First-year candidates and their career bWAR: Cole Hamels 59.0 Ryan Braun 47.2 Alex Gordon 34.9 Shin-Soo Choo 34.7 Edwin Encarnacion 35.3 Howie Kendrick 35.0 Nick Markakis 33.7 Hunter Pence 30.4 Gio Gonzalez 28.3 Matt Kemp 21.6 Daniel Murphy 20.8 Rick Porcello 18.8

Lions are 1st team since at least 2000 to be stopped on 4 fourth downs before the start of the 4th quarter

Unanimous MVP awards: Michael Jordan 0 LeBron James 0 Shohei Ohtani 4

This clip and this pod have gotten incredible response. So check out the clip but listen to the whole show when you get a chance. Stan’s definitely a man with a point of view!

"That's not true." Did the Dodgers buy a championship? On the new Starkville, I asked their president, Stan Kasten, about Jason Kelce's take - and lots more! Also, @dougglanville.bsky.social & I weigh in on Clase, Ortiz & sports betting. Plus more of your calls! theathletic.lnk.to/windTX

"That's not true." Did the Dodgers buy a championship? On the new Starkville, I asked their president, Stan Kasten, about Jason Kelce's take - and lots more! Also, @dougglanville.bsky.social & I weigh in on Clase, Ortiz & sports betting. Plus more of your calls! theathletic.lnk.to/windTX

“I can still do this.” At 41, Max Scherzer wants another shot at a World Series. www.nytimes.com/athletic/679...

It’s also awards week. So one more suggestion: Multi-time award winner trivia!

The heck with your fantasy football team. Starkville trivia is back! Want to stump me & @dougglanville.bsky.social with baseball #trivia *live* on our show? Of course you do So hit us with a fun question, by replying in this thread, & you could join us This week's suggestion: World Series teams!

Starkville trivia is back! Want a shot to stump me & @dougglanville.bsky.social with baseball #trivia *live* on our show? Can't beat that for fun So hit us with a fun question, by replying in this thread & you could join us This week's suggestion: World Series teams!

In a MLB offseason with some outside-the-box hires, there’s risk in getting too cute. Column: www.nytimes.com/athletic/678...

New column… Five things to watch on Hall of Fame Contemporary Era ballot Bonds, Clemens and so much more www.nytimes.com/athletic/678...

"Maybe it's Bregman" What do the Phillies do next? On the new Starkville, @ken-rosenthal.bsky.social joins me & @dougglanville.bsky.social talking Greatest World Series ever? Big offseason stories Who's getting traded Why we don't sleep in October And lots more theathletic.lnk.to/windTX

"They gave the world a Series that nobody's going to forget forever.” Want to relive that Game 7 classic? I told the story of so many moments Rojas' HR shocker Will Smith & Jeff Hoffman Yamamoto! 7 starting pitchers pitched! Pages' catch So much more www.nytimes.com/athletic/677...

New from me: In a classic Game 7, the Dodgers and Blue Jays delivered a fitting finale to a World Series that had ‘everything’ www.nytimes.com/athletic/677...

New from me: In a classic Game 7, the Dodgers and Blue Jays delivered a fitting finale to a World Series that had ‘everything’ www.nytimes.com/athletic/677...

The emotion of an epic Game 7 is written all over the face of Yoshinobu Yamamoto as he embraces his family. Wow.

World Series Game 7s that went to the 11th and beyond: 1997 Indians-Marlins, 11 innings 1924 Senators-Giants, 12 innings We're about to start the 11th in Toronto. Fasten that seat belt.

Game-tying home runs to tie a game in the 9th inning of World Series Game 7: Miguel Rojas tonight End of list!

Bo Bichette had a big swing coming. He had no extra-base hits in this World Series ... Until the 3-run homer that shook the Rogers Centre for the next 5 minutes.

That's 43 pitches through 2 innings for Ohtani - 33 of them with men on base. And zero runs for the Blue Jays. Feels like an enormous missed opportunity for a team whose brand is all those hits it gets when it has a chance to score.

“It's gonna be wild. It’s gonna be crazy.” All this classic World Series needed was a Game 7. For baseball’s sake. For history’s sake. Well, we’ve got one. It was so much fun to write about. www.nytimes.com/athletic/676...

Tyler Glasnow is in this game trying to save the Dodgers' World Series dreams. Last time he pitched in relief (not counting as a bulk guy behind an opener)? In 2018 with the Pirates!

There won't be a third straight complete game for Yamamoto. Justin Wrobleski will start the 7th. So that's 9 outs on the table for the Dodgers' bullpen. The Blue Jays won't be sending Yamamoto a Wish You Were Still Here card.

