Worldwide Sports News

Good morning. This is the time of year that the news becomes outdated very quickly. There won’t be anything about last night’s Dodgers/Braves game because I’m writing this before it ended. And not much from the Brewers and Padres Game 2.

• The playoffs got weird in Game 1 of the National League Division Series when a potential go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth by the Padres’ Ty France hit a cable on the roof of American Family Field and landed in Jackson Chourio’s glove for an out. AJ Cassavell and Adam McCalvy have the details.
• Dayn Perry has more on the ground rules for the play and how according to Statcast, at least, the ball likely would not have been a home run.
• Eno Sarris and Spencer Nusbaum say not so fast, and that Statcast doesn’t do well with balls hit that high in the air. (The Athletic sub. req.) However, while they can’t say for sure, they think that “foul ball” was a much more likely outcome than “home run.” Still, that would have given France another chance to swing the bat.
• France’s fly ball joins some of the weirdest plays in playoff history.
• Kiri Oler has an analysis of Game 1 between the Padres and Brewers, (Fangraphs paywall) a game that was full of important moments.
• Russel Dorsey writes that the Brewers think that experience plays into their favor this time around in the postseason.
• Matt Snyder writes something that many people around here have said: The Brewers need to stop pretending they are scrappy, underestimated underdogs and not the clear favorites that they are.
• Snyder also has winners and losers from Game 2 of the Brewers/Padres series.
• Ryan Phillips has a profile of Padres reliever Adrian Morejón.
• Jayson Stark has a recap of Day 1 of the Division Series, including the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen almost no-hitting the Yankees.
• Another summary and analysis of every Game 1 of the four Division Series.
• Game 1 “winners and losers” of all four series.
• Will Sammon thinks that Rasmussen was “untouchable” in Game 1. (The Athletic sub. req.) Also with more behind-the-scenes stuff about Rasmussen’s gem and what was going on in the Rays’ dugout.
• Dan Szymborski analyzes Rasmussen’s “rude” outing. (Fangraphs paywall) “Rude” as in the Yankees never had a chance.
• Sarah Langs has five “incredible” stats from Rasmussen’s outing.
• Ryan Phillips thinks that Game 1 proved that the Yankees aren’t good enough to win a title. Or maybe that Rasmussen is really good?
• The one hit off Rasmussen was a two-out double in the eighth inning by catcher Austin Wells, who ran through a stop sign and was thrown out at third base. Kristie Ackert and Gabe Lacques have more on the play that snuffed any chance the Yankees had to win.
• No-hitters and close calls in postseason history.
• Mike Petriello explains that the Rays’ secret weapon is their best outfield defense in the majors.
• Brendan Kuty has some reasons why the Yankees won’t lose Game 2. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• A big reason is that likely Cy Young winner Cam Schlitter is starting for the Yankees. Jared Greenspan notes that in addition to his already nasty stuff, Schlitter has added a nasty curveball to his arsenal recently.
• The Yankees left Aaron Judge off the Division Series roster as he still hasn’t recovered from his calf injury. Bryan Hoch with details.
• The Dodgers put rookie Josue De Paula on the playoff roster. Andrés Soto has what to expect in the postseason out of this highly-touted youngster.
• Shohei Ohtani says he’s still trying to figure out the cause of his knee, biceps and neck problems. In any case, he’ll simply try to manage the symptoms from here on in.
• Andrés Soto details how Dodgers star Tarik Skubal and his teammates overcame the heat and the Braves to win Game 1.
• Kiley McDaniel polled 27 executives about what kind of a contract (and with whom) will Skubal sign this offseason. Most of them expected Skubal to sign before the lockout and for a team that guarantees he gets paid whether or not there is a lockout.
• Bob Nightengale thinks Kyle Tucker was finally playing like a $240 million player in Game 1 of the NLDS.
• Rhett Bollinger calls lefty Hagen Smith the White Sox “secret weapon.”
• Zack Meisel notes that the famous midges are back in Cleveland for this playoff series.
• Anthony Castrovince recalls how the White Sox and Cleveland were the founding teams of the American League.
• Matthew Roberson has one specific matchup for each series that could determine the outcome. (Fangraphs paywall)
• Matt Snyder ranks three still-active playoff teams by how likely they are to win their first ever World Series.
• Mike Axisa ranks all 16 possible World Series matchups by how compelling they are.
• Jordan Shusterman examines what went wrong with the Phillies this year.
• Jon Becker has playoff report cards for Don Mattingly and Craig Counsell. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• And finally, Cole Jacobson has the ten stadiums that have provided the biggest home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Good morning, baseball fans!

