Pete Alonso is opting out of his contract and will reenter free agency.
The only WS pairing I would be indifferent to would be Red Sox vs Reds. Since there isn’t a snowballs chance of that happening, I’m assured of a team to cheer for all the way through the playoffs. But holding out for a West Coast Series.
I’m Red Sox fan, so my first choice is obvious. For the rest of the AL, I have a soft spot for Seattle having lived there for a few years a long time ago and saw some games in the justly maligned Kingdome.
In the NL, the Brewers can do no wrong.
As a lifelong Brewers fan, who, as a high school senior, was crushed when Milwaukee lost in their one and only World Series appearance in 1982, I’d love to see them win it this year.
The Brewers ended the season with the best record in baseball, and a franchise-record win total, but that was thanks to being outrageously good during July and August. They only played .500 ball in September, and their pitching staff, which had been so good all year, started looking very mortal in recent weeks, with several key guys either getting hurt, or becoming ineffective.
I’m hoping that having five days off before the NLDS starts on Saturday gives them some time to get guys rested and healthier.
Rocco Baldelli is out in Minnesota.
And Bruce Bochy is done as manager of the Rangers, by “mutual agreement,” after Texas finished at .500, and just two years removed from him managing the team to its first World Series championship.
Bochy’s 70 years old, and has managed in the majors for 28 seasons; he had been out of baseball for three years before the Rangers coaxed him out of retirement in 2023.. Personally, I suspect he may just want to take a break, or plain-old retire.
I love this. The mutual agreement is the Rangers told him he wasn’t going to be paid anymore or have a key to the manager’s office, and Bochy’s agreement was that he’d stop trying to get in.
Of course I want the Blue Jays to win but if they don’t, the ideal outcome would be them losing the World Series in honorable fashion to Milwaukee.
the only good thing about the Dodgers winning it, on the other hand, would be that it’s just sort of cool to have back to back winners. I am mildly surprised such a decorated franchise has never won it two years in a row, but then, consecutive winners in MLB have always been surprisingly rare if they aren’t the Yankees, and most of the counterexamples are WAY back in the day. Only the Reds, A’s (twice; the threepeat in the 70s, and 1929-1930) Red Sox in 1915-1916, the Cubs in the 1900s, and the Giants have ever done it. Even the Cardinals have never done it.
The 1992 and 1993 Blue Jays would beg to differ.
Especially because you’re a fan of the franchise!
Ron Washington is out as manager of the Angels. Of course, he missed most of this season due to undergoing a quadruple bypass.
Yeah, I deleted them while editing. 
Looking forward to the 2025-2028 threepeat as well.
Psyched for the ALDS to kick off, but a little less so once I found out Chris Segal is behind the plate. He called a Yankees/Marlins game a few months ago and 20 of his 80 called strikes were ‘true’ balls. It’s not bias I’m worried about, it’s the distraction caused by bad officiating. Both sides will probably be getting pissed off today.
And on Fox at 4pm EST.
Never mind.