Historic Chases · 2026-04-05 RECONSTRUCTED

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Nightly briefing

Baseball last night

Games of 2026-04-05

No history was made last night, but the box scores still talked: Brock Burke earned his FIRST career save ▶︎ watch; Taylor Rashi earned his FIRST career win.

Xavier Edwards is hitting OVER .400. Needs a .396 clip the rest of the way to finish at .400.

Xavier Edwards sits at .471 — the last .400 season was Ted Williams in 1941.

History movers: Nico Hoerner — Stolen Bases: 4 now, pace 72, record 130 (Rickey Henderson) · Wilyer Abreu — Franchise Home Runs: 3 now, pace 54, record 54 (David Ortiz); Franchise Hits: 15 now, pace 270, record 240 (Wade Boggs).

The .400 chase: Xavier Edwards went 2-for-4 last night and pushed his average up 4 points to .471. He is OVER .400.

The so-what: through 10 team games, Chase DeLauter sits 0 HR ahead of Bonds' 73-homer pace (4 at this point). That's the number that decides whether this season becomes a chase or a footnote.

That morning's stakes

What we were watching

The .400 burndown: Xavier Edwards carries a .471 average into today; a .400 finish takes a .396 clip the rest of the way (229-for-578). That is .002 easier than yesterday. A 3-for-4 tonight lowers the requirement to .394; an 0-for-4 raises it to .399.

On this date in 2019, Jorge Polanco hit for the cycle.

30/30 watch: CJ Abrams sits at 3 HR / 2 SB — 27 homers short and 28 steals short of a 30/30 season, projecting to 54/36.

Historical intelligence

How the night stacked up

Pace through history

Chase DeLauter versus the great home-run seasons

Chase DeLauter has 5 home runs through 10 team games, 1 ahead of Mark McGwire's 1998 pace at the same checkpoint (4). Comparable chases finished with a median of 29; 2.1% reached 50 and 0.3% reached 60 (n=1145).

Retrosheet · verified play-by-play

If the pace holds

A projected top-1 season

If Chase DeLauter finishes at the current projection of 81, it would be the most home runs in any season since 1901 — no season on record has finished higher.

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Franchise pressure

A franchise record is under pressure

The single-season record is 54 home runs, set by David Ortiz in 2006. Wilyer Abreu projects to 54 and projects to tie it.

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Only X seasons ever

Chase DeLauter is building a rare combination

At his current pace, Chase DeLauter would reach at least .310 AVG, 60 HR, and 125 RBI. Only 3 completed seasons in the configured historical cohort reached every mark. The recent company includes Barry Bonds (2001), Sammy Sosa (2001), Babe Ruth (1927).

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Closest to .400