Today's Lineup

…or nine stories from around the Majors you may have missed today.

Interested in each MLB team's TV deals? Fangraphs has it covered. Speaking of TV deals the Nationals talks with MASN is on a flight to nowhere.

River Avenue Blues examines the Yankees infield defense over the past decade.

While I'm sitting here, typing, waiting for either QPR or Sunderland to score, the Braves are waiting by the phone – so are the Phillies – for B.J. Upton to call.

Former MLB union chief Marvin Miller has died at age 95.

Coyotes are starting an early line for Cubs tickets.

The White Sox have promoted former Bristol Sox manager Bobby Thingpen – he's done a few other things, too – to be the big club's bullpen coach.

The Oakland A's are donating one full player playoff share to charity.

Jonathan Broxton and the Reds may be nearing a multi-year deal.

Is Rafael Soriano talking with the Tigers?

That QPR – Sunderland match was dreadful. Both teams desperately needed a win. The game ended 0-0. #comeonfulham

Nate's Take on the AL MVP Race

I can't imagine what the political junkies are thinking today.

Baseball talk on the FiveThirtyEight blog?

Blasphemous!

If you have a few extra minutes today, check out Nate Silver's lengthy article on the New York Times' website – it's on the FiveThirtyEight politics blog – explaining why Mike Trout, not Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, should win this year's American League Most Valuable Player honor.

If you're familiar with his work, both in baseball and politics, it'll come as no surprise to you the "statistically-minded" Silver picks the Los Angeles Angels star.

Many of those supporting Cabrera point to his hitting numbers, a .330 average with 44 home runs and 139 RBI, but Silver looks at the all-around performance of each player, including their performances in the field and on the base paths.

"Between his defense and his base running, therefore, Trout was about 35 runs more valuable to the Angels than Cabrera was to the Tigers," Silver writes.

The article is a must-read if you're still on the fence between the two candidates.

And let's be honest, why try to argue with a guy who, through a ton of numbers crunching and analysis, correctly predicted the outcome of all 50 states in the presidential election?

The American League and National League MVPs, voted on at the end of the regular season by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, will be announced Thursday on a MLB Network hour-long special, which airs at 6 p.m.

Players Cast Vote for Cabrera, but Who's Your AL MVP

Associated Press

Who do you have for American League MVP? 

Trout or Cabrera?

The debate has been ragging between media guys and bloggers, old-school stats guys and new-era sabermatricians for a while now, but the players have already made their decision for the season's top player.

It's Miguel Cabrera, the Detroit Tigers' first baseman who hit for the Triple Crown this season and, if you ask many of the old-guard, willed his team to the World Series. Can a player really do that?

Last night, as many of you were watching CNN and trying to make sense of today's election choices, an MLB Network special revealed the Major League Baseball Players Association's Players Choice Awards. (I need to throw a party for this next year, ala the party's we have for the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.) Late in the season, players nominated a group of ballplayers for various awards.

Carbrera, the first Triple Crown winner we've seen since the 1967 season, hit .330, smacked 44 home runs and 139 RBI.

"I never thought that I would be in this position right now," Cabrera said. "I want to thank [the players] for voting for me, because there is a lot of competition. I don't know if it was the right choice. I was very lucky."

If the players, his peers and competition on the field, thought Cabrera was the right choice, then he is the right choice for the award. But does that make him the right choice for the AL's most valuable player?

Trout, as you're well aware, had a tremendous season, and perhaps if he'd been called up to the Majors sooner, would have led the Angels to the playoffs. That's just speculation, and we'll never know the answer.

Comparing the offensive numbers for both players in order to make an MVP selection is futile. For example, Carbera hit .330 and Trout hit .326. Cabrera had a .393 on base percentage. Trout had .399. How can you choose an MVP by comparing those numbers?

Looking at WAR – that's wins above replacement (you know about that better than I do) – Trout, and I'm using stats from Baseball-Reference.com here – registered a 10.7, while Cabrera had a 6.9.

I realize comparing numbers involves much more than I have done above. But it should be done by someone who is much more qualified than I.

And I have to be honest here, though I'm trying to get a grip on the newest metrics, I'm more of an eyeball-test guy. I like examining the numbers, but I prefer to rely more on what I've seen throughout the season, or through a player's career when it comes to making a decision on the Hall of Fame.

So, who's my selection for AL MVP?

It's a close call, but I have to go with Trout.

But that's just my eyeballs talking.

Breaking Point

Isn't it a bit creepy having the ability to watch, in super-slow motion, at 5,000 frames per second, the very moment a ball player gets hit by a pitch and has his hand broken?

Of course, in the video above, you don't actually see the bone in Omar Infante's left hand breaking – that would be weird – and we didn't know in the moment that his bone broke, but now we know and that creeps me out just a little… just a little. I felt the same way watching Derek Jeter break his ankle early in the playoffs.

Seeing the pitch hit the Detroit Tigers' second baseman is painful, but seeing the ball-to-hand impact in super slow motion is all the more excruciating for a guy like me who once nearly passed out while giving blood.

As for Infante, the guy suffering the real agony here – not only did he break his hand, his team was swept in the World Series – John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press writes:

"Head athletic trainer Kevin Rand said Monday night that a hand specialist confirmed that Infante has a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal, the long bone below the little finger. Infante will wear a splint for four weeks and be re-evaluated, Rand said."

Season's Over… Put Another Log on the Fire

Photo: Associated Press

Man, was that great or what?  

What?