Both American League Division Series continues today with Game 2. As of the time this is being written, Game 1 has not yet been played. Because as always, I write in the past baby.

The visiting Chicago White Sox will take on the Cleveland Guardians at 2:00 p.m. PT, with national radio coverage available on ESPN Radio, and television broadcast available on TBS/HBO Max.

After that, the visiting New York Yankees will go up against the Tampa Bay Rays at 5:00 p.m. PT. This will also have national radio coverage on ESPN Radio, and television coverage on TBS/HBO Max.

This time, I think I’ll also pick who I’m rooting for, since I keep asking you guys to. If you know me even a little bit, you know I’ve got to root for Cleveland! because it would make Taylor Swift happy. And honestly I don’t really have a preference among the non-Yankees teams. But I guess as a non-facetious answer, I’ll go with the White Sox. I feel like that would be a pretty cool story.

Who are you rooting for today?

If you ask any baseball fan about what the single most important objective is for postseason baseball, some may bring up pitching depth or home runs, but what’s most important is timely hitting. We as Brewers fans have seen that twice already, just two games into the playoffs.

It’s easy to be riding the high of two electric postseason wins, especially when one player, such as Chourio, has played a major role in the two wins. But it’s hard to underestimate what he has done over his few short years as a Brewer.

On Saturday night, Chourio hit a game-tying two-run home run over the right-center field wall to even the game against the Padres at 2-2. What was hidden much further beneath the home run was the franchise significance: Chourio became the all-time leader in home runs in Brewers postseason history.

Now, it doesn’t feel that significant considering that the Brewers hadn’t hit many home runs in the postseason before, mainly because they were never in the postseason consistently until 2018. Oddly enough, before Chourio hit his home run Saturday night, Orlando Arcia, a player who struggled a ton for the Brewers, led the franchise with four.

However, Chourio taking over the all-time slot is exactly what this team was looking for. He’s been the main piece of the youth movement, and with him locked up through the 2031 season, he’s only expected to add to that lead throughout the next five years. That’s just one of many things that make him already one of the greatest to wear a Brewers uniform.

Clutch hitting for the Brewers feels like an oddity, especially when it matters. First, the most memorable clutch hitting moment for the Brewers in postseason history was Nyjer Morgan’s walk-off base hit to win against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 to advance to the National League Championship Series. The second was in game one of the NLDS against the Colorado Rockies in 2018, by Mike Moustakas. After Sunday night, there’s a new moment in town, and it was Chourio’s walk-off hit to survive a sloppy game against the San Diego Padres.

When it comes to the moments that the Brewers didn’t come through in the clutch, the 2024 Wild Card comes to mind, as the Crew had the tying run at the plate and didn’t come through. Or, the 2021 Division Series, where all the Crew needed was one run to tie the game against the Atlanta Braves, instead going 1-2-3. There were, of course, many more moments like that, but those are the most recent of this regime.

Sunday afternoon, the Brewers saw their defense commit three errors, which is uncharacteristic of them. But, as we’ve seen all season, this team has a knack for the comeback. This moment wouldn’t of been possible without Christian Yelich’s one-out walk to kick off the comeback. After a couple of walks, Chourio found himself down to his final strike of the game, and then he poked one through the infield up the middle.

This, of course, wasn’t the first moment for him, as in the bottom of the third inning in game one against the Padres, Chourio took advantage of a lead-off walk from Garrett Mitchell to tie the game at 2-2. A few innings later, William Contreras hit a solo home run to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead late.

With the two home runs in game one, Chourio, of course, accomplished what he did in franchise history, but coming up behind him is Contreras. In just a few postseason appearances, Contreras has three home runs, putting him third all-time in Brewers postseason home runs.

