Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
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The Blue Jays avoided a sweep with a win on Monday, but after a 14-2 drubbing on Tuesday, they find themselves down 3-1 in the ALCS to the Royals. Their season could end on Wednesday with Marco Estrada on the mound against Edinson Volquez in a rematch of Game 1. The Jays need Volquez to struggle in the flyball-happy Rogers Centre, because he certainly did not skip a beat in pitcher-friendly Kauffman last week.
That isn’t the only series that could reach its conclusion today, as the Cubs are now down 0-3 to the Mets after losing to Jacob deGrom and a healthy dose of Daniel Murphy. Since making the playoffs, Cubs fans and children of the 80s have talked up how amazing it would be if Chicago snapped their 106-year streak without a World Series in the same year that Back to the Future Part II predicted. Now, they’ll just be trying to keep their season alive behind Jason Hammel on the day in the movie where this “news” is reported.
You’re also likely to see a lot of “Well, another Theo Epstein team came back down from 0-3 to defeat a New York team, then went on to win the World Series against a team from Missouri!” out there on Wednesday. That will only intensify if the Cubs manage to stave off elimination against rookie Steven Matz and the Mets on the same day the Royals advance. That’s been done, though, Cubs fans. Don’t you want your own story to tell? Even if they fail to advance in 2015, the Cubs have a young, talented core, and should be back again soon. “Should,” because baseball, as the Cubs know, is an evil, evil thing when it chooses to be.
- These are the four underappreciated players left in the 2015 playoffs. One of them, Chris Young, did a fine job holding off the Blue Jays' lineup before he was lifted early in favor of the Royals' wondrous bullpen.
- Young also put that Princeton education to good use, saying he "couldn't care less" about pitcher wins, which he referred to as a "somewhat ridiculous stat" to obsess over in a "team game." My heart, y'all. My heart.
- 14-2 was an awful way to lose, but hey, the Blue Jays lightened the mood by letting position player Cliff Pennington pitch for them, the first time a position player has ever done so in the playoffs.
- Before their win, the Royals had pitchers complaining that they believed the Blue Jays were stealing signs. Even if they were -- and there is no evidence this occurred -- who cares? If your signs are being stolen, you should come up with better signs.
- The Simpsons made a special World Series promo, once again reminding us that baseball and The Simpsons are a lovely little match.
- Daniel Murphy has a NSFW nickname among Cubs' supporters.
- The Troy Tulowitzki ejection from Monday raises quite a few questions that MLB should be answering sooner than later.
- The Red Sox need to add to their rotation, but they also have more starters than they can fit into it already. Who should they trade this winter to make room?
- The Orioles could have both Chris Young and a Manny Machado extension at the same time, if they wanted to.
- The Yankees need to focus on improving their bench with some bats this offseason.
- There is risk in a Zack Greinke extension, no matter how great he is in the present.
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