THE SUNDAY NOTES from BILLY-BALL

HALF OF THE BASEBALL SEASON IS 81 GAMES; IT’S NOT THE ALL-STAR BREAK

Sometime in August, you will hear how a player had 23 homers in the first half. That announcer or scribe will be referring to the number of homers hit before the All-Star break, and not the first 81 games of the season. At that point, you will complain because you know the Christmas and Hannukkah Rules as explained in Billy-Ball. Christmas is always on December 25. Since 1962, the first half of the season always consists of 81 games. Hannukkah’s date always varies, just like the number of games for each team played before the All-Star break. If you get that right, you are well on your way to an A in Billy-Ball 101.

HERE IS YOUR MID-TERM

FIRST HALF QUESTIONS

(Answers and a complete list of 2024 and 2025 first half records are below the fold)

1. Two teams tied for the most first-half wins in 2025, which are they?

2. Which is the only team with 50+ wins in the first halves of 2024 and 2025?

3. Only one team had the exact same record in the first half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. Which team had this very good and consistent record?

4. Three teams played over .600 ball in the first half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. Who are they?

5. In 2024, the Astros, Rays, and Mets were 40-41 at the half. Which team had the better record in 2025?

6. Two teams had 50+ wins in the first half of 2024, but in the first half of 2025, they played under .500 ball. Who are they?

7. Two teams had 30 wins at home in the first half this season. Who are they?

8. The Red Sox, Athletics, and Reds each had nine one-run wins in the first half. Which team had the most one-run losses?

9. Which team had the best record in walkoffs in the first half of this season? Last season, they had a very good record of 6-3.

SUNDAY NOTES

Mets’ starter Griffin Canning is done for the season after rupturing his left Achilles Friday night, during his start against the Braves. He had a 3.77 ERA in 16 starts and will be a free agent after this season….Ron Washington will remain on medical leave for the remainder of the 2025 season. The Angels have named Ray Montgomery as their Interim Manager, while Ryan Goins will become the bench coach. Feel better, Wash….Astros Minor League pitcher Julio Rodriguez, who was on the roster of the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks of the Texas League, has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Nandrolone, a performance-enhancing substance. If he were given an IQ test, he would test negative….Will Warren of the Yankees leads the majors in called third strikes with 39. Warren also leads all rookie pitchers this season with 103 strikeouts….Mets’ starter David Peterson had a 2.30 ERA in May and then just about doubled it in June at 4.55. Most significantly, his K/9 rate dropped from 8.33 to 6.82….Shohei Ohtani and Cal Raleigh lead the majors with 14 homers each against relievers….Ralaeigh is also tied for league lead in homers against starters. Along with Eugenio Suarez and Aaron Judge, Cal has gone deep 18 times against starters….The Yankees have thrown nine shutouts this season; they had 14 last season, eight in 2023, 16 in 2022, and 13 in 2021….The injured Corbin Carroll leads the majors with nine triples. He is both fast and a good base runner. Friday night, the Giants Patrick Bailey tripled. He leads all catchers with two….Shohei Ohtani leads all batters starting a game with eight homers. Ohtani now has 20 homers to start a game in his career; 14 with the Dodgers and six with the Angels. This season, in the 1st inning, Ohtani is hitting .312 with a 1.032 OPS with nine RBI. How does the leadoff batter have nine RBI with eight homers? On April 16, the Dodgers batted around in the 1st inning against the Rockies and scored seven runs. Ohtani was up twice and went 2-2 with a leadoff homer and a run-scoring single.….In case you missed this, Whit Merrifield has retired. Merrifield led the AL in stolen bases in three separate seasons and finished his nine-season career with a .280 average and 218 stolen bases….Too much partying on Friday nights? The Yankees are now 5-8 on Saturdays with a 5.84 ERA. They are 7-0 on Thursdays with a 2.14 ERA….On 0-2 pitches, Framber Valdez has held batters to a .022 BA (1-45) with 33 strikeouts….Manny Machado leads the majors with four homers on 0-2 pitches….Philadelphia is holding its breath to see what happens to Kyle Schwarber after this season as he hits free agency. Schawarber has 25 homers this season, 13 off righties and 12 off lefties. Bobby Witt Jr. has 11 homers this season, all against righties. Wilyer Abreu and Michael Busch each have 14 homers, all against righties. In case you missed it, Michael Busch last week became the first player named “Busch” to homer in Busch Stadium….The Phillies have hit 88 homers and allowed 88 homers.

R.I.P. THE COBRA

Dave Parker is gone just weeks before his Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The two-time batting champion, seven-time All Star, and 1978 NL MVP won two World Series rings, one with the Pirates in 1979 and one with the A’s in 1989. He was 74.