Game Notes, 10/06/2025 – LDS Day 3

For Yankees fans of a certain age, the name Edgar Martínez probably produces a host of emotions – none very good.  The name might conjure teeth gnashing, it might inspire cold sweats, it very well could induce jagged breathing and even a few tears.  To a baseball fan without any sort of resonant stress attached to a particular playoff round in the mid-1990s, it’s astounding – thrilling, electric, downright spiritual – to recollect what Edgar Martínez did from October 3, 1995 through October 8 of that year.  A pair of three-hit games to open the 1995 ALDS against New York … three walks and two runs scored in Game 3 … the powerhouse Game 4 featuring another three hits, another walk, a grand slam and a three-run home run … Game 5 coming to an end by virtue of his two-run double in the bottom of the 11th.  All told, 12 hits in 21 at-bats with five going for extra bases, six walks, six runs and 10 RBI.  Total devastation, complete mastery.  To Yankees fans of a certain age out there, apologies for bringing up bad memories.  To everyone else, enjoy the look at what a magical batter can do when locked in and given the brightest of stages to say, “Abracadabra.”

*Cubs v. Brewers*

Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn contributed three-run homers as Milwaukee defeated Chicago, 7-3, to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NLDS.  

~Before this contest, the Brewers had never enjoyed a postseason homer with two or three men on base.  To have a pair in one game, that’s something a team has done on 23 occasions.  By round:

World Series    

1920 Indians (Game 5) – Elmer Smith and Jim Bagby

1936 Yankees (Game 2) – Tony Lazzeri and Bill Dickey

1968 Cardinals (Game 3) – Tim McCarver and Orlando Cepeda

1975 Red Sox (Game 6) – Fred Lynn and Bernie Carbo

1998 Yankees (Game 1) – Chuck Knoblauch and Tino Martinez

2017 Astros (Game 5) – Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve

2024 Yankees (Game 4) – Anthony Volpe and Gleyber Torres

LCS

1971 Pirates (Game 4) – Richie Hebner and Al Oliver

1981 Yankees (Game 2) – Lou Piniella and Graig Nettles

1989 Giants (Game 1) – Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell

2007 Indians (Game 2) – Jhonny Peralta and Franklin Gutiérrez

2008 Rays (Game 3) – Melvin (B.J.) Upton and Rocco Baldelli

2009 Phillies (Game 1) – Carlos Ruiz and Raúl Ibañez

2017 Yankees (Game 3) – Todd Frazier and Aaron Judge

2019 Astros (Game 4) – George Springer and Carlos Correa

2020 Dodgers (Game 3) – Joc Pederson and Max Muncy

2021 Red Sox (Game 2) – J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers

LDS

1995 Mariners (Game 4) – Edgar Martínez with two

1998 Red Sox (Game 1) – Mo Vaughn and Nomar Garciaparra

1999 Indians (Game 2) – Harold Baines and Jim Thome

1999 Red Sox (Game 5) – Troy O’Leary with two

2005 White Sox (Game 1) – A.J. Pierzynski and Scott Podsednik

2025 Brewers (Game 2) – Andrew Vaughn and Jackson Chourio

~With Seiya Suzuki producing a three-run homer for the Cubs, this NLDS Game 2 marked the third time a postseason affair has featured three longballs with either two men on or the bases juiced.  

1971 NLCS, Game 4:  Pirates (Richie Hebner and Al Oliver), Giants (Willie McCovey)

2017 WS, Game 5:  Astros (Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve), Dodgers (Cody Bellinger)

2025 NLDS, Game 2:  Brewers (Andrew Vaughn and Jackson Chourio), Cubs (Seiya Suzuki)

Jackson Chourio has played five career postseason games and produced 10 hits and nine RBI.  He’s hit safely in all five (and has multi-hit games in four of the five) and has driven in at least two runs in three of them.  

~For all players through their first five career postseason games, Chourio is one of three to have at least 10 hits and at least nine RBI, joining Edgar Martínez and Carlos Beltrán.  A deeper look:

Through First Five career Postseason Games

Martínez in 1995      12 hits, 10 RBI     .571/.667/1.000

Beltrán in 2004         10 hits, 9 RBI       .455/.500/1.091

Chourio in 2024-25  10 hits, 9 RBI       .556/.579/1.111

~For all players through their first five career postseason games (min. 15 PA), Chourio’s 1.690 OPS is the sixth highest.  Hank Gowdy’s 1.979 is the best.

~For all players through their first five career postseason games, Chourio is one of 21 to have at least four multi-hit games, with Colorado’s Carlos González the only one to have five.  

~For all players through their first five career postseason games, Chourio is one of 13 to have three multi-RBI lines (no one has more).  By decade of when the player got started:

1950s    Dusty Rhodes

1970s    Lee May, Dusty Baker

1980s    Tom Brunansky, Mark Grace, Matt Williams

1990s    Rubén Sierra, Nomar Garciaparra

2000s    Jim Edmonds, Carlos Beltrán, James Loney

2010s    Stephen Piscotty

2020s    Jackson Chourio

Christian Yelich went 3-for-4 to reach 20 career postseason hits.  He’s the fourth Brewer to get there, joining Ryan Braun (35), Paul Molitor (22) and Robin Yount (22).

Seiya Suzuki’s three-run home run gave the Cubs outfielder an extra-base hit in four of his first five career postseason games.  He’s the third player for the franchise to be able to claim this (no one went five-for-five).  The three, with some added details for each player through his first five games.  

