October 31, 2025 [LINK / comment]
What a month it has been for baseball! In my never-ending efforts to catch up with things, I'll leave aside discussion of the World Series until tomorrow, when the deciding Game 7 will be played. I was really hoping for a Seattle Mariners - Milwaukee Brewers World Series, in large part because neither team has ever won the highest honor, but that did not quite materialize. (Coincidentally, both franchises originated in Seattle; the 1969 Seattle Pilots went bankrupt and quickly became the 1970 Milwaukee Brewers.) The Mariners remain the only MLB franchise never to have won a league pennant. Seattle fans are all too familiar with heartache, having lost to the Yankees in the 2001 ALCS after winning a phenomenal 116 games in the regular season.
The Brewers were considered by many to be the very best all-around team, as they finished the regular season at 97-65 (.599), the highest winning percentage in the majors. However, they just choked in the NL Championship Series, which the Dodgers swept. The Brew Crew scored exactly one run in all four NLCS games. It was their third NLCS appearance this century, having previously lost to the Cardinals in 2011 and to the Dodgers in 2018. Center fielder Jackson Chourio paced the team with a .303 postseason batting average. Veteran Christian Yelich did not live up to expectations, however.
The Mariners came much closer to winning a pennant, losing ALCS Game 7 by just one run (4-3) to the Toronto Blue Jays. Cal Raleigh had a truly historic year, hitting 60 home runs in the regular season, the most every for a catcher. In the ALDS they had faced a stiff challenge from the Detroit Tigers, who won Game 1 by a score of 3-2 in 11 innings, thanks to a 2-out RBI single by Zach McKinstry. In the next four games the two teams alternated as victors, and in Game 5 the Mariners prevailed 3-2 in a 15-inning marathon that ended when Jorge Polanco hit a bases-loaded single. Cal Raleigh hit 5 home runs in the postseason series, for a combined total of 65 -- the most ever for an American Leaguer.
The L.A. Dodgers overwhelmed the Cincinnati Reds in their two-game wild card series, and then stunned the #2-seed Phillies in the first two games of the NLDS in Philadelphia. The Phillies bounced back and took Game 3 in Los Angeles, and then fell agonizingly short in Game 4, which ended on a fielding error by the pitcher Orion Kerkering. With two out and the bases loaded, Andy Pages hit a weak dribbler which Kerkering mishandled. He still had time to throw it to first for the final out, but he panicked and threw it home, wide of the catcher, and Hyesong Kim scored the winning run. Somewhat reminiscent of the error by the Red Sox first baseman in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, it was a terribly demoralizing way for the Phillies to end their season. There will be much soul-searching and perhaps some roster shuffling during the off-season.
The Chicago Cubs got past the San Diego Padres in the wild card series, and then gave the Milwaukee Brewers a run for their money in the NLDS. In the deciding Game 5, all 4 runs came from solo home runs, only one of which was hit by a Cub.
After ending the season on a dismal note (losing 8 of their last 10 games) the Detroit Tigers suddenly showed a real spark in the postseason. As the 6th-seeded (bottom) visitors, they inflicted emotional pain on the woebegone fans of the Guardians in Cleveland, winning the first and last games. .
Cleveland recorded the lowest average attendance of all the postseason series: less than 30,000 fans showed up at Progressive Field in all three games. At the top of the attendance scale, of course, were the L.A. Dodgers, who consistently racked up figures in excess of 50,000, as usual. They were followed by the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, who kept packing (respectively) New Yankee Stadium and T-Mobile Park with about 47,000 fans per game.
After disposing of their archrivals from Boston in the wild card series, the Yankees were pummeled by the Blue Jays in Toronto, and only won Game 3 of the ALDS. Aaron Judge, the runner up in the American League home run competition (wth 53), certainly did his part, batting .500 in the postseason, but most of his team mates lagged well behind. And thus, the Yankees' season came to an abrupt, disappointing end.