Clutch hitting might come across as the biggest goal for any postseason, but clutch pitching feels like something that’s not talked about enough. If it wasn’t for clutch hitting, the Brewers wouldn’t be headed to San Diego up 2-0. We wouldn’t have gotten to that point if it weren’t for the pitching. Out of the 18 innings played so far, 12 of those have had a Padres hitter on base, and only three times have they scored a run.

It’s an all-around team effort, especially when the defense has as rough a game as the Brewers did. Sunday afternoon, the Brewers pitching stranded eight Padres hitters on base, while leaving 12 on Saturday night. Of course, it’s hard to acknowledge exactly one person who has made it all possible, but if we were too, Chourio would be at the front.

Instantly, my mind goes to the Ty France controversy with his fly ball that hit the wire connected to the roof. Yes, it was a ball that could’ve gone foul, but not enough people are talking about how difficult it is to adjust mid-fly ball to make that catch, and Chourio did. It’s just one small piece of why he’s quickly establishing himself as one of the greats in Brewers history.

The Brewers are going to have the toughest road to the World Series of anyone in baseball. Being the No. 1 seed in the National League, they already have a target on their back. To further that, they have to face one of the hottest teams in September in San Diego, which they’ve already taken the first two games of the series. But with a series win, they’ll have to face either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Atlanta Braves, both of which they want to finally get over the hump against.

The Orioles selected Caden Hunter with the 184th pick in the 2025 draft. It’s rare that a player can make a jump from the sixth round to MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospect list in only a year, but that’s exactly what Caden Hunter did after a dominant first season in professional baseball.

Hunter spent two years at Sierra College before transfering to the USC for his junior season. The lefty pitched well enough to find his way onto draft boards, but he never profiled as a top prospect. This wasn’t a case of a player falling in the draft due to injuries or signability concerns. The Orioles liked Hunter enough to take a chance in the sixth round, and Hunter signed at the allotted slot value.

It’s unlikely that anyone, including the Orioles, anticipated the breakout season that Hunter delivered this past year. The 22-year-old posted a 1.17 ERA over six games at Delmarva before earning a quick bump to Frederick. Hunter posted a 1.60 ERA over 45 innings at High-A with a 62/19 K/BB ratio. The strong numbers led to another promotion, and the former Trojan kept his foot on the gas.

Hunter tossed seven scoreless innings during his first Double-A appearance on July 29. He was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the week five days later. Hunter went on to post a 3.09 ERA over 35 innings despite a -2.8 age differential with his peers. He finished 2026 with a 2.01 ERA over 103 innings across three levels. He posted a 1.058 WHIP and struck out 151 batters compared to 47 walks.

Teammates Joseph Dzierwa and Anthony Eyanson captured plenty of headlines, but Hunter delivered one of the more consistent seasons in recent memory. Dzierwa bested Hunter for the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year, but the trio represent a three-headed monster at the top of Baltimore’s system.

MLB Pipeline currently ranks Hunter as Baltimore’s fourth highest prospect behind Eric Booth Jr., Eyanson and Dzierwa. A recent update of Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects ranked Hunter as the 92nd best prospect in baseball. Ike Irish (95) and Enddy Azocar (99) rounded out the Top 100.

Hunter did plenty of damage with a fastball that topped out at 98 MPH. Hunter and the Orioles found a way to add a few extra ticks to his heater, and he often used the pitch up in the strike zone. He complimented the fastball with a slider, changeup and curve, but the heater did a large portion of the damage at the lower levels.

The 6-foot-2 lefty could eventually find his way to the bullpen if things don’t work out, but the organization (and MLB Pipeline) believe Hunter has what it takes to make it as a starter. He’ll likely return to Double-A next spring with an opportunity to force his way to Norfolk rather quickly. A 2027 debut as a starter, or in a similar role to fellow lefty Luis De León, cannot be ruled out.

De León, Baltimore’s eighth best prospect, is expected to compete for a rotation spot this spring. With Trevor Rogers future uncertain, the Orioles will lean on righties Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, and Brandon Young to anchor the rotation moving forward. The Birds will need at least one lefty starter next season, but it helps to have Hunter and Dzierwa lurking in the upper minors.