Kevin Gausman's first 3 innings: 8 outs on strikeouts but... Dodgers hitting .750 (3-for-4) when they put a ball in play so it's 3-0, LA, through 2 1/2 innings

When I roam around the field before what could be the last game of the World Series, I always ask: What great thing am I going to see tonight? Whatever it is, it might involve the guy wearing all this stuff #Vladdy

"So much for the Los Angeles Dodgers ruining baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays are ruining the Dodgers. And the Dodgers are ruining themselves." Yep! Ken nails it on the Dodgers

“He strikes out the world.” Trey Yesavage is giving off Josh Beckett vibes this October. And that’s right up the alley of the Weird & Wild column! www.nytimes.com/athletic/676...

“He strikes out the world.” Trey Yesavage is giving off Josh Beckett vibes this October. And that’s right up the alley of the Weird & Wild column! www.nytimes.com/athletic/676...

The Blue Jays lead 6-1 and are 3 outs away from taking a 3-games-to-2 lead back to Toronto. In the previous 19 World Series that were tied at 2-2, when the road team won Game 5, it went on to win 15 of those 19 World Series. (This doesn't count the 2020 bubble year.)

It’s a fun new World Series Weird & Wild Vlad beats LA – and his dad! Plus… An expensive long ball Kershaw and … Bartolo? When the MVP gives up a HR And an all-time INT BB! www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

It’s a fun new World Series Weird & Wild Vlad beats LA – and his dad! Plus… An expensive long ball Kershaw and … Bartolo? When the MVP gives up a HR And an all-time INT BB! www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

How dominating has Shohei Ohtani been on the mound? That Vlad homer was the first HR he'd given up in 2 months! Last to get him: Noelvi Marte on Aug. 27. That was 108 batters ago.

I'm going to nominate this as the most illegible scorecard I've ever scrawled. Had to keep finding places to add innings. Not sure that worked real well. But this is what 18 innings of World Series history looked like! Or something like that

If ever a World Series game needed a Weird and Wild column, Game 3 was it. Freddie Shohei Kershaw with the bases loaded 43 Runs Not Scored So much more What. A. Game. www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

If ever a World Series game needed a Weird and Wild column, Game 3 was it. What a classic! www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

Freddie Freeman. Mr. Walkoff. The only player ever to hit 2 extra-inning walkoff home runs in a World Series. It had to be him.

We're now up to 31 runners left on base in this game. Plus 7 runners thrown out on the bases. So if I'm doing this math right, and my brain is half fried, that's 38 runners who HAVEN'T scored? Seems hard.

29 runners left on base 7 more thrown out on the bases 7 times on base for Shohei 4 pinch runners by the Blue Jays Kershaw with the bases loaded We're in the 14th inning What. A. Game.

“I don't know if I've really grasped the weight of it” New column: "Repeat" after me: If the Dodgers win a second straight World Series, it’s more historic than you think Plus Weird & Wild looks at Smith & Yamamoto www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

Before Max Muncy's HR he had driven in just one run in this postseason - on a solo HR in the LCS. Do we give him bonus points for his near-slam that turned into that 8-6-2 DP? I'll vote yes.

That's 16 hitters mowed through in a row for Kevin Gausman. He also had 16 in a row in Game 1 of the ALCS. The Blue Jays postseason record is 18 in a row, by David Price in 2015.

Great work by @mattgelb.bsky.social to talk to Bryce Harper. Not surprisingly, there's a lot on his mind. “Now there is trade talk? I made every effort to avoid this. It’s all I heard in D.C. (with the Nationals). I hated it."

In an otherwise empty stadium on Oct. 25, Mookie Betts never stops working

In an otherwise empty stadium on Oct. 25, Mookie Betts never stops working

In an otherwise empty stadium on Oct. 25, Moookie Betts never stops working

Great World Series reading in @theathletic.com @ken-rosenthal.bsky.social on Jays offense www.nytimes.com/athletic/674... @fabianardaya.bsky.social on LA's bullpen www.nytimes.com/athletic/674... Mitch Bannon on the Jays www.nytimes.com/athletic/674... Weird/Wild www.nytimes.com/athletic/674...

As always, great World Series reading in @TheAthleticMLB @Ken_Rosenthal on the Jays offense www.nytimes.com/athletic/674... @FabianArdaya on LA's bullpen mess www.nytimes.com/athletic/674... @MitchBannon on the Jays www.nytimes.com/athletic/674... My Weird/Wild www.nytimes.com/athletic/674...

Addison Barger was the 1,642nd pinch hitter in World Series history. He did something none of the other 1,641 had ever done - and inspired this Game 1 edition of the World Series Weird and Wild column! www.nytimes.com/athletic/674...

It’s a World Series Game 1 edition of Weird and Wild The first pinch grand slam in World Series history? “That’s insane” www.nytimes.com/athletic/674...