In my MLB postseason world, last Friday (October 17) started with two grandpas sharing family baseball stories and ended with witnessing (via TV) what many (including me) believe was the greatest individual performance in MLB playoff history.
Let’s start with the grandpas – David Matson and me. In September of last year, Rita and I attended a game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, checking off #28 of our bucket list of 30 MLB stadiums. Joining us at the game was David Matson, expatriate of Kansas City who now lives in Portland and drove over for the game.
David returned to T-Mobile last Friday afternoon…
ALCS – October 17, 2025: The Mariners and Blue Jays were tied at two games each. Before Game 5, David sent an email to some friends to show he was in the building and attending the game with his 11-year-old grandson Jack.
David and Jack were rewarded with a come-from-behind victory by the Mariners over the Toronto Blue Jays.
ALCS – October 17, 2015: When I saw David’s email, I got a flashback to Game 2 of the 2015 ALCS. I attended that game at Kauffman Stadium with my 10-year-old grandson Ian. I checked the date. It was exactly 10 years ago – October 17, 2015. We were rewarded with a come-from-behind victory by the Royals over the Toronto Blue Jays. Below from that night, Lonnie with grandson Ian and son Jason.
Thirty years earlier, on October 26, 1985, I took my then 14-year-old son Jason to Game 6 of the World Series. It was the comeback of all time for Royals fans – the Don Denkinger game with the blown call at first base (for five reasons you can’t blame Denkinger for the Cardinals’ loss, see Hot Stove #79).
Lonnie and David (and presumably our progeny) will fondly remember these games.
And we all have a new reason to remember the date of October 17. After the Mariners won in the afternoon, there was an incredible performance that night in Los Angeles…
NLCS – October 17, 2025: The Milwaukee Brewers had the best record in baseball this year (97-65). The Dodgers (93-69) had the best lineup and starting pitchers money could buy, but their bullpen was suspect. They need not have worried. The starters pitched deep into the games and the relievers were fine.
Game 1: Dodgers starter Blake Snell went 8 innings. Game 2: Yoshhinobu Yamamoto pitched a complete game. Game 3: Starter Tyler Glasnow pitched into the 6th inning and four relievers allowed only one hit the rest of the way. In each game, the Brewers scored just one run (losing 2-1, 5-1 and 3-1).
Next up, on October 17, 2025. Game 4: Shohei Ohtani starting for the Dodgers. He channeled his fellow starters, pitching six shutout innings and striking out ten. His relievers allowed one run for a final score of 5-1 to finish off a 4-game sweep of the Brewers.
But as most of you in Hot Stove land know, that’s only half of the story on Shohei that night. In the lineup as DH, he led off the Dodgers first inning with a home run. In the fourth, he hit another homer. And in the seventh, he hit his third. It was not just that he hit three. They were all bombs that went over 400 feet.
Check out this video of his 10 strikeouts and 3 homers in chronological order.
Ohtani’s feats were heralded by most sportswriters as the best-ever performance in an MLB postseason game. Amen.
The only potential rival would be Babe Ruth who accomplished the following in the World Series:
Pitching: (i) A complete game of 14 innings, winning 4-1. (ii) A complete game shutout, winning 1-0. (iii) An 8-inning start, winning 3-2. (iv) A World Series consecutive streak of 29.2 scoreless innings.
Hitting: Hit three homers in a game TWO times.
The Difference: The Babe did not do any of these in the same game (nor the same year). The pitching stats are from 1916 and 1918 when he was primarily a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. The 3-homer games were in 1926 and 1928 when he was a hitter for the New York Yankees.
There has been some talk of Ohtani replacing Reggie Jackson as “Mr. October.” He may well do so, but Reggie deserves to keep the title for now. He excelled often in the World Series, and he won three times with Oakland (1972, 1973 and 1974) and twice with the Yankees (1977 and 1978). Reggie firmed up his status with a 3-homer game in 1977 (video here).
As a Royals fan, I must mention George Brett’s three homers off Catfish Hunter in the 1978 ALCS against the Yankees. Click here for the video (Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell on the broadcast). The bad news…the Royals lost the game.
ALCS – Blue Jays Beat the Mariners: After the October 17 game in Seattle, the ALCS moved back to Toronto with Seattle leading three games to two.
I was for Seattle because they are the only team to have never been in a World Series. But I had a sense of déjà vu. In the 1985 World Series, the home team (the Royals) lost the first two games to the Cardinals. The next three games were on the road at Busch Stadium, and the visiting Royals won two. The teams returned to Kansas City, and the home team Royals won both games to win the World Series.
In the 2025 ALCS, Seattle won the first two in Toronto for a 2-0 lead. They won only one of three at home at T-Mobile but still led 3-2 when they returned to Toronto. The Blue Jays then followed the script of the 1985 Royals and won the last two games to move on to the World Series – a 6-2 win in Game 6 and a 4-3 comeback win in Game 7 on a 3-run homer by George Springer.
After Game 7, David Matson sent out an email: “I watched Game 7 with my grandson Jack. To me the Mariners loss was a bummer but to Jack it is the end of the world. Devastating. I am actually somewhat envious that he can care that much.” He added, “After the win in Game 5 and the loss in Game 7, Jack has had a lifetime fan experience encapsulated in two games.”
