Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers comes up with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning and hits a home run to tie the Blue Jays at five. It is just the second time there’s been a four extra-base hit game in the World Series. His last seven hits at Dodger Stadium went for extra bases. Just amazing.
Just where did the Friday performance of Shohei Ohtani rank as the greatest of a single day? The Day by Day Database can calculate game scores for both the batting side and the pitching side back to 1920. Given that very few homers were hit before 1920, it’s likely the best performance happened since then.
Ohtani posted a pitching game score of 75 and a batting game score of 92 for a 167 total. That was beat. Whitey Ford of the Yankees, on April 22, 1959, pitched a fourteen inning shutout of the Senators. He allowed seven hits, seven walks, and struck out 15 batters. At the plate Ford went one for three with three walks, his hit going for a double. His pitching was good for a game score of 106, while his batting scored at a 62, a 168 total game score.
Another Yankees pitcher, Red Ruffing, also combined for Ohtani’s 167. On August 13th, 1932, Ruffing pitched a ten inning shutout, also against Washington. He allowed three hits and two walks while striking out twelve for a pitching game score of 96. At the plate, he went three for four with a home run, his shot in the top of the tenth the only run of the game. That gave him a game score on offense of 71.
Just behind them stands Catfish Hunter and his perfect game for the Oakland Athletics, May 8, 1968. Hunter struck out 11 Twins in that game for a score of 98. He went three for four at the plate with a double and three RBI for a batting score of 68, and a total of 166.
I took a quick look at Babe Ruth, and didn’t see any of his post season starts when he was a pitcher that would qualify here. He may have a great regular season start, but then again, K’s were not that common in the dead-ball era.
Given that Ohtani’s performance came in an elimination game, it likely will go down as the best. Ford, Ruffing, and Hunter do deserve some recognition.
Update: A friend inquired as to the use of “elimination game” in this context. It was an elimination game for the Brewers, not the Dodgers. In other words, it was not a high pressure game for Los Angeles. On the other hand, it would mean that the Brewers should have been going all out to win, so Ohtani was pitching against a very motivated offense.
Also, further research indicates that Orel Hershiser’s performance in game two of the 1988 World Series ranks as the second best playoff game.
Jackson Chourio beats out an infield grounder in the second inning for a single, becoming the first player to gather three hits in the first inning of a post-season game. He injures himself as he hits the bag, however, and comes out of the game. The Brewers keep hitting, and Chourio drives in a run to make the score 9-1 at the end of two innings. They’ve sent 20 men to the plate.
The Phillies set a franchise record with eight home runs in an 11-1 rout of the Marlins. Kyle Schwarber hit two to bring his 2025 total to 56, and Edmundo Sosa added three in his first game back from injury.
The win guarantees the Phillies a first round bye in the wild card round.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit his 50th home run of the season Wednesday night, giving him four seasons of at least 50 home runs. He ties Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa as the only players with four 50 homer seasons.
The Yankees lead the White Sox 5-1 in the top of the fourth inning.
The records keep falling as Cal Raleigh keeps going deep:
Cal Raleigh broke Mickey Mantle‘s record for homers by a switch-hitter and tied the Mariners record set by Ken Griffey Jr. when the Seattle star hit his 55th and 56th of the season in consecutive at-bats against the Royals on Tuesday night.
ESPN.com
His two home runs came from opposite sides of the play, another Mantle specialty. The Mariners lead the Royals 10-1 in the top of the sixth inning.
Cal Raleigh of the Mariners hit his 54th home run of the season in the first inning of the game against Angels. That ties him with Mickey Mantle for the most home runs in a season by a switch hitter. Since he hit it as a catcher, he also breaks the record held by Javy Lopez with his 43rd backstop homer.
At seasonal age 28, Raleigh is a year younger than Mantle when he set the record in 1961. He actually broke his own record, having hit 52 home runs at seasonal age 24.
Bryce Harper tied Joe DiMaggio Wednesday night by hitting his 361st home run. That ties Harper for 89th on the list. His dinger helped give the Phillies a 10-2 lead over the Mets.
