Back-to-backs and Ohtani's 40-40 vision highlight stats of the week

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (Aug. 23-29).

Going back-to-back: On Sunday, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hit back-to-back home runs for the sixth time this season. That’s tied with Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira in 2009 for the most times hitting back-to-back homers by a Yankees duo in a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The only duos to do so more times in a season in at least the expansion era (1961) are 1997 Andres Galarraga and Larry Walker (eight), 2023 Austin Riley and Matt Olson (seven) and 2001 Rich Aurilia and Barry Bonds (seven).

All Rise: Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season on Sunday, giving him three seasons with at least 50. He’s the fifth player with at least three such seasons, joining Babe Ruth (four), Mark McGwire (four), Sammy Sosa (four) and Alex Rodriguez. His 50th home run was his 18th in the first inning, tying Rodriguez in 2001 for the most first-inning homers in a season.

Jackson Prime: Jackson Merrill hit a walk-off home run for the Padres in the ninth on Sunday. It was his fifth game-tying or go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later this season, setting a record for the most in a season at age 21 or younger all-time, per Elias. He broke a tie at four with 1929 Mel Ott. Merrill’s five such home runs this season are two more than anyone else in MLB.

Seeing double: On Monday, Danny Jansen caught for the Red Sox in the completion of a suspended game from June 26 against the Blue Jays. He had been the starting catcher for Toronto in that game before being traded to Boston, and was at the plate in the second inning when the game was delayed due to rain. By coming in for the Red Sox in the resumption, Jansen became the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.

Pip Pip Chourio: Jackson Chourio hit the longest home run of his young career thus far on Tuesday, crushing a ball 449 feet. The only other players to hit at least one home run that long before turning 21 since Statcast began tracking (2015) are Carlos Correa, Fernando Tatis Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

That’s a mouthful: On Tuesday, the Braves’ Spencer Schwellenbach and Twins’ Simeon Woods Richardson faced off, marking the most combined letters in last names between starting pitchers in the game in MLB history, per Elias (28). The prior record was 25 total letters, which had happened four times. Woods Richardson was part of two of those, against Spencer Arrighetti and Carmen Mlodzinski earlier this season. The other two were William VanLandingham against Jason Isringhausen in 1996 and Fritz Ostermueller against Ken Raffensberger in 1944.

Chicago style: The Cubs came back from a seven-run deficit on Wednesday in Pittsburgh to cap off a high-scoring series. They scored 41 runs in the three-game set, their fourth most in a three-game series since 1901. Overall, the Cubs have scored 73 runs in their last seven games. That’s their most in a seven-game span since June 27-July 2, 1961.

Air Yordan: Yordan Alvarez had quite the day on Wednesday, hitting three homers. It was his third career three-homer game, tied with Ralph Kiner and Johnny Mize for second-most in a player’s first 610 career games, behind only Mookie Betts (four). It was also his 20th career multi-HR game, trailing only Kiner’s 24 for the most in a player’s first 610 career games. Wednesday was Alvarez’s 606th game, so he could still move up either list in the coming days.

Shotime: Shohei Ohtani registered the sixth 40-40 season in MLB history on Friday, and through Thursday, he’s on pace for 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. The highest total a player has reached in both home runs and stolen bases in a season is 42, by Ohtani this year and Rodriguez in 1998 (42 HR, 46 SB). Ohtani is second in the Majors in both home runs and stolen bases. The only players to finish a season top-two in both are 1909 Ty Cobb and 1908 Honus Wagner.

Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 592 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only six other streaks of at least 500 since 2000, per Elias. They belong to 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152 consecutive games), 2018-22 Whit Merrifield (553), 2010-14 Prince Fielder (547), 2000-03 Alex Rodriguez (546), 2003-06 Hideki Matsui (518) and 2004-07 Mark Teixeira (507).