The Baseball Buffet for 3/28/2025

Issue #227

What follows is the second issue of a new feature for 2025 at Now Taking the Field. 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! Let me know what you think of each issue… leave a comment on the post or send me an email at [email protected].

⚾ The season has begun! ⚾

Play ball! Nice start to the 2025 season with no rainouts and some interesting results:

• PIT 4, MIA 5 - Both starters, Paul Skenes (5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 7 K) and Sandy Alcantara (4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 7 K) did well as predicted, but then the Pirates bullpen blew the lead they were given. The Pirates ran a lot with six stolen bases off Marlins catcher Nick Fortes.

• MIL 2, NYY 4 - After I poked fun at him yesterday, Brewers infielder Vinny Capra continued his hot spring by hitting a HR (he tied for the spring training lead with 6). But the Yankees had two HR (Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe) and Carlos Rodon pitched very well with 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 7 K.

• BAL 12, TOR 2 - Baltimore unloaded on Jose Berrios and the Blue Jays pen, led by Adley Rutschman who went 3-5 with 2 HR—just as I said he might having demolished Berrios thus far in his career—and Cedric Mullins who also went 3-5 with 2 HR. And… Tyler O’Neil really loves Opening Day, as he extended his MLB record by hitting a HR on opening day for the sixth year in a row!

• BOS 5, TEX 2 - Both Nathan Eovaldi and Garret Crochet pitched well, but Boston’s Wilyer Abreu hit his second HR of the day to give the Red Sox the lead in the top of the ninth.

• PHI 7, WSH 3 - The Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore was outstanding, throwing 6 innings of 1-hit ball, striking out 13 with no walks. But the Phillies’ hitters came alive against the Nats bullpen, with Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber hitting HRs in the 7th and the Phils scoring four in the top of the 10th.

• CLE 7, KCR 4 - DH Kyle Manzardo nearly hit for the cycle going 3-4 with a HR, triple, and double to lead the Guardians.

• NYM 1, HOU 3 - Juan Soto was 1-2 with two walks and had a great opportunity in the ninth—but tough lefty closer Josh Hader won the battle. It seems the pitching combination of Framber Valdez to Bryan Abreu to Josh Hader will be tough to deal with again this year.

• SFG 6, CIN 4 - Hunter Greene continued his strong spring, pitching 5 innings allowing 3 H and 2 ER, with 8 K. But the Giants scored four in the top of the ninth, including a 3-run HR by DH Wilmer Flores.

• ATL 4, SDP 7 - 2024 NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale struck out 7 in 5 IP, and Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley each homered, but the Padres used seven relievers, stole five bases off rookie catcher Drake Baldwin, and took the lead in a 4-run seventh inning that included a pinch-hit HR by new Padres player Gavin Sheets (who I noted yesterday was tied for the spring training lead with 6 HR).

• LAA 1, CHW 8 - The White Sox begin the year on a 1-game winning streak (LOL), getting homers from Austin Slater, Lenyn Sosa, and Andrew Benintendi. 25-year old Sean Burke was not overpowering, but did well pitching 6 innings of shutout ball.

• MIN 3, STL 5 - Cardinals win their home opener with homers by Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Arenado. Sonny Gray went 5 IP with 4 H, 2 ER, and 6 K, and Ryan Helsley, who led the NL in saves last year, locked down his first of 2025 with 3 strikeouts.

• DET 4, LAD 5 - Spencer Torkelson went 1-1 with a HR and 4 BB which is a good sign, but Tarik Skubal let up 6 H and 4 ER in 5 IP, including HR by Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez. Shohei Ohtani added his second HR of the season in the 7th, which proved to be the winning run.

• CHC 10, AZ 6 - Justin Steele pitched well enough in already his second start of the season (first was in the Japan series), and came out on top in this one. The Cubs had 12 hits, with all starters joining the party except Dansby Swanson.

