Baldwin Leads Off in October

Drake Baldwin is Atlanta's leadoff hitter in October. Not the experiment. The answer.

He hit the two-out, two-run homer in the ninth that turned 4-3 into 6-3 at Wrigley, off Edward Cabrera, a starter in his first relief appearance of the year. The start, the bullpen and the road question are in Ellis's piece. This is about the top of the card.

Baldwin first led off on May 4 at Seattle. Since August 25 he has led off 16 of the 21 games he has played, and tonight he did it while catching all nine innings. Sixteen of 21 is not a trial. It is a card.

His line batting first, by MLB's lineup data: .306 with 13 homers. Anywhere else in the order, .258 with 11. I am not telling you the slot made him a hitter. I am telling you nobody has a reason to move him.

The counter is Ronald Acuña Jr., who has led off 65 games this season, more than anyone on the roster. He hit second tonight and homered from there. That is the whole counter. It batted second.

A 25-year-old catcher in his second season, 24 homers, an .810 OPS, leading off a first-place lineup with ten games left. Call it a quirk. The card stopped treating it like one in August.

The October window I have held since August was gated on the lineup. Tonight was the lineup. It does not move on one road win in September, and I am not pretending it does. But the leadoff spot inside that window stopped being a question weeks ago.

Sixteen of the last 21 cards have had the same name at the top. The October ones will too.