Outside The Confines: The Marlins finally lose a postseason series

As Friday dawns, the postseason picture is looking a little more clear. The Braves swept the Marlins, ending the cheeky joke that the Marlins were undefeated in their postseason series history.

The Astros bested the A’s, proving that sometimes the villains do win, at least long enough to get to the Championship series. Underdog grand slam hitters the Padres were also swept by the Dodgers, advancing Los Angeles to the NLCS yet again.

The Yankees forced their way to a Game 5 by besting the Rays and tying the series 2-2, so we won’t know who is facing the Astros until later tonight.

Now let’s get into the news and stories of the day!

• Jay Jaffe writes a remembrance to Hall of Famer Bob Gibson.
• Quite a few highly-touted prospects made their debut for the Tigers this season, Cody Stavenhagen looks at how the team feels about their potential future stars. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Emma Baccellieri wonders what we’re supposed to do now that those blasted Astros are back in the ALCS.
• Free agency makes a big deal of superstars, but perhaps more teams should look at developing “average” players instead, writes Thomas Boswell.
• Greg Johns brings us an oral history of Edgar Martinez’s clutch postseason hit for Seattle in 1995.
• Everyone has the 1995 Mariners on their mind, as Peter Keating, Anthony Olivieri, and Dan Hajducky have the story of a truly spectacular Ken Griffey Jr. catch in May of that year.
• Eno Sarris would like you to be impressed by Giancarlo Stanton, if you weren’t already. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Clayton Kershaw might finally escape the spectre of postseason failure this year, but can he beat the Padres, wonders Ben Lindbergh.
• This might have been the robbery of the postseason.

• Jayson Stark has highlights of the wild and weird from the division series thusfar. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Michael Baumann wonders which reviled Astros player matches with each reviled Succession character.
• We already know it’s a bad idea to let fans into the NLCS, but Stephanie Apstein takes a deeper look into just what a bad, and unsafe, idea it is.
• David Shoenfield has three key questions for the A’s following their postseason elimination.
• Everyone is asking “Who is Randy Arozarena” as the Rays rookie makes an incredible splash in the postseason, and Zach Kram looks at what is making him an October star.
• In a vital question for the ages, Ben Clemens wonders: what if baseball was more like Mario Kart?
• I had no idea the little Utz girl was an assassin until I witnessed this murder on Twitter.

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