Ok, so it wasn't the most compelling World Series ever, but it was baseball in October and the series displayed a lot of reasons – a three-homer game, great plays in the field, a bang-bang play at the plate, sliding catches, solid pitching performances, sluggers named Panda, closers with intense facial hair, unlikely heros, ill-times slumps, great uniforms and cringe-worthy National Anthem renditions – why we love this game.

So take what you will from the Series. I really had no rooting interest (even though at the beginning of the season – yes, the season – I picked the Tigers over the Giants in the Series) and loved every minute of it.

Now, it's on to the off season and hot stove action, which is all the more appropriate given the Frankenstorm that bearing down on the East Coast. (See what happens when baseball season ends? The universe gets turned upside down, and the weather goes all to hell.)

I haven't counted the days yet, but it won't be long before we're getting excited for when – you know what I'm going to say… the four greatest words in February – pitchers and catcher report.

Today's Lineup – World Series Edition

…or nine stories from around the Majors you may have missed today.

Folks in San Francisco may read this article and start encouraging Jeremy Affeldt to spend more alone time with his wife.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News leads his World Series Game 1 story with this sentence: "In case Yankees fans forgot, this is what a power-hitting third baseman looks like." Dagger!

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press – you know that guy – writes about the Giants' big inning that toppled the Tigers.

MLB will honor surviving World War II ballplayers tonight before Game 2. Great story, that's why it's in the clean-up spot on this lineup!

The Sporting News writer Anthony Witrado says the Giants should have added the Melk Man to their World Series roster.

This Associated Press article breaks down the hairiness of the World Series.

Detroit businesses are readying for World Series games at Comerica Park.

Among notes and "flukes" from the San Francisco Chronicle: Barry Zito is only the fourth pitcher to get a hit of Justin Verlander. Well, ok, but Verlander pitches mostly to American League teams, which, you know, has the designated hitter rule. Just sayin'.

Huffington Post has a collection of World Series quotes for ya.

Panda-monium

Photo: Associated Press

If you were one of those people who thought the Tigers and Justin Verlander would be too much to handle for the slightly light-hitting San Francisco Giants last night… well, I hate to say it, but I told you so.

Oh, wait. I didn't actually write on this blog that I thought the Giants had a great shot in Game 1 because that little-team-that-can from San Francisco is riding a big rail car of momentum.

I admit, I'm not entirely convinced that momentum exists in baseball, but it sure did look like it last night, with the Giants, fresh off dismantling the St. Louis Cardinals with a three-game winning streak… a dominating winning streak, at that.

And you also have to believe the Giants feed off that frenzied AT&T Park crowd, right?

 And if you don't think that's important, ask Justin Verlander, who during a visit to the mound from pitching coach Jeff Jones in the third inning, told Jones all he was doing was getting the "crowd all riled up."

And don't tell me those Tigers weren't rusty. It doesn't matter how many so-called games you play on off days against your instructional team, it's tough to roar like a tiger again after a long lay off. Six days, my friend. Six days!

And then there's Panda! Oh, what a night for Pablo Sandoval.

Three homers in one World Series game, and two off Verlander. Only Babe Ruth (twice), Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols, who did it last year, have pulled off such an accomplishment on the big stage.

Verlander may me dating Kate Upton, but the Panda may get the ring.

Today's Lineup

…or nine stories from around the Majors you may have missed today.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist says Giants fans need a moment to breathe before the World Series begins.

St. Louis Post Dispatch: No finessing Cards' ugly demise

Steven Goldman at Pinstriped Bible – that's one of my favorite blogs, by the way – makes a good argument for the Yankees keeping Swisher over Ichiro.

Justin Verlander's grandfather confirms his grandson is dating Kate Upton, gets media training (or something like that).

The Twins aren't moving fences or planting trees.

The Padres, however, are bringing in the fences at Petco Park.

The World Series will have a Venezuelan accent.

The Rangers are in the mix to sign another pitcher from Japan. This one is 18 years old.

Is the honeymoon over for Kirk Gibson in Arizona?

Tigers Can Rest After Sweeping, But Is That A Good Thing?

If the St. Louis Cardinals fail to wrap up the National League Championship Series in Game 5 tonight, making Sunday the latest the NLCS can end, the inevitable rest vs. rust questions will emerge.

The Detroit Tigers, having swept past the New York Yankees and their slumbering bats in four games, now have five days to wait and prepare for its next contest, Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday.

If the Cards can slay the Giants tonight, then there's no debate. Both teams will have, relatively, the same amount of rest.

However, if the Cardinals are stretched to Sunday, or even a Game 7 on Monday, I'm guessing it will be tough for the Tigers, with more rest than they may need, to re-ignite against the momentum-fueled defending World Series champions, on the road in Busch Stadium, no less.

In 2006, the last time the Tigers advanced to the World Series, they had to wait six games before playing the Cardinals in Fall Classic opener. And you remember what happened to the ferocious Tigers back then, right? That's right. They were ousted in five games.

UPDATE: I thought I heard Tigers' skipper Jim Leyland say in an interview last night that his team would not stay idle "this time" while waiting for the World Series to begin. I assumed he was talking about the long layover during the 2006 series. I tried to find the actual quote this morning, but this "real world" work thing I have going on Monday-Friday started kicking my pants.

Well, I just found out, through Hardballtalk.com, that Leyland was on ESPN Radio with Mike and Mike this morning discussing plans to keep his Tigers sharp.

Leyland said:

"We actually have our instructional league team coming to Detroit and we’re going to play a couple of actual games Sunday and Monday and have a workout Saturday as well. We’re going to have our pitchers throw to hitters and we’re going to have our hitters face live pitching. So hopefully we’ll be a little more prepared this time."