Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
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In last season’s American League Wild Card, the Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals blessed the baseball world with one of the most hard-fought and exciting postseason games of all time. The Royals came out on top after 12 innings of excruciatingly tense action on their way to the 2014 AL Pennant, while the A’s were left cursing their luck after they managed to throw away a four-run lead in the final two innings of regulation baseball. Once these two teams met for the first time in 2015, they proved that even just one game in late September can bring lingering tensions into the next April.
On Friday night, during the seventh inning of their first game of the weekend series, A’s third baseman Brett Lawrie (who’s new to this whole thing, having played for the Blue Jays last season) slid in hard on second base in an effort to break up a potential double-play. It was a close call, but Lawrie was eventually ruled out. In the process of this happening, he hurt Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar, who had to leave the game with a mild knee strain. The benches cleared afterwards, but it was one of the mildest bench clearings you’ll see in baseball. Even though Lawrie was apologetic afterwards and Royals manager Ned Yost reportedly saw nothing wrong, Escobar (understandably) wasn’t a happy camper.
On Saturday, we figured out that Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura wasn’t happy as well because he plunked Lawrie during the fourth inning of Saturday’s contest when the A’s were up 5-0. This time, the bench clearing was a lot less mild, and Ventura was spoiling for a fight. To Lawrie’s credit, he showed absolutely no desire to fight and that may have just cooled this thing over for the time being. With one game left in the series, will the Royals and A’s both follow Lawrie’s lead and let it go while keeping the competition strictly between the lines in a heated-yet-exciting game of baseball? Or will we have our first pier-six brawl of the season this afternoon? This is definitely the game to keep an eye on today, as we could be witnessing the birth of baseball’s next big rivalry.
- Pete Rose is now a guest analyst for FOX Sports. Yes, the same Pete Rose who is still banned from baseball will be analyzing baseball on television soon.
- Has Adrian Gonzalez cooled off yet? No, he has not.
- The Mets have won seven straight games, and reliever Alex Torres “capped” off win number seven in a row by debuting another new protective cap.
- Rays reliever Grant Balfour has continued his decline and has now been designated for assignment.
- Josh Hamilton’s current situation continues to get messier and messier.
- Kris Bryant got his first career RBI as a big leaguer on Saturday. This wasn’t as important as the Cubs fan who caught a foul ball in her beer and then chugged the beer.
- Speaking of Bryant, he struck out three times in his debut on Friday. Fortunately, he’s in some decent company when it comes to players who struck out three times on their debut.
- The Giants figured out that the best way to cure a losing streak is to hand out World Series rings and wear gold-trimmed uniforms.
