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<\/p>\nHere we go, one last time. One final October quadrupleheader unfolding across a flatscreen near you. One last chance to sprawl on your sofa and watch nine hours of must-win postseason baseball, featuring (among other things) \u2026<\/p>\n
A \u201cthree-pitch\u201d strikeout that never got around to requiring all three pitches \u2026 an infield fly that was so invisible, it didn\u2019t qualify for the infield fly rule \u2026 and a SpaceX launch, at one of baseball\u2019s most iconic stadiums, unlike any home run hit there in the last half-century.<\/p>\n
So did you catch all that? I hope so. I was told it was a spectacular autumn afternoon and evening where I live. But how the heck would I know? I was glued to every one of those 1,395 pitches that went whooshing toward home plate Wednesday.<\/p>\n
And what did you miss if you weren\u2019t watching all 1,395 of them? Let\u2019s fill you in, with one final LDS quadrupleheader edition from us knuckleheads at Weird and Wild Postseason Headquarters.<\/p>\n
The Fantastic Four<\/p>\n
\n The Tigers and Mariners kicked off Wednesday\u2019s October quadrupleheader. Will Vest\u2019s club lived to see another day. (Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Days like Wednesday are baseball treasures. Well, not if you\u2019re a Yankees fan maybe<\/a>. But just understand what we (I) got to watch Wednesday.<\/p>\n Four games, all of them potential Division Series clinchers \u2026 on the same day? Sign me up for that.<\/p>\n In the 21st century, we\u2019ve had only three other days like that \u2014 in 2012, 2019, and precisely five years ago to the day, on Oct. 8, 2020, in the pandemic bubble. Do those bubble games, with zero fans in the stands, even count? Discuss!<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t quite capture what this was, because then these four games actually happened. And a day full of clinches did not\u00a0happen.<\/p>\n Only the Blue Jays succeeded in ousting the Yankees<\/a>. But the other teams in danger \u2014 the Tigers, Cubs and Phillies \u2014 all had other ideas. So they\u2019re still very much alive. And a day like that is an official postseason rarity.<\/p>\n Just so you know, if we don\u2019t count days with a Game 5 (meaning somebody has to lose), we\u2019ve only had\u00a0that\u00a0happen \u2014 meaning at least three out of four teams staving off LDS elimination \u2014 on one other day in the last 30 postseasons:<\/p>\n Oct. 7, 2019 \u2014 <\/b>What a wild day.\u00a0<\/b>The Dodgers couldn\u2019t close out the Nationals in Game 4 (and went on to lose Game 5). The Braves couldn\u2019t finish off the Cardinals in Game 4 (and also lost that series). And the Astros couldn\u2019t eliminate the Rays at the Trop in Game 3 (so they wound up having to go all the way to a fifth game back in Houston to move on). That left only the Yankees, to do one of their favorite October things \u2014 and finish off their annual sweep of the Twins.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s the moral of that story? When you give teams on the brink another day of life, you just might wind up getting back on a plane to go play a Game 5. Is that where this postseason is leading us? Don\u2019t touch that remote!<\/p>\n East side story \n The Blue Jays piled up the runs against their AL East rival. (Al Bello \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n But how \u2019bout that team that did\u00a0get to spray champagne. The Blue Jays didn\u2019t merely wipe out the Yankees in four in this ALDS. This was a major whooping.<\/p>\n The Jays came to bat in 34 innings in this series \u2014 and scored 34 runs. Think about that. This was the 59th season in which the Yankees played postseason baseball. They\u2019ve now played at least one playoff series against 26 different teams. But they\u2019ve never run into this.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the first time any team ever averaged a run per inning against them in any of those series. Un-be-frigging-lievable. But hang with us. There\u2019s more.<\/p>\n Eastbound and down \u2014 <\/b>This was only the second time the Yankees had gotten bounced from the postseason by another AL East team in any version of Yankee Stadium. If you don\u2019t recall the other time, you can learn all about it on Netflix. Just search for \u201c2004 Red Sox.\u201d<\/p>\n Start spreading\u00a0this\u00a0news \u2014 <\/b>I\u2019m aware it\u2019s been a few decades since the Blue Jays were a team known for blitzing through October. But did you know this was the first time they\u2019d won a postseason series\u00a0against another team from the AL East? They won the 2016 Wild Card Game against the Orioles, but that was only one game. So are we counting that? Not in this column!