In MLB history, only 10 players have hit seven home runs in a single post-season.
That includes a juiced-up Barry Bonds, a cheating Jose Altuve and Corey Seager, who hit five against the Atlanta Braves to earn him the NLCS MVP and then, heading into Tuesday, three more in the World Series.
At the top of the list sits Randy Arozarena, who has gone from being a little known to a household name in three and half weeks.
Reggie Jackson became famous as a great clutch hitter for his heroics from 1971-1986. Over that 17 years, he made 11 trips to the post-season and 318 plate appearances.
In total, he had 18 post-season homers.
The most he had in a single post-season was five, in 1977.
Three of those came on three pitches against three different pitchers in an 8-4, Game 6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers that gave the Yankees their 21st World Series title.
That night, Jackson became Mr. October.
In a Game 6 against the Dodgers 43 years later, Arozarena hit a first-inning dinger that was his record-extending 10th of this post-season.
He didn’t get any in Tampa’s two-game sweep of the Blue Jays, but has only been kept in the ballpark in eight of the 18 games since.
At 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, he does not have a slugger’s body.
Nor a slugger’s numbers.
He only had eight big-league homers in 99 plate appearances before the last three weeks.
But what he has done this month has simply been incredible to watch, a stretch of magic that only comes along every once in awhile.
What he has done has gone from being a little known to the modern-day Mr. October.
And it’s been fun to watch.
STOPS AND STARTS
Speculation in a piece by The Athletic’s Rob Rossi is that the Penguins are considering 70-year old Dale Tallon for a job. Makes sense. Tallon, a former GM of the Blackhawks and Panthers, is good friends with and a former teammate of Penguins GM Jim Rutherford. But does such a bond factor into these decisions for Rutherford? On Monday, he fired assistant GM Jason Karmanos, whose dad Peter gave Rutherford his first start as a GM with the Detroit Compuware Junior Wings. Of course, Peter might have celebrated the move. In 2016, his three sons sued him for $105 million … Remember how loudly and proudly Joey Moss used to sing the national anthem before Edmonton Oilers games? Good suggestion came from TSN1260 host Jason Gregor the day after the team’s beloved locker room attendant passed away at the age of 57: Should the Oilers make their new goal song La Bamba, which was Moss’ favourite song, it would surely be a huge hit with the fans … The Hurricanes have avoided salary arbitration with Haydn Fleury by giving the seventh overall pick of the 2014 entry draft a two-year deal with a very modest average annual value of $1.3 million. At 24, Fleury is starting to give a glimpse of his potential. Good GM work by Don Waddell.
BETWEEN PERIODS
As reported in detail elsewhere, Erik Karlsson, Kyle Turris, Bobby Ryan, Mark Borowiecki, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and their spouses have teamed up in support of the Ottawa-Gatineau Youth Foundation, a charity headed up by Danielle Robinson that is committed to “making a measurable difference in the lives of kids throughout the region.” It is very much worth supporting … Nobody wanted the Dodgers to win Tuesday night, but only because everybody wanted to see a Game 7.
TO MOSCOW WITH LOVE
The worst, first overall NHL draft pick since 1967 (see Closing Time below), KHLer Nail Yakupov has been “transferred” from Amur Khabarovsk to Avangard because he had a big contract that didn’t meet his production. He is now earning a “much lower wage”, and has responded to his new surroundings with two goals in his first two games … Michal Jordan (the former Carolina Hurricanes defenceman, not the star of The Last Dance) scored a hat trick for Amur Khabarovsk in a 7-1 beating of Ak Bars … Did you know that the president of the KHL is the same Alexei Morozov who spent seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins (1997-2004), including a 20-goal, 49-point 2001-02? I didn’t.
ON THIS (OCT. 28) DAY
Exactly 61 years ago, the American Football League awarded Buffalo Bills franchise to Ralph C. Wilson. They won the AFL championship in 1964 and 1965 but, well, their Super Bowl failures are well documented … Exactly 42 years ago, Bobby Orr scored his last NHL goal against the Detroit Red Wings …. Exactly two years ago, utility man Steve Pearce was named MVP of the World Series after the Boston Red Sox beat the L.A. Dodgers 5-1 in Game 5. Exactly four months before that, the Blue Jays traded Pearce to Boston, and threw in $1.5 million, for minor-league infielder Santiago Espinal. The now-25 year old Espinal made his MLB debut this season, hitting .267 in 60 games for Toronto … Celebrating birthdays are Kevin Dineen (57), Benoit Hogue (54), Juan Guzman (54), Terrell Davis (48), while it’s been exactly 14 years since basketball legend Red Auerbach died of a heart attack at the age of 89. Also meeting his maker on this day was former boxer Trevor Berbick, who was the last man to fight (and defeat) Muhammad Ali in 1981. Berbick was murdered at a church in Norwich, Jamaica by an assailant who repeatedly bashed his head with a steel pipe. He was 52.
CLOSING TIME
Avangard is the fourth KHL team for the 27-year old Yakupov, who was taken first overall by the Edmonton in a very thin 2012 NHL entry draft. Yakupov played four seasons with the Oilers and was also a bust with the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche. Comparable first overall flops — but not quite to the same extent — were goalie Rick DiPietro (Islanders, 2000), centre Patrik Stefan (Thrashers, 1999), defenceman Gord Kluzak (Bruins, 1982, but he had serious knee injuries), defenceman Greg Joly (Capitals, 1974) and goalie Michel Plasse (Canadiens, 1968). Of the 11 players picked in the first round of the 1967 NHL amateur draft, only Serge Bernier, who was selected fifth by the Flyers, played a game in the league.
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