I've got the following magic numbers.
Home field: 30
Bye: 25
Division: 19
Playoff spot: 19
I would contend division is the third most important of those.
5 starts... Shoved in 1 (G1 NLCS) , pretty good in another (G1 WS), mediocre in 1 (G2 NLDS) rocked in 2 (G5 NLCS, G5 WS).
I'm formulating a theory now that he probably shouldn't see a team twice in a series.
I think so? Not the last few years since Benetti moved to Fox (and Walton passed away last year). Walton's primary partner at ESPN was Dave Pasch. I can go into the archives to see how often they worked together... I do know Walton guested for a couple games with the White Sox when Steve Stone was out.
Edit: I found about 10 games in The506 Archives where they worked together from the 2018 Maui Invitational to when Benetti moved to Fox in 2022.
I wasn't really saying that. I was just pointing out he's really good at basketball. He often gets paired with Bill Raftery or Robbie Hummel, so he gets somebody good and entertaining to do games with.