Late-season suspense, post-season berths and awards talk fill September meeting with fries and wings on the side

September 2025 Newsletter

By Gilbert D. Martinez

A dozen chapters members and guests gathered on Saturday to ponder the tightening races for spots in MLB’s postseason (some were more enthused than others) and the potential MVP in each league.

Over lunch at Hurricane Grill & Wings in Round Rock, we marveled at the unreal winning streak by Tom Wancho’s Cleveland Guardians and wondered if the Seattle Mariners’ time has come to overtake the Martinezes’ Houston Astros.

We also talked about New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s substantial lead by WAR over the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh. Some thought that Judge, by the numbers, should be the AL MVP, but others thought that Raleigh is the better story that might attract votes from baseball sportswriters. We won’t know until November when the baseball awards are announced. Stay tuned!

Before we find out about the awards, we have a week left in the season and the World Series Watch Party next month to look forward to! As is our long tradition, chapter member Jim Baker will host the watch party. It will be the evening of Saturday, Oct. 25. We know that it will be World Series Game 2, but it’s anyone’s guess as to who will battle for the championship. Speaking of guesses, see the Predictatron update below from Jim Baker to see how our group of prognosticators are doing with a week left!

We’ll announce the meeting in early October and call for RSVPs later in the month. In the meantime, save the date for one of the chapter’s most anticipated meetings of the year!

Cubaball in November
By Monte Cely

Cubaball is back and heading to Havana in November.  There are a few seats left on the tour and if you’ve ever dreamed of seeing baseball and the many wonders of the “Pearl of the Antilles,” now’s your chance.  

Fellow SABR member Kit Krieger is again leading the popular Cubaball journey, the first since the pandemic.  The tour runs November 14-21.  You’ll stay at a private hotel in Havana and take in béisbol cubano in Havana (2 games), Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, and Artemisa.

Cubaball is very popular among SABR members, and I went on the tour in 2017.  I can say that it’s a great experience and a unique baseball journey that you’ll never forget!

For more information, email Kit Krieger at ejkrieger@shaw.ca – or contact me at cely@swbell.net and I’ll forward your inquiry to Kit.

Predictatron Update: Topmost Turvy!

By Jim Baker

With but a single week to go in the season, we’ve got ourselves a case of the upheavals in both divisions and for the very control of this contest! Mr. Harrell has reasserted himself as the leader of these proceedings after posting one of the better performances this week while previous pacesetter Ms. Martinez was experiencing a negative week. Meanwhile, in the Brian Rogers Division, Mr. Martinez has surged to the lead on the back of a nine-point outpouring of pointly goodness.

As we head into the final turn, here’s how the top five look:

809 Mike Harrell
800 Raeanne Martinez
797 Gilbert Martinez
794 Ryan Pollack
793 Bob Windham

Our Player of the Week is Mr. Dillon who led the way with 13 points. This afforded him a two-place jump in the Eric Robinson Division. Our best weeks look like this:

13 Mike Dillon
12 Mike Harrell
12 Tom Wancho
10 Michael Bass
 9 Gilbert Martinez, Jerry Miller

We now have four pursuers in single digits out of first in the Brian Rogers Division and the final week is going to prove pivotal in the outcome of that particular argument.

As you can see from the playoff grid now affixed to the standings, only six players still have their full load of potential playoff points. They are:

Tom Wancho
Don Dingee
John Rechtorovic
Mike Harrell
Raeanne Martinez
Jerry Miller

Buckle up, batten down the hatches and brace yourself for a wild finish to the regular season portion of the 2025 Hornsby Chapter Predictatron!

