Tim Barto: A baseball season that was worth relapsing over

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” said an anguished Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III. While not a baseball movie, baseball fans, such as yours truly, share the Godfather’s sentiments as we lament our return to the game we love and the fact that we hate that we love it.

Having sworn off Major League Baseball since its 2020 descent into wokeism, this writer confesses to having done more than sneaking an occasional peek at the standings or glimpsing a few minutes of the day’s highlights during the 2025 season; all the more so during these past two weeks of the regular season. 

Self-loathing is a part of an addict’s return to the bottle, the powder, or the betting parlor. But, like an addict in the ecstasy of a relapse, it all seems to be worth it. It being the 2025 Major League Baseball season, and the reasons for this pathetic justification are as follows:

Cal Raleigh.  In his fifth season as catcher for the Seattle Mariners, this switch-hitting catcher presented the Pacific Northwest, and pretty much the rest of the baseball world, with a remarkable story. While he’s been a solid defensive backstop for the M’s since 2022, Raleigh’s offensive power production this season has been stellar; so stellar, in fact, that only six previous players have done what he’s accomplished, namely hitting 60 home runs in a season. Those five are Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Aaron Judge. 

Ruth is a Hall-of-Famer and still probably the most famous baseball player of all time, and was the first player to hit 60 home runs in a season (1927). Maris, like Ruth, was a right fielder for the New York Yankees, but many fans- particularly, and ironically, Yankee fans -vilified him in 1961 for breaking their beloved Bambino’s single season home run mark. It took a couple of decades for fans to appreciate and respect Maris for what he endured that season, and while he isn’t in the Hall of Fame (despite two Most Valuable Player awards), his name is legendary in baseball lore. 

 McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds, all National Leaguers, are the poster children of steroid-era baseball, which has, for all intents and purposes, kept them out of Hall-of-Fame consideration, particularly Bonds who won seven (seven!) MVP awards and is the all-time career home run leader. McGwire shattered Maris’ record when he hit 70 roundtrippers in 1998, which Bonds eclipsed three years later with a ridiculous 73. Sosa exceeded the 60 threshold three times, the most of any player.

Aaron Judge (a former Anchorage Glacier Pilot) holds the American League single season home run record with 62 and is on pace for a Hall-of-Fame plaque at the end of his career, and is Raleigh’s main contender for this year’s American League MVP.

Cal Raleigh never hit more than 34 home runs in his previous four seasons with Seattle, although he did drive in 100 runs in 2024. But, to hit the magic number of 60 home runs, drive in 125 runs, and lead your team to its first American League West Division title in 24 years is phenomenal, especially when doing it while playing the toughest position on the diamond. Not only that, but as a switch hitter, Raleigh now holds the all-time single season mark for home runs by a player hitting from both sides of the plate. Additionally, he broke the all-time Mariner record for home runs in a season (topping Hall-of-Famer Ken Griffey Jr.), and the all-time Major League record for home runs by a catcher in one season.

Mariners Win the American League West. That whole Mariner division title is another reason the 2025 season caught the attention of some of us who long for the good ol’ days, when runners could take out a second baseman trying to turn a double play, and pitchers could plunk a batter in the ribs for flipping his bat after standing at home plate and watching the ball fly over the fence during a previous at bat. The Mariners, you see, are the only Major League team that has never played in a World Series. Never. Not even in 2001, the year they set a record with 116 regular season wins (and then lost in the playoffs to the Yankees).

Down to the Final Day of the Season. The Cleveland Guardians (NEE:  Indians) were 15 games out of first place in July of this year, yet came back to win their division. That’s a record. The team they overcame – the Detroit Tigers – had a nine and a half game lead in early September, but barely squeaked into the postseason as a wild card selection. Now, the two American League Central Division teams will meet in a best of three first round of postseason games. Cleveland has not won a World Series championship since 1948. 

Win Parity. For the second year in a row, no team reached the 100 win plateau. The Milwaukee Brewers led all Major League teams with 97 wins, taking the National League Central Division title and earning a buy during the first round of playoffs. The Cincinnati Reds, on the other hand, were only four wins above .500 (83-79), finished third in their division, yet find themselves in the postseason. 

Tie Breakers. The New York Yankees had the same regular season record as the Toronto Blue Jays, but the Blue Jays were declared American League East Division champs because they had a better head-to-head record against the Yanks, winning eight of the 13 contests between those two teams.

Batting Averages plummeted in 2025. The aforementioned Aaron Judge won the American League batting title with a .331 average. The next nearest player was a full 20 points below that. In the National League, Trea Turner of the Philadelphia Phillies won the batting crown with a .304 average, the lowest of any batting champion in the league’s 149 year history. He was the only National Leaguer to hit over .300 in 2025. 

Shohei Ohtani. For the third consecutive year, fans purchased more Ohtani jerseys than the jerseys of any other player . . . and for good reason. He hits and pitches. Coming off an MVP season in 2024 in which he became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases, the Japanese-born Ohtani returned to the pitcher’s mound after taking 2024 off from pitching duties due to off-season arm surgery. This season, Ohtani appeared in 14 games as a pitcher, topping 100 miles per hour with his newly constructed arm. He also hit 55 home runs and is the frontrunner to win his fourth MVP award.

First Place Earned Run Average on a Last Place Team. Pittsburgh Pirates’ righthanded pitcher Paul Skenes, in only his second Major League season, led the league in lowest Earned Run Average, allowing just 1.97 earned runs per game; the only pitcher below the 2.00 mark. He also struck out 216 batters, but came away with a .500 win-loss record, winning ten and losing ten. Skenes’ Pirate teammates did not produce many runs, even when – especially when, it seems – he was on the hill. They finished in last place in their division while Skenes became the first pitcher to strike out over 200 batters, have an ERA below 2.00, and not finish above .500. 

Twenty Game Winners Go Extinct. The mark of a good pitching season used to be winning 20 games, but no pitcher has accomplished that since 2022. Arm care concerns and sabermetrics (use of statistics to get to objective baseball “truths”) have made 20-win seasons such a rarity that a total of only nine pitchers have reached that mark over the past ten seasons. This year’s win leaders were Max Fried of the Yankees with 19, and Freddy Peralta of the Brewers with 17.

Test your baseball knowledge:  In 1971, four Baltimore Oriole pitchers won 20 games, the only time that has occurred in the history of professional baseball. Can you name them?  Answers at the bottom of the article.

Four Home Runs in a Single Game. Hitting four home runs in one game has only been accomplished 18 times in professional baseball history. In 2025, three players accomplished this rare feat: Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies,  Nick Kurtz of the Sacramento Athletics, and Eugenio Suarez of the Seattle Mariners. Schwarber and Suarez are seasoned veterans, but 2025 was Kurtz’ rookie season, making his the only first year player to ever hit four home runs in a single game. 

The postseason commenced Tuesday, September 30^th, and this addict will be watching the games back to which the 2025 season has dragged him. 

Tim Barto is a lifelong baseball fan who has coached every level from T-Ball to College, and been affiliated in almost every capacity with the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks of the Alaska Baseball League. Suzanne Downing allows him to write baseball articles, which Tim’s wife appreciates because she knows he loves it too much to leave it alone.

TRIVIA ANSWER:  THE FOUR BALTIMORE ORIOLE PITCHERS WHO EACH WON AT LEAST 20 GAMES IN 1971 WERE JIM PALMER, DAVE MCNALLY, MIKE CUELLAR, AND PAT DOBSON.