There’s a nice grouping of active hitters around DiMaggio right now. Manny Machado is 87th at 365 HR, Freddie Freeman stands 88th at 363 homers, then Harper, the Aaron Judge 92nd at 359. One of the interesting things about that group is age. Harper and Machado are both at seasonal age 32, a year younger than Judge. So while Judge put up prodigious seasonal totals, Machado and Harper coming up at seasonal age 19 gave them the chance to reach this level with a slow and steady approach. The two may also have more future seasons under their belts than Judge. We’ll see where the three end up in a few more seasons.
Cal Raleigh of the Mariners hit 52nd home run of the season Saturday night, and his 42nd as a catcher. That tied Javy Lopez of the 2003 Braves for most home runs in a season as a catcher. In a time when pitchers still batted in the NL, and the only time an NL team got to use the DH, Lopez hit just one home run at that position.
Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies hit three home runs in the first five innings off the visiting Braves. The home run record for a game is four, and Schwarber has plenty of time to hit two more in the game. Philadelphia leads Atlanta 15-4 in the top of the sixth.
Update: Harrison Bader of the Phillies is now a homer short of the cycle.
Update: In the bottom of the seventh, Schwarber lines a ball down the rightfield line off the ESPN sign above the stands. He ties the record for most home runs in a game with four!
Update: According to the broadcast, Schwarber’s nine RBI tonight is a new franchise record for the Phillies.
Update: The Phillies are still batting in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the Braves are bringing in a position player, Vidal Brujan to pitch. Schwarber could come up again.
Update: The first two batters reach for the Phillies in the bottom of the eighth. That gives Schwarber a chance to come to the plate. Bader singled, so he did not hit for the cycle.
Update: Schwarber comes up with two on, one out, and the Phillies leading 19-4.
Update: Schwarber pops out to leftfield.
Cal Raleigh of the Mariners hit two home runs against the Athletics on Sunday to set the record for batters who mostly played catcher in the season:
Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 48th and 49th home runs on Sunday against the Athletics, setting a single-season record for catchers and passing Salvador Perez‘s total with the Kansas City Royals in 2021.
Raleigh’s record-breaking home run also marked his ninth multi-home run game of the season, passing Mickey Mantle (eight for the 1961 New York Yankees) for most multi-home run games by a switch-hitter in a season in major league history. The overall record is 11 multi-home run games in a season.
ESPN.com
The record for most home runs hit as a catcher belongs to Javy Lopez in 2003. Raleigh now has 40 home runs as a catcher, seven more than Perez hit as a catcher when he totaled 48. Raleigh passing Lopez will be the real record.
Passing Mantle is much more impressive.
The Mariners beat the Athletics 11-4. With the Astros losing, Seattle is now two games out of first place in the AL West.
I disagree with this headline:
Rangers right-hander Jacob DeGrom is fastest to 1,800 career strikeouts in MLB history
AP, via Chron.com
Note that since 2014, the season deGrom started his career, seven other pitchers recorded at least 1800 K. It’s a high number of strikeouts, but not an incredible total. Of top of that, deGrom is seasonal age 37. If you get to 1800 K at age 37, you did not get there fast.
deGrom is at about 1500 innings, If a pitcher gets there in 9 full season at age 29, that’s impressive. It’s a nice record for deGrom, but he’s not going to set any career records in Ks given his age and his late ascension to the majors.
He allowed five runs in five innings today as the Mariners beat the Rangers 5-4.
Clayton Kershaw reached the 3000 strikeout milestone Wednesday night.
The 3,000-strikeout club is already an exclusive group of 20, and Kershaw is just the fourth left-hander to achieve the feat, joining CC Sabathia, Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton. He achieved the feat with his family in the stands, among the only home crowd he has known in his big league career.
MLB.com
Note that 3000 strikeouts is a recent phenomenon. Of the 20 members of the club, 18 achieved it since the start of the 1965 season (that year gives use the complete careers of Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan). Note that there are two ways to get to that level; longevity in terms of innings (Greg Maddux) or a high K rate (Max Scherzer). The only two pitchers who combined both in this era were Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, and Rogers Clemens, the top three on the list.
Despite strikeouts per game or PA staying near all-time highs, it’s unlikely that anyone will surpass Nolan Ryan’s record, or even reach 5000 K again. Pitchers are both limited in their number of starts, and innings in those starts. Maddux was able to keep his pitch counts low to go deep in games, but that’s tougher to do if the main weapon used by a pitcher is the K. Of course, it’s tougher to be an iron man today, also. Kershaw, Verlander, and Scherzer all saw injuries sideline them when they could have accumulated a few hundred more Ks. More likely we will see more likely Kershaw, fast to 3000 K in terms of innings, but lacking enough innings to rank high on the leaderboard.