The responses to David from his septuagenarian friends shared baseball wisdom on the annual agony of losing (for 29 teams) and the ecstasy of winning (for one team).
Jeb Bayer: “A tough game to lose and sorry Jack is devastated. Though it is no help to Jack now, I am pretty sure the losing is what makes lifelong baseball fans.”
Tom Grimaldi: “Losing is what makes the winning so much fun. If he doesn’t care about losing, then he wouldn’t enjoy the winning as much.”
Steve Roling: “My most vivid happy memory was Game 6 of the 1985 World Series. Game 7 of the 2014 World Series broke my heart, but the best part of baseball is hoping for a better result next year. Jack has a long life of hope ahead of him!”
Jim Heeter: “I was 12 when my favorite team, the seemingly omnipotent Yankees of Mantle, Berra and Ford, lost in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to the Pirates. I still remember vividly watching Mazeroski’s homer sail over the ivy-covered wall at Forbes Field. I really couldn’t believe the vaunted Yankees had lost. Like Jack, I was devastated. But as decades of Cubs and Red Sox fans (and Doris Kearns Goodwin) have taught us: ‘Wait till next year.’ Good for Jack – sounds like a lifelong hardcore baseball fan in the making!”
Jim’s “Wait till next year” is referring to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s memoir about her Brooklyn Dodgers. The team was often close to winning it all, but continually failed late in the season, giving rise to the mantra “Wait till next year.” Goodwin was finally rewarded in 1955 when the Dodgers beat the Yankees in a Subway Series. Her book warmly tells the joy of winning (to be dashed three years later when the team moved to Los Angeles).
So, Seattle, wait till next year. Royals, the same. Remember, all teams are tied for first place when play begins on Opening Day.
2025 World Series: Friday night, the World Series begins. The Blue Jays (94-68) will host the Dodgers (93-69) at the Rogers Centre. The Dodgers are heavily favored, playing in their fifth World Series in nine years (winning in 2020 and 2024). Toronto is returning to the Series for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993.
Lonnie’s Jukebox – Rainy Day Books Edition: Fifty years ago, the Cincinnati Reds (a/k/a the “Big Red Machine”) beat the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series. That same fall, Vivien Jennings founded Rainy Day Books. The store is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an event on November 4 at Unity Temple on the Plaza. The program will feature Vivien Jennings in conversation with local author David Von Drehle. Info and tickets here.
Lonnie’s Jukebox will celebrate the occasion with some hits from 1975.
“Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennile. The #1 song of the year. Written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield.
“Philadelphia Freedom” by Elton John. Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin as a favor to John’s friend Billie Jean King who was part of the Philadelphia Freedoms pro tennis team.
“My Eyes Adored You” by Frankie Valli. Valli’s first #1 as a solo artist and triggered a revival of interest in the recordings of the Four Seasons.
“Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka. In 1978, I was in Las Vegas on an advance trip for Vice President Walter Mondale and saw Neil Sekaka in a casino lounge show. I was familiar with him from the 1960s (“Calendar Girl,” “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” etc.) and remember liking this song when it came out in 1975.
“Best of My Love” by the Eagles. Their first #1 hit.
“The Hustle” by Van McCoy. I never learned how to do this dance.
“Jackie Blue” by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Missouri guys who took this song to #3.
“When Will I Be Loved” by Linda Ronstadt. Linda’s great cover of the Everly Brothers song.
“How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” by James Taylor. A cover of Marvin Gaye’s 1964 hit.
“You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker. Always liked this song.
Walk-Off Photos – No Kings Day: I don’t often drift into politics in Hot Stove, but I recently got called some names and cannot stay quiet. The Speaker of the House of the United States said I hated America.
Okay, he did not single me out personally. He said anyone who attended a No Kings event was attending a “hate America rally” of the “pro-Hamas” wing of the Democratic Party. Really?
I was in the crowd on the Plaza this past Saturday. It was joyous and peaceful…and a patriotic example of the right to assemble.
U. S. Senator Roger Marshall (KS) said the rallies would be filled with “professional protesters” and “agitators” paid by George Soros. I’ll let the satire of Andy Borowitz answer this one.
George Soros Declares Bankruptcy After Paying No Kings Protesters
I like to think we are more aligned with these folks from 249 years ago.
In the real world, the participants on Saturday were like my friend John Shipp and his wife Naomi who were featured in KCUR’s coverage.
I ran into two of my partners from Polsinelli days, Joe Colantuono and Jeff Rosen. We conferred, and none of us had received checks from George Soros (or anyone else).
Lovely Rita.
Dan Margolies and his son Max. If you like to read well-written pieces on the Constitution, democracy and politics, sign up here for Dan’s daily Substack posts (it’s free).
Since Hot Stove is primarily a baseball newsletter, I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes. I first heard this on Ken Burns’ PBS series on baseball. It is from writer and essayist Gerald Early:
“There are only three things that America will be remembered for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: The Constitution, jazz music, and baseball.”
The Constitution that protects the right to peaceably assemble.
