Tag / Braves

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Looking Ahead To 2027

Returning to their traditional day after the All-Star Game release, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2027 earlier this week, one which hopefully will not be impacted by a prolonged work stoppage.  For the fifth year in a row, MLB is keeping with a balanced schedule, playing 52 games against division opponents, 64 games against non-division opponents in the same league, and 46 interleague games, with series against every team in the opposite league.  With both Chicago teams heading into the second half in line for a postseason appearance for the first time since 2008 and the All-Star Game coming to Wrigley Field in July, the 2027 season looks like it could be an interesting one on both sides of town.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox open their season on the road in the Midwest on March 25, scheduled to be the earliest North American start in league history, facing the Tigers followed by a series against the Royals.  They open up their home schedule against the Brewers on April 1.

Aside from the Brewers, the interleague schedule sees the White Sox staying home to face the Marlins, Phillies, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and Padres, while travelling to see the Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Rockies, and Nationals.  The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a three-game weekend series at Wrigley Field coming out of the All-Star break in mid-July followed by three games at Rate Field the first weekend of August.

The White Sox wrap up the 2027 season in September at home, with a final series against the Tigers before ending the year with three against the Padres.

On the north side, the Cubs kick off their season at home against the Guardians and Cardinals before heading out on the road in early April.  Aside from the Guardians, the Cubs will host the Mariners, Orioles, Red Sox, and Royals while travelling to battle the Angels, Twins, A’s, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Tigers.

The Cubs open September with eleven straight against their NL Central rivals, but finish the month, and the season, on the road to face the Phillies and the Mets.

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – Starting Pitchers Part 3

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We start today with the final eight selections for starting pitcher.

Rick Reuschel, a native of central Illinois, spent parts of twelve seasons across two stints with the Cubs, from 1972-1981 and again from 1983-1984.  From 1975-1978, he was teammates with his brother Paul, also a pitcher.  His best season came in 1977, when he won 20 games, made his lone All-Star team as a Cub, and finished third in Cy Young award voting.  After being traded in 1981, he returned to the Cubs in 1983 following a rotator cuff injury.  He is a member of the Cubs Hall of Fame.

Charlie Root spent the majority of his major league career with the Cubs, from 1926-1941.  In 1927, he led the National League with 26 wins, 48 games, 309 innings pitched, and, unfortunately, 117 walks.  In the 1932 World Series, Root was on the mound for Babe Ruth’s infamous called shot home run, though he would dispute the account.  Overall, he appeared in four World Series as a Cub and received some MVP support in five of his sixteen seasons.  He is a member of the team’s Hall of Fame.

Bob Rush debuted with the Cubs in 1948, spending ten seasons on the north side.  A two-time All-Star, he led the NL with 20 losses in 1950.  He was a steady, if unspectacular, mainstay of the Cub rotation during the fallow period following their final World Series appearance of the 20th century in 1945.

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – Starting Pitchers Part 2

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We continue today with the second eight selections for starting pitcher.

Ken Holtzman was selected by the Cubs in the fourth round of the 1965 draft and made his major league debut that September after just twelve minor league appearances.  He joined the starting rotation the following year, and, serving in the National Guard, was only available to start on weekends in 1967, going 9-0 in his twelve appearances.  He threw two no-hitters, the first in 1969 against the Braves and the second in 1971 against the Reds.  He asked to be traded following the 1971 season.  He is a member of the team’s Hall of Fame.

Bill Hutchison spent seven seasons with the franchise now known as the Cubs, from 1889-1895.  He led the National League in wins from 1890-1892 and strikeouts in 1892.  He still ranks fourth all-time in franchise history in wins, second in innings pitched, sixth in strikeouts, and first in loses, complete games, walks allowed, and wild pitches.

Fergie Jenkins spent ten of his 19 years in the big leagues across two stints with the Cubs, first from 1966-1973 and again from 1982-1983.  A three-time All-Star, he led the National League in victories in 1971, strikeouts in 1969, and earned the Cy Young Award in 1971.  Jenkins was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1991 and his number 31, shared with Greg Maddux, was retired by the club in 2009.

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First Place

Three years ago, the White Sox finished the season with their worst record since 1970.  Two years ago, they set the all-time MLB record with 121 losses.  Last year, they “improved” by 19 games but still managed their third straight 100-loss season.  Today, they sit alone in first place in the AL Central, the latest they have done so since winning the division in 2021.

