Month: October 2025

Over the weekend, the NFL dramatically announced the performer who would entertain at the Super Bowl halftime extravaganza.  It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been reading these rants for a while that I had never heard of “Bad Bunny” until that instant of revelation.  However, a long-term reader here is much more into music and concerts than I am; so, I contacted him for some enlightenment.  Here is our text exchange:

• Me:  Is there any reason that I might know who or what “Bad Bunny” is?
• Reader:  No.  But if interested he’s a Spanish speaking (I think Puerto Rican) singer who appears to be very popular.
• Me:  Since I couldn’t understand 99% of last year’s rapper, it will not be a shock when I don’t understand this artiste in Spanish.
• Reader:  Excellent point.

Moving on …  In a previous rant, I mentioned the collapse of the NY Mets in the second half of the MLB regular season resulting in the team missing the playoffs.  As a quick reset, the Mets had the best record in MLB in mid-June at 45-24 (win percentage = .652).  From that point on, the Mets’ record was 38-55 (win percentage = .409).  That “subsidence” gave the Mets a final record of 83-79 and a seat on the living room couch to watch the NL playoffs.

But looking at the standings and the payroll stats, the Mets finished only 4 games ahead of the Miami Marlins and that prompts me to do some math:

• Mets Payroll = $338M  Mets Wins = 83  Dollars per win = $4.07M
• Marlins Payroll = $68M  Marlins Wins = 79  Dollars per win = $0.861M

            That is quite a disparity!

Switching gears …  In case this all sneaked up on you the way it did on me, the NHL will begin its regular season next week and NBA teams are already playing Exhibition Games.  Really?  I thought those folks had just finished their playoffs a week and a half ago.

Next up …  The Cowboys and the Packers played to a 40-40 tie game at the end of overtime on Sunday Night Football.  So:

1. Was that a vindication for Jerry Jones in trading Micah Parsons?  OR
2. Was that a measure of revenge for Micah Parsons?  OR
3. Who cares?

I vote for the third entry on that list above…

Changing the subject …  The injury bug has hit some QBs early in this NFL season.  Jayden Daniels missed a game; Brock Purdy missed a game; Joe Burrow is out for most if not all the regular season; Lamar Jackson looks as if he will miss two or three games.  Various commentators have used that data to underscore the importance of the backup QB position in the league.  I am certainly not going to oppose that point of view, but I think there is another layer to consider.

• Indeed, teams need a competent backup QB.  He is like your homeowner’s insurance; you hope never to need to use him, but you will be awfully glad to have him in place just in case…
• And in addition, I think it is important for teams to have a backup QB whose skill set and whose style of play is similar to the starter.

When Jayden Daniels sat, Marcus Mariota played the position similarly to the way Jayden Daniles would have if healthy.  Mariota was not as proficient as Daniels; that is why Daniels is the starter and Mariota is the backup.  But for the rest of the players, the way the game evolved was very similar; the Commanders played a game the way they had been practicing to play games ever since Training Camp began.

The Niners were in a similar situation with Brock Purdy missing time and Mac Jones filling in.  The two QBs are comparable in their style of play.

I think it will be interesting to see how the Ravens adapt to their situation.  Cooper Rush showed last year that he is a competent backup QB but only someone who never followed football or someone who is totally blind would suggest that Cooper Rush plays the position similar to the way Lamar Jackson plays the position.  Perhaps, some of Rush’s success last year as the fill-in at QB for the Cowboys is that his game is similar to Dak Prescott’s game allowing for only minimal adaptations by the other folks on offense.

Finally, as the calendar moves into October and Fall is upon us, let me close with this from Dorothy Parker:

“Summer makes me drowsy.

Autumn makes me sing.

Winter’s pretty lousy,

But I hate Spring.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

As MLB entered its playoff stage, I was roaming around some baseball stat sites to get a synoptic view of the season that just ended.  One thing that jumped out at me was this:

• Trea Turner led the National League in batting average for 2025 with a .304 average.
• No other National league player hit .300 for the season.

When I was a kid – – right after Stonehenge was finished – – it was not unusual for there to be a dozen players hitting .300 or better for a season and for the “batting champion” to hit .330 or better.  That is an observation and not a complaint; the hitter’s mentality today is very different from years ago; the objective then was to get on base safely; the objective today is to drive the ball with power.  And so, only one NL player managed to hit .300 for the season.

Using National League OPS numbers as a measure indicates that power hitting has done well.

• Shohei Ohtani had an OPS of 1.014 thanks to a slugging average of .622.
• Kyle Schwarber had an OPS of .928 despite a batting average of .240.
• Eight National League players had slugging averages over .520.

The American League painted a slightly different picture in 2025.

• Aaron Judge led the league in hitting at .331
• Six players in the AL hit .300 or better.
• Aaron Judge also led in OPS with an average of 1.145
• George Springer hit .309 and had an OPS of .959.

Another thing that caught my eye had to do with the running narrative related to Cal Raleigh for at least the last three months.  He had an amazing season setting a variety of records and much of the wonder about his season was that he was doing it as a catcher.  That position is not historically one or the positions where top-shelf hitting is found.  Well, overshadowed by Raleigh’s very strong offensive season is another American League catcher, Shea Langeliers (“Oakland” A’s) who posted well above average offensive numbers for a catcher:

• Batting average .277
• Slugging average .536
• OPS .861

Cal Raleigh’s numbers were better, but Langelier’s numbers deserve to be noted and appreciated too.

On the pitching side, if you had asked me to name the pitcher who allowed the lowest batting average against him in the National League, I would immediately have guessed Paul Skenes.  Not so.  Skenes finished fourth in the National League in that statistic for 2025; here are the top five NL pitchers in terms of “getting batters out”:

1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto .183
2. Freddy Peralta .193
3. Nick Pivetta .195
4. Paul Skenes .199
5. Robby Ray .221

In the American League here are the top five pitchers in “batting average against”:

1. Carlos Rodon .188
2. Jacob deGrom .196
3. Tarik Skubal .200
4. Bryan Woo .200
5. Hunter Brown .201

Just as hitting stats have changed over the years, so have pitching stats.  If you look at 1975 – – 50 years ago – – no pitcher in either league posted a “batting average against” below .208 (Catfish Hunter).  Here in 2025, nine pitchers did that.

Here is a strange one I found when looking back at 1975 stats.  That was a time when the NL had hitters like Dave Parker, Mike Schmidt, Johnny Bench, Willie Stargell and Geroge Foster.  None of them led the NL in OPS in 1975.  I would never have guessed that Joe Morgan led the NL in that stat in 1975 (.974) and Greg Luzinski finished second (.934).

Finally, here is an interesting perspective by Ted Williams:

“I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports……..