out of the current 30 MLB franchises, 23 teams have had at least one 100+ win season. How many of the other seven teams can you name? (Hint: they are all expansion-era franchises, meaning they came into existence in 1961 or later.)

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 16…

• 1961: The Mets unveil their logo. "The circular New York Mets logo, designed by sports cartoonist Ray Gatto, is unveiled. The design, which represents all five boroughs with various symbols, is blue and orange, the team colors of the Dodgers and Giants, the franchises that left the "Big Apple" and moved to the West Coast leaving New York without a National League representative."

• 1966: Roberto Clemente beats out Sandy Koufax for the NL MVP Award. "Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Roberto Clemente wins the National League MVP Award, beating out Los Angeles Dodgers pitching ace Sandy Koufax by ten votes. Clemente batted .317 with 29 home runs and 119 RBI during the regular season. Koufax posted a 27-9 record with 317 strikeouts and a 1.73 ERA."

• 1977: Rod Carew wins the AL MVP Award. "Minnesota Twins first baseman Rod Carew is named American League Most Valuable Player. The future Hall of Famer led the AL in batting average (.388), runs (128), hits (239) and triples (16)."

• 1988: Jose Canseco unanimously wins AL MVP Award after first 40/40 season. "Jose Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first unanimous winner of the American League MVP Award since Reggie Jackson in 1973. This year, Canseco became the first player in major league history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season."

• 1998: Roger Clemens wins his fifth Cy Young Award. "Roger Clemens of the Toronto Blue Jays becomes the first pitcher to win five Cy Young Awards when he is named the American League's top pitcher. Clemens was the Pitching Triple Crown winner, after he led AL pitchers in wins (20), strikeouts (271) and ERA (2.65)."

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Dwight Gooden (1964)

• First-round draft pick (5th overall) in 1982 by the New York Mets

• 16-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1984-2000, mostly with the Mets, but with some time for the Yankees and Indians, and a few games in his final season with the Rays and Astros

• Won NL Rookie of the Year award in 1984 after going 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and leading the NL with 276 K

• Won the NL Cy Young Award in 1985 after winning the pitching triple crown with a 24-4 record, 1.53 ERA, and 268 strikeouts

• Five-time All-Star, he won 15+ games in six of his first seven seasons

• Was a fairly capable hitter for a pitcher, with a .196 average and 8 HR in 741 AB

• Threw a no-hitter for the Yankees against the Mariners on May 14, 1996

• Overall had a 194-112 (.634) record, a 3.51 ERA, and a 111 ERA+

Cristóbal Torriente (1893)

• Hall of Famer

• 10-year major league career in the Negro Leagues, spanning from 1920-1932

• Primarily a CF, but also played LF and RF, and did a little pitching too

• According to the data available at baseball-reference.com, led the Negro National League with a .411 average and .479 OBP in 1920

• Overall had a .340/.427/.523 slash line and 158 OPS+ in 2,613 plate appearances

Frank Bolling (1931)

• 12-year major league career, spanning from 1954-1966 (missing 1955 for military service), and splitting his time between the Tigers and Braves

• Was a good fielder at 2B, winning an AL Gold Glove Award in 1958

• Had modest power with 13-15 HR four times

• Was an All-Star for the Braves in both 1961 and 1962

• Overall had 106 HR and a .254 average

Currently active players who were born on November 16 include BAL Grayson Rodriguez, LAA Sebastián Rivero, and SDP Bradgley Rodríguez.

Baseball Quote of the Day

One of the new features I’m starting up during the offseason is a baseball-related quote of the day. These will include quotes by players or managers that are insightful or funny, and interesting quotes from others about the game itself. I’ll try to mix it up over time.

Continuing the theme from yesterday, here are three more about hard work in baseball:

"There may be people that have more talent than you, but there is no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do." - Derek Jeter

“One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something.” -Nolan Ryan

"If a ballplayer is satisfied, he’s going to slip. You have to keep fighting to improve." -Nellie Fox

⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

The seven franchises that have never had a 100+ win season are:

• Washington Nationals / Montreal Expos

• Miami Marlins

• Milwaukee Brewers

• San Diego Padres

• Colorado Rockies

• Toronto Blue Jays

• Texas Rangers

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 No. 1 question facing playoff teams that didn't win it all, by Thomas Harrigan at MLB, 11/15/2025

• Where 3 top free-agent outfielders might fit best, by Mike Petriello at MLB, 11/13/2025

• Here's a blueprint for an aggressive Toronto offseason, by Keegan Matheson at MLB, 11/15/2025

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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