Are they for real?  A large part of me says no.  Heading into last Friday’s series against the Phillies, they had the easiest schedule so far in the entire league.  They are currently in the middle of a gauntlet, facing the Phillies, Braves, Dodgers, and Yankees before their first meeting with the Guardians.  That said, the small piece that believes this might really be happening is growing.  After dropping two of three in Philadelphia, they’ve beaten the Braves, who have the best record in baseball, two straight.  They are 25-14 since Mike Vasil acquired his magic wand and, since the Crosstown Series against the Cubs in mid-May, they have the best record in baseball.

Assuming the weather holds out, they have one more game against the Braves tonight before the Dodgers come to town for the weekend.  If they can head into that Cleveland series with their heads above water, then I might just become a believer.

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – Starting Pitchers Part 1

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We continue today with the first eight selections for starting pitcher.

Pete Alexander spent parts of nine seasons with the Cubs, from 1918-1926.  He missed the majority of 1918 after being drafted into the Army and being deployed to France.  In 1920, he won the pitching triple crown, leading the NL in wins, ERA, and strikeouts.  That turned out to be his last dominant season, thanks to injuries sustained in World War I, though he continued to be an effective pitcher for the remainder of his Cubs career.  In 1938, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame with 80.9% of the vote.

Jake Arrieta was acquired by the Cubs in July of 2013, making seven starts for Iowa before being recalled to the rebuilding big league club.  He turned into an ace for the team in 2015, winning the NL Cy Young Award, and was a key contributor to their World Series championship in 2016.  He threw two no-hitters, one in 2015 against the Dodgers and the second in 2016 against the Reds.  After leaving as a free agent following the 2017 season, he re-signed with the Cubs in 2021, with disastrous results.  He set the team record for highest ERA for a pitcher in a season with at least 20 starts.  He followed up his final appearance before his mid-August release, where he gave up 8 hits and 7 runs in the first inning, with a post-game tirade where he berated a reporter for wearing a mask, which he was required to do by city regulation, during a Zoom press conference.

Mordecai Brown spent two tours with the Cubs in the early 20th century, from 1904-1912 and again in 1916.  Nicknamed “Three Finger” due to a farming accident in his youth which mangled his right hand, the disfigurement gave him an unusual grip on the baseball, which gave his pitches extra topspin.  During his Cubs career, he topped the 20-win plateau six times and helped the franchise to their first two World Series titles in 1907 and 1908.  His 2.06 career ERA is the third best amongst Hall of Famers and the best amongst pitchers with at least 200 wins.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously in 1949.

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – Second Basemen

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We start today with the eight selections for second baseman.

Glenn Beckert was called up by the Cubs in 1965, spending the next nine seasons as the team’s second baseman.  He won the Gold Glove in 1968 and was a four-time All-Star.  His best offensive season came in 1971, when he finished third in the NL with a career-best .342 batting average.

Johnny Evers played for the Orphans/Cubs from 1902 through 1913.  Known as “The Human Crab” for his combative play and fights with umpires, he earned a place in baseball history as part of the famous “Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance” double-play combination thanks to the poem Baseball’s Sad Lexicon.  Evers was responsible for alerting umpires to the baserunning mistake that would come to be known as “Merkle’s Boner”.  He was part of three NL pennant winners with the Cubs, winning the championship in 1907 and 1908, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946.

Billy Herman spent the first eleven years of his career with the Cubs, hitting over .300 in seven of his first nine seasons.  He led the league in games played (twice), hits, doubles, and triples across his nine full seasons.  During that time, he was named an All-Star seven straight times, beginning in 1934.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.

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The First Time

Previously, we’ve looked at the most recent time I’ve seen each of the 30 major league baseball teams play.  Three weeks into the 2026 season, I thought it would be worth going into the wayback machine and see when the first time was that I saw each team live and in person, to the best of my knowledge.  My records only go back to 1984, so anything before that is as yet unidentified.

Breaking it down by decade, we have twelve teams I saw originally during the 80s, eleven in the 90s, and the remaining seven came in the 2000s.  For franchises that have moved, I have lumped them all together.

