Game Notes – 08/25/2025

Across his magnificent, inaugural Hall of Fame class career, Christy Mathewson paced all his NL peers in fewest walks per nine innings on seven different occasions, a repetition of supremacy that since Matty had his last leadership campaign in 1915, has been surpassed by only Greg Maddux.  Before Mathewson started making that category his own, he also led the NL in most strikeouts per nine, topping the Senior Circuit in 1903 when his right arm was still in its early 20s.  A neat feat that, having a career résumé that can speak to being the best in both of these rate categories.  He’s not the only one to do this; Doc White accomplished it, with a K/9 title for the NL in 1902 and then a pair of BB/9 belts in the AL later on; Hall of Fame right-hander Dazzy Vance had one BB/9 crown and eight K/9 titles; Preacher Roe managed one of each, as did Jim Bunning; and there are some others.  But then there is the king, Walter Johnson, who engineered the trick in the same season, leading the AL in 1913 with 6.3 strikeouts per nine innings and 1.0 walks per nine (he would have had the lowest marks in both categories in both the AL and NL if not for Mathewson going lower with his walk rate).  The Big Train – Mathewson’s fellow pitching member of that very first Hall of Fame class in 1936 – is the only Modern Era pitcher to claim supremacy in the AL or NL in both K/9 and BB/9 in the same year, a solo flight that may gain companionship in 2025. 

Tarik Skubal struck out 12 batters with no walks in a loss to the Athletics.  This line marked the 10th time this season he’s struck out at least 10 and the seventh time he’s reached double-digits in K’s while keeping the walks column clean.  

~Skubal’s 10 games with 10+ K’s stand tied for the second most in Tigers history, behind Mickey Lolich’s 11 in 1971 and matched with Lolich’s tally from 1969.  Skubal and Lolich in ’69 are tied for the 33rd most double-digit strikeout games for a southpaw, dating back to 1901.  Besides these two Tigers, there’s Rube Waddell (1905), Sandy Koufax (1964), Sam McDowell (1969 and 1970) and Robbie Ray (2017 and 2021) at exactly 10.  

~Skubal’s seven games with 10+ K’s and no walks stand as the most in any season since 1901 for any left-hander, ahead of Randy Johnson’s six in 2004 and Clayton Kershaw’s six in 2016.  Inviting the righties into the exploration, Gerrit Cole – with seven in 2019 – is the only one to be on the same level as Skubal.

~Skubal owns the AL’s best strikeout per nine figure at 11.5 and the lowest BB/9 number, at 1.4 – giving him a somewhat uncluttered path toward joining Walter Johnson (1913) as the only pitchers since 1901 to lead the AL or NL in both categories in the same season.

Aroldis Chapman recorded his 25th save of the year, working a 1-2-3 ninth in Boston’s 4-3 win.  The lefty is the author of the 29th 25-save season in Red Sox history, and by some numbers, it’s one of the most striking.  

Red Sox With 25 Saves – Lowest ERA

0.92    Jonathan Papelbon (2006)

1.06    Aroldis Chapman (2025)

1.43    Craig Kimbrel (2017)

Red Sox With 25 Saves – Lowest WHIP

0.681    Craig Kimbrel (2017)

0.686    Aroldis Chapman (2025)

0.771    Jonathan Papelbon (2007)

Red Sox With 25 Saves – Lowest Hits/9

3.7    Aroldis Chapman (2025)

4.3    Craig Kimbrel (2017)

4.5    Craig Kimbrel (2018)

Red Sox With 25 Saves – Highest K%

49.6    Craig Kimbrel (2017)
38.9    Craig Kimbrel (2018)

37.8    Aroldis Chapman (2025)

Edward Cabrera struck out 10 Braves across seven scoreless innings in which he surrendered just one hit.  Earlier this month, the Marlins’ right-hander held Atlanta to a pair of hits and fanned 11.  These two efforts have yielded Game Scores of 83 and 84, respectively, making the 27-year-old the second pitcher for the team to have multiple scores this high in a season against the Braves, after José Fernández had a pair in 2014.  Like Cabrera’s two gems, Fernández’s two against Atlanta came in the same month, his arriving in April.  

