On May 2, 1926, 17-year-old Mel Ott drove in his first career run. Joining the festivities in the sixth inning on a Sunday at the Polo Grounds, Ott pinch-hit for pitcher Tim McNamara, faced down right-hander Frank Ulrich and singled to score Ty Tyson. The names (other than Ott’s) aren’t so important, but the victim in this story is – for this milestone RBI came against the Phillies, the first of 344 the Hall of Famer had against Philadelphia. Across all of the seasons since 1901, meshed together into one immense tapestry covered with all of the numbers, this 344 stands out as the most any player can claim against any single opponent. It’s a compelling lens – thinking about the individual misery-makers for the opposition and all those moments when the fans of the fated must have looked at the batter striding to the plate and thought, “Oh, anyone but this guy.”
Ozzie Albies homered, doubled and singled and drove in three runs for the Braves in their 4-3 victory over the Mets. The 28-year-old has more RBI (81) against the Mets than he does against any other opponent and is pretty far up the ladder when it comes to either side of this rivalry.
Most RBI – Braves When Facing Mets
159 Chipper Jones
126 Henry Aaron
115 Freddie Freeman
90 Andruw Jones
81 Ozzie Albies
77 Dale Murphy
Most RBI – Mets When Facing Braves
98 David Wright
75 Mike Piazza
64 Darryl Strawberry
64 Pete Alonso
59 José Reyes
55 Ed Kranepool
Francisco Lindor hit his 22nd home run and stole his 19th base of the 2025 campaign. His Mets teammate Juan Soto recorded his 19th steal but stayed stuck in the longball category, at 29.
~Lindor is on the precipice of posting his fifth 20-20 season, which would be more than any other shortstop in history. At the moment, his four tie him with Jimmy Rollins and Hanley Ramírez.
~If/when both Lindor and Soto get their 20th stolen bases to become Mets teammates with 20-20 campaigns, they’ll join these combinations within the franchise.
Mets History: Teammates With 20-HR, 20-SB Lines
1988 Howard Johnson, Kevin McReynolds, Darryl Strawberry
1987 Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry
2007 Carlos Beltrán and David Wright
Max Scherzer (7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R) recorded the 219th victory of his career as the Blue Jays slipped past the Cubs, 2-1.
~The righty owns a 219-114 record, his 105 more wins than losses placing him between Tom Seaver (+106) and Joe McGinnity/Bob Feller (+104) among the 30 pitchers in history to have at least 100 more decisions of the good kind over the bad version.
~Scherzer is one of 122 pitchers to have reached the 200-win plateau and among them, holds down a notable place when it comes to WHIP – only five others limbo lower.
Lowest WHIP Among 200-Game Winners
1.016 Clayton Kershaw
1.054 Pedro Martínez
1.058 Christy Mathewson
1.061 Walter Johnson
1.066 Mordecai Brown
1.078 Max Scherzer
Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. belted his 20th home run of the year in the Blue Jays’ win, the 180th round-tripper of his career.
~The 26-year-old broke out of a tie with Jesse Barfield for the seventh most homers in franchise history, with George Bell (202) the next in line. When organized for age, Guerrero jumps considerably.
Blue Jays – Most HRs Through an Age-26 Season
180 Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
128 Jesse Barfield
125 Fred McGriff
119 Shawn Green
109 Vernon Wells
105 Carlos Delgado (Toronto’s all-time career leader, with 336)
102 Lloyd Moseby
~Guerrero’s 180 for all players through an age-26 season places him in a tie with Hal Trosky for the 26th most, in between Darryl Strawberry’s 186 and Harmon Killebrew’s 178.
Guardians third baseman José Ramírez was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, one driven in and two steals – the trio of runs moving him past Kenny Lofton and into third place all-time for the franchise, the thefts moving him to within one of tying Omar Vizquel for second on the leaderboards. Let’s check in and see how the seven-time All-Star stands across the best the franchise has witnessed.
| Ramírez’s Career Tallies | Cleveland Franchise Ranks |
| 977 Runs | Third, behind Earl Averill and Tris Speaker |
| 1,632 Hits | Seventh, with Lou Boudreau in sixth |
| 387 Doubles | Third, behind Speaker and Nap Lajoie |
| 280 Home Runs | Second, 57 behind Jim Thome |
| 928 RBI | Third, behind Averill and Thome |
| 278 Stolen Bases | Third, behind Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel |
| 2,943 Total Bases | Second, 257 behind Averill |
| 709 Extra-Base Hits | Second, 15 behind Averill |
~Ramírez is tied for the AL lead in steals, with 35. It’s not unknown for a third baseman to lead the AL or NL in the category, but it is a feat that hasn’t been seen in ages.
1901-2024: Third Baseman (at least 50% of games at third) to lead the AL or NL in SB
1905 Art Devlin, with 59 for the Giants
1914 Fritz Maisel, with 74 for the Yankees
1921 Frankie Frisch, with 49 for the Giants
1928 Buddy Myer, with 30 for the Red Sox
1930 Marty McManus, with 23 for the Tigers
1933 Pepper Martin, with 26 for the Cardinals
1934 Pepper Martin, with 23 for the Cardinals
1934 Billy Werber, with 40 for the Red Sox
1935 Billy Werber, with 29 for the Red Sox
1937 Billy Werber, with 35 for the Athletics
1938 Stan Hack, with 16 for the Cubs
1939 Stan Hack, with 17 for the Cubs; Lee Handley, with 17 for the Pirates
1947 Bob Dillinger, with 34 for the Browns
1948 Bob Dillinger, with 28 for the Browns
1949 Bob Dillinger, with 20 for the Browns
Speaking of leadership, Phillies shortstop Trea Turner added to his NL-leading tally in hits, collecting three to get to 140 for the year. Turner already has two titles to his name, pacing the Senior Circuit in both 2020 and 2021. A third would propel him into a rare leadership layer, as there are two shortstops (at least half their games at short) to claim three in the NL/AL since 1901 – Johnny Pesky (1942, 1946, 1947) and Harvey Kuenn (1953, 1954, 1956). Wonderfully, for this type of thing, over in the AL this season, Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette is also aiming for his third crown, having led in 2021 and 2022 and currently leading in 2025.
Tomoyuki Sugano (5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R) recorded his 10th win of the year in Baltimore’s decision over Seattle – the 301st AL/NL pitcher in the Modern Era to get to double-digits in his debut season. Sugano is one of 10 to do it with the Browns/Orioles franchise and the first among that collection since Wei-Yin Chen in 2012. The Orioles’ right-hander strikes a noteworthy chord in that he’s one of the two oldest (by age-season) representatives among the collection of 301.
AL/NL since 1901: 10+ Wins in First Year, Oldest by Age-Season
35 Hisanori Takahashi (10 wins in 2010)
35 Tomoyuki Sugano (10 wins in 2025)
33 Jim Turner (20 wins in 1937)
32 Rolando Arrojo (14 wins in 1998)
32 Orlando Hernández (12 wins in 1998)
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.