Three MLB afternoon games on Saturday ended in shutouts, setting a new one-week record for shutouts in the 30 team era. Twenty shutouts in a week are the most since the Diamondbacks and Rays joined the majors in 1998, and the fourth most in the expansion era that that started in 1961. We will see if the last three games with shutout potential add to that record.
With four more shutouts Friday night, this week (starting Sunday 6/22/2025) produced 20 shutouts, ranked third for a week during the 30 team era starting in 1998. Two week produced 21 shutouts on starting on 5/5/2019 and the other starting on 5/8/2014. So today needs to produce two shoutouts to set the record.
If you include the whole expansion era, starting in 1961 the week starting 7/30/1972 produced 26 shutouts. Three other weeks produced more than 21 shutouts. That’s the record going back to 1920 as well.
With four more shutouts in the seven games complete Thursday afternoon, MLB produced 15 shutouts this week in 122 team games. The game in progress currently shows the Twins leading the Mariners 2-0. The record for shutouts in a week in the 30 team era (1998 on) stands at 21, occurring in 2014 in the week starting June 8, and in 2019 in the week starting May 5. Both those weeks contained 192 team games. We’ll keep an eye out to see if MLB sets a new record.
Update: The Mets beat the Braves 4-0, the 16th shutout of the week.
The Rockies set two records today, neither of them good:
Kyle Farmer just shrugged when asked about being part of a Colorado team that just made MLB history with the worst 70-game record in the modern era.
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The Rockies surpassed the 1932 Boston Red Sox, who were 14-56, for the worst 70-game mark since 1901.
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The Rockies made more inglorious history by setting a franchise nine-inning record with 19 strikeouts. That’s a lot of futility for one team to absorb in one day.
The 19 strikeouts by Braves pitchers also set an Atlanta record for a nine-inning game. Spencer Strider recorded 13 strikeouts in six innings, followed by relievers Rafael Montero and Dylan Lee, who combined for six more whiffs.
Chron.com
The Braves took the game 4-1.
The 1932 Red Sox finished 43-111, a .279 winning percentage, 64 games behind the Yankees.
The 2025 Rockies are making the 2024 White Sox look like the 1990 Yankees.
Ranger Suárez pitched into the seventh inning to outduel German Márquez, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies 2-0 on Thursday to sweep a four-game series.
Colorado fell to 8-42 — the worst 50-game start in MLB’s modern era (since 1901). Before that, you have to go back to the 1895 Louisville Colonels (7-43) to find a worse start.
The Rockies are 5-20 at home and are on pace to lose 136 games this season, which would pass the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134) for the most losses by an MLB team. By contrast, the Chicago White Sox set the modern era record for most losses last season with 121.
ESPN.com
The Rockies need to go 34-78, a .304 winning percentage the rest of the way to beat the White Sox. So they can still play terribly and not set a record.
The Royals set a franchise record Sunday, hitting seven home runs in an 11-6 victory in Baltimore:
The Royals smashed a franchise-record seven home runs Sunday in an 11-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. It was a surprising performance by a team that entered with a major league-low 18 homers in its first 34 games.
ESPN.com
The Royals home park tends to limit home runs, where as Camden Yards, with the fences adjusted again, is a bit easier on long balls.
“First thing I saw when the game started with the wind was blowing out to left-center, and they had brought the fences in from last year,” Quatraro said. “It’s a hitter’s park. We know that.”
The Tampa Bay beat New York in another well pitched game at Yankee Stadium. Aaron Judge, however, collected another two hits to make him 26 for 52 during his now thirteen game hit streak. One of those hits left the park, and while we think of Judge as pursing home run records, as of yesterday he projects to beat over 262 hits on the season, which would break the record held by Ichiro Suzuki, which he set in 2004 with the Mariners. This spreadsheet, tracking the probability of Judge hitting .400, now contains a column with his projected hits for the season. The probability of him hitting .400 for the season is now 0.000008, or 1 chance in 125,000. He would need to go 0 for his next eleven to fall under .400.