<\/p>\n What a difference \u2014 <\/b>The Blue Jays outscored the Yankees, 34-19, in this series. On one hand, that wasn\u2019t the most lopsided run differential ever laid on the Yankees in a postseason series. On the other, it makes this incredible Yankee killer leaderboard. All the other teams on it played in the World Series by the way.<\/p>\n 2002\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Angels<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 37-14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n +23\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 2010\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Rangers<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 38-19<\/p>\n<\/td>\n +19<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 2025\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Blue Jays <\/p>\n<\/td>\n 34-19<\/p>\n<\/td>\n +15\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 1976<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Reds<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 22-8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n +14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n (Source: Baseball Reference \/ Stathead)<\/p>\n Getting\u2019 Miggy wit\u2019 it \u2014 <\/b>Oh, and one more thing. Remember in 2012, when a fellow named Miguel Cabrera won the AL Triple Crown? Well, the Yankees spent this series basically turning the entire Blue Jays lineup into that\u00a0Miguel Cabrera. Check this out.<\/p>\n Blue Jays hitters in this series \u2014 <\/b>.338\/.373\/.601<\/p>\n Triple Crown 2012 Miggy \u2014 <\/b>.330\/.393\/.609<\/p>\n Lost in space\u00a0\u00a0<\/b> \n Kyle Schwarber\u2019s fourth-inning homer left the bat at 117.4 mph and traveled an estimated 455 feet. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n In the Phillies\u2019 8-2 pounding of the Dodgers<\/a>, the Schwarbino launched a home run Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium that had a better chance of orbiting the moon than it did of getting caught by anybody roaming around the Dodgers\u2019 outfield. I don\u2019t know how humans do stuff like this. But apparently it\u2019s possible, because we have video.<\/p>\n This looks straight out of a video game \ud83e\udd2f pic.twitter.com\/erDreq138T<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Statcast data collectors will try to impress you by telling you this ball left the bat at 117.4 mph \u2014 which is a lot faster than you\u2019ll ever drive to the grocery store. But it\u2019s also a lot faster than pretty much everyone else on Earth is capable of propelling a baseball.<\/p>\n Did you know that since we started keeping track of exit velocity a decade ago, only five postseason home runs have ever roared off the bat of a left-handed hitter at 117 mph or harder? True \u2014 and that Schwarber guy has hit three of them.<\/p>\n But now that we have that out of the way, it\u2019s time to really impress you. This was a home run whose magic can\u2019t be summed up by decimal points or its 455-foot distance projection. No, this was a home run whose magic will be defined by the things that really matter:<\/p>\n People are going to talk about it forever \u2014 or as long as Dodger Stadium is still standing anyway. And that\u2019s because this baseball landed in a place where no ball has traveled in more than 50 years.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve watched a lot of baseball games at Dodger Stadium. Mark Langill, the Dodgers\u2019 resident historian, has watched many more. So I conferred with him Wednesday night. And we agreed that we\u2019d just seen something basically never before witnessed.<\/p>\n This is the 63rd season of baseball at Dodger Stadium. And in all those years, only one man \u2014 Willie Stargell \u2014 had ever hit a home run that flew over\u00a0the right-field pavilion at Chavez Ravine. Until now.<\/p>\n Stargell actually did it\u00a0twice \u2014 an estimated 506-foot rocket on Aug. 5, 1969, that somehow cleared the pavilion roof and came down in the parking lot,\u00a0and\u00a0a pedestrian little 470-foot shot on May 8, 1973, that merely clanked on top of that roof. There\u2019s one word to describe those blasts: legendary.<\/p>\n So how do they compare with what Schwarber did Wednesday? Take a moment to watch the Dodgers\u2019 YouTube video on those Stargell homers. Come for the Charley Steiner narration but definitely stay for the black and white diagrams.<\/p>\n It took another 52 years. But on Wednesday, Schwarber joined Stargell on the list of men who have hit a baseball that soared beyond that pavilion.