• OAK 2, SEA 4 - Luis Severino made his regular-season A’s debut and did well (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 6 K), but the only A’s offense came from 1B Tyler Soderstrom who hit 2 HR. Logan Gilbert was outstanding (7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 8 K), and Randy Arozarena and Jorge Polanco both homered off reliever Jose Leclerc in the bottom of the 8th.

Who’s on the move?

In this section I won’t list 26th-man moves, or every time a team shuttles relievers back and forth to AAA to keep a stock of fresh arms in the bullpen. I’ll focus on the biggest, more impactful demotions, promotions, and injury list changes (for a full list, see all the latest MLB transactions).

🤕 For today, here is the list of notable players starting the year on the IL… not including guys like NYY SP Gerrit Cole who are out for the year, guys on the 60-day IL or who otherwise have unclear return dates, or… LAA 3B Anthony Rendon who has permanent residence status on the IL.

• LAA SS Zach Neto

• BAL SS Gunnar Henderson

• BAL SP Grayson Rodriguez

• BAL RP Andrew Kittredge

• BOS DH Masataka Yoshida

• BOS SP Kutter Crawford

• BOS SP Brayan Bello

• BOS SP Lucas Giolito

• BOS RP Liam Hendricks

• CHW INF Josh Rojas

• CHW OF Mike Tauchman

• CLE SP Shane Bieber

• CLE SP John Means

• CLE SP Slade Cecconi

• DET SP Alex Cobb

• DET INF/OF Matt Vierling

• KCR SP Alec Marsh

• KCR SP Kyle Wright

• MIN 3B Royce Lewis

• MIN INF Brooks Lee

• NYY 3B/1B DJ LeMahieu

• NYY SP Clarke Schmidt

• ATH 2B Zack Gelof

• SEA SP George Kirby

• SEA RP Matt Brash

• TBR INF Ha-Seong Kim

• TBR SP Shane McClanahan

• TBR RP Alex Faedo

• TEX SP Cody Bradford

• TOR OF Daulton Varsho

• AZ RP Kendall Graveman

• ATL OF Ronald Acuña Jr.

• ATL SP Spencer Strider

• ATL C Sean Murphy

• CIN OF Austin Hays

• CIN RP Alexis Díaz

• CIN C Tyler Stephenson

• CIN SP Andrew Abbott

• COL SP Austin Gomber

• COL 2B Thairo Estrada

• MIA SP Edward Cabrera

• MIA SP Ryan Weathers

• MIA OF Jesús Sánchez

• MIA INF Connor Norby

• HOU SP Luis Garcia

• HOU SP Lance McCullers Jr.

• HOU RP Forrest Whitley

• HOU OF Taylor Trammell

• LAD SP Tony Gonsolin

• LAD RP Evan Phillips

• LAD RP Michael Kopech

• MIL SP Tobias Myers

• MIL SP Brandon Woodruff

• WSN SP Cade Cavalli

• NYM SP Sean Manaea

• NYM SP Paul Blackburn

• NYM INF/OF Jeff McNeil

• NYM C Francisco Alvarez

• PHI SP Ranger Suarez

• PIT 1B Spencer Horwitz

• PIT SP Jared Jones

• SDP SP Yu Darvish

• SDP SP Matt Waldron

• SDP RP Bryan Hoeing

• SDP RP Sean Reynolds

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history (for a longer list, see the feature at the Baseball Almanac or the Bullpen feature at Baseball-Reference.com):

📅 On March 28…

• 1947: Hall of Famer Johnny Evers dies at the age of 65. A strong defensive 2B, Evers was part of the famed Cubs’ Tinker to Evers to Chance double play combo. Like many dead-ball era players he had little power but could run well, stealing 324 bases over his career.

• 1958: Hall of Famer Chuck Klein dies at the age of 53. He had an outstanding first half of hiss career, leading the NL in HR four times, winning the NL MVP in 1932 and then the Triple Crown in 1933.

