The Baseball Buffet for 9/29/2025

Issue #412

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 186th day of the season featured a full slate of Sunday games and was the final day of the regular season:

• DET 3, BOS 4 - 33-year old José De León was called up to make the start for Boston, and he did fairly well in striking out 8 over 6.2 innings (6.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K). Masataka Yoshida hit a solo HR in the bottom of the first, then Detroit’s Javier Báez hit a 3-run HR in the top of the fourth. But The Red Sox came back with three of their own in the bottom of the frame, including a 2-run HR by David Hamilton. Greg Weissert struck out two in ninth to earn his 4th save.

• COL 0, SFG 4 - Logan Webb finished his season strong (5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K), and three Giants’ relievers combined for a five-hit shutout. Willy Adames hit his 30th HR to lead off the bottom of the first inning, and Rafael Devers hit his 35th HR in the fourth inning, closing the book on a roller-coaster of a season for him.

• KCR 9, ATH 2 - Cole Ragans struck out 8 in 4.1 shutout innings, a good sign for him for 2026. Athletics’ rookie slugger Nick Kurtz hit his 36th HR, while the Royals had three homers with two by Mike Yastrzemski, and one from Carter Jensen. Maikel Garcia was 2-3 with a double, a walk, and 2 RBI, and Michael Massey was 4-5 with a double and 2 runs.

• MIN 1, PHI 2 - Both starters did very well: Simeon Woods Richardson (6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K) and Cristopher Sánchez (5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K). Former Twins outfielder Max Kepler hit a HR for the Phillies in the eighth to tie the game 1-1, and eventually force extras. Orion Kerkering struck out three in the top of the tenth and then with the freebie Manfred Man advanced to third and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Nick Castellanos hit a sacrifice fly for the win.

• CHW 8, WAS 0 - Shane Smith put an exclamation point on his solid rookie season by pitching six innings of scoreless ball (6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K). Three White Sox relievers combined for a one-hit shutout, while Chicago had homers by Miguel Vargas, Brooks Baldwin, and Dominic Fletcher.

• BAL 2, NYY 3 - Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson each hit solo HR in the fourth inning, while Kyle Bradish struck out 8 over 4 innings (4 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K). Ben Rice hit two HR for the Yankees, and four relievers pitched scoreless innings, with David Bednar striking out two in the ninth for his 27th save.

• HOU 6, LAA 2 - Houston scored one in the top of the first, but then Mike Trout immediately tied the game with a HR. The Astros went on to hit four homers, including Yainer Diaz, Ramón Urías, Brice Matthews, and Victor Caratini.

• TBR 4, TOR 13 - Both starting pitchers gave up a lot of hits, and neither survived the fourth inning: Ian Seymour (3.1 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) and Kevin Gausman (3.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K). But from there Toronto’s bullpen included five guys throwing scoreless frames, while the Rays’ relievers struggled in giving up another seven runs. Alejandro Kirk was 3-5 with a grand slam, a 2-run HR, and a double; George Springer was 3-4 with a HR and a walk; and Addison Barger was 2-4 with a HR, a double, and 2 RBI.

• LAD 6, SEA 1 - Clayton Kershaw was great in his final regular season start (5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) — why is he retiring? Then Landon Knack struck out 7 in 3.2 innings of relief work. Meanwhile, the Dodgers had HR by Hyeseong Kim, Freddie Freeman, and Shohei Ohtani, his 55th of the year.

• CIN 2, MIL 4 - The Reds controlled their destiny today, but came up short in a tough matchup. Elly De La Cruz hit his 22nd HR and TJ Friedl hit his 14th, while Danny Jansen hit a 2-run HR for the Brewers. Milwaukee used seven pitchers, spreading innings around as they get ready for the postseason. (As it turns out, the Reds will also play on, as the Mets failed to win yesterday either.)

• NYM 0, MIA 4 - Edward Cabrera was a bit wild in giving up five walks, but pitched five scoreless innings (5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 7 K). The Mets ran into trouble in the fourth inning when they gave up four runs. They used eight different pitchers overall, and were able to limit the damage after that one out outburst by the Fish. But New York’s hitters only managed five hits, were 0-8 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 guys on base overall. They end the year tied with the Reds, but Cincy owns the wild card tie-breaker (head-to-head record), so this was the end of the Mets’ season.

• PIT 1, ATL 4 - Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of the first inning, but Johan Oviedo otherwise did well (5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K). Charlie Morton started the game for Atlanta (1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K), his finale before retiring after this season. Chris Sale then came in and did well, striking out 9 in 5.2 innings of work. Raisel Iglesias pitched a scoreless ninth for his 29th save.

