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Juan Soto hit three big round numbers at once last night. Plus: Ken on the Tigers’ ascension, José Altuve showed his whole bare foot to an umpire and the Brewers are on the brink of October. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
Milestones: Soto hits No. 200
It is always lovely when baseball gets poetic.
Before last night, Juan Soto had hit a home run in 29 of the 30 MLB stadiums. The only one without a checkmark beside it: T-Mobile Park in Seattle, which isn’t exactly known as a hitter’s paradise.
He was also sitting on 199 home runs for his career, and 39 for the season. ✔️✔️and ✔️.
The 200/40/30 blast came in the fourth inning of the Yankees’ 11-2 win in, yep, Seattle. Here are a few fun facts about it:
- At 25 years and 328 days of age, Soto became the seventh-youngest player in MLB history to hit 200 home runs (the youngest: Mel Ott, 25 years and 144 days).
- Soto and Aaron Judge (53 dingers) became just the third Yankees duo to each hit 40-plus home runs in a season. The last to do it: Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961. Before that? Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, who did it in 1927, 1930 and 1931.
- Soto becomes the third active player to homer in all 30 parks. The other two? Manny Machado and Yankees teammate Giancarlo Stanton.
- Of the other eight players to hit their 200th home run at 25 years or younger, seven — Ott, Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Mathews, Frank Robinson, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout — did so with their first team. Only Alex Rodriguez (who signed with Texas after 189 home runs with Seattle) did it with a second team. Soto (Nationals, Padres, Yankees) is on his third.
Ken’s Notebook: Tigers’ next step is the hard part
From my latest column:
This is the moment front offices should find invigorating, but too often dread. The worst of the losing is over. The team is on the rise. But now things get more difficult. Expectations mount. Scrutiny increases. The payroll jumps, or at least it should, increasing the possibility of big-money mistakes.
The Detroit Tigers are approaching this juncture, competing for a wild card with a stunning second-half surge that caught almost the entire industry by surprise. The team features an intriguing young core. Its payroll commitments for 2025 are a relatively meager $38.8 million. This offseason, the additions of a top-of-the-rotation starter, corner-infield help and more strikeout capability in the bullpen could push the team closer to the next great era of Tigers baseball.
Which isn’t to say the Tigers should do anything stupid; the last thing they need is another Javy Báez. They are rebounding in large part because president of baseball operations Scott Harris remained disciplined in his decision-making. Harris, completing his second full season, need not be as desperate as the Kansas City Royals were for a turnaround coming off 106 losses a year ago. Nor will he want to turn into the Cincinnati Reds, who last offseason spent more than $100 million in free agency to supplement a young, talented roster — and appear headed to a sub-.500 finish.
Adding proven veterans in an effort to “take the next step” often is tricky, simply because so much can go wrong. The risk for the Tigers last offseason was much lower. The players Harris acquired — pitchers Jack Flaherty, Kenta Maeda, Shelby Miller and Andrew Chafin, outfielder Mark Canha and third baseman Gio Urshela — were intended to enhance the building effort, biding time for young players, building trade value or both. Flaherty was the only clear win. Maeda joined Báez as a sunk cost; the two comprise the bulk of the team’s payroll commitments for 2025.
The mindset this winter must be different. The Tigers’ free-agent choices should help the team compete for the AL Central title. Could be Christian Walker at first. Could be Alex Bregman at third. Could be Nathan Eovaldi for the rotation, Tanner Scott for the bullpen. Harris can figure out the names later. But with AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal under club control for only two more seasons, it’s go time.
More here.
Sole Searching: Shoeless Jo(s)e
I have watched a lot of baseball games in my life, but I’d never seen this:
Jose Altuve took off his sock and shoe to show the umpire that he fouled the ball off his foot…
He was immediately ejected 🤯😅
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 18, 2024
It’s amazing out of context, but no less amazing with context, so let’s get into it.
The Astros were already worked up because — after scoring a run on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth to take a 3-2 lead over San Diego — they had brought in former Padre Josh Hader for a rare four-out save.
