Issue #642
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! ⚾
Yesterday’s schedule included a full slate of games (15) as usual for a Saturday. Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
PHI 6, PIT 0 - The Phillies scored five in the first two innings off PIT SP Bubba Chandler (3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K), including Bryce Harper hitting a 3-run HR. Meanwhile, PHI SP Cristopher Sánchez was dominating with 13 K in a complete-game shutout (6 H, 0 BB), extending his scoreless streak to 29.2 IP.
CHC 3, CWS 8 - The White Sox scored early and often against CHC SP Jameson Taillon (5 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 2 K), smashing five HRs against him. Munetaka Murakami had two HRs, giving him 17 on the season. Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery, and Andrew Benintendi also connected for HRs, while CWS SP Davis Martin had another solid outing (6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K ). Miguel Amaya and Pete Crow-Armstrong hit HRs in the losing effort for the Cubs.
TEX 1, HOU 4 - TEX SP Jacob deGrom was plagued by the longball, giving up solo HRs to Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Christian Walker, and Zach Cole. Meanwhile, HOU SP Kai-Wei Teng pitched well (5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K), and Bryan Abreu eventually came in and secured a four-out save.
TOR 2, DET 1 (10)
KCR 2, STL 4
ARI 2, COL 4
BAL 3, WSH 13
MIA 10, TBR 5
CIN 4, CLE 7
MIL 2, MIN 1
BOS 3, ATL 2
SDP 7, SEA 4
NYY 3, NYM 6
LAD 15, LAA 2
SFG 6, ATH 4
Advertisement
Learn AI in 5 minutes a day
You don't have to scroll every AI thread, track every new tool, or watch every demo.
The Rundown AI breaks it all down for you — the latest AI news, tools, and tutorials in one free 5-minute email every morning.
Trusted by 2M+ professionals at Apple, Google, and NASA.
Today’s Trivia Question
Which five players retired with 500+ HR and 600+ doubles? (Hint: none of them played prior to 1950.)
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Cool Papa Bell, Carlos Peña, Carlos May, José Guillén
Currently active players who were born on May 17 include BOS Brayan Bello, MIA Leo Jiménez, and COL TJ Rumfield.
Want more baseball goodness?
What you are reading are just some highlights from the full Baseball Buffet newsletter. Paid All Star subscribers receive all of the following, every day:
Game summaries for every game
Current MLB standings
Notable player transactions… injuries, call-ups, free agent signings, trades, etc.
Rotating statistical leader lists
Current hitting streaks of seven or more games
On this day in baseball history…
Career summaries for each of The Birthday Boys
Daily Hitter Watch and Pitcher Watch lists - who has historically done well or poorly against their matchup today?
Good Reads… my favorite recent baseball articles from other writers
… and the answers to the daily trivia questions!
Become an All Star subscriber to The Baseball Buffet today for $7 a month, or the annual rate of $49 a year. That is less than 14 cents a day for more baseball goodness delivered to your inbox every morning!
Today’s Matchups
Today we have another full slate of Sunday ballgames (15), with the following as some interesting matchups (see full list at MLB):
PHI Zack Wheeler vs. PIT Paul Skenes - a nice battle between aces
LAD Roki Sasaki vs. LAA Grayson Rodriguez - this is the season debut for Rodriguez, who the Angels acquired in the offseason from the Orioles
SDP Lucas Giolito vs. SEA George Kirby - Giolito is making his 2026 debut, and Seattle counters with the reliable Kirby
Other starters on the mound today include TBR Drew Rasmussen, CLE Gavin Williams, TOR Kevin Gausman, and NYM Freddy Peralta.
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys (see above) is Hall of Famer Cool Papa Bell. Here are two quotes about his speed from fellow ballplayers:
"Cool Papa Bell was so fast he could get out of bed, turn out the lights across the room and be back in bed under the covers before the lights went out." - Josh Gibson
"Once he hit a line drive right past my ear. I turned around and saw the ball hit his ass sliding into second." - Satchel Paige
⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
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.
This newsletter was produced with beehiiv.
New to Now Taking the Field? Become a subscriber and get each article in your email inbox so that you don’t miss anything!