The Blue Jays made a few roster moves today. The team outrighted Brian Tallet and DeWayne Wise to Triple-A Las Vegas, but both players elected to become free agents instead. Also, the Oakland A’s claimed Edwin Encarnacion off waivers.

Three coaching gigs have been filled, and you'll certainly recognize a couple of names.

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants, the 2010 World Series champions, and their World Series MVP, Edgar Renteria. Also, congratulations are in order for JP Ricciardi, who has found employment with the New York Mets, and Ron Roenicke, who has been appointed as the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers.

We have our league champions. Rooting interests?

Ladies and Gentlemen of Batter's Box .... fans of the improbably unlikely ....

The Texas Rangers ... the Texas Rangers ...

{{choke}} (hang on, give me a sec ...)

The long-suffering, never-won-a-postseason-series-before-this-year Texas Rangers ...

... are going to the World Series. There are no further words.

 

John Farrell. DeMarlo Hale. Brian Buttefield. Sandy Alomar Jr. It is clear that the next manager will be one of these four men, but it is still not clear who. Farrell seems like the favourite, but this can be traced primarily to a Peter Gammons tweet which he has recently admitted was not as definitive as it originally appeared.

Though he was probably never a serious candidate for the Jay job, cross the name Eric Wedge off the lsit of potential new skippers in TO. The 101-loss Mariners tabbed the ex-Indian chief (Har!) for their club's managerial post today, one former backup backstop (Wedge) to replace another (Don Wakamatsu). Good hire?

UPDATE: The Cubs have retained Mike Quade as manager, dropping the "interim" tag from his title after he took over a 51-74 team and took them to a 24-13 finish in 2010.

Quade was never a candidate in the Jay search. But ... Ryne Sandberg, anyone?

... is two million people in North Texas simultaneously saying "holy crap!"

Rangers win ... Rangers win!
Wait ... Rangers win? Rangers win???

The only team in the history of major league baseball to have never won a post-season series has ... well, won a post-season series. A series in which the home team posted an inglorious 0-5 record.

As a North Texan, I have nothing further to say. There are no words. Justin Smoak can become a 14-time All-Star in Seattle, and the Cliff Lee trade is still worth it.

P.S. I'm not sure yet, but I think I'll still be rooting for the Yankees in the next round. Shhhh. Don't tell my wife!

... is pretty good.

Welcome to Doctober!

With a home run in the sixth inning off Michael Bowden, scoring Yunel Escobar, Jose Bautista hit his 48th home run of the year, breaking George Bell’s club record set in 1987.