Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (May 30-June 5).
MVP homers abound: Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani both homered in the first inning on Friday. It was the second time both reigning MVPs homered in the same game, including playoffs, joining Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada on 6/20/2003, per the Elias Sports Bureau. This was the first time it happened in the same inning.
Birthdays are important: Saturday was Dave Roberts’ birthday. Birthdays are important. The Dodgers won by 16 runs that day. That tied 5/27/1955 Pinky Higgins for the second-largest win on a team’s manager’s birthday, per Elias. The only larger was a 19-run win for 8/15/1886 Charlie Comiskey.
What a start: The Nationals’ 11 batters reaching safely on Saturday tied the longest start-of-game streak in the expansion era (since 1961), with the Red Sox on 6/27/2003, per Elias. Their nine runs before recording an out were the second-most before a team’s first out of game in the expansion era, behind the Red Sox's 10 on 6/27/2003, which is the MLB record. Nine tied the NL record, previously done by the Phillies on 8/13/1948.
Shotime: Shohei Ohtani hit his 23rd homer in the Dodgers’ 60th game on Monday. That’s the most home runs out of the leadoff spot in a team’s first 60 games, ahead of 1996 Brady Anderson’s 20. It’s also the most home runs in the team’s first 60 games in Dodgers history, ahead of 1955 Duke Snider’s 22.
My girl: Through Monday, the Mets have won 27 consecutive regular-season games when Francisco Lindor homers. That’s the second-longest streak of wins when homering for a player since 1900, behind only 1951-53 Carl Furillo at 29 straight.
PCA!: Pete Crow-Armstrong stole his 20th base of the season on Tuesday in his 60th game. That’s the fourth-fewest games to reach at least 15 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season since 1900, behind only 1987 Eric Davis (40), 1922 Ken Williams (54) and 1973 Bobby Bonds (59).
They all count the same: Ceddanne Rafaela’s 308-ft walk-off home run on Wednesday was the third-shortest over-the-wall home run under Statcast (2015). The only shorter were 7/29/17 Lorenzo Cain’s 302 ft. and 9/18/19 Stephen Vogt’s 307 ft. All were Pesky Pole homers. Rafaela’s was also the shortest walk-off homer under Statcast.
Ready, willing and Abel: Mick Abel made his second career start on Wednesday, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing one run. He is the first pitcher in at least the past 125 seasons with at least five innings, no walks and one or no runs allowed in each of his first two MLB appearances.
Big Dumper: Cal Raleigh leads MLB in home runs. He’s the third primary catcher to have a share of the MLB lead in homers through games on June 1 or later in the Wild Card era (excluding 2020), per Elias. He joins 2021 Salvador Perez (co-led for season) and 2003 Javy Lopez (latest: 6/24). Raleigh’s 24 home runs are three more than by any other primary-position catcher in his team’s first 61 games of a season.
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 681 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 to begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias. They belong to 1982-98 Cal Ripken Jr (2,632 consecutive games), 1975-83 Steve Garvey (1,207), 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152), 1978-83 Pete Rose (745), 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740), 1973-78 Rose (678) and 1969-73 Sandy Alomar Sr. (661).