GAME DAY SUNDAY

FUNDAY IS FREE FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2025

Nov 16, 2025

THE SEVEN-GAME BILLY-BALL WORDLE SERIES

Wordle (video game, word game, guessing game, daily minigame, turn-based) reviews & ratings - Glitchwave

You’re invited to play a seven-game series of WORDLES created by Billy-Ball (that’s me).

Here’s how it works: I created seven different five-letter New York Times WORDLEs. Please send me the total of your four best scores, and I'll share how you compare to other participants.

To quote David Letterman as he introduced Stupid Pet Tricks and Stupid Human Tricks, “Remember, folks, this is an exhibition, not a competition. PLEASE, no wagering.”

And, there are no prizes, other than your personal enjoyment.

The clue for these WORDLEs is: “(PRO) BASEBALL (PRO) NOUNS”

Have fun.

WORDLE GAME #1

WORDLE GAME #2

WORDLE GAME #3

WORDLE GAME #4

WORDLE GAME #5

WORDLE GAME #6

WORDLE GAME #7

SHOP AT AMAZON.COM THROUGH THE BILLY-BALL PORTAL

Here’s a way you can do your holiday shopping and help out Billy-Ball. When you shop through this portal, Billy-Ball gets a small commission at no extra charge to you. You buy what you want, Jeff Bezos gets obnoxiously richer, and Billy-Ball gets a little money.

HERE’S A TRIVIAL QUESTION

Which reliever(s) did not win both the Cy Young Award and the league MVP in the same season? There can be more than one correct answer.

Trevor Hoffman, Rollie Fingers, Mariano Rivera, Willie Hernández, and Dennis Eckersley.

BILLY-BALL-A-GRAM I

Which current ballplayer’s name is the anagram:

AN EX-GAMBLER

TARIK SKUBAL’S 33 WALKS

I’m not sure whether statistics like this are interesting to you, so I will await your feedback. However, after noticing that Tarik Skubal had issued only 33 walks, I began examining the strikeout totals of other pitchers who had also issued 33 walks in a season.

You can’t help but be blown away by Curt Schilling’s strikeout total in 2002. It’s so sad that this pitcher’s skills are matched, nay exceeded, by his aberrant interactions with the world.

There were nine pitchers besides Skubal who threw 33 walks in 2025. Check out the 2025 pitchers who walked 33.

BILLY-BALL-A-GRAM ANSWER

AN EX-GAMBLER is Alex Bregman, who is actually gambling that he can get a better contract as a free agent than he did this past season with the Boston Red Sox.

Which current ballplayer’s name is the anagram:

I WIN DAZED

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOC GOODEN

Dwight Gooden is celebrating his 61st birthday today.

“Doctor K” was a sensation when he first came up with the Mets, leading the National League in strikeouts in his first two seasons. He was the 1984 National League Rookie of the Year and the 1985 National League Cy Young Award and Triple Crown winner. His 1.53 ERA that year is one of the lowest of the live-ball era.

He finished the 1984 season 8-1 with a 1.07 ERA.

He was 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA in 1985.

After being suspended from baseball for most of the 1994 season and all of 1995 for repeated violations of Major League Baseball’s drug policy, on May 14, 1996, he threw a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners. In that game, Alex Rodriguez went 0-2 with two walks. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-3 with two strikeouts. Edgar Martinez went 0-3. Doc struck out five and walked six.

Here is Derek Jeter catching Paul Sorrento’s infield fly for the final out as the Yankees’ version of Dwight Gooden completed his no-hitter.

Gooden’s father’s health was deteriorating, and about two days before the no-hitter, they scheduled it for May 15. Gooden had already made flight reservations to go home, but when he woke up that morning, he thought that his dad would probably want him to pitch. Gooden, in an MLB.com interview 20 years later, said, “He always talked to me about being a man and putting the job first. So I said, “You know what, I’m going to pitch, and then I’ll go home.”

Following the surgery, Dwight gave his dad the ball from the last out.

BILLY-BALL-A-GRAM ANSWER II

I WIN DAZED is Edwin Diaz

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Edwin Díaz, who turns 32 in March, wants the same kind of deal he signed with the Mets in November 2022: five years, $102 million. He opted out of the final two years and $38 million in the deal, and is certain to turn down the Mets’ one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer.

The Mets want him back, but the Blue Jays are already expressing interest. According to Rosenthal, the Braves, Yankees, Tigers, Giants, and, of course, the Dodgers could all come calling. Díaz went 28-31 in save opportunities last season with a 1.63 ERA and 38 percent strikeout rate. With numbers like that, maybe he wants to write the final stories in Billy-Ball three or four times a week.

THE FREE AGENCY THEME SONG

TRIVIAL RELIEF ANSWER

The relievers who were both the Cy Young Award and MVP winners are:

Rollie Fingers (1981, AL)
Willie Hernández (1984, AL)
Dennis Eckersley (1992, AL)

The two who did not win both awards are Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman of the eponymously named Relievers of the Year awards. Neither Rivera nor Hoffman ever won the Cy Young Award during their careers. Both finished as runners-up or within the top three in Cy Young voting several times.