Top News:
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Bill Buckner Strikes Again — The Boston Red Sox' odds of reaching the playoffs peaked on Sept. 3. Following a 12-7 win against the Texas Rangers, they held a 9-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays with 24 games to play, giving them a 99.6 percent chance of making the post-season.
Discussion:
DRaysBay, Baseball Nation, The Big Lead, Deadspin, The Soxaholix, Where Have You Gone …, JSOnline and Crashburn Alley
RELATED:
Dan Shaughnessy / Boston Globe:
Dream year ends in tatters — Sox make unwanted history — BALTIMORE - The greatest choke in baseball history ended the only way it could have ended, with the Red Sox gagging on the Camden Yards lawn one last time. — Truly unbelievable. This feels like revenge for 2004 and 2007.
Discussion:
Bats, Associated Press, The Big Lead, NESN.com, ESPN and Deadspin
Eric Wilbur / Boston Globe:
Splat — That's Red Sox owner John Henry's Tweet in the days just before his club inked outfielder Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142 million contract, this despite the fact that Crawford's career numbers at Fenway Park were quite pedestrian ( .275 average, .301 OBP, .708 OPS) …
Dan Rosenheck / Bats:
For Rays to Win, They Need Moore — For baseball fans who believe in momentum, it's probably time to crown the Tampa Bay Rays 2011 World Series champions right now. It's hard to resist calling a team that makes the playoffs despite nearly 300-million-to-one odds anything but a team of destiny.
Discussion:
DRaysBay and Baseball Nation
Fox Sports:
Red Sox ultimately can't weather Rays
Discussion:
Associated Press, Orioles Insider and Sports Illustrated
ESPN:
Research Notes … ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Down by nine games …
Discussion:
Amazin' Avenue, Baseball Nation, Hardball Times, DRaysBay and ESPN
Ben Walker / Associated Press:
What a finish! Rays, Cards clinch playoff spots
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com, Yahoo! Sports, Boston Globe, Phillies Nation, Hardball Times and Baseball Prospectus
Aaron Gleeman / HardballTalk:
Petco Park claims another victim as Padres fire hitting coach Randy Ready — Earlier this season general manager Jed Hoyer tried to deflect criticism aimed at hitting coach Randy Ready for the Padres' offensive struggles, but today the team fired Ready after 2.5 seasons on the job.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports and Al's Ramblings
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Associated Press:
Offense drops to two-decade low — NEW YORK — If you thought the 2011 season seemed like a throwback, you were right. — Offense dropped to a level not seen since Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling were dominating on the mound. — Nearly two decades later, Justin Verlander …
Associated Press:
MLB Attendance Up by Under 1 Percent — NEW YORK (AP) — Another sellout at AT&T Park, a fine showing at Petco Park and a nice send-off at Sun Life Stadium. — In a season full of comebacks, Major League Baseball attendance also rallied. — MLB's average attendance rose by about half …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Yahoo! Sports and Boston Herald
Espn.Com / MLB:
Indians pick up Manny Acta's option — CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians have picked up manager Manny Acta's contract option for 2013. — Acta kept the Indians in contention for much of this season before injuries overwhelmed the young club, which finished second in the AL Central.
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Rick Freeman / Associated Press:
Playoffs ready to take flight for Yankees, Tigers — NEW YORK—After a long flight, a pre-dawn arrival and a workout that came all too soon, Derek Jeter is ready for the playoffs. — Almost. First, a good night's sleep would be nice. — “Man, I got home at 4:30.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports
RELATED:
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Marlins might not be interested in Ramirez — Aramis Ramirez's first choice is staying with the Cubs, but he admires Ozzie Guillen. Denis Poroy~Getty Images — SAN DIEGO — Despite Aramis Ramirez's willingness to put the Florida Marlins on a short list of teams he'd consider signing …
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
Bob Dutton / Kansas City Star:
Royals fire McClure, Gibbons from coaching staff — The Royals took their first step toward next season Thursday morning by announcing pitching coach Bob McClure and bench coach John Gibbons will not return in 2012 on manager Ned Yost's staff. — The dismissals came roughly 12 hours …
Discussion:
Royals Review, HardballTalk and Yahoo! Sports
Kuiperfan / Joe Posnanski:
Baseball Night in America — Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That, in many ways, is the beauty of it. I realize that's a hard thing to explain to someone who doesn't love baseball. No, more than hard, it's an impossible thing to explain, because many people want sports to be more than life.
Discussion:
Baseball Prospectus
Andrew Baggarly / Extra Baggs:
Quick news and notes after the 2011 postmortem with Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy (18) — The sweet funk of formaldehyde is in the air, which means it must be time for the annual postmortem with Giants GM Brian Sabean and Manager Bruce Bochy. — I'll get to transcribing in a moment, but here is the short and quick breakdown:
Discussion:
McCovey Chronicles and HardballTalk
Associated Press:
Kemp Makes History in LA's 7-5 Win Over D-Backs — PHOENIX (AP) — Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer to become the first Dodgers player in 70 years to lead the NL in home runs and RBIs, and Los Angeles held off a late rally to beat the playoff-bound Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5 on Wednesday night.
Discussion:
True Blue LA
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