On September 25, 1964, Angels right-hander Dean Chance claimed his 20th win of the year, but it wasn’t easy, as his Halos scored their only run in the bottom of the eighth. Given a lead, at last, Chance then retired Harmon Killebrew on a flyball to right, got Jimmie Hall to pop out in foul territory and then completed the effort by inducing Don Mincher to fly out to left. Chance had his milestone win, his Major League-leading 11th shutout of the season, his fifth coming in a 1-0 affair. No pitcher since has started and completed more 1-0 wins in a season, the capstone to a year in which the 23-year-old finished with a 1.65 ERA and took home the Cy Young Award. Since then, only two pitchers so young have completed a qualified season with an ERA coming in below two, a statement that might have to be revised in a few more weeks.
Paul Skenes swam through six scoreless innings on the way toward recording his 10th win of the year, as the Pirates downed the Dodgers, 5-3. With this latest expression of his skill, the right-hander got his ERA for the season down to 1.98 in 173.0 innings. If the year were to be done, here’s how Skenes’ ERA and ERA+ would look historically …
~In the Liveball Era, there are 748 NL/AL pitchers who authored an age-23 or younger season with enough innings to qualify for an ERA title. Here’s the quintet with the lowest ERAs, with Skenes in 2025 thrown into the mix.
1.53 Dwight Gooden in 1985
1.65 Dean Chance in 1964
1.82 Vida Blue in 1971
1.98 Paul Skenes in 2025
2.05 Stan Bahnsen in 1968
2.05 Dave Righetti in 1981
~Since 1893, there are 1,039 NL/AL pitchers who authored an age-23 or younger season with enough innings to qualify for an ERA title. Here’s the quintet with the best ERA+ numbers, with Skenes in 2025 thrown into the mix.
279 Dutch Leonard in 1914
229 Dwight Gooden in 1985
218 Paul Skenes in 2025
209 Ed Reulbach in 1905
200 Dean Chance in 1964
188 Amos Rusie in 1894
Bobby Witt, Jr. and Salvador Perez contributed home runs to the Royals’ cause in a 4-3 win.
~Witt has 281 extra-base hits in his career, an eye-popping accumulation when considered against the backdrop of all players through their first four seasons. There are nine who had more, a list of (mostly) all-time names, all of whom primarily occupied outfield or corner infield positions. Here’s the top 10:
358 Albert Pujols (first base, third base, outfield)
329 Joe DiMaggio (outfield)
314 Ted Williams (outfield)
305 Chuck Klein (outfield)
300 Mark Teixeira (first base, third base, outfield)
297 Ryan Braun (third base, outfield)
295 Earl Averill (outfield)
292 Johnny Mize (first base, outfield)
282 Paul Waner (outfield, first base)
281 Bobby Witt, Jr. (shortstop, third base)
~Perez’s blast moved him into sole possession of third place on the lifetime extra-base hit list for the Royals, with 626: one ahead of Frank White and now 55 behind Hal McRae. The 35-year-old catcher has 57 extra-base hits this season – backstops this old hardly ever reach this height.
Most Extra-Base Hits in an Age-35 or Older Season, 50+% of Games at Catcher
63 Jorge Posada (42 doubles, 1 triple, 20 HR) in his age-36 season in 2007
61 Carlton Fisk (23 doubles, 1 triple, 37 HR) in his age-37 season in 1985
57 Salvador Perez (33 doubles, 24 HR) in his age-35 season in 2025
A couple of freshman infielders – Chicago’s Colson Montgomery (HR, 3 R, 3 RBI) and Minnesota’s Luke Keaschall (4-for-5) played starring roles in a White Sox win over the Twins.
~Montgomery has played in 50 games this year and yet, has managed 17 home runs – an historically high tally even with the limited number of contests.
Most HRs by a SS (50+% of Games at SS) in Debut Seasons
27 Trevor Story (2016) in 372 at-bats
25 Paul DeJong (2017) in 417 at-bats
22 Carlos Correa (2015) in 387 at-bats
22 Fernando Tatis, Jr. (2019) in 334 at-bats
22 Jeremy Peña (2022) in 521 at-bats
21 Anthony Volpe (2023) in 541 at-bats
20 Bobby Witt, Jr. (2022) in 591 at-bats
17 Aledmys Díaz (2016) in 404 at-bats
17 Colson Montgomery (2025) in 181 at-bats
~Keaschall’s time on the diamond has been even more contracted, with 33 games equating to 141 plate appearances. Still, the second baseman now owns a .328/.418/.508 line. Looking at all leagues except for the National Association, the records offer 28* players who posted a .300/.400/.500 line in their debut season, minimum 150 plate appearances. Here’s the entire list, broken down by which league (although we’re corralling all of the different Negro Leagues into one) witnessed the initial burst:
AA: Pete Browning (1882)
NL: Mike Grady (1894), Ducky Holmes (1895), Jimmy Williams (1899), Paul Waner (1926), George Watkins (1930), Johnny Mize (1936), Bill Salkeld (1945), Willie McCovey (1959), Bret Barberie (1991), Erubiel Durazo (1999), Albert Pujols (2001), Austin Kearns (2002)
AL: Tommy Henrich (1937), Charlie Keller (1939), Ted Williams (1939), Mitchell Page (1977), Frank Thomas (1990), Yordan Alvarez (2019)
NeL: Oscar Charleston (1920), Jimmie Lyons (1920), Cristóbal Torriente (1920), Turkey Stearnes (1923), Jud Wilson (1923), Roy Parnell (1927), Leroy Morney (1932), Buck Leonard (1935), Willard Brown (1937)
*In 2025, the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz is riding a .308/.401/.636 line over 400 plate appearances into the final weeks of his freshman year
Trent Grisham’s 30th home run of the season aided the Yankees in an 8-4 win over the Astros. Grisham’s milestone longball gave this 2025 Yankees club a pair of outfielders (as defined by a player having at least half of his games in an outfield spot) with 30 bombs, alongside Aaron Judge and his 43. There are a few other instances of this happening for the Bronx Bombers, including an historic year in 1941 when three made the grade*.
