What is the story about?
Good
morning.
- The Rays swept the Yankees in the American League Wild Card Series thanks in part to a fan interference call that went the Rays way. It’s what would have happened to Jeffrey Maier had MLB had video review back in 1996.
- Jared Greenspan has four important things going forward for the Rays into the American League Championship Series.
- Adam Berry notes that Rays closer Bryan Baker has been on an historic run.
- Hannah Keyser writes that Junior Caminero would be a household name if he played for the Yankees. Instead, his Rays just sent the Yankees home. She profiles of Caminero here.
- Will Sammon notes that the Rays are known for getting a lot out of a little. Sammon has five examples of players that came up big for Tampa Bay despite being acquired for very little. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Matt Martell has a look at the Anthony Volpe home run that got overturned on video replay and the game three that sent the Yankees home early. (Fangraphs paywall)
- Julian McWilliams writes that the Rays sweep of the Yankees epitomized modern Yankees futility.
- Aaron Judge, who missed the entire playoffs with a calf injury wants the Yankees to go “all-in” in 2027 and also bring back manager Aaron Boone. Bryan Hoch reports.
- Mike Axisa evaluates whether or not Yankees manager Aaron Boone or general manager Brian Cashman’s jobs are in jeopardy.
- Ian O’Connor thinks the Yankees should fire Boone, but he doesn’t expect that they will. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Ben Glicksman argues that the Yankees will never win a World Series title with Aaron Boone as manager.
- Questions heading into the offseason for the eliminated Yankees, Padres and Braves.
- Mike Axisa asks what’s next for the Padres?
- And Dayn Perry looks at what questions the Braves ar facing going into next year.
- Paul Casella has five storylines for the Dodgers heading into the National League Championship Series with the Brewers.
- Katie Woo has some lessons learned from the Dodgers NL Division Series win. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Sonja Chen examines how the Dodgers could set up their pitching rotation for the NLCS.
- Ben Clemens argues that the math says it doesn’t really matter how a team’s rotation is set in a five- or seven-game series.
- Ken Rosenthal examines Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr.’s disappointing season and postseason and asks what the future holds for Acuña. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Jayson Stark has the Wild and Weird of the Division Series. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Will these playoffs have any impact on the Collective Bargaining talks? People in the game sound off anonymously.
- Major League Baseball has proposed a 154-game season, a best-of seven Division Series and allowing the higher seeds to pick their opponent as a part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
- MLB has also sent around a memo detailing how the owners, executives and teams should act during the lockout. (The Athletic sub. req.) Evan Drellich reports. (Non-paywalled summary.)
- Will Leitch has five questions about the Cardinals this offseason.
- Matthew Leach has five questions about the Twins this offseason.
- Keegan Mathewson lists the five biggest needs of the Blue Jays this winter.
- Joel Blank wonders if the Astros general manager and manager jobs are the least desirable in the game.
- Jim Callis and Jonathon Mayo have each team’s Minor League Hitter and Pitcher Prospect of the Year.
- Michael Clair tells you all you need to know about the Premier12 tournament in Barcelona, which is an Olympic Qualifier tournament.
- And finally, The Rays trolled the Yankees by playing the “Theme from ‘New York, New York’” in their locker room celebration.