Junior Caminero belted two home runs for Tampa Bay.

~The third baseman is at 39 longballs for the year, now tied for the fourth most ever for a player in an age-21 or younger season. The list ahead and behind Caminero:

47   Eddie Mathews in 1953

42   Mel Ott in 1929

41   Ronald Acuña, Jr. in 2019

39   Cody Bellinger in 2017, Junior Caminero in 2025

38   Frank Robinson in 1956

37   Albert Pujols in 2001

~Caminero’s 39 leave him seven shy of tying Carlos Peña (2007) for the top single-season mark in Rays history and tied with Peña (2009) and Brandon Lowe (2021) for the second most.  

~Caminero has four multi-home run games this season, tied for the most in a season for any Tampa Bay batter – he’s matched with Jorge Cantú (2005), Carlos Peña (2007 and 2009) and Brandon Lowe (2021).

Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm, Jr. connected on his 25th home run of the season to tie Trent Grisham for second on the team (Aaron Judge is at 40, while Cody Bellinger has 24).  For all their home run history and lore, the franchise has never had an entry into the “four (or more) players with 30+ bombs” category, a feat that’s occurred only 15 times and only five times from an AL club.  

Cam Schlittler (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R) lowered his ERA to 2.43 in seven starts since the All-Star break.  Looking at what has come before him and matches his experience profile, there have been 27 first-year pitchers to make at least 10 starts for the Yankees after an All-Star break, with six of them showing off with an ERA below three.  There‘s three representatives from the 1940s (Tiny Bonham, Hank Borowy and Butch Wensloff), one from the 1950s (Whitey Ford), another from the 1960s (Mel Stottlemyre) and one from the 2010s (Luis Severino).  

Max Scherzer improved to 221-114 in his career.  With 107 more wins than losses, the Blue Jays’ right-hander is one better than his former teammate Justin Verlander and is two behind Mordecai Brown.  

~Among the 122 members of the 200-win club, Scherzer’s lifetime winning percentage (.660) is the eighth best, directly behind Christy Mathewson’s .665 and just a hair ahead of Roy Halladay’s .659.

Batting at the top of the Blue Jays’ lineup, George Springer singled twice and walked, scored and drove in a run and added a steal.  Springer has more than 1,000 games batting leadoff, a heavy designation that has seen him amass more than 4,600 plate appearances in the slot.  There are 87 players in the Modern Era to have at least 4,000 trips as a #1 hitter, so a decent enough volume to comb through the ranks.  Among them, Springer blasts away with the fifth best slugging percentage and the seventh best OPS.  The looks for the two categories.

1901-2025:  Highest Slugging Percentage as a #1 Hitter (minimum 4,000 PA)

.535    Mookie Betts

.501    Charlie Blackmon

.480    Bobby Bonds

.478    Jose Altuve

.475    George Springer

.465    Earle Combs

1901-2025:  Highest OPS as a #1 Hitter (minimum 4,000 PA)

.910    Mookie Betts

.864    Earle Combs

.856    Charlie Blackmon

.843    Jose Altuve

.841    Bobby Bonds

.841    Wade Boggs

.826    George Springer

.822    Rickey Henderson

Mark Vientos stroked a pair of run-scoring doubles in the Mets’ 13-3 win against the Phillies, and has now produced at least one extra-base hit and one RBI in four straight games.  Carlos Beltrán had a seven-game streak with these statistical parameters in 2006, the longest run for any Met.  