Hader immediately incited a long delay by disengaging with the mound, which home plate umpire Brennan Miller missed, causing him to call a pitch clock violation. They eventually got it sorted out, then Hader promptly threw a run-scoring wild pitch of his own to make it 3-3.
In the top of the ninth, with two outs and a runner on second, Altuve hit a bouncer to third, but never left the box, insisting that he had fouled the ball off his foot. Replay didn’t show anything conclusive enough to overturn the call, so the call stood: inning over.
That’s when Altuve did the unprecedented. The man — who once famously refused to let teammates pull off his jersey — willingly and of his own volition pulled off his sock and shoe and showed the umpire his whole naked foot.
HIM. THIS ONE. HE HAD ROAST BEEF. THIS IS THE GUY WHO HAD ROAST BEEF.
THIS OTHER GUY? HE HAD NONE. HE HAD *NONE*. https://t.co/1d6JkQmGU8
— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) September 18, 2024
Miller took one look, and almost immediately decided, “Nope.” I can’t stop laughing about this. Take note: you can show an umpire some polish from your shoe. You cannot take it off.
Anyway, the Astros won 4-3. Ironically, the game ended when Grae Kessinger (who replaced Altuve and later scored the go-ahead run) made a brilliant play on a bases-loaded Manny Machado bouncer in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Standings Watch: Brewers could clinch tonight (or today!)
The Brewers had a chance last night to be the first team to clinch a division title. All they needed was to beat the Phillies, and for the A’s to beat the Cubs, and that would seal it.
They got the latter — Oakland prevailed 4-3 — but couldn’t quite overcome Zack Wheeler (seven innings, one run), losing 5-1 to Philadelphia.
They’ll get another crack at it tonight, but by then they might already have clinched the division. That’s because the A’s and Cubs play an afternoon game in Chicago that should wrap up before first pitch in Milwaukee. If the Cubs lose, the Brewers will take the field as NL Central champions.
When it happens — today, tonight, or in the coming days — it will put the finishing touches on one of the most remarkable surprises of the season. Here are a few predictions from opening week (sorry to the writers for bringing these up):
Even Las Vegas underrated them, setting the over/under on wins at 78.5 (though the module in that story was updated to 88.5 in late July). Now Milwaukee is on the verge of being the first team to clinch a division title.
Shohei Ohtani 50-50 Tracker 👀
Ohtani hit his 48th home run of the season last night.
- Home Runs: 48
- Stolen Bases: 48
Tyler Kepner has a great story today, speaking to former big leaguers who either hit 50 home runs in a season or stole 50 bases in a season. Everyone agrees: This is superhuman stuff.
Handshakes and High Fives
Dennis Lin solves a mystery! Who’s that on the front of that Jackson Merrill baseball card? It’s not Merrill.
In a Dodgers rotation with so many injury concerns, Bobby Miller is, presumably, healthy. He’s also got the worst ERA in baseball (min. 50 innings).
Last night might have been Lance Lynn’s final home start for the Cardinals. He made it a good one.
Jim Bowden identified one indispensable under-the-radar player for each contending team.
On the podcast: Special guest Whit Merrifield spoke about penalties for pitchers hitting batters in the head. He wants immediate ejections, fines and escalating penalties.
AL wild-card check-in: The Tigers beat the No. 2 wild-card Royals (again), 3-1, but the Twins remain 1 1/2 games ahead for the third and final wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Guardians. The Orioles (first wild-card team) continued their recent skid, losing 10-0 to the Giants.
NL wild-card check-in: The Mets keep on winning, beating the Nats 10-1. The Braves lost 6-5 to the Reds, meaning New York’s lead for the final wild-card spot is now two games. The Padres (first) and Diamondbacks (second) lost.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: This week’s Power Rankings, which include each team’s top individual award candidate.
Correction: We mistakenly identified the Tigers’ color commentator in yesterday’s Windup — it was Andy Dirks.
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(Top photo: Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images)
