Historic Chases · 2026-05-31 RECONSTRUCTED

← 2026-05-30 All days 2026-06-01 →

Nightly briefing

Baseball last night

Games of 2026-05-31

No history was made last night, but the box scores still talked: Nick Gonzales hit his first home run of the season — in his game No. 54 ▶︎ watch; David Peterson earned his FIRST career save ▶︎ watch.

Oneil Cruz has struck out 91 times, projecting to 246. Mark Reynolds' record is 223. That pace would be the most strikeouts in any season since 1901.

History movers: Rockies — Run Differential: pace -224, record -349 (Boston Red Sox) · Corbin Carroll — Triples: 8 now, pace 22, record 36 (Chief Wilson).

Lines of the night: Tyler Davis earned his FIRST career save ▶︎ watch; Jung Hoo Lee went 5-for-6 — 5-hit games happen a couple dozen times a season ▶︎ watch; Hunter Dobbins earned his FIRST career save ▶︎ watch.

The .400 chase: Otto Lopez went 0-for-3 last night and saw his average slip 5 points to .330. The gap to .400 is now .070.

The so-what: through 59 team games, Kyle Schwarber sits 5 HR behind Bonds' 73-homer pace (27 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: Otto Lopez carries a .330 average into today; a .400 finish takes a .442 clip the rest of the way (173-for-391). That is .003 harder than yesterday. A 3-for-4 tonight lowers the requirement to .439; an 0-for-4 raises it to .447.

On this date in 1914, Joe Benz of the White Sox threw a no-hitter.

30/30 watch: Oneil Cruz sits at 13 HR / 19 SB — 17 homers short and 11 steals short of a 30/30 season, projecting to 35/51.

Historical intelligence

How the night stacked up

Pace through history

Kyle Schwarber versus the great home-run seasons

Kyle Schwarber has 22 home runs through 59 team games, 9 behind Barry Bonds's 2001 pace at the same checkpoint (31). Comparable chases finished with a median of 44; 21.2% reached 50 and 4.4% reached 60 (n=113).

Retrosheet · verified play-by-play

If the pace holds

A projected top-9 season

If Kyle Schwarber finishes at the current projection of 60, it would rank No. 9 among all seasons since 1901 — only 8 finished higher.

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Franchise pressure

A franchise record is under pressure

The single-season record is 121 RBI, set by Carlos Pena in 2007. Jonathan Aranda projects to 124 and projects to clear it by 3.

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Only X seasons ever

Kyle Schwarber is building a rare combination

At his current pace, Kyle Schwarber would reach at least 60 HR, and 100 RBI. Only 8 completed seasons in the configured historical cohort reached every mark. The recent company includes Barry Bonds (2001), Sammy Sosa (2001), Mark McGwire (1999).

SABR Lahman Baseball Database · through 2021

Closest to .400