Outside The Confines: November’s here

Welcome to November, friends! The World Series is still ongoing so not a lot of breaking news to be had. We’ll dwell initially on the rough choice made by the Rangers to bench two players for the rest of the series, and then smatter in a bit more World Series insight (including two very different Tommy Pham stories). There’s also a little spooky Halloween-themed fun in the mix for today, since yesterday was Halloween.

Let’s get into today’s links!

• The biggest World Series news of the moment is who won’t be playing, as the Rangers are forced to bench Max Scherzer and Adolis Garcia. Story by Kennedi Landry.
• Tom Verducci looks at how the choice to bench those players leaves the Rangers with some hard decisions.
• Ken Rosenthal also laments the hard choices ahead for the Rangers. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Ben Clemens offers a report card on Rob Thomson’s NLCS management.
• How Christian Walker’s baserunning gaffe overshadowed the rest of his postseason. Story by Sam Blum. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Wait how did I never notice this before?!

• Alex Eisert looks at Kansas City’s big Gold Glove snub.
• Andrew Simon and Sarah Langs look at Corey Seager’s climb up the ranks of postseason home runs.
• Emma Baccellieri explains how Austin Hedges became a good vibe ambassador for the Rangers.
• World Series Games 2 & 3 were the least viewed in World Series history. (AP)
• Former MLBer Frank Howard has passed away at age 87. (AP)
• Tyler Kepner looks at Jon Gray’s spooky interest in the paranormal. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Everyone nominated deserved it.

• A little more on Aaron Judge’s award win. (AP)
• Jay Jaffe looks at Ketel Marte’s postseason hitting streak.
• Michael Clair unburies the 9 most horrifying games in history.
• Matt Monagan looks at the greatest bat-flip in World Series history.
• Tommy Pham is an interesting guy, and adding to his lore was his decision to give up one World Series history to let a teammate make his Series debut. Story by Ian Casselberry.
• Speaking of Pham he was apparently stunned by a comment from one of the Rangers’ coaches.
• Andy Nesbitt shares how MLB fans rallied together against a World Series umpire for his terrible calls in Game 3.
• Jim Bowden is already looking ahead to when the free agent floodgates open later this month. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• The best reason to retire.

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