FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: November 3, 2025
Just after Yoshinobu Yamamoto escaped the bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth inning to send Game 7 of the World Series into extra innings, I received a text message from my dad that said, “Why did he slide?” The “he” was Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who was thrown out at home by Miguel Rojas on a bang-bang play for the second out of the inning. The throw momentarily pulled Will Smith off the plate, but the catcher reconnected with the dish just before IKF’s front foot touched it. Sliding slows down the momentum of a baserunner, and my dad was arguing that if IKF hadn’t slid, he would’ve been safe and the Blue Jays would’ve walked-off the Dodgers in Game 7. Instead, Los Angeles won it, 5-4, in 11 innings to become the first back-to-back champions in 25 years.
We have no way of knowing for sure, but after watching the replay about a dozen times, I agree with my dad that Kiner-Falefa would’ve been safe had he remained upright and sprinted through the plate, albeit barely. Heck, a bigger secondary lead might have done it, even with his slide. These are the extremely fine margins with which this most glorious and baffling World Series was decided. For fans of the two teams, I’m sure it was excruciating to watch; to me and all the other neutral observers out there, it was an absolute delight.
We’ll be wrapping up our coverage of the World Series throughout the day here at FanGraphs, including in this mailbag. Before we continue, though, I’d like to remind you all that this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for an upcoming mailbag, send me an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
Matt is the associate editor of FanGraphs. Previously, he was the baseball editor at Sports Illustrated. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Men’s Health, Baseball Prospectus, and Lindy’s Sports Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @ByMattMartell and Blue Sky @mattmartell.bsky.social.
Do bonuses also get charged as taxable revenue in the home state and not where the games are played? I wonder if that is also part of Vladdy’s contractual strategy.
Isn’t that what the second-to-last paragraph implies?
I believe that’s what happened with Blake Snell as well. His contract had something like a $50 million signing bonus because he lives in Washington, which doesn’t have a state income tax, meaning he’d get to keep way more of it than if it was paid as salary earned in California.
I assume that is the case with most of the salary deferrals as well. Push that income out until after you’re retired and you can take it tax-free in Florida or Texas or wherever.
I’d be surprised if the IRS would allow that transparent of a dodge
Would be a question for state revenue departments, and it would probably be hard for them to write a constitutional law allowing them to tax income being paid to someone who was no longer resident in the state. (I don’t know though, I’m not a lawyer or accountant or anything.)
They’re betting that decline in purchasing power will be less than state income tax savings. That isn’t a given
This assumes the price is set before they start talking about deferrals. Agents understand the time value of money.