MLB Bullets will haunt you

Game 7? Yep. Definitely Game 7.

• Obviously most of this was compiled before last night’s Game 6, but we have plenty to talk about with that epic 13-12 Game 5. Jeff Passan talks to the players and breaks down every twist and turn of Game 5.
• Michael Baumann didn’t think anything could top Game 2, but somehow Game 5 managed to be even better.
• Jonathan Bernhardt compares Game 5 to the best World Series games of the past 25 years.
• Lindsey Adler took in Game 5 and noted that the best thing about baseball is that you can just go crazy about it. In particular, she notes how Carlos Correa went nuts at the Astros’ winning hit and how he doesn’t even remember doing it.
• The two teams scored 25 runs in Game 5 and that was even with home plate umpire Bill Miller having a strike zone as wide as the Rio Grande. Jeff Sullivan outlines how big the zone was and how the players reacted to it.
• The Astros won the game, in part, because Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made a big mistake by using gassed reliever Brandon Morrow.
• Jorge L. Ortiz thinks that Astros third baseman Alex Bregman has emerged as a star in the World Series.
• Marly Rivera reports on how Bregman has learned to speak Spanish to communicate with his fellow Astros infielders. Well, sort of. He tries. He’s good enough to get his point across.
• Steve Wulf traces Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill’s journey from the independent league Long Island Ducks to the World Series.
• Hill also gave Dodgers fans a little extra time to boo Yuli Gurriel last night.
• Yu Darvish, however, said that he doesn’t need a face-to-face apology from Gurriel. Darvish also thinks the balls being used in the Series are slicker than those used in the regular season.
• On that topic, one of the biggest stories of the World Series has been the “slick” or “juiced” baseballs, although last night’s game was a 3-1 Dodgers victory. Rob Arthur looks at the evidence for the balls being “juiced” and finds it inconclusive.
• As far as the balls being “slicker,” Jeff Sullivan can’t find any clear evidence in the data for slicker baseballs.
• Alex Kirshner writes that if the balls are “juiced,” that would benefit the Astros.
• Ben Lindbergh argues that it doesn’t matter whether or not the balls are slicker or juiced or whatever, the whole issue has become a public relations problem for MLB.
• Shea Serrano is not a baseball fan, at least not until this past week. Here’s an amusing look at what someone who never watches baseball thinks of this crazy Series.
• Tom Verducci looks at how this World Series will change the future of baseball.
• Craig Edwards examines Justin Verlander’s case for the Hall of Fame.
• Bill Baer puts the argument that “Clayton Kershaw can’t pitch in the playoffs” into context and finds that it’s overstated.
• One house in South Central Los Angeles has been redecorated by a local artist to celebrate the Dodgers’ trip to the World Series.
• Whichever team wins the World Series tonight, they are going to celebrate by spraying champagne all over each other. James Wagner asks why and how did this tradition get started?
• Doug Glanville thinks that whichever team loses the World Series can be a model for how we deal with disappointment and setback in life.
• Fired Yankees manager Joe Girardi gave his first interview since his dismissal. Girardi said he was “surprised” and “disappointed” by the move.
• The Marlins are looking to trim $50 million from payroll and have decided they want to deal Giancarlo Stanton, Dee Gordon and Martin Prado to do it. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• The Athletics are willing to trade corner infielder Ryon Healy.
• There is a report that Braves team president John Hart was unaware of the rules violations that MLB is investigating and that have already cost general manager John Coppolella to lose his job.
• The Nationals have had to cancel an exhibition game to be played at the Naval Academy next spring because of a dispute with the Orioles.
• The leading candidate for the location of the new Rays ballpark would suffer from the same problems of accessibility that Tropicana Field has, writes Caitlin Johnson.
• The Dodgers refused a request to have the ashes of a late fan spread on the field at Dodgers Stadium, so Giants outfielder Hunter Pence wore a necklace with a vial of the ashes during a game in LA. Pence is a heck of a human being for an alien.
• A cap with protective lining that Jackie Robinson wore his rookie season sold for $591,000 at auction.
• Bryan Curtis remembers when three members of the Padres starting rotation all announced that they were members of the John Birch Society in 1984.
• In that vein, Coleman Bentley examines some widely-held conspiracy theories in baseball. Bizarrely enough, the piece appears in Golf Digest, which must be part of the conspiracy.
• And finally, it was Halloween last night, so check out some of the costumes seen at Dodger Stadium last night.
• And finally, if you don’t believe that Hunter Pence is an alien, he took off his mask for a terrific Halloween costume as Lurch from The Addams Family. Also included in that piece are the costumes of many other major leaguers, including our favorite Ninja Turtle, Anthony Rizzo.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Nah, that’s a lie. Today is Game 7.