The Brewers improved to 18-6 in August after a win over the Diamondbacks.  The .750 winning percentage is, of course, impressive, but it doesn’t really stand out when placed against the best for any club since 1901.  In this Modern Era, a .750 ties for the 42nd best any team has done in any August (minimum of 24 games played), with the top five marks looking like this:

.893 (25-3)    1906 Cubs

.889 (24-3)    1936 Giants

.857 (24-4)    2002 Athletics

.852 (23-4)    1944 Cardinals

.840 (21-4)    1906 White Sox

As part of the Brewers’ latest win, Christian Yelich contributed a two-run single with the bases loaded in the third inning.  This year, Yelich owns a 2.182 OPS in bases loaded situations, with eight hits (two doubles and two home runs) in 11 plate appearances.  In the Divisional Era, using a minimum of at least 15 plate appearances for the situation, there are eight players who emerged from this rich scenario with an OPS starting with a ‘2.’  Travis Hafner’s 2006 campaign comes out with the biggest number, a 2.420 in which he was 8-for-14 across 16 plate appearances, with six home runs to tie the Major League record for grand slams in a season.  

Alec Burleson capped a four-hit night with a walk-off home run, sending the Cardinals to a 7-6 win over the Pirates.  The 26-year-old is the only Cardinal in the Divisional Era to celebrate a four-hit effort with a walk-off longball, but is the second player this season to do it, after the Rockies’ Brenton Doyle on August 1 – also against the Pirates.  

Zach Neto opened the first inning with a home run and the Angels didn’t need anything else, securing a 4-0 win against the Rangers.  Neto’s ninth leadoff home run of the year (extending his franchise-best mark) makes him one of 26 players to have at least that many in a season and one of the very youngest to do this

2024   Gunnar Henderson hits 10 in his age-23 season

2007   Chris Young hits nine in his age-23 season

2008   Hanley Ramírez hits nine in his age-24 season

2018   Francisco Lindor hits nine in his age-24 season

2025   Zach Neto hits nine in his age-24 season

Within the Athletics’ win over the Tigers, Tyler Soderstrom collected his 26th double and Nick Kurtz his 27th home run.  The teammates now both have 50 extra-base hits on the season, the 22-year-old Kurtz with 52 and the 23-year-old Soderstrom with 50.  Nicely, these two make this Athletics team the 50th ever to have multiple players in age-23 or younger seasons with at least 50 long hits.  Most of these examples had the teammate-string end at two, but there are three examples of more (see below for the teams and names).  There is one other Athletics team among the 50, the 1987 club with Mark McGwire and José Canseco.

1977 Expos – Gary Carter, Warren Cromartie, Andre Dawson, Ellis Valentine

1940 Red Sox – Bobby Doerr, Jim Tabor, Ted Williams

2017 Rangers – Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, Rougned Odor

Cal Raleigh joined the 50-home run club, reaching the milestone in the first inning of the Mariners’ win over the Padres.  Some breakdowns …

~Raleigh’s is the 51st 50-homer campaign in history and, as has been celebrated, the first of the 51 to come from a player who had at least half his games behind the plate.  There are two Mariners predecessors on the list:  Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 1997 and 1998 seasons, when the Hall of Fame center fielder hit 56.  Raleigh joins Mickey Mantle (52 in 1956, 54 in 1961) as the only switch-hitters to get to the milestone.

~50+ HR Through 132 Team Games

56   Sammy Sosa (1999), Barry Bonds (2001)

54   Babe Ruth (1921)

53   Mark McGwire (1998)

52   Sammy Sosa (2001)

51   Roger Maris (1961), Sammy Sosa (1998), Mark McGwire (1999), Giancarlo Stanton (2017), Aaron Judge         (2022, 2024)

50   Luis Gonzalez (2001), Cal Raleigh (2025)

~Raleigh leads the AL with his 50 home runs and his 107 RBI.  Among the previous 26 American Leaguers who reached the 50-homer milestone, 14 of them paced the circuit in both four-base hits and RBI. Let’s toast ‘em all.

Babe Ruth (1920, 1921)

Jimmie Foxx (1932)

Mickey Mantle (1956 – also claims the batting title for the Triple Crown)

Roger Maris (1961)

Cecil Fielder (1990)

Albert Belle (1995)

Ken Griffey, Jr. (1997)

Álex Rodríguez (2002, 2007)

David Ortiz (2006)

Chris Davis (2013)

Aaron Judge (2022, 2024)

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.