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ST. LOUIS — Welcome to the heart of baseball’s oldest rivalry and yet another October example of The Cardinal Way. The Northeast has the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, but here in the Midwest it is all about the Cubs and Cardinals. The Cardinals once again put on a postseason baseball clinic that would make Branch Rickey proud. Veteran John Lackey was magnificent through 7 ¹/₃ innings and two Cardinals rookies, Tommy…

The worst part of baseball is baseball. Last year, I followed my Kansas City Royals through one of the most fantastic postseasons in baseball history. Or at least, I believe the run had historical significance. I was born in 1985 and had never seen my team in the playoffs. I hadn’t followed playoff baseball in general. For almost 30 years, being a Royals fan meant summer nights, burnt end…

(Photo: The Associated Press) David Price couldn’t resist showing a little school spirit. The Blue Jays ace had just pitched seven shutout innings to win at Yankee Stadium in early August, boosted by Justin Smoak’s grand slam. A half-hour later, while Smoak talked softly in the middle of the clubhouse about his big shot, Price sneaked up behind him. “S-E-C! S-E-C!” Price hollered. Waving toward Toronto teammate Josh Donaldson, the…

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Beyond that, the ad belies Fox’s misunderstanding of  the American soccer-watching public. American soccer fans skew younger and more liberal than society writ large, and the broader American soccer community is a complex mixture of fans who support an array of national teams, including and especially Mexico’s. El Tri, by some measures, might be the most popular national soccer side in the United States. It regularly draws bigger crowds than the USMNT for matches played…

i Members of the Mexico team celebrate a 4-2 win against the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., June 25, 2011. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption itoggle caption Jae C. Hong/AP Members of the Mexico team celebrate a 4-2 win against the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., June 25,…

The Blue Jays won 11 straight games after the trade deadline. They won six in a row heading into the last week of the regular season, and they’ve won three in a row against the Rangers this year. They can win three games again. But, yeah. This isn’t going well. Baseball giveth, baseball taketh away, baseball flushes the toilet when you’re taking a shower, and baseball steals your credit…

The worst part of baseball is baseball. Last year, I followed my Kansas City Royals through one of the most fantastic postseasons in baseball history. Or at least, I believe the run had historical significance. I was born in 1985 and had never seen my team in the playoffs. I hadn’t followed playoff baseball in general. For almost 30 years, being a Royals fan meant summer nights, burnt end…

The worst part of baseball is baseball. Last year, I followed my Kansas City Royals through one of the most fantastic postseasons in baseball history. Or at least, I believe the run had historical significance. I was born in 1985 and had never seen my team in the playoffs. I hadn’t followed playoff baseball in general. For almost 30 years, being a Royals fan meant summer nights, burnt end…

The first base ump in the Rangers-Blue Jays game has the biggest dip I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/73Kqa8d6Cw — gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 9, 2015 The first base umpire at Friday’s ALDS Game 2, Alfonso Marquez, is enjoying some some dip, and boy, is it a great volume of dip. That is an absurd amount of dip that ump is working with. #MLB…

Yahoo Inc. and the National Hockey League have barred employees from playing in paid fantasy-sports contests, moves that come amid questions over whether workers at big fantasy-sports companies have access to inside data. Yahoo, a relative newcomer to paid fantasy sports, said Friday that employees are no longer permitted to play paid, daily contests on any site. Yahoo workers already were banned from playing on the company’s site….

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Rather than battle for their share of the hockey players in the city, the five youth programs around Columbus, Ohio, have banded together to help grow the game. In a little more than 20 years, Columbus has gone from about 150 youth hockey players in the Columbus Amateur Hockey Association to more than 2,000 in the city’s five organizations. That expansion has largely coincided with increased…

Now it’s on to the second round of NASCAR‘s Chase for the Sprint Cup at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina at the Bank of America 500.   Through one round, the Chase has more than lived up to the hype with twist and turns akin to a road course, not a traditional oval. Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard and others are out of the running after Kevin Harvick stole…

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While Russia was in the midst of bombing Syria (or trying to) on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin celebrated his 63rd birthday by launching a scoring assault in a nationally televised hockey game. Sidebar Putin’s Angels: Inside Russia’s Largest Motorcycle Club » Putin put up the rare double hat-trick (plus one), netting seven goals to lead his squad of NHL vets to a 15-10 victory over a team that reportedly included…

The worst part of baseball is baseball. Last year, I followed my Kansas City Royals through one of the most fantastic postseasons in baseball history. Or at least, I believe the run had historical significance. I was born in 1985 and had never seen my team in the playoffs. I hadn’t followed playoff baseball in general. For almost 30 years, being a Royals fan meant summer nights, burnt end…

Unsurprisingly, Chicago Cubs rookie Kyle Schawrber mashes a golf ball just like he does to a baseball. According to the video’s description on YouTube, Schwarber hit the drive at Shaker Run Golf Course in Cincinnati. The poster, Chris Welsh, estimates that Schwarber’s drive over a lake went 370 yards. Schwarber and the Cubs begin their divisional round series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

KANSAS CITY — The Royals’ hopes of advancing past the ALDS took a big blow on Thursday night with their 5-2 loss at the hands of the Houston Astros at Kauffman Stadium. One game, obviously, does not decide a best-of-five series, but Kansas City essentially relinquished its home-field advantage with the loss and still stand to face Astros ace Dallas Keuchel in Game 3 of the series. It’s a tough…