• STL 0, CHC 2 - Seiya Suzuki hit his 32nd HR of the year, while Javier Assad pitched well (5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), and two Cubs’ relievers combined for the six-hit shutout.

• AZ 4, SDP 12 - Ketel Marte led off the game with a HR, but then Brandon Pfaadt (4 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 5 k) allowed five runs in the bottom of the first. Overall the Padres tallied 11 hits and 12 runs, with Manny Machado going 2-2 with a HR and 2 RBI; Jackson Merrill 2-3 with 2 doubles, 2 walks, and 3 RBI; and Ryan O’Hearn 2-5 with 2 runs.

• TEX 8, CLE 9 - The Guardians scored two in the bottom of the first, but then the Rangers came back with two runs in both the second and third innings. The score was tied 5-5 through nine, forcing extras. Cleveland reliever Zak Kent allowed a 3-run HR to slugger Rowdy Tellez in the top of the tenth, but the Guardians weren’t done. Bo Naylor hit a double to drive in George Valera, the freebie Manfred Man, and then with still no outs and two runners on base, Brayan Rocchio hit a 3-run walk off HR for the win.

Final 2025 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:

• See this article for the 2025 MLB postseason schedule

Today’s Trivia Question

As noted below, Trea Turner has won the NL Batting Average title with a rather modest .304 mark. Can you name the player, batting average, and year for the previous lowest NL batting champion?

League Leaders

With the regular season complete, I’ll begin a run-down each day of the final leaderboards, starting with the classic statistic of Batting Average, where Aaron Judge and Trea Turner are taking home each league’s batting title this year:

• .331 - NYY Aaron Judge - AL Batting Champ

• .311 - TOR Bo Bichette

• .311 - ATH Jacob Wilson

• .309 - TOR George Springer

• .304 - HOU Jeremy Peña

• .304 - PHI Trea Turner - NL Batting Champ

• .300 - TBR Yandy Díaz

• .297 - CHC Nico Hoerner

• .295 - KCR Bobby Witt Jr.

• .295 - LAD Freddie Freeman

• .295 - SEA Josh Naylor

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 29…

• 1920: Babe Ruth hits more HR than most other teams. “Babe Ruth hits his major league record 54th home run on the last day of the season. Only one other team in the American League will hit more than 44 homers.”

• 1954: Willie Mays makes "The Catch" in game one of the World Series. “Willie Mays makes his famous running catch off the bat of Cleveland's Vic Wertz in Game 1 of the World Series. The Giants win the game, 5-2, in ten innings on a three-run walk-off homer by pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes off Bob Lemon.”

• 1957: Ted Williams wins batting title at age 39. “Ted Williams becomes the oldest batting champ when the 39-year-old finishes the season with a .388 average.”

• 1963: Stan Musial plays his last game. “In his last game, Stan Musial helps the Cardinals beat the Reds, 3-2 at Busch Stadium, getting two hits in his final three at-bats.”

• 1969: Rico Petrocelli becomes first SS to hit 40 HR. “Going deep off Senators hurler Jim Shellenback, Rico Petrocelli becomes the first shortstop in American League history to hit 40 home runs in a season. The Red Sox infielder's record will stand until 1998, when Alex Rodriguez blasts 42 bombs with the Mariners.”

• 1983: Rookie Mike Warren throws a no-hitter. “In game which lasts only two hours and twenty minutes, Mike Warren, in his last start of the season, no-hits the White Sox, 3-0, in front of 9,058 fans at the Oakland Coliseum. The 22-year-old right-hander from California, who will win only four more games in his three-year career, is the 15th rookie to throw a no-hitter.”

• 1987: Don Mattingly hits his sixth grand slam of the year. “Don Mattingly sets a major league record by hitting his sixth grand slam of the season, surpassing the mark shared by Ernie Banks (1955 Cubs) and Jim Gentile (1961 Orioles). Remarkably, the Yankees first baseman will not hit any other round-tripper with the bases loaded during his entire 14-year career.”

