MLB Bullets Walks Off

I can't make Bullets a Derek Jeter-free zone because he is the big story today. But unless you just woke up from a coma, you already know that Jeter played his last game at Yankee Stadium last night and he won the game on a walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth. And if you're a regular reader of this column, you've no doubt read enough commentary on Derek Jeter to last a lifetime.  So I'm going to keep the Jeter stuff to a minimum, which means there still is going to be a lot of Jeter. I could have just made this column all about Jeter.

Coming into the last weekend of the year, we pretty much know who is in the playoffs and who is going to play whom. While the Mariners could still sneak in, in reality, all that is likely left to be decided is where the wild card games are going to be played.

• A baseball legend announced his retirement and played his last home game. We'll miss you, Josh Willingham.
• Seriously, Bob Nightengale sums up the emotions of Derek Jeter's final game.
• Harvey Araton explains the power that the number "2" has on baseball today.
• If you want to read Tom Verducci's comprehensive longform story and exit interview with Derek Jeter in Sports Illustrated, here it is.
• Jon Paul Morosi points out the one thing missing from Jeter's career is that he's never been ejected from a game. I guess that would be the one thing missing other than an MVP award.
• Jay Jaffe says the Yankees post-Jeter future is full of question marks.
• Jonah Keri looks at the divisive legacy of Derek Jeter and the arguments about his overall value.
• Ken Rosenthal argues that Jeter's stubbornness was a defining trait that made him both great and hindered his value.
• Don't forget, Paul Konerko is retiring too. Without nearly the hoopla.
• The big non-Jeter story of the past two days is Phil Hughes, who set an all-time record for the best single-season strikeout-to-walk ratio in history. In 209 2/3 innings, Hughes struck out 186 and only walked 16 batters.
• About that 209.2 innings Hughes threw this season. Hughes was denied a $500,000 bonus when the Twins game was delayed by rain after eight innings. Hughes was one out short of the 210 innings he needed for the bonus.
• Hughes said "Some things just weren't meant to be."
• The Twins offered to let him pitch in relief over the weekend to get the bonus, but Hughes turned it down saying that "I just didn't feel it was right," to risk getting hurt or to take a possible relief appearance away from a pitcher who is fighting for a job next year. Also, the Twins said that the Collective Bargaining Agreement would forbid them from awarding the bonus anyway without re-working the contract, which would open up a whole new can of worms.
• CJ Nitkowski says he knows what Hughes is going through, as he missed a bonus the year he played in Japan by one appearance when all the gaijin players were sent home early after his team was eliminated from postseason contention.
• Staying with the Twins, GM Terry Ryan says he good after being treated for cancer this year and wants to stay as GM next season.
• As rumored, Dave Stewart will be the next Diamondbacks general manager. Stewart, of course, was in line for the win in game one of the 1988 World Series when current DBacks manager Kirk Gibson hit that famous home run off Dennis Eckersley. Stewart was hired by then-Oakland manager Tony LaRussa. I wonder how satisfying firing Gibson is going to be for them.
• Braves president John Schuerholz says that firing GM Frank Wren was a decision that was three years in the making. So why did Schuerholz give Wren a three-year contract extension last February?
• Grant Brisbee asks which late-90s superpower will be better over the next five years, the Braves or the Yankees?
• Phil Nevin will interview for the vacant Astros managerial position. He currently manages the Diamondbacks Triple-A affiliate in Reno.
• The Marlins are preparing to make a mega-contract offer to Giancarlo Stanton.
• Ken Rosenthal lists the five dumbest things he wrote over the past year.
• Bill Plaschke writes that Yasiel Puig's inability to keep his emotions in check could cost the Dodgers dearly in the postseason. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• Although as Craig Calcaterra points out, Plaschke has praised Clayton Kershaw for throwing at batters in the past. I link to Calcaterra's crusade againt the hack Plaschke because Craig is doing God's work.
• There was this whole hullabaloo when Chris Sale hit Victor Martinez because Sale thought Martinez was getting signs delivered him by someone in the stands with binoculars. Then Tigers manager Brad Ausmus criticized Sale and White Sox manager Robin Ventura told Ausmus to shut his trap and well, you can get all the details here if you're interested.
• Jeff Sullivan looks at the Astros, the Pirates and the Athletics and three traits that make each of them unique in MLB.
• August Fagerstrom asks how unique the Royals are in the history of teams that make the playoffs.
• The Brewers were eliminated from the postseason, despite leading the NL Central for 149 consecutive days. No one around here is going to shed a tear, but this year's Brewers remind me a bit of the 1977 Cubs. And if the Cubs can sweep them this weekend in Milwaukee, the Brewers will finish with the same 81-81 record the '77 Cubs had.
• David Schoenfield says the bullpen is still a problem for the Tigers.
• Dayn Perry is surprised by the success of this year's Giants. Did he not notice this is an even-numbered year?
• Anthony Castrovince looks at the starting rotation of each of this year's playoff teams.
• Ben Lindbergh writes that we really don't know why one team or another wins in the playoffs, except that the team with the better regular season record is more likely to win. Most of the things that people say about what it takes to win in October are demonstrably false.
• The Netherlands won the European Baseball Championship.
• Mitch Williams is suing MLB Network and Deadspin.
• Brandon Moss has been playing through an injury the second-half of the season.
• An MRI revealed that David Wright has ligament damage in his shoulder. Marc Craig explains why the Mets waited until now to have an MRI done. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• Did a Mets beat writer jinx the Mets' shot at a record?
• Dave Cameron thinks that while the Red Sox are likely to trade for a veteran pitcher this offseason, Mookie Betts is too valuable to part with.
• Jim Caple lists five rookies who are performing over their heads this season. You won't like who is listed at number two.
• Steve Wulf has the story of Chief Wahoo and how the Indians are slowly (and rightly) phasing him out.
• And while this may have been planned or staged, it's still pretty neat. A Dodgers and Giants fan ended up on the kiss cam at Dodger Stadium, and instead of kissing, they poured beer on each other's heads.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.