The Baseball Buffet for 9/23/2025

Issue #406

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 180th day of the season featured a short slate of Monday games:

• WAS 5, ATL 11 - Nasim Nuñez led off the game with a HR, and and Dylan Crews also hit a HR in the fourth off Braves’ starter Chris Sale (5 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K). But the Atlanta’s batsmen scored eight in the first four innings, including Ronald Acuña Jr. hitting his 19th HR of the year. They tallied 14 hits overall, with Drake Baldwin going 2-4 with a double, a walk, and 2 RBI; Marcell Ozuna 3-4 with a walk and 2 runs; and Michael Harris II 3-5 with a double and 3 RBI.

• MIL 4, SDP 5 - Jose Iglesias hit a HR in the fifth inning, but Freddy Peralta otherwise pitched fairly well (5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). The game was tied 3-3 through seven and stayed that way to force extras. Both teams scored a run in the tenth, and then San Diego’s 21-year old rookie Bradgley Rodriguez pitched a scoreless top of the 11th (in only his fifth major league appearance), by loading the bases but then inducing a double play grounder by Jackson Chourio. In the bottom of the frame, Freddy Fermin singled to center to drive in Bryce Johnson, who was on base as the freebie Manfred Man.

• STL 6, SFG 5 - Michael McGreevy (5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) gave up solo homers to Heliot Ramos and Rafael Devers. But Justin Verlander also struggled (4.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K), including Iván Herrera hitting a 2-run HR in the fifth inning. Both bullpens pitched scoreless innings the rest of the way, with JoJo Romero securing his 8th save of the year.

Standings

I am providing current standings as part of The Baseball Buffet, with the image being a modified version of the text-based standings at Plain Text Sports. Here also is a link to the official standings at MLB.com.

Notes:

• The entire AL had the day off, so no movement there.

• I’ll note that the Marlins are on a 6-game winning streak, and the Braves a 9-game winning streak. Nice ways to end the season, showing promise for 2026.

• I also noticed that the poor Rockies are an unattractive 47 games back in the NL West. And yet it could have been worse, as the Dodgers were predicted by many to do far better than they have, say, to win 100+ games this year.

• Current Wild Card Leaders: In the AL it is NYY, BOS, and CLE (they have tie-breaker advantage over HOU); in the NL it is CHC, SDP, and CIN (they have tie-breaker advantage over NYM). See MLB’s 2025 Postseason Watch for the current bracket and more.

Today’s Trivia Question

Which team’s pitching staff (starters and relievers together) has thrown the most combined shutouts this year?

League Leaders

The leaders in each league now have 40+ saves:

• 41 - KCR Carlos Estévez*

• 40 - SDP Robert Suarez*

• 37 - SEA Andrés Muñoz

• 32 - TOR Jeff Hoffman

• 31 - BOS Aroldis Chapman

• 31 - PHI Jhoan Duran

• 30 - MIL Trevor Megill

• 29 - CIN Emilio Pagán

• 28 - HOU Josh Hader

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 September 23…

• 1908: The infamous "Merkle's boner" incident. "Giants P Christy Mathewson and Cubs P Three Finger Brown battle in what is perhaps the most controversial game ever played. The score is 1-1, with two outs in the last of the 9th when Fred Merkle's failure to touch second base after an apparent game-winning hit by Al Bridwell scoring Moose McCormick from third costs the Giants a 2-1 win; the umpire calls Merkle out and rules the game a tie. Merkle's "boner" will eventually cost the Giants the flag."

• 1984: Sparky Anderson wins 100, first to do so in both leagues. “Sparky Anderson becomes the first manager ever to win 100 games in a season with two different clubs as the Tigers beat the Yankees, 4-1. Anderson had led the Cincinnati Reds to 100-win seasons in 1970, 1975, and 1976.”

• 1988: Jose Canseco creates a new 40/40 club. “Oakland's Jose Canseco becomes the founder of baseball's 40-home run, 40-stolen base club by stealing two bases in a 9-8, 14-inning win over Milwaukee. He also hits his 41st home run.”

• 1998: Craig Biggio becomes the second with 50 doubles and 50 SB. “Craig Biggio is 3 for 5 and swipes #50 to become the only player besides Tris Speaker in 1912, to have 50 doubles and 50 steals in a year.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Matt Kemp (1984)

• 15-year major league career, spanning from 2006-2020, including 10 years with the Dodgers and the rest spread across four other clubs

• Had a good combination of power and speed early in his career, with 26 HR and 34 SB in 2009, and then 40 SB and an NL-leading 39 HR, 126 RBI, and 115 runs in 2011 when he came in second in the MVP vote

• Eight seasons with 20+ HR, four seasons with 100+ RBI

• Three-time All-Star, and won two NL Gold Gloves in CF

• Overall had 287 HR, 184 SB, a .284/.337/.484 slash line, and 121 OPS+

Jeff Cirillo (1969)

• 14-year major league career, spanning from 1994-2007, mostly with the Brewers but some time spent with five other clubs

• Two-time All-Star 3B

• Had modest power with three seasons with 15+ HR, but in 2000 posted 53 doubles with 11 HR to produce 115 RBI and 111 runs

• Overall had 112 HR, a .296/.366/.430 slash line, and 102 OPS+

Pete Harnisch (1966)

• Drafted in the first round (27th overall) in 1987 by the Orioles

• 14-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1988-2001, mostly with the Orioles, Astros, Mets, and Reds

• All-Star in 1991 with a 12-9 record, 2.70 ERA, and 172 K

• Had a career-high 185 K in 1993 to go with a 16-9 record and 2.98 ERA

• Overall had a 111-103 record, 3.89 ERA, and 103 ERA+

A currently active player who was born on September 23 is TOR Easton Lucas.

