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The Phillies Are the Anti-Astros

This World Series matchup is full of contrasts. The Astros have Dusty Baker, in his 25th season as a big-league manager, while the Phillies have Rob Thomson, in his first. One of them will win their first title as a skipper by the time this thing is over. Houston has what could be ...

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On the Day Before the World Series

As I sat down to write today’s newsletter, I couldn’t help but think of the title of an episode of The West Wing, “On the Day Before.” Today, of course, is the day before the World Series, so I naturally wanted to make “On the Day Before” the title and subject line of this newsletter. The idea was ...

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The Astros Beast vs. the NL East… Again

An interesting pattern is developing, though I’m not sure we can attribute it to anything more than coincidence. At the end of the last three full-length seasons, the Astros have gone to the World Series to face an NL East team that wasn’t expected to make it that far. There’s an easy ...

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The Death of the Do-or-Die Playoff Games

By the end of tonight, we could have our two World Series teams. But the World Series doesn’t start until Friday, so there’s a very real chance that we will have four consecutive days during the playoffs without any baseball games. (That’s a big bummer to think about).  For all the ...

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