Congrats to the Rangers! Thanks for knocking off the evil empire - now I know I will enjoy the World Series no matter what as I have reasons to cheer on all 3 teams who could win it all still.

My ABY wish comes true.

Congratulations to the Rangers.

Remind us Mick, how good does it feel?

Tejas has the fourth lowest payroll in baseball this year. The Spankees paid over $151 million more in player salaries this year, and still lost out at the end. Money alone cannot win the World Series every year.

I'm just glad Lee didn't have to pitch game 7. It'll make for a better WS if he can his two starts in earlier.

wonderful outcome - not only the Yankees losing (always a wonderful thing) but actually feeling good about the team that IS going (as opposed to the cold comfort of, for instance, a Red Sox series)
Whoever wins it all now, I'm fine with.

You can stop pinching yourself, Mick. Trust me on this.

I thought it was two pretty evenly matched teams, but one was young and hungry and the other was old and snake bit.

By the way, I've been thinking that the 2010 Rangers must get some of the least impressive production out of first base of any championship team in some time, no? So I just looked it up, and YIKES. Texas first basemen hit .214/.310/.345 this season, with 16 HR and 59 RBI. (Much of that was sent to Seattle for Cliff Lee, of course.)

Whatever happens next, I feel really good about the Rangers representing the AL in the WS. The clock was ticking for deserving guys  like Guerrero and Young.

Ah and the Yanks losing with a called strike on A-Rod in Texas. Beautiful.

Colby Lewis should change his name to Parker because he can't lose!  He was totally nails last night.  To think that the Jays went 7-3 against the American League champion Rangers this season.  

Hopefully, this leads to the downfall of the Evil Empire as the New York Post speculates about the futures of Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera.

Mick can come out of the closet now.

Congratulations to the Rangers.

Brian Cashman must be feeling a little sick right now.  He must know that he didn't measure up this year, and that he ought to have used a tiny piece of all that money to acquire some additional pitching.  By mid-July, it was clear that the Yankees ought not to be counting on Phil Hughes, A. J. Burnett or Javier Vazquez to give them two starts in a series in the post-season. 

Great stuff, Rangers. I know there is a legitimate debate about how much managers or even an overall team philosophy impact on-field performance, but I think you have to give Nolan Ryan, Mike Maddux and Ron Washington a lot of credit. Love their approach to pitching and aggressive base-running.

Happy for Guerrero and of course Young getting into their first WS. Be interesting to see if the Rangers let Vlady play some right field in the NL home games. He played 18 games in the outfield this year.

Now we just have to hope Texas can finish the job and make it harder for Lee to walk to New York this winter.

Today's trivia ...

Only three MLB franchises have never appeared in a World Series. Later this week, that number will drop to two. So ther than the Senators/Rangers, who are the other two.

First correct answer earns a cuttlefish. For extra credit points, name a player who appeared with both franchises!

I think I saw that stat during TEX/NY Game 6--Mariners and the Expos/Nats?  I'll let some one else handle the extra credit!

Miguel Batista is the first that comes to mind.

Congrats, blue-j, that is correct! (Thomas, you get the +1, though I was personally thinking of Randy Johnson!)

Now, Thomas, do you prefer the cuttlefish cakes?

Or the snack food?

Or the real thing?

Whoops, of course those prize fish options are for blue-j, not Thomas. Sorry to taunt you, Thomas ...

Only three MLB franchises have never appeared in a World Series.

And I was going to say Cubs and Pirates....

Mags, really? Surely you remember Bill Mazeroski? I don't think you go back to Tinker-Evers-Chance, but Maz, and if not him, surely Pops Stargell!

Thinking about Michael Young's lo9ng wait for the World Series, Ken Griffey retired with 2,671 games without a world series at bat, one other player is still active and has over 2,000 games played without having played in the World Series. Who?

Young had never even been to the post-season before 2010, who's the active one player with more games played who still hasn't reached the post-season? And for bonus no-prizes, what players are now 2 and 3 on that particular list?

Your questions are phrased very awkwardly but I believe Kendall, Vlad, Delgado, and Tejada are all north of 2000 games without a WS appearance.

that was clumsy because i didn't specify that Guerrero was going off the list along with Young. i don't count Delgado as active, stated intentions aside.

Tejada I just flat out missed - assumed too much - so by the terms of the question I intended to ask, there are two - Kendell (the guy I was thinking of) and Tejada.

The other question could be simplified by phrasing it thusly:

Who are the top three players, in games played, who still have no playoff appearances?

That's a good question. I'd guess Vernon is one of them, but who are the other 2?

Now that Michael Young and Aubrey Huff are no longer on such a list, I believe Randy Winn takes the top spot. I'd also bet on Vernon Wells being high on the list.