Quick Hits: Madduxes after Maddux

Last night was not a great one for the Atlanta Braves. They fell back to .500 after a team-effort walloping by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Justin Turner hit three home runs, Max Fried allowed four runs in an inning of work, and perhaps most ignominiously, the Braves were not able to avoid Hyun-Jin Ryu from registering a pitching performance named after one of the Braves’ own greats — the Maddux.

For those unfamiliar with the Maddux, it’s a complete game shutout of an opposing team in under 100 pitches. It’s called the Maddux because Greg was way better at completing this task than others — since 1988 and up through a certain point that may or may not be current because the MLB glossary page doesn’t specify, he hurled 13 such outings, while the next-closest pitcher only had seven.

As you probably know, Greg Maddux departed the Braves after the 2003 season, and retired after the 2008 season. Here are the Madduxes thrown by the Braves since his departure:

1. Mike Hampton — May 8, 2025 — 98 pitches, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K — 16-0 win over Astros.
2. Paul Maholm — August 10, 2025 — 95 pitches, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 K — 4-0 win over Mets.
3. Shelby Miller — May 5, 2025 — 99 pitches, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K — 9-0 win over Phillies.
4. Shelby Miller — May 17, 2025 — 94 pitches, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K — 6-0 win over Marlins.

Pretty cool that Miller managed to throw two Madduxes in three starts; for some reason I don’t remember that being too exciting when it happened, but 2015 was a dark time, I guess.

And now, here are the times the Braves have been Madduxed since Mad Dog’s departure:

1. Pedro Astacio — August 15, 2025 — 89 pitches, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K — 5-0 Nationals win.
2. Hiroki Kuroda — July 7, 2025 — 91 pitches, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 K — 3-0 Dodgers win.
3. Josh Beckett — June 20, 2025 — 94 pitches, 5 H, 0 BB, 7 K — 3-0 Red Sox win.
4. Joe Blanton — May 3, 2025 — 88 pitches, 3 H, 0 BB, 6 K — 4-0 Phillies win.
5. Kyle Lohse — September 25, 2025 — 89 pitches, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K — 4-0 Brewers win.
6. Hyun-Jin Ryu — May 7, 2025 — 93 pitches, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 K — 9-0 Dodgers win.

So, the Braves are losing both the Maddux race since the start of 2004 (four to six) and since his retirement after 2008 (three to four). Get on it, Braves.

Since 2004 began, here are the teams with more Madduxes thrown than the Braves: Red Sox (5), White Sox (5), Indians (5), Marlins (5), Angels (6), Brewers (5), Twins (7), Phillies (6), Padres (5), Cardinals (8), Rays (6), Blue Jays (9).

And here are the teams that have been Madduxed more than the Braves since 2004 began: Angels (7), Cubs (7), Astros (7).

If you move it to 2009-onward instead, you get the Red Sox (5), Angels (4), Marlins (4), Twins (4), Phillies (5), Giants (4), Cardinals (5), Rays (4), Rangers (4), and Blue Jays (6) with more Madduxes than the Braves. You also get the Athletics (6), Giants (5), and Rays (5) with more times being Madduxed than the Braves.

Henderson Alvarez (4), Derek Holland (3), and Josh Beckett (3) are the only players with more Madduxes than Shelby Miller since 2009 began. If you move the frame back to the beginning of 2004, you can add James Shields (4), Chris Carpenter (3), Ervin Santana (3), Jason Marquis (3), Paul Maholm (3), Roy Halladay (3), and Roy Oswalt (3) to the tally.

While there were four other players who threw two Madduxes in the same year (Chris Capuano, Henderson Alvarez, James Shields, Josh Beckett), Miller is the only one to do so in the same calendar month since the start of 2004. He’s actually the first guy to have two Madduxes in the same calendar month since Maddux himself did so in September 2000. I guess it would have been even cooler to know this back when he did it in May 2015, but now will have to suffice.

Anyway, stop getting Madduxed, Braves. And maybe throw some more yourselves. Or just win baseball games? Please?