In general, the 2025 postseason has been characterized by very even matchups, with most of the series going the maximum number of games: 3 of 4 wild card series took 3 games to resolve, 2 of the 4 divisional series went all the way to 5 games, while the other two went to 4 games, and the ALCS went a full 7 games. Only in the NLCS (mentioned above) was there a sweep. Since the World Series is going a full 7 games, that means that 47 out of a possible 53 games (89%) will be played this postseason. According to my calculations, that is the highest percentage this century other than in 2003 and 2011, when it was 38 out of 41 possible games, or 92%. Advertisers and team owners are happy when more games are played!
September can be a cruel month for teams that aren't quite up to the task. Somehow, (see below) the New York Mets managed to fall short of qualifying for the postseason. Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers just barely eked out a position even though they lost eight of their last ten games. They finished 87-75, the same as the Houston Astros, who were left out due to the tie breaker formula.
Other teams made it across the finish line with some pizazz, such as the Cincinnati Reds, with with a record of 83-79, one really has to question whether they belonged in the postseason. From 1995 through 2011, there was just one wild card team, and then MLB honchos decided to add a second wild card team in 2012 (which ultimately worked out to the detriment of the Washington Nationals), and in 2022 they added a third wild card team, complete with a whole new wild card series. Enough is enough! I say, go back to the pre-2012 system, with just one wild card team in each league, for a total of eight teams qualifying for the postseason. As with the 1970s TV sitcom, Eight Is Enough!! Twelve is way too many.
As noted in my post on Saturday, September 27, I traveled up to the D.C. area for the final weekend of the 2025 MLB regular season. Due to lack of time and other commitments, I didn't end up seeing either of the Washington Nationals' final two games. Frankly, I'm glad I didn't. The Saturday afternoon game was delayed by a couple hours due to rainy conditions turned out to be thrilling triumph. Daylen Lile homered again (#9 for the year), and in the 7th inning both Jacob Young and James Wood homered to put the Nats on top. Another RBI by Wood in the 8th inning proved decisive, as the White Sox scored once in the 9th, but the Nats held on to win in soggy fashion, 6-5.
In contrast, the Sunday game was in perfect weather conditions (as you can see from the photos below), but the outcome was a crushing disappointment -- the Nats only got one hit in an embarrassing 8-0 shutout loss to end the season. That was sadly typical for the Nats in 2025. And thus, the Nats season came to a merciful end.
The southwest entrance of Nationals Park, along with the parking garage on the N Street (north) side, and "The Bullpen," an outdoor bar and music venue. On nearby sidewalks I saw a few groups National Guard soldiers on patrol, a reflection of the strange times we live in. (September 28, 2025)
The nice weather conditions on Sunday helped in taking what are almost certainly the last pictures I will ever take of RFK Stadium. The rusty, bare steel frame is almost haunting, and there's not much left otherwise except for piles of crushed concrete. The demolition has taken much longer than I originally expected, well over two years altogether. The delays were apparently due in part to the need to carefully evaluate the asbestos insulation prior to removal. In another five years or so, construction will be underway at this site for the future stadium for the Washington Commanders.
Little did I realize at the time that another demolition project would soon get underway in Washington -- the East Wing of the White House has been "erased from existence"! Evidently, concerns about asbestos did not play any role in the timetable for that project.
Panoramic view of the skeletal remains of RFK Stadium from the south side (top) and north side (bottom). (September 28, 2025)
See the live demolition camera at eventsdc.com.
Yesterday (October 30) was the sixth anniversary of the Washington Nationals' World Series triumph, when they beat the Houston Astros 6-2 in Game 7. How times have changed since then! I was just reading that if you exclude the salary being paid to Stephen Strasburg, who never recovered from the thoracic outlet surgery he had, the Nationals ranked 29th out of 30 teams in total payroll for players. Will things start to improve next year? A new manager has already been chosen, 33-year old Blake Butera, and I'll soon have more to say about all the front office and coaching changes that have taken place this month.