Brandon Nimmo tied a Mets record as he drove in nine runs in a 19-5 win over the Mets. Carlos Delgado also accomplished the feat. Nimmo hit a three-run homer and a grand slam:
Nimmo became the first player in MLB since the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani on Sept. 19, 2024, to record at least nine RBIs. He became the first player to tally nine RBIs in a three-inning span (the sixth through eighth) since Sammy Sosa of the Cubs in Colorado on Aug. 10, 2002 (innings three-five).
MLB.com
Nimmo needed a good day. Even with the four for six at the plate and the two extra-base hits, Nimmo is hitting .218/.261/.418 on the season. Up until today he had been an out machine.
Eugenio Suarez of the Diamondbacks posted the highest game score of the year Saturday night, a 103. He went four for four with four home runs and five RBI, but the Braves won the game 8-7 in ten innings. Suarez’s fourth home run tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. He is the nineteenth player to accomplish the feat:
“I never thought in my life that I’d be able to do that — hit four home runs in a game,” Suárez said. “To be honest, it feels great. I just want to thank God for this opportunity. It’s very special for me to be able to do that here in Arizona and do it for my team, do it for my family. They watch me every single day. They support me, my teammates and that’s awesome. I have mixed feelings right now because we didn’t win the game.”
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Only two other times in MLB history has a team had a player hit four home runs and wind up losing the game. The most recent was the Braves’ Bob Horner in 1986. The other came back in 1896, when Ed Delahanty hit four homers and his Philadelphia team still lost.
MLB.com
That’s eight game scores of at least 90 this season. His 103 is tied for the third highest game score of the decade.
Suarez also has two three-homer games to his credit. He now leads the majors in home runs with 10 and moves up to 78th in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Other than the home runs, he hasn’t produced much offense. Then again, if you are going to do one thing well, hitting home runs might be the best dimension.
Aaron Judge and the Yankees sat idle on Saturday due to rain, leaving Judge atop the rankings. Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor of the Mets rank two and five respectively after a 2-0 win over the Nationals. Lindor collected three singles and Alonso posted a single and a walk.
Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres ranks third. He singled and doubled in a 4-1 Rays win, the Padres losing their third game in a row as the Giants regain first place. Kyle Tucker of the Cubs ranks fourth after drawing a walk in a 10-4 Phillies win.
The Reds eight and nine hitters, Noelvi Marte and Austin Wynns drove in over half of the Reds 24 runs in a 22 run win over the Orioles. The pair combined to go eleven for fourteen with two home runs and two doubles (both by Marte). Just how great was that performace?
Marte, the No. 8 hitter, and Wynn, batting ninth, combined for 11 hits, the most from the final two spots in a batting order since at least 1901. Their 13 RBI tied for second-most since RBI became an official statistic in 1920.
ESPN.com
Seems appropriate on Easter to have a Bugs Bunny type of score. It makes the Brewers 14-1 win over the Athletics seem like Milwaukee wasn’t trying.
Aaron Judge homers in his first plate appearance on Sunday. His two-run shot gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead over the Brewers. For Judge, it is his fourth home run of March, tying the major league record held by six others, including Eugenio Suarez this season. If Judge and Suarez are going to set a new record, they’ll need to do it today as the Yankees and Diamondbacks have Monday off. The teams will face each other Tuesday in New York.
Mookie Betts of the Dodgers homers in the top of the sixth inning to put the Dodgers up 7-2 on the Mets. Betts owns a three for four in the game, a triple short of the cycle.
Max Muncy drew a walk in each of his three plate appearances and has set a post-season record, reaching base in 11 consecutive plate appearances.
Update: The Mets load the bases with none out in the bottom of the sixth and don’t score. They are 0 for six with runners in scoring position in the game.
Update: Muncy singles leading off the seventh inning to extend his streak to 12 straight PA.
Update: Betts singles leading off the eighth inning, so he probably won’t get the cycle.
The White Sox beat the probabilities and finish 41-121 as they beat Detroit 9-5. That gives them a .253 winning percentage, better than the .250 1962 Mets. At least New York no longer owns the most losses record.
The Tigers defeat the White Sox 4-1 Friday night. That clinches a wild card slot for the Tigers. It also means Chicago sets the modern record for losses in a season at 121.
The Tigers finish a remarkable run that brought them from eight games under .500 on August 10th to 12 games over .500 today. They own the best record in baseball, 31-11 since then, with division rivals Kansas City and Minnesota playing below .500 ball. Tonight may decide which of the other two will join the Tigers.
