Top News:
Associated Press:
Bumgarner, Giants Beat Royals 3-2 to Win Series — Madison Bumgarner closes it out and the San Francisco Giants hold off the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 7 for their third World Series title in five years. — Alex Gordon hit a two-out single in the ninth inning and went all the way to third …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com and Surviving Grady
RELATED:
Rob Neyer / Fox Sports:
GAME 7? NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING. — The confounding thing about Major League Baseball's Biggest Possible Game? It makes all of us so small, for at least these next few hours. Afterward, we can all go back to pretending we know everything. — Now, though?
Discussion:
Baseball Prospectus and USA Today
Associated Press:
Royals crush Giants to tie up World Series, force Game 7 — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A couple hundred fans stood behind the Royals' dugout for more than a half-hour after the final out, screaming and waving white rally towels. — Bring on Game 7! — Yordano Ventura, a 23-year-old rookie pitching …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com, USA Today, Royals Review, ESPN, Bucs Dugout, Federal Baseball, Faith and Fear in Flushing, MLB, Bleacher Report and Red Reporter
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Oddities Abound in Even World Series — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The historical oddity of this World Series can be measured in the pitch count of Santiago Casilla. He is the closer for the San Francisco Giants — and a very good one, at that — yet for six games he has hardly been needed.
Discussion:
McCovey Chronicles, Camden Chat, Athletics Nation and Pinstripe Alley
David Pinto / baseballmusings.com:
Even Giants — The first and third innings saw the Giants …
Discussion:
Royals Review
Dave Cameron / Fox Sports:
ROAD MAPS TO PITCHING SUCCESS IN GAME 7
Discussion:
Royals Review, Minor League Ball, McCovey Chronicles and FanGraphs Baseball
Jon Heyman / CBSSports.com:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Joe Maddon is about to become the new manager of the Cubs, sources tell CBSSports.com. — Maddon and the Cubs are on the verge of agreeing to a mega deal, according to people familair with the situation. — The Cubs denied that a deal was done in response.
Discussion:
Voices, New York Times, MLB.com, Baseball America, Bleacher Report and DRaysBay
RELATED:
Daryl Van Schouwen / Chicago Sun Times:
Cubs in talks with Joe Maddon, could have answer by Friday — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the ball in his hands and his team leading the World Series three games to two, Jake Peavy had the starting assignment every pitcher dreams of — a chance to win the series.
Discussion:
HardballTalk, NESN.com, Bleed Cubbie Blue, MLB Daily Dish, Red Reporter, Royals Review, Amazin' Avenue and Lone Star Ball
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Cubs To Hire Joe Maddon As Manager — The Cubs will hire Joe Maddon as their new manager, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Earlier today, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Maddon and the Cubs had been negotiating. Rick Renteria, who had been serving as manager …
Discussion:
Rays Index, HardballTalk, Deadspin and Bucs Dugout
ESPN:
Sources: Maddon, Cubs on verge of contract … The Chicago Cubs are on the verge of hiring Joe Maddon as manager, as first reported by CBSSports.com. — Two sources familiar with the situation confirmed the agreement to ESPN's Jim Bowden. However, three team sources told ESPN's Buster Olney …
Alex Speier / Baseball America:
2015 Boston Red Sox Top 10 Prospects With Scouting Reports [VIDEO] — Want More? Complete 2015 Top 10 Prospects Rankings — Get it all: Subscribe to Baseball America — Go 30 deep: Order the 2015 Prospect Handbook! — The Red Sox entered 2014 as defending champions and concluded …
Discussion:
NESN.com, Over the Monster and Dan Shaughnessy Watch
Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Reds To Exercise Club Option On Cueto, Buy Out Hannahan And Ludwick — 2:21pm: The Reds have also declined Ludwick's $9MM option, instead paying him a $4.5MM buyout, Cotillo tweets. The 36-year-old's down 2014 season made that salary excessive, though the steep buyout tag and Cincinnati's outfield needs …
Discussion:
HardballTalk, MLB Daily Dish and Red Reporter
J.J. Cooper / Baseball America:
Giants, Royals Not Your Normal Wild Card Clubs — Whichever team wins tonight's Game 7, there is sure to be mention of how a team that didn't even win 90 games during the regular season is the World Series champion. — It will be cited as an example of the randomness of the playoffs.
Discussion:
Talking Chop
Derek Jeter / The Players' Tribune:
The Clean Up — Cleaning out my locker on my final day at Yankee Stadium was harder than I thought. Not for any emotional reason—although it was definitely a little sad—it's just that I had never really done it before. Even when we moved from the old Yankee Stadium …
Discussion:
NESN.com and The LoHud Yankees Blog