•  1976: What might have been. According to Baseball-Reference.com, “Media sources reported a potential blockbuster trade between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers which involved two future Hall of Fame pitchers. According to the rumor, the deal will send Tom Seaver to the Dodgers in exchange for Don Sutton. Mets fans respond negatively to the proposed deal, perhaps influencing management to call off the trade. Seaver will remain with the Mets until 1977, when he is traded to the Cincinnati Reds, in a trade which will be universally rued by Mets fans.”

• 2014: Record-setting contract. According to Baseball-Reference.com, “Two-time defending American League MVP Miguel Cabrera signs an eight-year contract extension with the Tigers. Including the two years remaining on his present contract, the deal is worth $292 million, making it the biggest in major league history.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Lon Warneke was a five-time All-Star pitcher who pitched in the majors from 1930-1945, entirely with the Cubs and Cardinals. He won 20+ games three times, led the NL with a 2.37 ERA in 1932, and retired with a 3.18 ERA and 119 ERA+.

• Vic Raschi pitched from 1946-1955, mostly with the Yankees. He was an All-Star four times and won 21 games each year from 1949-1951.

• Mark Melancon was a four-time All-Star who pitched with nine different teams from 2009-2022. He led the NL with 51 saves with the Pirates in 2015, and then again with 39 saves with the Padres in 2021. He was particularly dominant from 2013-2016 when he posted a 1.80 ERA, 213 ERA+, and 147 saves.

• Glenn Davis was a slugging 1B and two-time All-Star for the Astros in the 1980s. He hit 20+ HR in six consecutive seasons including a high of 34 in 1989, and 31 in 1986 when he was runner-up to Mike Schmidt in the NL MVP vote.

• Christian Walker initially came up through the Orioles system and then broke out with the Diamondbacks when he hit 29 HR in 2019. He more recently has hit between 26-36 HR in 2022-2024, and taken home the NL Gold Glove at 1B each year.

• Will Smith is the current primary catcher for the Dodgers, hitting between 19-25 HR in each of the last four years, and earning NL All-Star recognition in both 2023 and 2024.

Today’s Matchups

Fewer games today (9), but the slate includes the season opener for the Rockies and Rays (delayed by the need for additional work on the field in Tampa). I’d say the most intriguing pitching match-ups are ATL (Reynoldo Lopez) vs. SDP (Dylan Cease), and also DET (Jack Flaherty) vs. LAD (Yoshinobu Yamamoto).

HR Watch

Predicting who might hit a HR on any given day is a challenge—especially early the season. Light schedule today, so only two guys have even small sample size numbers of note:

• TBR Christopher Morel is 2-6 with 2 HR vs. COL Kyle Freeland

• TEX Adolis Garcia is 4-7 with 2 HR and a double vs. BOS Tanner Houck—though Houck is a groundball pitcher who gives up few HR overall.

Hits Watch

If you play MLB’s Beat the Streak mobile game, or otherwise bet on/parlay players to collect hits, I’ll try to provide some good options in this section. Early in the season there aren’t any active streaks to report on yet, so in addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are two others who have managed to hit their opposing SP today well in the past:

• SDP Luis Arraez, 11-26 (.423) vs. ATL Reynaldo López

• LAD Michael Conforto, small sample but is 4-6 with a HR and double vs. DET Jack Flaherty

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:

• AZ Lourdes Gurriel Jr., 1-18 (single) vs. CHC Jameson Taillon

• CHC Dansby Swanson, 2-15 (both singles) vs. AZ Merrill Kelly

• SEA Julio Rodríguez, 3-23 vs. OAK JP Sears

• OAK Luis Urías, 3-21 vs. SEA Luis Castillo

• LAD Max Muncy, 2-13 with 8 strikeouts vs. DET Jack Flaherty

Once we get a few weeks into the season I’ll starting sharing out some starting pitchers to consider for strikeout totals (over/under bets), some teams that might explode offensively that day, and even some fun with NRFI (no-runs in the first inning bets). But these kinds of things are hard to judge early in the season until we see how teams and players are starting out the year.

⚾ Enjoy Day Two! ⚾

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