Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (September 19-25).
Corbin Barrels: Corbin Carroll became the first player in D-backs history with 30+ home runs and 30+ stolen bases in a season on Sunday. But that’s not all. Add in his triples and he’s just the third player in MLB history with at least 30 homers, 15 triples and 30 stolen bases in a season, joining Jimmy Rollins (2007) and Willie Mays (1957).
Classic Soto: Juan Soto drew his 893rd career walk on Tuesday, passing Mickey Mantle for the most in MLB history before turning 28 years old. Soto is still just 26. He also set the record for most walks before turning 27 earlier this season. Soto now has the most career walks before turning 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28.
You can absolutely call it a comeback: The Guardians tied the Tigers in the AL Central on Tuesday and took sole possession on Wednesday. It’s now tied again. Cleveland was as many as 15 1/2 games behind Detroit in early July. This is the largest deficit overcome to tie or take the lead in a division (since 1969) or league (since 1900-68), per Elias. Their 11-game September deficit is the largest September deficit overcome to tie or lead in that same span.
Shotime: Shohei Ohtani made his 100th career start as a pitcher on Tuesday and finished the day with a .202 opponents’ batting average. That’s the fifth-lowest batting average against allowed in a pitcher’s first 100 career starts, among those to debut since 1900, per Elias. He trails only Herb Score (.194), Nolan Ryan (.195), Freddy Peralta (.197) and Ed Reulbach (.201).
All Rise: Aaron Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season on Wednesday. This is his fourth season with at least 50 homers, tying Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire for the most such seasons in MLB history. It was his 46th career multihomer game, tying Mickey Mantle for second-most in Yankees history. Only Ruth has more, with 68 multihomer games for the Yankees.
Skenes Day: Paul Skenes finished his season with a microscopic 1.97 ERA after his final start on Wednesday. He’s the first qualified pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA in his age-23 season or younger since Dwight Gooden (1.53) in 1985. He’s also the first qualified Pirates pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA in the Live Ball Era (1920).
Philly special: The Phillies set a franchise record with eight home runs in a game on Wednesday. Four of those came in the seventh inning. That tied the Phillies’ seventh inning on Aug. 17, 1985, for the second-most in any single inning in franchise history. The most was five, in the Phillies’ eighth inning on June 2, 1949.
Double Dumper: Cal Raleigh hit his 59th and 60th home runs of the season on Wednesday, becoming the seventh individual in MLB history with at least 60 home runs in a season. He joined Aaron Judge, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth. Raleigh now has 11 multihomer games this season, tying the MLB single-season record, also held by Judge (2022), Sosa (1998) and Hank Greenberg (1938).
How the West was won: Raleigh’s homers came during the Mariners’ division clincher. Dan Wilson played for the Mariners when they last won the AL West in 2001 — and now he manages them. He’s the third individual to play for and then manage sequential division titles for a team, joining Craig Counsell with the Brewers (2011 player, ‘18 manager) and Bruce Bochy with the Padres (1984, ‘96), per Elias.
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 779 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only five other streaks of at least 700 to begin in the Divisional Era (since 1969), per Elias. They belong to Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632 consecutive games between 1982-98), Steve Garvey (1,207 games between 1975-83), Miguel Tejada (1,152 games between 2000-07), Pete Rose (745 games between 1978-83) and Dale Murphy (740 games between 1981-86).