Hunter will likely face adversity at some point. He’ll be tested whenever he reaches Triple-A, but it’s hard not to be optimistic after his 2026 campaign.

Orioles fans know all too well that pitching prospects do not always reach their full potential. In some ways, it may help that guys like Eyanson and Dizerwa are around to help share the spotlight. Hunter will enter next season with lofty goals, but he won’t face the same pressure to perform as the crown jewel of the Adley Rutschman deal or Mike Elias’ highest drafted pitcher.

Hunter figures to climb in the Top 100 as prospects begin to graduate next season. He shouldn’t be considered a can’t-miss type prospect after only one season, but he represents another valuable chip in Baltimore’s system.

Good morning, Rockies fans!

Did you see what happened in Milwaukee yesterday?

The Brewers were down 3-2 in the ninth, and after Andrew Vaughn flied out for the second out, their win probability had sunk to 17.6%. Gary Sánchez walked to load the bases, but even then Milwaukee was still sitting at just 28.2%.

Then Jackson Chourio ripped a 109.5 mph line drive up the middle.

One swing, and Milwaukee’s win probability was 100%.

Two runs scored. Game over.

Our friends at Brew Crew Ball have the full recap, but watching the Padres stand around while another team celebrated a walk-off got me thinking about something Rockies fans know pretty well.

Walking off the Padres.

The Rockies were down two runs in the 13th inning of Game 163 in 2007 when Kazuo Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki both doubled, Matt Holliday tripled and Jamey Carroll lifted a sacrifice fly to right.

Holliday came flying home.

Safe.

Colorado won 9-8, and Rocktober kept rolling.

As far as Rockies walk-offs go, nothing tops it.

And since walk-offs are awesome, here are a few more worth remembering.

Todd Helton kept the surge toward Rocktober alive with a two-run walk-off homer against the Dodgers during Colorado’s mad September 2007 charge.

The great Ryan Spilborghs sent everyone home in 2009 with a 14th-inning walk-off grand slam against the Giants.

Carlos González completed the cycle with a walk-off homer against the Cubs in 2010, jumping on the first pitch and launching a no-doubter into the third deck at Coors Field.

Nolan Arenado somehow did it, too. On Father’s Day in 2017, Arenado hit a three-run walk-off homer to complete the cycle against the Giants. Arenado emerged from the celebration looking like a wild man — completely amped up, blood streaming down his face. Unforgettable.

And Dante Bichette christened Coors Field properly. The first Rockies game ever played there went 14 innings before Bichette ended it with a three-run walk-off homer.

Which ones did I miss?

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Rockies News & Links

Did the Rockies Fix Their Biggest Offensive Problem in 2026? | SI.com

Colorado’s offense made a noticeable jump in plate discipline this season, improving from a league-worst .293 on-base percentage in 2025 to .322 in 2026. TJ Rumfield, Kyle Karros and Cole Carrigg were all part of that progress, while the piece also points to Jordan Pacheco’s approach as part of the broader shift.

Projecting the Colorado Rockies’ 2027 Opening Day lineup | SI.com

Maddy Dickens takes an early look at how the Rockies’ lineup could shape up next season, with TJ Rumfield leading off, Cole Carrigg and Hunter Goodman near the top, and Charlie Condon making his MLB debut as the primary DH. The young core is starting to come into focus, even if there is still plenty of offseason left to change the picture.

Arizona Fall League: The next wave of Virginia baseball prospects | Augusta Free Press

Rockies left-hander Konnor Eaton is among the Virginia-born prospects getting extra work in the Arizona Fall League. The 2024 sixth-round pick reached Double-A Hartford and went 5-3 with a 4.46 ERA over 107 innings this season, giving Colorado an arm to keep an eye on this fall.

Every major contract decision facing the Colorado Rockies this offseason | SI.com

Matt Postins runs through the Rockies’ biggest financial calls heading into 2027, from Kyle Freeland and Jordan Romano’s free agencies to arbitration decisions on Hunter Goodman and Jake McCarthy. Kris Bryant’s contract still looms over everything, but there are several smaller choices that could help shape DePodesta and Byrnes’ next step.