Frank Demaree (1932, 1935)     1 double, 3 homers, 6 RBI, 1.223 OPS

Mark Grace (1989)                     3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 8 RBI, 1.799 OPS

Seiya Suzuki (2025)                   2 doubles, 2 homers, 4 RBI, .930 OPS

Justin Turner started at first base for the Cubs and went 1-for-2 for his 86th career postseason hit.  The 40-year-old is now tied with Pete Rose for the 15th most knocks in postseason history.  Turner is also 15th in total bases with 146, right behind Reggie Jackson and his 148.  

*Dodgers v. Phillies*

Blake Snell spun one-hit, no-run ball with nine strikeouts for six innings and recorded the win as the Dodgers edged the Phillies, 4-3.  With the win, Los Angeles took a two games to none lead in the best-of-five series.

~There are 18 pitchers who have opened a particular postseason with at least nine strikeouts in each of their first two outings; two of them come out of the current postseason – Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Snell.  Both of these left-handers are now in position to match these hurlers who opened with three straight:  Bob Gibson (1964), Sandy Koufax (1965), Curt Schilling (2001), Cliff Lee (2010) and Justin Verlander (2013).  

~Snell is one of 11 Dodgers pitchers to open a postseason with wins in each of his first two (or more) outings.  When Julio Urías* is taken out of the mix, the list looks like this.

1974    Don Sutton opens 3-0 with a 1.08 ERA in 25.0 IP 

1981    Burt Hooton opens 3-0 with a 0.42 ERA in 21.2 IP

1955    Johnny Podres opens 2-0 with 1.00 ERA in 18.0 IP

1963    Sandy Koufax opens 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in 18.0 IP

1978    Tommy John opens 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA in 16.2 IP

1988    Tim Belcher opens 2-0 with a 4.11 ERA in 15.1 IP

2008    Hiroki Kuroda opens 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in 12.1 IP

2017    Yu Darvish opens 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 IP

2020    Clayton Kershaw opens 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 14.0 IP

2025    Blake Snell opens 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in 13.0 IP

*In 2020, Urías recorded wins in relief in his first two appearances, got another as a starter and then capped off his streak with another win in relief.   

For the first time this postseason, Teoscar Hernández failed to drive in a run, but he did add a pair of singles and a walk while scoring a run in the Dodgers’ victory.  In his four games this postseason, the outfielder is slashing .412/.444/1.000 with four runs, four extra-base hits (three homers and a double) and nine RBI.  His beginning from two angles …

→There are 2,689 players in postseason history to amass at least 15 plate appearances through their clubs’ first four games in a year.  Hernández’s 1.444 OPS isn’t among the very, very best, but it does land tied for the 82nd best among these nearly 2,700.  Both the Royals’ George Brett (1978) and the Cardinals’ Stephen Piscotty (2015) also posted a 1.444.  At the very top, these six are the only six to have their OPS begin with a two:

2007    David Ortiz posts a 2.444 in 18 plate appearances for the Red Sox

1928    Lou Gehrig posts a 2.433 in 17 plate appearances for the Yankees*

2015    Colby Rasmus posts a 2.188 in 16 plate appearances for the Astros

2024    Fernando Tatis, Jr. posts a 2.151 in 18 plate appearances for the Padres

1987    Jeffrey Leonard posts a 2.087 in 16 plate appearances for the Giants

1928    Babe Ruth posts a 2.022 in 17 plate appearances for the Yankees*

*Yes, they did this in the same series

→Hernández’s counting stats – his four runs, seven hits and nine RBI – have been matched/exceeded through four team games on three occasions*:

1960    Bobby Richardson amasses 7 hits with 5 runs and 9 RBI for the Yankees

1996    Juan González collects 7 hits with 5 runs and 9 RBI for the Rangers

2019    Gleyber Torres amasses 8 hits with 6 runs and 9 RBI for the Yankees

*There are only 11 players in history to have at least nine RBI through their clubs’ first four postseason games.  Those who made that cut but missed out in one or both of the other categories that separated Hernández, Richardson, González and Torres:  

12 RBI    Reggie Sanders in 2005 (5 hits and 2 runs)

11 RBI    Nomar Garciaparra in 1998 (5 hits and 4 runs)

11 RBI    Giancarlo Stanton in 2020 (5 hits and 6 runs)

10 RBI    Don Baylor in 1982 (4 hits and 2 runs)

10 RBI    John Valentin in 1999 (6 hits and 4 runs)

9 RBI      Lou Gehrig in 1928 (6 hits and 5 runs)

9 RBI      Matt Williams in 1989 (5 hits and 2 runs)

Will Smith drove in two runs for the Dodgers.  The 30-year-old is creeping up the all-time leaderboard for postseason RBI by a catcher (at least 67% of games at catcher), now occupying the fifth spot with 31.  The top four rungs are chiseled with the names Jorge Posada (42), Yogi Berra (39), Yadier Molina (36) and Jason Varitek (33).  

Philadelphia’s Trea Turner drove in a run while adding his 13th career steal in the postseason.  The shortstop has assembled quite a tally of some of the traditional power/speed numbers:  those 13 thefts coupled with 20 extra-base hits and 14 RBI.  The postseason has seen seven others get to all those numbers – Rickey Henderson, Roberto Alomar, Kenny Lofton, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger.

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