Earliest Game

Team Name Year
Texas Rangers 8/14/1984
Chicago White Sox 8/14/1984
Toronto Blue Jays 8/30/1984
Boston Red Sox 4/19/1985
San Diego Padres 7/8/1985
Chicago Cubs 7/8/1985
Baltimore Orioles 7/26/1985
New York Mets 8/4/1985
Kansas City Royals 8/20/1985
Cleveland Indians/Guardians 7/16/1987
Seattle Mariners 9/18/1987
California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels 7/28/1988
Detroit Tigers 4/20/1991
Milwaukee Brewers 7/18/1993
Pittsburgh Pirates 8/2/1993
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All Time Team Records

After a long winter, the 2026 baseball season got underway yesterday.  To celebrate, it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have identified as having attended dating back to 1984.  Last year, I posted my thirteenth highest total, an increase of twelve games from the year before, and managed to see 21 out of the 30 teams, so there should be some nice changes.

The White Sox are coming off their third-straight 100 loss season and are hoping to avoid adding a fourth this year.  On the other side of town, the Cubs made it back into playoff contention last year and are hoping to move beyond the NLDS this year.  The 2026 season may look completely different on each side of town.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 2 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 17 4 0.810
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Cleveland Guardians 7 4 0.636
Toronto Blue Jays 20 12 0.625
New York Yankees 20 13 0.606
Philadelphia Phillies 13 10 0.565
Boston Red Sox 22 17 0.564
Colorado Rockies 11 9 0.550
Los Angeles Angels 20 17 0.541
Washington Nationals 7 6 0.538
Detroit Tigers 35 30 0.538
Cleveland Indians 31 27 0.534
Chicago Cubs 246 217 0.531
Houston Astros 27 25 0.519
Chicago White Sox 387 378 0.506
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Wiping The Slate Clean

Removing the last link back to the Rick Hahn/Kenny Williams era, the White Sox shipped Luis Robert Jr., and the $22 million remaining on his contract, to the Mets on Tuesday in exchange for Luisangel Acuña, a 23-year-old infielder, and right-hander Truman Pauley, the 373rd overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.

Robert, still only 28 years old, has spent six injury-filled seasons with the White Sox, debuting during the shortened 2020 season.  He was an All-Star in 2023, when he set career highs in games played, WAR, home runs, RBI, and doubles.  He has failed to build on his success that season, as injuries have continued to keep him out of the lineup.

Acuña, the younger brother of Braves star Ronald, is a former top-100 prospect who made his debut in 2024, to limited success.  He is an infielder by trade but is expected to compete for the now-vacant centerfielder.  His greatest value, however, is through his defense and speed and playing him out of position could eat away at that.  However, he did recently become the first player to hit four home runs in a Venezuelan Winter League game.

Pauley, drafted from Harvard last July, ironically spent much of his childhood receiving personal lessons from now-former White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz.  His fastball and slider show potential, but he has a poor history of throwing either for strikes.

Most importantly, the deal removes $22 million from the White Sox payroll, which now sits at just $67 million, the lowest in MLB.  “We’ve got some financial flexibility now to continue to bring in talent,” GM Chris Getz said, although I think we all know that they won’t.

Roberts’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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Braves All Time Leaders – Through 2025

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  With the winter meetings starting today, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves began life in Boston, joining the National League in 1876, before moving to Milwaukee in 1953 and, finally, landing in Atlanta in 1966.  I’ve seen 165 players don the Braves uniforms in the 22 games of theirs that I’ve attended live, including Games Three and Four of the 2003 NLDS against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and a 2021 game against the Yankees at Truist Park on my way home from a trip to Florida.

Home Runs

Name Total
Chipper Jones 3
Freddie Freeman 3
Brian McCann 2
Jeff Fancoeur 2

Hits

Name Total
Chipper Jones 10
Vinny Castilla 9
Brian McCann 8
Freddie Freeman 8

Runs

Name Total
Chipper Jones 6
Andruw Jones 6
Freddie Freeman 5
Ozzie Albies 5

RBI

Name Total
Chipper Jones 7
Brian McCann 7
Freddie Freeman 7

Doubles

Name Total
Brooks Conrad 2
Gary Sheffield 2
Freddie Freeman 2
Nick Markakis 2
Dansby Swanson 2

Triples Continue reading →