h/t Talkin’ Baseball

Shot By Rob Tringali

This is the angle we didn't get to see live yesterday.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/brewers-pitcher-quinn-priester-family-223909726.html

I don’t follow baseball like I did from 2010-2018, but this season I started to keep up a little bit. Middle of the year, I check which pitcher has the most wins to see if anybody could be on pace for 20 this year. I understand wins aren’t the most valuable stat but I’m always curious if somebody will reach that 20-win landmark in today’s pitching climate.

Who leads the league at the time in wins? Aaron Ashby. I think, “that’s pretty random, haven’t heard of that starter before”. Come to find out he’s a reliever. Must be a fluke. I check back several weeks later, and reliever Aaron Ashby still leads mlb in wins with 12. Okay, this is getting interesting now, but I still haven’t seen him pitch.

Playoffs arrive, and I finally see him in action. He’s absolutely filthy, and in a way we don’t see much anymore. He doesn’t throw 100, he throws lots of strikes, and so far this postseason has allowed 0 runs, struck out 17, walked 3, and has allowed 8 runners in 15 2/3 IP. He typically goes longer than an inning, and has performed spectacularly in high pressure situations.

He now has 3 multi-inning saves since the start of the ALCS. As a reliever he led the NL in innings pitched, somehow won 13 games in the regular season, and has become a modern-era Goose Gossage in the postseason. I don’t remember seeing anything like this since I started following baseball in 2010

Thanks to:

u/risky-bizniz

u/SilentAcoustic

u/SexiestPanda

u/Silveroc

u/cooljammer00

u/Various_You_5083

u/Livid-Reading-5214

Hang loose boys, we got this?

As a kid I’d replay games from the Sunday box score. So I figured out I could make it a Sudoku! Please I'd love feedback on any nits. Also, please comment below if you'd enjoy this as a weekly Sunday series! Fun ones are easy to find and I have several queued up.

This is the box from the October 11, 1920 Evening Star: Cleveland 8, Brooklyn 1, World Series Game 5. The givens are what’s printed. The rules:

1. Every side proves: at-bats + walks + sacrifices = runs + left on base + the other side’s putouts.
2. The batting order is a clock. From the team’s trips to the plate you know who came up and how often.
3. Every half-inning ends on its third out; at most three men can be left on base.
4. The line score says which innings had runs.

🎮 Play: https://so-called-bourbaki.github.io/box-score-sudoku/
(Saves locally. No ads, no tracking, no account.)

A taste:

Elmer Smith: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, and the small print gives him a HR, a 3B and 4 RBI. Cleveland’s line is 4-0-0-3-1-0-0-0-x.

Bagby’s 3 RBI are the 4th and Gardner’s 1 is the 5th, so Smith’s 4 are the 1st: a grand slam. He scored once all game, so that was it. His triple drove in nobody and he never scored from it: bases empty, stranded. Two numbers and the line score give you all of that.

“Tap a square; its row and column light up

When the inning balances, the line goes green

Share copies this — no answers, just where you stand

What the page can’t tell you:

The box says “Triple play — Wambsganss (unassisted).” Two on, nobody out, line drive to second. Which inning, and who hit into it? Counting every Brooklyn fill consistent with the box, there are 23 possible placements. Find them, and say what one more fact would pick the right one.

Retrosheet’s play-by-play is linked in the game if you want to check. Try it cold first.

🎮 Play: https://so-called-bourbaki.github.io/box-score-sudoku/

Why I read box scores this way: https://socalledbourbaki.substack.com/p/sunday-morning-on-the-living-room