Around Baseball

Burning questions for each ALDS team ahead of Game 2 | MLB.com

Monday’s ALDS action shifts the spotlight to two critical Game 2s. Cleveland was supposed to have a rotation advantage in a series that otherwise looked fairly evenly matched, but Chicago took Game 1, while the Rays will try to push the Yankees into a 2-0 hole in the nightcap.

The new pitch making Cam Schlittler even nastier | MLB.com

Cam Schlittler has dominated all year with a fastball-heavy mix, but his curveball is becoming a real postseason weapon. He threw a career-high 32 of them against Boston, generated eight whiffs and four strikeouts with the pitch, and now gets a Rays lineup that has also struggled against hard curveballs.

1, 2, 3! There’s strength in offensive numbers atop Rays’ lineup | MLB.com

Tampa Bay finally settled on Yandy Díaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero atop the order, and the trio became the engine of one of the AL’s best offenses. They all get there differently, but together they give the Rays a tough mix of contact, patience and power — and plenty for the Yankees to worry about in Game 2.

What to expect when MLB lockout strikes this winter | SNY.com

Baseball is headed toward a Dec. 1 lockout with the owners pushing for a salary cap and the players firmly opposed. The piece lays out what a work stoppage would actually mean — no player-team contact, likely no Winter Meetings and possible schedule changes — with neither side looking especially close to blinking.

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I already know the reaction of the vast majority of fans reading this headline, which will produce some version of “Wait what?” I have legitimately not seen his name thrown out as a possible Cardinals target anywhere, and it’s understandable because he is technically a shortstop. In fact, there’s a strong possibility the only thing you really know about JP Crawford is that he was a l0ng-time Mariners shortstop. Probably didn’t even know he was a free agent, because why would you even bother to pay attention to the free agent shortstops.

You might notice that I said he was technically a shortstop. By virtue of standing at short when playing defense. Functionally speaking he deserves to no longer be called a shortstop, because is a very bad defensive shortstop. He has been worth -9 OAA or worse in four of the five last seasons and he’s been worth -25 OAA the past two seasons combined. This is despite the fact that he actually played 254 innings at 3B last year and only 720 innings at short. He’s been a bad shortstop for a while and this season, his numbers suggested he was on par with Jose Martinez in the outfield.

This is admittedly an extremely strange way to make the case for the Cardinals to sign someone, but I want to emphasize there is no team in baseball that will – or at least should – sign up for JP Crawford’s services with the intention of putting him at SS. Everyone is aware he is a bad defender. Crawford has to know that his numbers rate very poorly. He is a beloved Mariner and they were forced to put him at 3B. Colt Emerson got called up and at first Emerson was at 3B and Crawford was at SS, but well, by June, the positions switched. Emerson ended up getting hurt, so Crawford finished the year at SS, but hopefully message received.

He should and probably will be viewed as a free agent 3B and in that respect, he is a lot more appealing. He hasn’t played at 3B very long, but he now has 254 innings of experience and though it is an extremely small sample size, he rated as dead average. Now Crawford does have a weaker arm – it is 20th percentile according to Statcast. But it’s honestly not a huge difference between him and Thomas Saggese or Blaze Jordan. He threw it 80.2 mph on average, Saggese threw it 82 mph, and Blaze threw it 82.8. All were clearly below average arms. I don’t think it is a dealbreaker to have a weaker arm at 3B.

Crawford however is an above average hitter. He has a career 106 wRC+, which is pretty close to his 105 wRC+ on the 2026 season, which was achieved with a .253 BABIP and a .319 xwOBA compared to a .312 actual wOBA. His xwOBA and wOBA are nearly identical for his career. I would ordinarily not comment on a 7 point difference, but it sounds more appealing to sign a 110 wRC+ hitter than a 105 wRC+ hitter and… again low BABIP and same xwOBA as wOBA for career. There’s reasons to believe he was unlucky.

He doesn’t have quite as wide of a splits as I would hope, which is both a positive and a negative. It’s a negative because if he was worse against LHP, it’d be easier to maximize his production (and honestly easier selling point to platoon). It’s a positive because well it is better if he’s not unplayable against LHP. With his defense, he certainly was unplayable against LHP at SS, so I suppose it depends on how good his defense is at 3B, but a 98 career wRC+ against LHP is perfectly fine. He was actually better against LHP last year, which again I’d prefer to not be the case to convince him to platoon.

