The Red Sox and Yankees have been tussling since 1903, a span that has seen the clash tally up to nearly 2,300 contests. For the team in Boston, this epic rivalry has witnessed Cy Young and Smoky Joe Wood emerge as the winningest pitchers, each collecting 20 victories against the club from New York. On the offensive side for the BoSox, Ted Williams owns the most home runs (62) and RBI (229). Williams’ debut season in 1939 was a sign of just how much he would pummel this particular opponent, as he drove in 17 runs with six home runs over 18 games against the Yankees – all of this as a 20/21-year-old creating the foundation for all the magnificence that was to unfold over the next two decades. “Hmmm, not a bad way to start a career,” thinks Roman Anthony.
Roman Anthony singled and homered and drove in three runs to power the Red Sox past the Yankees. In the long history of this rivalry, Anthony is among the youngest to have this kind of line.
Youngest Red Sox With HR(s) and 3+ RBI versus Yankees
20 years, 12 days Bobby Doerr (1938)
20 years, 92 days Bobby Doerr (1938)
20 years, 139 days Babe Ruth (1915)
20 years, 306 days Ted Williams (1939)
20 years 341 days Xander Bogaerts (2013)
20 years, 359 days Ken Brett (1969)
21 years, 4 days Ted Williams (1939)
21 years, 100 days Roman Anthony (2025)
Youngest Yankees with HR(s) and 3+ RBI versus Red Sox
20 years, 296 days Mickey Mantle (1952)
20 years, 340 days Mickey Mantle (1952)
21 years, 185 days Mickey Mantle (1953)
21 years, 200 days Gleyber Torres (2018)
21 years, 217 days Mickey Mantle (1953)
21 years, 300 days Jesús Montero (2011)
26-year-old Ben Rice hit his 20th homer of the year, one of four Yankees this season to be in an age-29 or younger campaign and reach the milestone. Four is a pretty large number for the franchise …
NYY: 4+ Players in Age-29 or Younger Seasons, 20+ HRs
6 in 2018 Miguel Andujar, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres
5 in 2019 Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit
4 in 1941 Joe DiMaggio, Joe Gordon, Tommy Henrich, Charlie Keller
4 in 2025 Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm, Jr., Trent Grisham, Ben Rice
*The 2025 team also has Anthony Volpe (age-24 season) with 18 home runs and Austin Wells (age-25 season) with 17.
Tyler Soderstrom went 4-for-4 with a walk and extended his hitting streak to 19 games. The Athletics history pages show five other players who, like Soderstrom, were still shy of a 24th birthday when they put together a streak this long (or longer). Al Simmons shows up three times, with a 23-game streak in 1925, a 22-gamer in 1925 and a 19-game run in 1924. Jimmie Foxx appears for a 22-game streak in 1929 and Lou Finney gets credit for a 19-game stretch in 1933.
Vinnie Pasquantino homered in his fourth straight game to pace the Royals toward a 6-4 win and take another step toward some significant positioning in Royals annals.
~The 27-year-old is now one game shy of matching Mike Sweeney (2002) and Salvador Perez (2021) for the longest home run streak in Royals history.
~With 26 longballs on the year, the first baseman can aim toward Steve Balboni’s team mark for the most homers by a first baseman (minimum 50% of games at first). Game Notes did the best at each position for the Athletics yesterday; let’s do the Royals today.
C Salvador Perez with 48 in 2021
1B Steve Balboni with 36 in 1985
2B Frank White with 22 in 1985 and 1986
3B Mike Moustakas with 38 in 2017
SS Bobby Witt, Jr. with 32 in 2024
LF Bo Jackson with 32 in 1989
CF Carlos Beltrán with 29 in 2002
RF Danny Tartabull with 34 in 1987
DH Jorge Soler with 48 in 2019
P Jim Rooker with 4 in 1969
Bobby Witt, Jr. collected his 40th double of the year while swiping his 33rd and 34th bags. The Royals’ shortstop’s career numbers reflect 144 doubles, 100 home runs and 144 stolen bases. This statistical profile has been met by very few players at Witt’s stage of a career (age-25 season), with César Cedeño, Barry Bonds, Álex Rodríguez, Hanley Ramírez and Mike Trout reaching these numbers to go along with Kansas City’s 2025 All-Star.