Multiple Yankees Outfielders with 30+ HR in a Season
1941 Charlie Keller (33), Tommy Henrich (31), Joe DiMaggio (30)
1960 Mickey Mantle (40), Roger Maris (39)
1961 Roger Maris (61), Mickey Mantle (54)
1962 Roger Maris (33), Mickey Mantle (30)
2004 Gary Sheffield (36), Hideki Matsui (31)
2024 Aaron Judge (58), Juan Soto (41)
2025 Aaron Judge (43), Trent Grisham (30)
*The 1963 Twins would match this heretofore unmatched feat, when Harmon Killebrew hit 45, Bob Allison added 35 and Jimmie Hall had 33.
Carlos Rodón gave up a pair of runs on three hits and two walks in six innings and came away the winner for his 16th victory of the year.
~Rodón is tied with Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta for the big league lead with 16 wins. A Yankees southpaw last paced the Majors in victories in 2010, when CC Sabathia tied for the lead with 21. The others to do this:
2009 CC Sabathia (19)
1994 Jimmy Key (17)
1978 Ron Guidry (25)
1961 Whitey Ford (25)
~Rodón also paces the Majors with 6.0 hits allowed per nine innings. Qualified portsiders rarely have gotten so low. When they did, it looked like this.
1914 Dutch Leonard with a 5.6
1949 Tommy Byrne with a 5.7
1956 Herb Score with a 5.8
1963 Al Downing with a 5.8
1965 Sandy Koufax with a 5.8
1965 Sam McDowell with a 5.9
1966 Sam McDowell with a 6.0
1968 Dave McNally with a 5.8
1971 Vida Blue with a 6.0
1985 Sid Fernandez with a 5.7
2018 Blake Snell with a 5.6
2023 Blake Snell with a 5.8
Ranger Suárez (6.0 IP, 6 H) and three Phillies relievers combined on a seven-hitter and Philadelphia notched its 12th shutout of the year, a 2-0 win against Milwaukee. Philadelphia’s starters have a collective 3.55 ERA, which would be the lowest for the franchise since the 2011 staff – mostly steered by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Vance Worley – posted a 2.86 (that 2.86 is the lowest for the team in the Liveball Era).
Ryan Pepiot went the first five for the Rays in a win, emerging from his stint with no hits allowed. The right-hander is on quite a tear, having surrendered a total of two hits over his past three starts (one in each of his previous two, both of which ended with five innings pitched). He and Dylan Cease (2024) are the only pitchers in the Modern Era to have a three-start streak featuring at least five innings and no more than one hit allowed. Last season, Cease allowed one hit over six, followed that with one hit over seven and completed the trifecta with a no-hitter.
José Ramírez connected on his 282nd career longball in a 2-for-4 day at the plate. The 32-year-old switch-hitter is now at 713 career extra-base hits and 2,961 career total bases. Among switch-hitters through age-32 seasons, his standing in all three of these counting categories offers a seat at the top-10 table.
Switch-Hitters, Most Home Runs Through an Age-32 Season
454 Mickey Mantle
338 Mark Teixeira
333 Eddie Murray
310 Chipper Jones
288 Lance Berkman
282 José Ramírez
Switch-Hitters, Most Extra-Base Hits Through an Age-32 Season
812 Mickey Mantle
713 José Ramírez
711 Mark Teixeira
709 Eddie Murray
677 Carlos Beltrán
662 Chipper Jones
Switch-Hitters, Most Total Bases Through an Age-32 Season
3,805 Mickey Mantle
3,421 Eddie Murray
3,238 Roberto Alomar
3,014 Chipper Jones
3,012 Ted Simmons
3,011 Pete Rose
2,992 Carlos Beltrán
2,985 Mark Teixeira
2,964 Jimmy Rollins
2,961 José Ramírez
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.