Historic Chases · 2026-04-17 RECONSTRUCTED

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Nightly briefing

Baseball last night

Games of 2026-04-17

No history was made last night, but the box scores still talked: Daylen Lile hit his first home run of the season — in his game No. 20 ▶︎ watch; Heliot Ramos hit his first home run of the season — in his game No. 19 ▶︎ watch.

Andy Pages is hitting OVER .400. Needs a .398 clip the rest of the way to finish at .400.

Andy Pages sits at .412 — the last .400 season was Ted Williams in 1941.

History movers: Jorge Soler — Franchise RBI: 18 now, pace 138.9, record 139 (Don Baylor) · Chandler Simpson — Franchise Stolen Bases: 7 now, pace 59.7, record 60 (Carl Crawford).

Lines of the night: Gavin Collyer earned his FIRST career win ▶︎ watch; Ryan McMahon hit his first home run of the season — in his game No. 18 ▶︎ watch.

The .400 chase: Andy Pages went 1-for-2 last night and pushed his average up 3 points to .412. He is OVER .400.

The so-what: through 21 team games, Yordan Alvarez sits 2 HR behind Bonds' 73-homer pace (10 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

MUST TRACK: Oneil Cruz is on a 40/40 pace — 6 HR / 9 SB, projecting to 49/73. Only five players have ever done it: Canseco, Bonds, A-Rod, Soriano, and Ohtani. Every game matters from here.

The .400 burndown: Andy Pages carries a .412 average into today; a .400 finish takes a .398 clip the rest of the way (204-for-512). That is .001 easier than yesterday. A 3-for-4 tonight lowers the requirement to .396; an 0-for-4 raises it to .402.

On this date in 1976, Mike Schmidt hit 4 home runs in one game — one of the rarest single-game feats in baseball.

30/30 watch: Oneil Cruz sits at 6 HR / 9 SB — 24 homers short and 21 steals short of a 30/30 season, projecting to 49/73.

Historical intelligence

How the night stacked up

Pace through history

Yordan Alvarez versus the great home-run seasons

Yordan Alvarez has 8 home runs through 21 team games, 2 behind Barry Bonds's 2001 pace at the same checkpoint (10). Comparable chases finished with a median of 32; 4.7% reached 50 and 0.9% reached 60 (n=663).

Retrosheet · verified play-by-play

If the pace holds

A projected top-1 season

If Taylor Ward finishes at the current projection of 81, it would be the most doubles 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 60 stolen bases, set by Carl Crawford in 2009. Chandler Simpson projects to 60 and projects to tie it.

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Only X seasons ever

Yordan Alvarez is building a rare combination

At his current pace, Yordan Alvarez would reach at least 180 hits, and 60 HR. Only 4 completed seasons in the configured historical cohort reached every mark. The recent company includes Sammy Sosa (2001), Sammy Sosa (1999), Sammy Sosa (1998).

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Closest to .400