In Milwaukee’s win, Brice Turang homered and singled – with the four-base hit reflecting his eighth of the month (he entered August with six on the season). As Milwaukee has torn through the Majors this month (the team is 16-4), so has their second baseman, who owns a 1.197 OPS in 19 games. The franchise’s best OPS for any full August (minimum 75 plate appearances) belongs to Mike Cameron, who posted a 1.200 in 2008.
In a 2-for-5 day at the plate, Freddie Freeman singled and homered to raise the extra-base hit tally for his career to 931. 18 players in history have accumulated more through their own age-35 campaigns, including the closest to Freeman’s reach, Eddie Mathews with 935.
~Freeman is entangled in a tight race for the NL batting title, with the top three needing two extra spots after the decimal point to separate things out enough to identify a 1-2-3 placement …
.30330 Will Smith
.30326 Trea Turner
.30324 Freddie Freeman
… In Smith and Freeman, the Dodgers have a chance for their first batting champ since Tommy Davis won his second straight title in 1963. Turner’s Phillies franchise hasn’t been able to celebrate a batting champ in their uniform since Richie Ashburn took home the crown in 1958.
Clayton Kershaw (5.2 IP, 3 R) improved to 220-96 in his career, with this effort at Coors Field improving his record against the Rockies to 29-11. The 29 wins versus the Rockies are the most by any pitcher, with Randy Johnson and Madison Bumgarner a distant second, each with 19. Aside from Kershaw, Patrick Corbin has the most among active pitchers, with 13. Anyway, here are the winningest pitchers against each of the current NL franchises (plus the Astros) who sprang to existence during the Expansion Era.
35 Greg Maddux versus the Mets
33 Steve Carlton versus the Astros
33 Tom Glavine versus the Expos/Nationals
33 Tom Seaver versus the Padres
29 Clayton Kershaw versus the Rockies
23 Bert Blyleven versus the Pilots/Brewers
22 Clayton Kershaw versus the Diamondbacks
21 Stephen Strasburg versus the Marlins
Francisco Lindor connected on his eighth home run to lead off a game in 2025 to establish a new Mets single-season record. The milestone longball pushed Lindor ahead of Curtis Granderson, who hit seven in 2015 and 2016. For his career, Lindor is up to 28, a height few switch-hitters have reached. Jimmy Rollins hit 46, followed by Devon White (34), Ray Durham (34), Tony Phillips (30) and Rafael Furcal (30).
James Wood homered for the 26th time this season. The outfielder owns the fourth highest tally for any Expo/National in an age-22 or younger season:
42 Bryce Harper in 2015, his age-22 campaign
34 Juan Soto in 2019, his age-20 campaign
29 Juan Soto in 2021, his age-22 campaign
26 James Wood in 2025, his age-22 campaign
25 Ellis Valentine in 1977, his age-22 campaign
Manny Machado doubled and drove in three runs to run his career tallies in RBI to 1,126 and extra-base hits to 776. There are 20 other players in history to have reached/exceeded these numbers through an age-32 season. Here’s a look at all 21, arranged by where they played at least 51% of their games (up to this point in their careers).
3B Eddie Mathews, Manny Machado
1B Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Albert Pujols
2B Rogers Hornsby
SS Álex Rodríguez
LF Joe Medwick
CF Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey, Jr., Andruw Jones
RF Mel Ott, Henry Aaron, Manny Ramírez, Vladimir Guerrero
Didn’t fit any specific position: Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, Juan González, Miguel Cabrera
Jesús Sánchez went 5-for-5 in the Astros’ win over the Orioles, the 43rd five-hit (or more hit*) game in franchise history. This was the first for Sánchez in an Astros uniform, as he was traded to the club at the end of July. 31 different Astros have contributed to these 43 games, with César Cedeño and George Springer sharing honors for the most, with three apiece.
*Joe Morgan (1965) and George Springer (2018) share the team record for hits in a game, with six.
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.