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The First Pitch: July 5, 2025
The Chicago Cubs belt a club-record eight home runs, with three of them coming off the bat of Michael Busch, to defeat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, 11-3. Two of the other five bombs are hit by Pete Crow-Armstrong, giving him 23 on the year; both he and Busch each have four total hits on the day.
For the Cardinals, the eight homers allowed set a club record of their own; starter Miles Mikolas gives up six of the long balls, tying an all-time major league mark held by 10 other pitchers—most recently by the Cubs’ Matt Swarmer in 2022.
The Dodgers, who earlier this year suffered their worst shutout loss (16-0, to the Cubs) in Dodger Stadium history, set another nadir with their worst-ever defeat at the 64-year-old ballpark by run differential, 18-1 to the Houston Astros. Isaac Paredes sets the tone immediately by punching out Ben Casparius’ first pitch of the evening past the left-field foul pole. Four more taters will be struck by the Astros, including two by Jose Altuve and the eighth by Christian Walker over his last six games played at Chavez Ravine; his six straight games with a homer sets a ballpark record.
Only the 1955 Kansas City A’s have lost more than two home games in a season by 16 or more runs; their three blowout losses include a 29-6 rout by the Chicago White Sox in just their sixth game played at Municipal Stadium after relocating from Philadelphia.
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh unloads two more home runs in a 6-0 home win over the Pirates, ending Pittsburgh’s six-game win streak and giving him more homers (35) this year than during his entire 2024 campaign (34). It’s the most round-trippers collected by a major leaguer in advance of the All-Star Game since 2013, when Chris Davis belted out 37; Barry Bonds holds the record with 39 in 2001.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)
4-3-4-5—Michael Busch, Chicago Cubs
The third-year slugger led the charge with three of the Cubs’ team-record eight home runs in their 11-3 romp of the visiting Cardinals. Busch’s power surge gives him 17 on the year, as he closes in on the 21 he belted in 152 games for all of last season. It’s his fourth career four-hit game, while the five RBIs set a personal best.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)
8-4-2-0-2-6—Adrian Houser, Chicago White Sox
In a game pitting the two worst teams of 2025 thus far—played before a full house in Denver, where fireworks must have been the main attraction—Houser starred with eight excellent innings, allowing only a pair of unearned runs in the fifth as the White Sox grabbed a 3-2 win over the Rockies. It’s the continuation of a solid run of pitching for Chicago after being let go by the Rangers in mid-May; in eight starts for the White Sox, he’s 4-2 with a 1.60 ERA.
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1947: Three months after Jackie Robinson’s debut, Larry Doby becomes the first African-American to play for an American League team when he strikes out in a pinch-hitting appearance in Cleveland’s 6-5 loss to the White Sox at Chicago.
1991: The National League announces the addition of two new teams: The Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins. They will both begin play in 1993.
2002: Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400, passes away at the age of 83. Although his health had deteriorated over the past few years, his outspoken character had not—continuing to offer impassioned opinions about baseball.
2004: The Dodgers’ Eric Gagne blows a ninth-inning lead against Arizona, a game ironically won by Los Angeles in 10 innings, 6-5. Gagne’s blown save ends a record streak of 84 straight successfully converted saves.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero (22)
Cincinnati outfielder Austin Hays (30), 2023 All-Star
Shohei Ohtani (31), once-in-a-century talent with elite hitting and pitching skills; 2018 AL Rookie of the Year, three-time MVP; first player to collect 50+ home runs and steals each in the same season
Washington infielder Jorge Polanco (32), 2019 All-Star and collector of 140 home runs
Goose Gossage (74), Hall-of-Fame reliever of 124 wins and 310 saves; nine-time All-Star; three-time league leader in saves
Gary Matthews (75), reliable outfielder of 16 seasons; 1973 NL Rookie of the Year; 1979 All-Star; 2,011 career hits
Born on this date:
Curt Blefary (1943), 1965 AL Rookie of the Year; 112 career home runs
Bump Hadley (1904), 16-year pitcher with 161-165 record; lost 20 games in back-to-back seasons with awful St. Louis Browns teams
Shameless Link of the Day
The June edition of the Comebacker is now live, featuring the big moments, strange events, and our picks of the Best and Worst hitters, pitchers, and teams from each league over the past 30 days.
Join Us on X and BlueSky
Besides our growing and active presence on X, TGG has spread its social media wings to BlueSky for those who’ve found the X culture too toxic. For those who are wondering, we provide the same posts on both platforms, and they’re non-political. We’re just talking baseball.
Meanwhile, we’ve given up our fight trying to reactivate our Facebook page, which was hacked last year. The page remains up but is frozen in time, as we are unable to access it—and Facebook, in all its infinite lack of wisdom, continues to provide absolutely no customer support in the matter as they literally have none. All the more reason to join us on X and BlueSky.
And Now For Something Completely Different From TGG Co-Founder Eric Gouldsberry
From 1975-78, my father, Ray Gouldsberry, took photographs of the original San Jose Earthquakes soccer team, an ingeniously marketed collection of colorful players embraced by a growing, sports-starved community which constantly sold out ancient, cozy Spartan Stadium. Shortly after my father’s passing in 2019, I took the negatives of all the precious, invaluable photos he snapped, scanned them, and put together Our Life & Times with the Earthquakes: Images and Memories from the Glory Days of San Jose’s Original Pro Soccer Team. It’s not only a tribute to the Earthquakes and the North American Soccer League, but to my father for capturing all the wonderful memories we shared during our time as season ticket holders of the team through its entire existence (1974-84).
Much like baseball’s Deadball Era, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes looks at a similar era in soccer history when the game in America was boldly attempting to blaze its own trail clad in flamboyance and imperfection, giving the NASL vivid character. As with those early times of baseball, historical images from the NASL remain scarce and elusive, making Ray Gouldsberry’s photographic collection of the Earthquakes and other star NASL players all the more cherished.
Although the Earthquakes are the primary focus of Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes, the book also spotlights the vibrant and turbulent history of the NASL and its legendary list of stars such as Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia and George Best (who briefly played for the Earthquakes), all through my father’s photos and the treasure trove of memorabilia I collected during those years.
Formatted at 8.25” x 8.25”, running 200 pages plus cover and containing over 200 photos, 100 images of memorabilia, and a foreword by former Quake and U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes is available for purchase on Amazon. Read and enjoy!
To Whom It May Concern
We are proud of what we have built at This Great Game, but we also admit it is not perfect. Occasionally, fans from all walks of life check in and point out errors, and we are grateful to these external editors. Our site is all the better because of you.
Also, we have had many folks chime in on our various lists in the Lists and Teams sections, many of them disagreeing with some of our choices. Since all lists are made to be argued, this is to be expected. If your arguments are respectful, we will respond in kind and join in a civilized debate—and we’ll often see your viewpoints, since no list should qualify as The Gospel. But if your responses contain the sort of vitriol found so often these days in social media circles, you’re going to get ignored. So please, respond respectfully, engage in polite conversation with us, and enjoy the site!