Through games of Sunday, September 21, or 96.3 percent of the 2025 season:

	PLAYER	Points	PB	Last	^/v	prev	move	alcs	alcs	nlcs	nlcs	alws	nlws	champ	Pot
1	Gilbert Martinez	797		788	9	3	2	BAL	HOU	PHI	LAD	HOU	PHI	HOU	44
2	Ryan Pollack	794	3	797	-3	1	-1	BOS	HOU	ATL	LAD	BOS	LAD	LAD	44
3	Jim Baker	792	5	790	2	2	-1	BAL	NYY	PHI	LAD	BAL	LAD	BAL	20
4	Tom Wancho	791	6	779	12	6	2	BOS	NYY	LAD	SDP	BOS	LAD	LAD	48
5	Scott Gay	789	8	786	3	4	-1	BAL	NYY	PHIL	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	36
6	Team Hall	781	16	780	1	5	-1	BAL	BOS	ATL	LAD	BAL	ATL	BAL	8
7	Brian Rogers	777	20	776	1	8	1	BAL	HOU	ATL	LAD	BAL	ATL	ATL	8
8	Don Dingee	776	21	773	3	9	1	BOS	SEA	NYM	LAD	BOS	NYM	BOS	48
9	Kevin Barnes	775	22	778	-3	7	-2	NYY	TEX	PHI	LAD	TEX	PHI	TEX	20
10	John Rechtorovic	752	45	745	7	10	0	BOS	NYY	NYM	LAD	NYY	NYM	NYY	48
11	Mike McNulty	749	48	742	7	11	0	BOS	TEX	ATL	LAD	TEX	ATL	ATL	8
12	Syd Polk	714	83	714	0	12	0	BAL	TEX	ATL	LAD	TEX	ATL	TEX	4

	PLAYER	Points	PB	Last	^/v	prev	move	alcs	alcs	nlcs	nlcs	alws	nlws	champ	Pot
1	Mike Harrell	809		797	12	2	1	BOS	DET	PHI	LAD	BOS	LAD	LAD	48
2	Raeanne Martinez	800	9	805	-5	1	-1	BOS	HOU	CHC	LAD	HOU	CHC	HOU	48
3	Bob Windham	793	16	789	4	3	0	BOS	NYY	ATL	LAD	DET	LAD	LAD	44
4	Jerry Miller	786	23	777	9	8	4	BOS	SEA	ARI	LAD	SEA	LAD	LAD	48
5	Eric Robinson	785	24	780	5	7	2	BAL	TEX	ATL	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	28
6	Gary McIntosh	781	28	782	-1	5	-1	BAL	DET	PHI	LAD	DET	LAD	LAD	44
7	Dan Walsh	777	32	785	-8	4	-3	BAL	HOU	ATL	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	32
7	Ira Siegel	777	32	771	6	10	3	NYY	KCR	MIL	LAD	NYY	LAD	NYY	44
9	Mike Dillon*	775	34	762	13	11	2	BOS	NYY	ATL	LAD	NYY	LAD	NYY	44
10	Frank Rechtorovic	774	35	775	-1	9	-1	NYY	TEX	ATL	LAD	LAD	NYY	NYY	40
10	Chris Crombar	774	35	782	-8	5	-5	BAL	TEX	ATL	LAD	TEX	LAD	LAD	28
12	Jan Larson	757	52	761	-4	12	0	BAL	SEA	PHI	LAD	BAL	LAD	LAD	36
13	Michael Bass	702	107	692	10	13	0	BAL	SEA	PHI	LAD	BAL	LAD	BAL	20
	*Player of the Week

Colorado Rockies evade a dubious honor

Some of us have been watching the Rockies’ serious attempt to top the Chicago White Sox for most losses in a season, achieved just last year. Jan Larson shared on our Google group email list when the Rockies saved themselves on Sept. 19.

“The Rockies won their 42nd game of the season this evening and have thereby mathematically eliminated themselves from any chances of breaking the 2024 White Sox modern Major League Baseball record for most losses in a season.  The Sox continue to hold that record with 121 losses having wrested that title from the ’62 Mets.”

SABR Rocky Mountain Chapter member and friend to the Hornsby Chapter Peter Myers, who just finished his third year as an usher at Coors Field, responded, “And I was there to experience the joy.”

Upcoming meetings

As mentioned above, the October meeting will be the World Series Watch Party for Game 2 on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Jim Baker’s home in Cedar Park.

For the November meeting, we’ll meet for lunch at Cover 3 on Anderson Lane in Central Austin on Sunday, Nov. 16.

We haven’t set the date yet for the December meeting, but we’re planning a mid-month lunch meeting at County Line on the Lake. Details will be forthcoming soon.