Which yes, that would be my hope with signing JP Crawford. The Cardinals have two right-handed options for 3B next season, neither of which were any good against the same-handed pitcher last season. Thomas Saggese had a 66 wRC+ (and 73 wRC+ career) and Blaze Jordan had a 51 wRC+ against RHP. I don’t hate the idea of those two getting a bunch of reps next year to see what they have, but for 75% of games, you at least appear to have one really bad hitter locked into your lineup with getting someone who can hit right-handed pitchers for 3B.

I also will add I think those two will still play plenty if you sign JP Crawford. There is of course all the games where they will play against a LHP, and they will come into many games when a left-handed reliever comes into the game. They will still start some games against RHP I’m sure – just the way a baseball season ends up going, someone will have injuries. But that’s kind of what those two should be against RHP – injury insurance, not the plan.

Another appealing aspect of Crawford – maybe the most appealing aside from his competence with the bat – I think he might have to sign a one-year deal. I don’t think he will be high in-demand from the market. He’s in no man’s land right now – a shortstop all his life, but nobody who will play him there – but a 3B without an arm and with not a whole lot of power (of course Safeco is terrible for power) is kind of difficult selling point. I know, I’m simultaneously making a case to not get him.

But that’s the thing in my mind. The Cardinals are trying to achieve a very delicate balance. I don’t think they are interested in a long-term solution at 3B, because maybe Rainiel Rodriguez will have to go there, maybe Jesus Baez looks like he should be called up in June. I could see them being uncomfortable with having literally no potential for any infielder to crack the starting lineup for a few years without an injury or a trade. At the same time, they want to improve at 3B for 2027 specifically, and I don’t think they really believe that Jordan or Saggese are future starting 3Bs. It’s a pretty big gamble that the Cardinals only improve at 3B because they literally could not get worse instead of improving to average or better.

Maybe Crawford is that delicate balance. A player you might be able to get for one year, that is an above average hitter, and yes a question mark on defense, but the early returns are positive. It could go really well. If he’s only a little bit below average at 3B and maintains his offensive consistency, he will be an above average player. He has been an above average player for most of his career at SS. He was 2.8 fWAR in 2025, so it isn’t ancient history either. He will be playing in his age 32 season, which for a one-year commitment isn’t super risky. If things go poorly, it’s not that hard to cut him. Hypothetically anyway. I don’t know what his market will be.

He will usually give you a good at-bat. He walks at a high rate and he doesn’t strike out all that much. He’s already used to playing in a park that doesn’t allow homers, I don’t think he will be too harmed by playing at Busch. He did hit 14 homers last year and he’s settled into a 10+ homer guy, so there is a little power, I don’t want to act like he’s David Eckstein. But power is not his strong point.

I know this is a boring signing. If you want to improve at 3B, this will not exactly excite people. I’m trying to be realistic. I don’t think the Cardinals will go international, and there’s not many great options. Crawford could be the boring, but effective signing to vastly improve 3B, admittedly because of how low the bar is, but still. He’s left-handed and a career 110 wRC+ hitter against RHP. I think it fits.

A not small caveat to all this is…. it is contingent on quite a few things to happen. Crawford has to actually be available for a one-year-deal, that there isn’t another team willing to give him more opportunities at SS, that there isn’t another opportunity for him to play 2B or 3B full-time instead of as a platoon option, and that the Cardinals believe Crawford could be fine at 3B defensively. It would not shock me if someone gives him two years, it would not shock me if another team would play him full-time instead of planning to platoon him, and it would not shock me if the Cardinals were not high on his defense at 3B. It would shock me if another team kept him at SS, he only lasted as long as he did at SS because he was the longest tenured Mariner who fans loved.

So yes, the chips have to fall right for this to work. I can think of a bunch of reasons for why this won’t happen. But the right version of this could work well for the Cardinals. They can delay the 3B question for another year while not sacrificing the on-field product. It is boring. I can’t imagine a lot of fans would be excited about this move.