The White Sox need to win their remaining two games to avoid the worst winning percentage in a 162 game season. the 1962 Mets only played 160 games. The White Sox need to go 41-121 to finish above .250.
The White Sox sweep the Angels with a 7-0 win on Thursday, finishing out their final home stand with a rare three-game win streak. Chicago remains tied with the 1962 Mets for the most losses in one season in the modern era. Chicago can set the loss record without setting the percentage record. The Mets only played 160 games in 1962 and finished with a .250 winning percentage.
The White Sox need to win two more games to finish with a higher winning percentage than the 1962 Mets (.250). Here are the three generous estimates of their intrinsic winning percentage and probability of no more than 40 wins:
| Method | Intrinsic WPct | Probability of No More than 40 Wins |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on actual wins | 0.313 | 0.787 |
| Replacement Level | 0.296 | 0.805 |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on Pythagorean wins (+7) | 0.360 | 0.734 |
Today’s win means the White Sox will finish with a better winning percentage than the 1916 Athletics. That team went 36-117, a .2353 winning percentage. The worst the White Sox can do now is 39-123, a .241 winning percentage.
The probabilities still lean toward ending the season with a worse winning percentage than the Mets. They will face the Tigers in Detroit, a team than at the moment is motivated to win all of their remaining games.
The White Sox beat the Angels 4-3 in ten innings on Wednesday, a rare two wins in a row for this team. Chicago remains tied with the 1962 Mets for the most losses in one season in the modern era. Chicago can set the loss record without setting the percentage record. The Mets only played 160 games in 1962 and finished with a .250 winning percentage.
The White Sox need to win three more games to finish with a higher winning percentage than the 1962 Mets (.250). Here are the three generous estimates of their intrinsic winning percentage and probability of no more than 40 wins:
| Method | Intrinsic WPct | Probability of No More than 40 Wins |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on actual wins | 0.309 | 0.915 |
| Replacement Level | 0.296 | 0.924 |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on Pythagorean wins (+7) | 0.356 | 0.878 |
Chicago only needs one more win to finish with a better winning percentage than the 1916 Athletics. That team went 36-117, a .2353 winning percentage. If the White wind up 38-124, they would own a .2346 winning percentage, and set the modern record for lowest winning percentage in a season. Here are the probabilities for that happening:
| Method | Intrinsic WPct | Probability of No More than 38 Wins |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on actual wins | 0.309 | 0.234 |
| Replacement Level | 0.296 | 0.250 |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on Pythagorean wins (+7) | 0.356 | 0.182 |
The White Sox still look like a lock to finish behind the 1962 Mets in winning percentage, but now there is about a 1 in 10 chance that they pull off a miracle. The two game streak pulls the probability of losing their last four games down, but not out. One in four wins happen often enough that it would not be unusual . A sweep of the Angels would take away that pain.
The White Sox beat the Angels 3-2 on Tuesday, overcoming a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning for the win. Chicago remains tied with the 1962 Mets for the most losses in one season in the modern era. Chicago can set the loss record without setting the percentage record. The Mets only played 160 games in 1962 and finished with a .250 winning percentage.
Chicago needs to win four more games to finish with a higher winning percentage than the 1962 Mets (.250). Here are the three generous estimates of their intrinsic winning percentage and probability of no more than 40 wins:
| Method | Intrinsic WPct | Probability of No More than 40 Wins |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on actual wins | 0.304 | 0.969 |
| Replacement Level | 0.296 | 0.972 |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on Pythagorean wins (+7) | 0.351 | 0.949 |
Chicago only needs two more wins to finish with a better winning percentage than the 1916 Athletics. That team went 36-117, a .2353 winning percentage. If the White wind up 38-124, they would own a .2346 winning percentage, and set the modern record for lowest winning percentage in a season. Here are the probabilities for that happening:
| Method | Intrinsic WPct | Probability of No More than 38 Wins |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on actual wins | 0.304 | 0.522 |
| Replacement Level | 0.296 | 0.538 |
| 95% Confidence Interval based on Pythagorean wins (+7) | 0.351 | 0.430 |
The White Sox still look like a lock to finish behind the 1962 Mets in winning percentage, but they now have about a 50/50 chance of avoiding a worse finish than the 1916 Athletics.