<\/p>\n It landed under the roof, so it wasn\u2019t quite Stargell-esque. But it won\u2019t be forgotten. The Dodgers have placed markers around the stadium for every ball that has ever cleared the pavilion in either right field or left. So there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s also the imprint this homer left in the memories of everyone whose eyeballs recorded the scene.<\/p>\n \u201cNever seen a ball go up like that,\u201d said the man on deck, Bryce Harper. \u201cEspecially in L.A. at night. So, yeah, super impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n It made the Phillies\u2019 elimination-game bashing of the Dodgers more than just your average stayin\u2019-alive October triumph. It was one of those rare swings of the bat that made October memories \u2026 for a lifetime.<\/p>\n Gonna be a long walk home \n Javier B\u00e1ez admires his two-run homer, which helped Detroit win at home for the first time in more than a month. (Duane Burleson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n It was the first game they\u2019d won in Comerica Park\u00a0since Sept. 6!<\/p>\n How long ago was that? They were still 10 games ahead of the Guardians back then. The Astros had four more wins than the Mariners back then. The 2025 Lions hadn\u2019t even played a regular-season game yet back then.<\/p>\n In between those victories in Detroit, the Tigers lost eight home games in a row. Meanwhile, the Dodgers haven\u2019t even lost eight games, period, since then! (They\u2019re 19-6.)<\/p>\n So does 32 days seem like kind of a long time to go 0-for-home \u2014 for a team that A) actually made the playoffs and B) then won a home game in October?<\/p>\n Seemed like it to me. So I asked my friends at STATS Perform to see if we\u2019d just witnessed history \u2014 namely, the most days ever between a team\u2019s last regular-season win at home and its first postseason win at home. And that answer was \u2026<\/p>\n (Amazingly)\u00a0no!\u00a0Believe it or not, it was only the second-longest gap between hometown triumphs\u2026\u00a0but at least it was the longest in 99 years.<\/p>\n The\u00a0record-holder turned out to be Wild Bill Hallahan\u2019s 1926 Cardinals, at 34 days! But trust me. Nothing about the Cardinals\u2019 month-long home-win drought resembled the Tigers\u2019 month-long home-win drought other than the drought itself.<\/p>\n Tigers\u2019 home losing streak \u2014 <\/b>32 days, eight losses in a row<\/p>\n Cardinals\u2019 home losing streak \u2014 <\/b>34 days, zero losses in a row<\/p>\n Yes, the Cardinals won a game in St. Louis on Sept. 1, then took off on a bizarre little 24-game road trip to finish the season \u2014 which made it challenging to win any more home games. They also played two exhibition games in the middle of all that, in conveniently located Buffalo and Syracuse. I bet that paid a few bills.<\/p>\n So what was the deal with that 24-game road trip? Let\u2019s mostly blame the Browns (the St. Louis Browns, not the Cleveland Browns), since the Browns shared the old\u00a0Sportsman Park\u00a0with the Cardinals back then. That doesn\u2019t explain the Buffalo\/Syracuse part, but whatever. (Hat tip: Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.)<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the Tigers top the leaderboard of teams that didn\u2019t visit Buffalo and Syracuse. Here\u2019s how that one looks:<\/p>\n 32\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2025 Tigers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 9\/6-10\/8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 29\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 1924 Senators\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 9\/6-10\/5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 29\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 1909 Tigers\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 9\/13-10\/12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 28\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 1917 Giants<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 9\/12-10\/10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n (Source: STATS Perform)<\/p>\n But now, with their shocking 9-3 win in the books, those Tigers are off to Seattle for an epic Game 5. Will they win another game in Detroit this year? Will they even play another game in Detroit this year? Stay tuned.<\/p>\n Survivor Wrigleyville \n From left, Nico Hoerner, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson celebrate a do-or-die win. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Full transparency: I haven\u2019t watched a full episode of \u201cSurvivor\u201d since Season 1. But here\u2019s more transparency: I\u2019ve watched hundreds of postseason baseball games, so I know exactly what Survivor \u2014 baseball style \u2014 looks like.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, it looked exactly like the Cubs and Tigers winning at home and living to play yet another survivor game this week. But are they up for doing this again? Let\u2019s let history be our guide.<\/p>\n Years in which the Cubs won back-to-back home elimination games in the same series:\u00a0<\/b>Now that the Cubs have won Game 3, they\u2019ll be required to win Game 4 at Wrigley Field on Thursday. So how often, in their storied history, have they won two straight elimination games at home in the same series?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s see now. There was \u2026 no, not that year \u2026 and no, not that year \u2026 and, uh-oh \u2026 turns out that answer is, somehow or other,\u00a0never.\u00a0They\u2019ve played 16 home elimination games stretching back to 1910. But you\u2019ll notice that \u201cback-to-back\u201d isn\u2019t part of the lyrics to \u201cGo, Cubs, Go,\u201d and for good reason, evidently.<\/p>\n So just for fun, I thought: Let\u2019s take away the \u201chome\u201d part. How many times have the Cubs won back-to-back postseason elimination games anywhere \u2014 any time, any place, any postseason? I bet you know this answer. That would be once. And if you can\u2019t name when that was, I\u2019m not sure why you\u2019re even reading this.<\/p>\n It only happened in\u00a0the three most important elimination games in the history of the franchise \u2014 in the 2016 World Series. The Cubs fell behind, three games to one, but then went into curse-buster mode \u2026 and won Game 5 (at Wrigley), Game 6 (in Cleveland) and Game 7 (in Cleveland). Good timing for an elimination-game win streak!<\/p>\n All right, now let\u2019s do the Tigers.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll be playing Game 5 on Friday in Seattle, so it won\u2019t be possible for them to win back-to-back elimination games at home. Which means the question is: How many times have the Tigers ever done what they need to do to survive this series \u2014 win the final two games of a postseason series anywhere\u00a0after finding themselves one game away from elimination?<\/p>\n Well, that answer isn\u2019t never. They\u2019ve actually done it twice \u2014 and they were about as memorable as postseason comebacks get:<\/p>\n 1968 World Series \u2014 <\/b>The Tigers fell behind in this Series, three games to two. Then all they did was go to St. Louis and \u2026 win Game 6 in a 13-1 blowout behind 30-game winner Denny McLain \u2026 and then win Game 7 by beating Bob (1.12 ERA) Gibson\u00a0at the height of Gibson\u2019s unhittable powers. (Incidentally, the nine runs the Tigers scored Wednesday<\/a> were their most since that 13-1 game \u2026\u00a057 years\u00a0ago.) So that was cool. But let\u2019s also not forget the \u2026<\/p>\n 2013 ALDS \u2014 <\/b>The 2013 Tigers were a star-studded Super Team. The 2013 A\u2019s were all about being upstart 96-win underdogs. And they got one win away from pulling an upset before \u2026 the Tigers won Game 4 in Detroit and Game 5 in Oakland. So how\u2019d they do that? They were smart enough to pitch two obscure starters named Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. It was something, all right. I can still recall watching that Game 5 in a bar with a group of Tigers scouts. They just resumed breathing about 20 minutes ago.<\/p>\n So will any of that history repeat itself? Can\u2019t wait to find out.<\/p>\n North of 60 \n Cal Raleigh is already in the 60-Homer Club, but he could venture into even more exclusive territory. (Alika Jenner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n I ask because, as you might have heard, Cal Raleigh, trusty Mariners catcher, bombed 60 home runs this season. Then he did something very few men have ever done.<\/p>\n He kept hitting homers when the calendar turned to October. He hit No. 61<\/a> Tuesday, into the hands of a guy wearing a \u201c61\u201d shirt<\/a>. And the Mariners are still playing. So it\u2019s possible Raleigh could hit more postseason homers\u00a0following\u00a0a 60-homer season than anyone who ever lived. Take a look.<\/p>\n HIT 60 HOMERS, ALSO PLAYED IN POSTSEASON THAT YEAR\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Babe Ruth, 1927 (2) \u2014 <\/b>The Babe homered in Games 3 and 4 of the \u201927 World Series. Because of course he did.