But when the Mariners had the tribute for him on the last game of the season, Crawford to 3B occurred to me and it apparently occurred to nobody else, and I just want to throw this idea into the world more than anything. See what people think. He is not being treated as an option and he is an option. He is the not necessarily exciting option, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a solid hitter in the lineup against RHP next season. I don’t know I really want to believe in the best case scenario of this.

Vahe Gregorian writes about what he wants to see the Royals change this offseason.

There’s another issue, though, that I hope the Royals will delve deeper into as they audit their processes.

Heck, maybe they could even form a task force for the cause:

Solve why so many of their seasons get wrecked within weeks.

Because it’s an ever-hovering albatross that deflates fans and typically has made for too much ground to make up.

Yes, the Royals have been above water through May in two of Matt Quatraro’s first four seasons as manager.

And, yep, the early stumbles are intertwined with broader reasons they do or don’t succeed through the course of a 162-game marathon. And, sure there’s a difference between causal and correlation.

But, geez, this happens over and over and over and over.

Matt Eddy at Baseball America writes about prospects who caught his attention in September reports.

Precocious righthander Kendry Chourio pitched at two Class A levels as an 18-year-old. The Royals knew he was ready for the challenge because they observed his pregame routine of studying hitters, reviewing video and developing game plans. “He’s super disciplined (and) he’s very mature for his age,” Royals farm director Mitch Maier said. “Just by the example, he sets on how he takes care of business when he starts, and the poise which he performs with, he sets a good example for everyone who he’s around.”

Drew Waters is one of six minor leaguers to elect free agency.

Brian Burrows at Kings of Kauffman wonders if Carter Jensen can win a Silver Slugger Award.

Angeibel Gomez becomes the youngest player to get a hit in the Arizona Fall League since 2014.

Ty France loses a bit for a home run to give the Padres a lead in Game 1 when the ball hits the roof.

Jacob Misiorowski sets a record for fastest pitch in the postseason.

Jackson Chourio came up with a walk-off single in Game 2.

Austin Wells’ baserunning gaffe hurts the Yankees in a 1-0 loss in Game 1.

Tampa Bay’s sensational outfield defense has been a bit part of their success.

The Cubs will make pitching a priority this offseason.

Aroldis Chapman has his 2027 option vest with the Red Sox.

Where does Jordan Westburg fit for the Orioles next year?

How did each team’s closer fare this year?

How the Mets can turn things around.

The Pirates won the Brandon Lowe trade.

Baseball America has park factors for all minor league stadiums.

Mizzou jumps to #14 in the AP poll after routing Florida.

Former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has built an impressive city in Minecraft.

RuneScape is getting a TV series.

American dining habits are spreading to France.

Do human have a “lizard brain” under their rational brain?

Your song of the day is The Temper Trap with Sweet Disposition.

The National League had the MLB playoff stage to itself on Sunday, but while those four teams switch cities, Monday belongs to the American League Division Series, with a pair of Games 2 in Cleveland and St. Petersburg.

Major League Baseball in recent years has started the Division Series round with all four series playing Game 1 on the same day, then will insert an extra off day between Games 1 and 2 for one of the leagues — alternating each year — to ensure that there are as many days with baseball games as possible. This year, the AL got the extra off day between the first two games.

First up on Monday is the Chicago White Sox, going for a fourth straight win to open their postseason, with their first three wins thus far coming on the road. There’s one more game for the Sox before returning home, having to face Gavin Williams and the Guardians in Cleveland on Monday.

Only one run was scored in the opener of Rays vs. Yankees, and New York turns to Cam Schlittler in Game 2 on Monday to try to avoid the 2-0 hole before returning home to The Bronx.

Both games, and the entire rest of the American League playoffs (Division Series and Championship Series) will be televised by TBS.

Monday Division Series schedule

2 p.m. PT: White Sox at Guardians
Chicago leads, 1-0
ALDS Game 2: Anthony Kay vs. Gavin Williams
TBS (Alex Faust, Ron Darling)

5 p.m.: Yankees at Rays
Tampa Bay leads, 1-0
ALDS Game 2: Cam Schlittler vs. Freddy Peralta
TBS (Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur)