In 2001, Barry Bonds had only 156 hits – tied for 71st most in the Majors that year. Of course, the NL MVP had plenty of other categories to tout in a proclamation of his batting superiority, including a big league-best 107 extra-base hits (which also happened to be one of the three highest totals in baseball history). To rearrange this viewpoint and get to the point of this introduction, 68.6% of Bonds’ hits during his historic campaign went for extra bases – a percentage no one else (at least no one else with at least 400 plate appearances in a season) has ever touched. No one is going to touch this percentage in 2025, either (presumably), but Cal Raleigh is now at 60.5%, with 26 of his 43 knocks concluding in this Mariner taking more than one base.
Cal Raleigh hit his 16th homer and doubled as part of a two-hit, two-walk performance in the Mariners’ win against the White Sox.
~Raleigh’s 16 round-trippers tie him with Jay Buhner in 1996 for the seventh most by any Mariner through 48 team games. Ken Griffey, Jr. occupies four of the top six spots, including the apex – 22 in 1994 and 1997.
~ Raleigh has hit 15 of his 16 home runs when catching. There are five backstops who’ve reached 40 homers in a season (meaning they hit 40 while handling catching duties). Those boppers are listed below, along with how many they had through their clubs’ first 48 games.
Most HRs as a Catcher
42 Javy López in 2003 (11 homers as a catcher through 48 team games)
41 Todd Hundley in 1996 (12)
40 Roy Campanella in 1953 (17)
40 Mike Piazza in 1997 (7)
40 Mike Piazza in 1999 (9)
Angels backstop Logan O’Hoppe homered twice in the club’s 10-5 win against the Athletics to tie Taylor Ward for the team lead with 13 longballs (the pair are tied for third in the AL). Before these two, the Angels had previously witnessed just one other duo get to 13 homers through 48 team games in the same season – in 2000, Mo Vaughn had 17 and Troy Glaus hit 15. Vaughn’s 17 that year are also the most any Angel has had through 48 games.
Angels outfielder Taylor Ward singled, doubled and tripled in his club’s win, giving him 24 extra-base hits this season (tied for sixth most in the AL). The 31-year-old has a total of 40 hits, meaning 60% of his hits this year have gone for extra bases. Among qualified batters, only Yankees catcher Austin Wells (60.7%) and Cal Raleigh (as mentioned in the intro, at 60.5%) have a higher number.
Led by Tylor Megill’s 10 strikeouts, the Mets’ staff rang up 16 K’s in a 5-1 win against the Red Sox at Fenway. The tally coupled with the location is significant, representing the second most strikeouts in a nine-inning game for any club against Boston in their famed ballpark. The only higher number came on September 18, 1968, when Roger Nelson (13 strikeouts) and the rest of the Orioles combined for 17 in a 4-0 loss.
Kyle Tucker homered, singled twice and stole a base in the Cubs’ 2-1 win against the Marlins. Tucker is tied for the team lead in home runs (12) and steals (14), with Pete Crow-Armstrong also having that many in the two categories (Seiya Suzuki also has 12 longballs). In the modern era, these Cubs outfielders are two of only 11 players to have at least 12 and 14 through 50 team games, and the only teammates to represent this collection. The rest of the group: Ken Williams (1922), Lou Brock (1967), Bobby Bonds (1975, 1977), Eric Davis (1987), José Canseco (1988), Bo Jackson (1989), Barry Bonds (1992) and Bobby Abreu (2005).
Kansas City’s Maikel Garcia was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI as his club took down San Francisco, 8-4. Garcia has 27 hits this month, tied for the third most in the Majors, and has strung together three consecutive multi-hit games. Garcia would need to do this in five more to tie the team record for this sort of thing, the eight a high mark shared by Freddie Patek in 1971, Willie Wilson in 1985 and Hal Morris in 1998.
Kansas City’s Bobby Witt, Jr. produced his 19th double of the year. Only Mike Sweeney (26 in 2001) had more two-base hits through 51 Royals games than their current shortstop. In 1983, Hal McRae also had 19.
Daulton Varsho hit a grand slam as part of a 14-0 Blue Jays win against the Padres.
~Varsho has played in only 16 contests this season but still has the only two games with four-plus RBI by a Blue Jay this season.
~The 14 runs scored fell one short of the best Toronto has ever done when blanking its opponent. 15-0 wins came in 1996 (against Detroit) and 2024 (against Minnesota).
Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.
Roger Schlueter
As Sr. Editorial Director for Major League Baseball Productions from 2004-2015, Roger served as a hub for hundreds of hours of films, series, documentaries and features: as researcher, fact-checker, script doctor, and developer of ideas. The years at MLB Production gave him the ideal platform to pursue what galvanized him the most – the idea that so much of what takes place on the field during the MLB regular and postseason (and is forever beautifully condensed into a box score) has connections to what has come before. Unearthing and celebrating these webs allows baseball to thrive, for the present can come alive and also reignite the past.