• 2013: Henderson Alvarez throws a no-hitter. “On the last day of the regular season, Henderson Alvarez of the Marlins tosses a no-hitter against the Tigers, 1-0. The game is scoreless going into the bottom of the 9th, as Justin Verlander matches zeros with Alvarez, but Giancarlo Stanton scores a run on a wild pitch by Luke Putkonen to make the no-no official. It is only the sixth time in major league history a no-hitter has ended in walk-off fashion, and the first time it has happened in regulation innings since 1952.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Mike McCormick (1938)

• 16-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1956-1971, mostly with the Giants but with some time spent with four other clubs

• Two-time All-Star, including in 1960 when he led the NL with a 2.70 ERA

• Won the NL Cy Young Award in 1967 after leading the league in wins with a 22-10 record to go with a 2.85 ERA

• Overall had a 134-128 record and 3.73 ERA

Heath Bell (1977)

• 11-year major league pitching career, spanning from 2004-2014, with about half spent with the Padres, and the other half spent with four other clubs

• Had a strong 2007 season as a setup man with a 2.02 ERA and 102 K in 93.2 IP

• Was an All-Star and the Padres’ closer with 40+ Saves each year from 2009-2011

• Overall had 168 saves, a 3.49 ERA, and a 112 ERA+

Gus Weyhing (1866)

• 14-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1887-1901, starting out in the American Association and then in the NL/AL, playing for 11 clubs overall

• During five-year peak from 1888-1892 had a 151-96 (.611) record, 2.92 ERA, and 124 ERA+

• Overall had a 264-232 (.532) record, pitched 4,337 innings, with a 3.88 ERA and 102 ERA+

Dave Orr (1859)

• 8-year major league career as a 1B from 1883-1890, mostly spent with the New York Metropolitans of the American Association

• Led his league with 112 RBI and a .354 average in 1884, and then led with 21 triples in 1885 and 31 triples in 1886

• Was a high-average hitter with a career .342 mark and impressive 162 OPS+

Ed Morris (1862)

• 7-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1884-1890, mostly with Pittsburgh (Allegheny City) of the AA and then NL

• One of the first good left-handed pitchers

• Nicknamed "Cannonball" after the relative speed of his pitches

• Threw over 400 innings four times, and completed 63 games in both 1885 and 1886

• Overall had a 171-122 (.584) record, a 2.82 ERA, and a 115 ERA+

Tom Stone (1973)

• 11-year childhood/adolescent playing career, mostly as a pitcher, in the greater Rochester area of Western NY, spanning from 1981-1991

• This included five years in Little League for the Clifton Clippers, who played .500 ball at best; and four years in Junior Varsity and Varsity High School for the Cal-Mum Red Raiders, who were the worst team in the league every year

• Not possessing a strong fastball, he threw mostly sidearm and at times submarine, patterning his style after Kent Tekulve of the Pirates and Dan Quisenberry of the Royals. He was sometimes effective the first time through a lineup, not so much after that.

• Career statistics are not available (but they wouldn’t be pretty)

• One "highlight" of a sort was pitching a complete game in game one of a double-header, losing 5-3; but then due to injuries to other players, pitched the entire game two as well (losing badly)

• Another instance of his durability and love of the game arose when, in the fifth inning of a game, he was shotgunned with a line-drive on the mound, hitting him in the groin. Knocked unconscious for about 5-10 seconds, he was told to “walk it off, as we don’t have any other pitchers.” He went on to finish the game (loss), though couldn’t lift his left leg the next day.

• His fiery high school coach, Ron Cracco, once paid him and his catcher this back-handed complement: "They don't have much talent, but they love the game and play hard every day -- something the rest of you could learn from." (that is paraphrasing from memory; it was actually a bit more colorful than that).

• Choosing not to pursue a deep bullpen role for a Division III college team in the mid-1990s, he's had more success recently as a baseball writer, including his first book "Now Taking the Field: Baseball's All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises" (ACTA Sports, 2019), and since 2022 his ongoing baseball newsletter Now Taking the Field, which expanded significantly in 2025 to include the daily series “The Baseball Buffet.”

Currently active players who were born on September 29 include TEX Tyler Mahle, BOS David Hamilton, MIN Thomas Hatch, and SDP Luis Campusano.

Today’s Matchups

No games today as teams prepare for the playoffs, which begin on Tuesday. I will have previews of those games tomorrow! Until then, you can read up about the Wild Card Series at this MLB article.

⚾ Rest up for the post-season! ⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Before Trea Turner leading the NL this year with a .304 batting average, the previous lowest leader for the NL was .313 by Tony Gwynn in 1988. (The lowest in the AL was of course Carl Yastrzemski with a .301 average in 1968; Pete Rose led the NL that year at .335.)

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.

• What you need to know about the Wild Card Series matchups, at MLB, 9/28/2025

• Postseason Power Rankings: Who has the edge going into October?, by Will Leitch at MLB, 9/28/2025

• Here are all the stats leaders from 2025 season, at MLB, 9/28/2025

• 2025 Minor League Baseball Top Performers, by Benjamin Chase at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 9/29/2025

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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