FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: October 4, 2025
The playoffs are off to a thrilling start, with three of the four Wild Card Series lasting the full three games and seven of the 11 games being decided by no more than three runs. We saw excellent defense in Chicago, an offensive outburst in Los Angeles, and a handful of great starting pitching performances.
The best part is we’re just getting started. Today, all four Division Series begin, which means we have another marathon day of baseball ahead of us. First up, we’ve got a pair of divisional foes squaring off, with the Brewers and Cubs set for 2:08 p.m. ET in Milwaukee, followed by the Blue Jays and Yankees at 4:08 p.m. ET in Toronto. In the third game of the day, Shohei Ohtani makes his postseason pitching debut against the Phillies; before he takes the mound, though, he’ll step into the Citizens Bank Park left-handed batter’s box as the Dodgers’ leadoff man at 6:38 p.m. ET. And then to cap it off, the Mariners host the Tigers at 8:38 p.m. ET. As always, we’ll be covering all the action here at FanGraphs.
Before we get to this week’s mailbag, I have one quick programming note to remind everyone of. We’ll still be doing our weekly mailbag during the postseason, but we might move around the specific day it runs depending on the playoff schedule. Our plan is to do one before every postseason round, as we are today. Also, I’d like to remind all of you 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.
I am sure there are baseball players out there who are delusional enough to want to be a player-manager, but chances are they are not good enough to make that demand and have a team accept. If JT Realmuto wants to be player-manager, teams will just move on to another catcher.
Some of this is just that there are a lot more players in MLB who aren’t big stars rather than those who are. But I would also guess that younger players are probably less likely to want to manage, and so it’s probably veterans in their decline phase who would pitch something like this. But it’s going to be hard enough for those guys to find work.
A more realistic scenario would be aging star wants a shot at managing. Think Babe Ruth signing with the Boston Braves. If someone had enough name brand recognition to draw a few percent more people to the gate, and they had enough left in the tank to be a roughly league average DH/pinch hitter, and they had the charisma and mental acumen required to handle players, front office and media – then you could see a player/manager happening again. Would sweeten the deal if it was a small market team bringing a hometown kid back to the fold.
I can’t think of a player today that would fit the bill in the next (or past) five years.