The last time "Twin Peaks" went on the air, the Cubs were the defending National League East Champions. Since the show is coming back in 2016, I have no doubt that the Cubs will once again be the NL East Champions in 2015. I haven't figured out how it's going to happen yet, but it was foretold in a dream I had. And yes, there was a backwards-talking dwarf.
The League Championship Series are set, with two usual suspects in the NL with the Cardinals and Giants, and two usual suspects in the American League with the Orioles and Royals, as long as we're pretending it's 1979. How these two teams didn't meet in an ALCS between 1976 and 1985 is a mystery.
- The Royals are four wins away from the World Series and they've made the cover of Sports Illustrated.
- Diana Reese writes that the Royals prove that dreams can come true. (Cubs fans excepted, of course.)
- Jorge L. Ortiz thinks the Royals are about a lot more than just speed.
- The Royals are eager to share the celebration with their fans.
- The girlfriend of that Royals fan got her puppy. Well, a four-year old corgi that needed a new home. That's even better.
- Cliff Corcoran lists four things to look out for in the ALCS.
- Josh Hamilton came back for the ALDS and was pretty bad and got booed. Hamilton doesn't feel appreciated for the effort he put into getting back on the field. I don't blame Hamilton. I blame Scioscia for letting him play.
- Angels GM Jerry DiPoto takes issue with those who claim the window of opportunity for the Angels slammed shut with the loss to the Royals.
- Craig Calcaterra thinks the Angels have problems, but they're still contenders.
- Rob Neyer concurs. The Angels still have at least one more run in them.
- Once again, the Cardinals shocked the Dodgers to win the NLDS.
- Jesse Rogers calls the way the Cardinals have been winning to be "unbelievable." Good point. Let's see if we can get the series overturned on replay.
- Tracy Ringolsby thinks John Lackey is a "postseason beast."
- If anything, Lackey gave Ken Rosenthal his favorite postgame interview ever.
- Will Leitch notes that Lackey's image had made a 180 degree turn from what it was in Boston, where he was pretty universally hated.
- The best fans in baseball.
- Dodgers manager Don Mattingly benched Yasiel Puig for game four of the NLDS. I'm not going to link to all the stories written at the time about that because they're all pretty moot right now, but Craig Calcaterra wondered before the game if the move wouldn't get Mattingly fired.
- Matthew Pouliot looks at Mattingly's decisions in game four and concludes that while they were mistakes, they really weren't the reason the Dodgers lost.
- In a Baseball Prospectus article behind a paywall, Sahadev Sharma can't defend Mattingly's decision not to give Puig an at-bat in a deciding game.
- Richard Justice says that all that great talent on the Dodgers couldn't make up for the team's weaknesses.
- Matt Kemp gave voice to his displeasure over umpire Dale Scott's strike zone in game three.
- Jeff Sullivan says that Kemp was right and welcomes our new robot umpire overlords.
- Steven Goldman looks at Madison Bumgarner's "boner" in game three of the NLDS and compares it to famous "boners" of years past. And you in the back. Yes, you. You can stop snickering anytime now. Get your head out of the gutter for once.
- Dave Cameron says that Nationals manager Matt Williams gave a great lesson on how not to run a bullpen in Game Four of the NLDS.
- Bryan Kilpatrick has seen the "pace of play clock" in the Arizona Fall League and he hates, hates, hates it.
- Fredi Gonzalez will stay on as Braves manager in 2015. And the Cubs chances of winning the NL East just got a lot better.
- The chairman of the Cobb County Commission is pretty combative about the shady way they pushed through a new stadium for the Braves. Oh dear. Now he's not going to grant me an interview.
- Peter Gammons looks at what the Red Sox need to do to compete in 2015. Of course he does.
- Russell Martin was shone upon brightly by the BABIP Gods this past season.
- The "qualifying offer" that must be offered to free agents to gain compensation will be $15.3 million next season. That's up from $14.1 million last year.
- The Yankees want to re-sign Chase Headley. This is news because he plays the same position as Alex Rodriguez.
- Roberto Clemente used to practice diving away from up-and-in Bob Gibson fastballs.
- A pair of Giants fans got married on Saturday, and they decided to put off cutting the cake until Game Two of the NLDS was over. You know, the one that went 18 innings?
- NBA star Paul Pierce wants his son to play baseball. His reasons are pretty mercenary though.
- The playoffs are getting pretty strong ratings this year so far. This, despite the fact that no one knows what channel each game is on. It's like when I'm driving cross-country and I tell my wife "just keep playing with the radio tuner until you find a station carrying a baseball game." I really do that.
- This is really cool. A map of America if you divide it up into 50 states so that every state was the birthplace to the same number of major league ballplayers. Who wouldn't want to live in "Catfisholina" or "St. Yogi"? Chicago would be in the heart of "Hendersonago."
- And finally, Bryan Curtis talks to MLB historian John Thorn and discovers that people have been saying baseball is dying as long as they've been playing baseball. It's like what the "Men in Blazers" say about soccer: "It's the sport of America's future and it has been since 1972" only in reverse.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.