Today’s Matchups

Today we have a full slate of Tuesday games, so there are lots of possibilities. Some games and pitchers that jump out to me are:

• DET vs. CLE is game one of an important AL Central series, and features Tarik Skubal (2.23 ERA, 233 K in 189.1 IP) and Gavin Williams (3.06 ERA, 161 K in 161.2 IP).

• BOS vs. TOR is similarly game one of an important AL East series, with Lucas Giolito (3.46 ERA, 118 K in 140.1 IP) taking on Kevin Gausman (3.38 ERA, 177 K in 183.2 IP).

• NYM vs. CHC is an important game for the Mets as they are fighting for a wildcard spot, and they’ll have David Peterson (3.98 ERA, 149 K in 167.1 IP) taking on the Cubs’ outstanding rookie Cade Horton (2.66 ERA, 95 K in 115 IP).

Also on the bump today are PHI Cristopher Sánchez, LAD Shohei Ohtani, and SFG Logan Webb.

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:

• TOR Alejandro Kirk, 6-17 with 4 HR vs. BOS Lucas Giolito

• MIN Byron Buxton, small sample but is 2-8 with 2 HR vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• LAD Michael Conforto, 3-12 with 2 HR vs. AZ Brandon Pfaadt

• LAD Mookie Betts, 9-20 with 2 HR and a double vs. AZ Brandon Pfaadt

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. In addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are some others to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• BOS Jarren Duran, 8-22 with a HR and 5 doubles vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• BOS Masataka Yoshida, 6-12 with a HR and 2 doubles vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• SFG Matt Chapman, 6-10 with 3 doubles vs. STL Andre Pallante

• BAL Gunnar Henderson, 5-14 with a HR and a double vs. TBR Ryan Pepiot

• TBR Junior Caminero, small sample but is 4-7 with a double vs. BAL Dean Kremer

• LAD Kiké Hernández, 4-9 with a HR and a double vs. AZ Brandon Pfaadt

• PHI Bryce Harper, 4-10 with a HR and 2 doubles vs. MIA Edward Cabrera

Who is streaking?

Active hit streaks

• 12 - MIA Augstín Ramírez

• 11 - AZ Geraldo Perdomo

• 11 - SDP Luis Arraez

• 10 - NYM Francisco Lindor

• 10 - ATL Ha-Seong Kim

• 9 - LAD Shohei Ohtani

• 9 - NYM Starling Marte

• 8 - NYM Pete Alonso

• 8 - SEA Josh Naylor

• 8 - KCR Salvador Perez

• 7 - STL Alec Burleson

• 7 - AZ Corbin Carroll

• 7 - MIA Jakob Marsee

• 7 - WAS Dylan Crews

Active HR streaks

• 2 - PIT Joey Bart

• 2 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 2 - WAS Nasum Nuñez

• 2 - STL Iván Herrera

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:

• BOS Trevor Story, 3-29 with 14 K vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• TBR Yandy Díaz, 3-22 with 4 K vs. BAL Dean Kremer

• BOS Alex Bregman, 2-14 with 7 K though one hit was a HR vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• TOR Andrés Giménez, 1-14 with 8 K though the hit was a HR vs. BOS Lucas Giolito

• TOR Anthony Santander, 0-11 with 6 K vs. BOS Lucas Giolito

• CLE David Fry, 2-15 with 7 K vs. DET Tarik Skubal

• CLE Gabriel Arias, 0-9 with 6 K vs. DET Tarik Skubal

• STL Nolan Gorman, 0-9 with 6 K vs. SFG Logan Webb

• COL Mickey Moniak, 1-10 with 6 K vs. SEA Bryce Miller

• DET Riley Greene, 0-11 with 5 K vs. CLE Gavin Williams

• DET Zach McKinstry, 0-10 with 4 K vs. CLE Gavin Williams

• DET Wenceel Pérez, 1-12 with 3 K vs. CLE Gavin Williams

• PHI Kyle Schwarber, 2-16 with 5 K though one hit was a HR vs. MIA Edward Cabrera

• LAD Max Muncy, 2-14 with 5 K vs. AZ Brandon Pfaadt

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

The Pirates. Everyone knows they have Paul Skenes. But they also have several other good young arms, and even with a shaky bullpen at times, they have often combined them in ways that produced the most shutouts this year (with one week left).

• 19 - Pirates

• 17 - Tigers

• 16 - Guardians

• 16 - Padres

• 14 - Cubs

• 14 - Rangers

They will have Jared Jones back from the IL next year, so their front four is potentially something like Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler, Jared Jones, and Mitch Keller — Braxton Ashcraft, Johan Oviedo, Mike Burrows, and others as options for a fifth starter. Surely they will improve their MLB-worst run-producing offense during the off-season, right?

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.

• It all comes down to this: 8 key series to watch beginning tonight, by Manny Randhawa at MLB, 9/23/2025

• 9 stats that explain the AL Central’s unbelievable swing, by Thomas Harrigan at MLB, 9/22/2025

• At 9 years old he asked Verlander for a selfie. Now they are teammates, by Maria Guardado at MLB, 9/22/2025

• The Best Starting Pitchers of the Athletics Era in Oakland, by Rich Campbell at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 9/22/2025

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.

This newsletter was produced with beehiiv, an outstanding platform for creating email newsletters and blogs. If this might be of interest for your own creative work, get a 30-day trial and 30% off your first three months!