<\/p>\n Roger Maris, 1961 (1) \u2014 <\/b>After breaking Ruth\u2019s record, Maris homered just once in the \u201961 World Series, but it was a ninth-inning game-winner, off the Reds\u2019 Bob Purkey.<\/p>\n Aaron Judge, 2022 (2) \u2014 <\/b>Judge played in nine games that October after breaking Maris\u2019 record, but only homered twice \u2014 both against Cleveland in the ALDS.<\/p>\n Sammy Sosa, 1998 (0) \u2014 <\/b>Slammin\u2019 Sammy slammed 66 long balls that season, but his team got swept in the NLDS and he went homerless. Oh well.<\/p>\n So if Raleigh makes two more home run trots somewhere along the trail this October, he\u2019ll sit atop this list. And boy, won\u2019t the rest of that 60-Homer Club be jealous?<\/p>\n Baseball is so Weird (and Wild) \n Aaron Judge did his part this October, but it wasn\u2019t enough to get the Yankees back to the World Series. (Al Bello \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n You know our motto here at the Weird and Wild column: The best thing about baseball is \u2026\u00a0it makes no sense.\u00a0And yeah, that\u2019s still true, even in October.<\/p>\n Aaron Judge\u00a0<\/b>is often said (mostly by baseball writers looking for a storyline) to be the man who will determine how far the Yankees go in the postseason. So naturally, he just finished batting .600\u00a0for an entire postseason series (9-for-15), and the Yankees still lost it.<\/p>\n In case you\u2019re wondering, only two other players with as many plate appearances as Judge have ever had a batting average of .600 or better and still had their team lose that series: Fred Lynn (.611 for the Angels in the 1982 ALCS) and Mark Grace (.647 for the Cubs in the 1989 NLCS).<\/p>\n Ranger Su\u00e1rez <\/b>normally starts games for the Phillies. But their sneaky Game 3 strategy<\/a> was to let Aaron Nola start and twirl a couple of innings, then wave for Su\u00e1rez in the third inning. So how\u2019d that work out? Ha. He served up a home run to Tommy Edman on the first pitch he threw.<\/p>\n The rest of his (and their) night actually turned out fine after that. But in case you\u2019re wondering, to find the last time Su\u00e1rez allowed a home run on the first pitch of a game he started,\u00a0you\u2019d have to go back to the second start of his big-league career, on Aug. 16, 2018. That was 125 starts ago, counting the postseason.<\/p>\n The infield fly rule\u00a0<\/b>seems so cut and dried that I bet you thought it applied to, well,\u00a0every infield fly\u00a0with runners on first and second and less than two outs. But then this happened Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley.<\/p>\n The Cubs let this pop up fall and the bases are loaded pic.twitter.com\/0aXllLtEso<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Talkin\u2019 Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen some crazy things in baseball, you know,\u201d Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon told Hayes. \u201cJust try not to let the moment take me there. Just step off, regroup, grab my sights, figure out what pitch I want to throw next and just move on to the next. But yeah, I mean, it was a weird way to start the game, but again, I\u2019ve seen it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Strike two \u2026 you\u2019re out \u2014 <\/b>OK, so that\u2019s not an exact quote from what happened to the Phillies\u2019 Brandon Marsh in the fifth inning Wednesday. But it might as well have been.<\/p>\n As he went to step into the batter\u2019s box, he politely waited for the batboy to vacate the area. And how did he get rewarded for that considerate behavior? Home plate ump Nic Lentz slapped a pitch-clock violation on him. So here\u2019s how Marsh\u2019s at-bat went from there:<\/p>\n Strike one \u2014 <\/b>violation, so no actual pitches. So are you adding along at home? Why the heck not? That\u2019s three strikes \u2026\u00a0on two pitches.\u00a0According to our friends from STATS, it was the first two-pitch strikeout in postseason history. As well it should be.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to be able to argue that it should be impossible \u2014 logically, mathematically, cerebrally and emotionally \u2014 for any strikeout to be made up of more strikes (three) than pitches (two). But as you know, there\u2019s always that one powerful explanation for moments like this. It\u2019s \u2026<\/p>\n Baseball!<\/p>\n \u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Matt Gelb contributed to this report.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240023783-scaled.jpg\")
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Strike two \u2014 <\/b>takes a slider for a called strike.
Strike three \u2014 <\/b>swings-and-misses at another slider.<\/p>\n