Game Notes – 08/26/2025

There have been 32 Yankees to power through an August and come out at the end with at least nine home runs and at least 23 RBI.  Babe Ruth did this on his way toward establishing a new home run record in 1921.  Joe DiMaggio did it on his way to his first MVP in 1939.  Mickey Mantle did this in his Triple Crown season in 1956, as did Lou Gehrig in his Triple Crown campaign in 1934.  Roger Maris – during his historic 1961 season – makes this grade, as does Don Mattingly in his MVP year in 1985 and Álex Rodríguez as part of his 2005 MVP tour.  For the Bronx Bombers, a lot of special seasons included a lot of special Augusts.  Giancarlo Stanton is part of this list, too, at nine and 23 in this August that is drawing to a close.  The 35-year-old is slashing .404/.483/.981 for a 1.464 OPS that lifts Stanton’s name above all of the others referenced already, except for one – that Ruth guy, who owned a 1.507 in ‘21.  It’s been a callback, special few weeks for Stanton, one of a number of players who are using this active month to strut on the stage.

Giancarlo Stanton drove in five runs – the entire scoring output for the Yankees as they downed the Nationals, 5-1.  This century, 161 Yankees have produced at least five RBI in a victory, with four of them producing all the club’s runs.  The priors:

Jason Giambi drives in five on June 26, 2006, as the Yankees defeat the Braves, 5-2

Gleyber Torres drives in five on May 11, 2022, as the Yankees defeat the Blue Jays, 5-3

DJ LeMahieu drives  in six on July 31, 2024, as the Yankees defeat the Phillies, 6-5

Brice Turang  scored two runs and drove in a pair as the Brewers defeated the Diamondbacks.  The second baseman homered as part of the evening, and now has 63 total bases this month, drafting off 15 extra-base hits, with nine home runs (the total bases and homers lead all NL players).  Milwaukee has five more games in August – we’ll see how close Turang can get to the franchise’s best for the month. 

Brewers – Most in an August

78 total bases – Cecil Cooper in 1980

19 extra-base hits – Ryan Braun in 2012

12 home runs – Gorman Thomas in 1979

While Turang is enjoying an exceptional month, the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers is outproducing him in all three of the referenced categories from above.  The catcher, who went 3-for-5 with a double in a win on Tuesday, has tallied 70 total bases, 18 extra-base hits and 11 home runs (he leads the AL in total bases and extra-base hits and is second in home runs).  As was done for Turang, so shall it be done for Langeliers, whose club has four remaining games on their August schedule.

Athletics – Most in an August

105 total bases – Bob Johnson in 1938*

22 extra-base hits – Bob Johnson in 1938 and Matt Chapman in 2018

12 home runs – Gus Zernial in 1953

*Those 105 total bases for Johnson in 1938 are the most for any player for any team in any August dating back to 1901.

In the Athletics’ victory, Jacob Wilson homered and walked and drove in four runs, while Tyler Soderstrom singled twice and drove in two.  The club has, with these two and Nick Kurtz, three players this season who are in age-23 or younger campaigns who can claim an oWAR of at least 2.5.  The franchise has one other roster in its history to make this boast – the 1913 World Series champs who were lifted by the efforts of Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Murphy and Wally Schang.  

Trevor Story homered and stole a base in Boston’s win.  

~The longball gave the 32-year-old 200 in his career.  The figure is the 13th highest ever for a player through his age-32 season who also could claim at least half of his games at shortstop.  Story is slotted most closely behind a couple of famed Red Sox:  Rico Petrocelli (207) and Nomar Garciaparra (211).

~This season, Story has 21 longballs to go along with 23 steals, a 30-30 season in his sights, perhaps.  He’s already the third Red Sox shortstop to post a 20-20 season, joining John Valentin (1995) and Nomar Garciaparra (1997) in that club; a 30-30 campaign would link him with outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury (2011) and Mookie Betts (2018) as the only BoSox batters to do that.

George Springer homered twice while batting in the leadoff spot to raise his career tally when hitting there to 215.  Two players can claim more – Rickey Henderson (293) and Mookie Betts (228).  When it comes to multi-homer efforts when hitting first in a lineup, Betts (26) and Springer (23) are 1-2 in all the land.

23-year-old Colson Montgomery went yard in his fourth straight game.  He’s one of two White Sox representatives to be younger than 24 and have a longball streak so long, joining Rich McKinney, who worked his magic in four straight in September of 1970.  In the Modern Era, there are 10 players shy of a 24th birthday who produced longer streaks, with nine of them getting to five straight games and Ken Griffey, Jr. (1993) homering in eight straight.  

Rangers left-hander Patrick Corbin (8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R) improved to 7-9 on the season in a win against the Angels.  If the 36-year-old is going to produce his first winning season since 2019, his work against the Halos will be a significant part of his rebound – Corbin is now 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts against them.  

Corbin is in a club numbering 101 – those hurlers who enjoyed a season in which they had at least four starts against the Angels and went undefeated in their work.  Arranged from lowest to highest ERA, Corbin is tied for the 43rd lowest, matched with Dock Ellis (1.93 in 1976) and Chris Flexen (1.93 in 2021).  The 1972 version of Mel Stottlemyre receives top billing here, for his 4-0, 0.00 ERA line.  If one wants to focus on Rangers among the larger collection, Corbin is one of 15, owning the third lowest ERA.  In 1967, Camilo Pascual was 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA and in 1977, the aforementioned Ellis was 3-0 with a 1.69.

Bryan Reynolds doubled twice in a win for his Pirates, raising his number for the season to an NL-best 34**.  Reynolds’ work for the year has been elevated by his August, in which he’s doubled a dozen times and collected 17 extra-base hits.  The best tally in the latter category for any Pirate in any August dating back to 1901 comes from Paul Waner, who had 25 (16 doubles, seven triples, two home runs) in 1928.

Freddie Freeman collected his NL-leading** 34th double of the season, the 542nd of his career.  

~With his 542 career doubles, Freeman is currently tied with Harry Heilmann for 37th on the all-time list.  Squeezing the parameters to look at players through their age-35 seasons, Freeman’s 542 have been surpassed by only four players:  Tris Speaker (604), Albert Pujols (583), Stan Musial (572) and Miguel Cabrera (556).

~The Dodgers’ first baseman has led the NL in two-base hits on four previous occasions.  A fifth title this season would elevate him into some pretty cool company.

Most Times Leading the NL or AL in Doubles

8    Tris Speaker, Stan Musial

7    Honus Wagner

5    Ed Delahanty, Nap Lajoie, Pete Rose

**Reynolds and Freeman are tied with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Olson for the league lead in two-base hits.

Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander each picked up wins on Tuesday.  The pair are two of 30 pitchers ever who can claim at least 100 more wins than losses.  Since the opportunities for both pocketing a win on the same day are dwindling, let’s look at these two, along with their peer Max Scherzer and the other 27 in this association.  The table is arranged from the most to fewest net wins among the +100 assemblage.