That was fun. Is it 2017 yet?

The ConocoPhillips 2011 ABL All-Star Game, held at Perth’s Barbagallo Ballpark, was a thrilling affair in which the World All-Stars, led by game MVP Tyler Collins, prevailed over the home-standing Australian National Team by an 8-5 score. Collins drove in three on an opposite field home run, scored two, and added another hit in the game. Mike McGuire started on the mound for the World team and was credited with the win and veteran reliever Dae Sung Koo picked up the save.

Collins is in the ...

AP via Spartanburg Herald, October 27, 1911:

Philadelphia, Oct. 26—Hail! Philadelphia Athletics, Champions of the world for the second successive year.

In an exhibition of batting seldom seen in a premier baseball series, the American league team this afternoon defeated New York in the sixth game of the set by the overwhelming score of 13 to 2…It was more than a mere defeat for the giants [sic], it was a rout.

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When the game was over that part of the crowd which did not leave the ground ...

Bring in the intentional walk specialist!

Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning against Marc Rzepczynski, and the Texas Rangers rallied from a two-run deficit to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night and take a 3-2 World Series lead.

Solo home runs by Mitch Moreland in the third and Adrian Beltre in the sixth off Chris Carpenter sparked the Texas comeback. Michael Young doubled off loser Octavio Dotel leading off the eighth.

Darren Oliver got the win ...

The Rangers made a memorable ninth-inning comeback, tying this World Series at one game apiece. Texas scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take the lead and then held on in the bottom half. The Rangers manufactured the two runs to get the victory in dramatic fashion. Some quick thoughts:

Kinsler with gutsy steal: Ian Kinsler led off the ninth with a bloop single and then stole second base with Andrus looking to bunt him over. Kinsler was safe on a close play, putting him in scoring ...

Nelson Cruz sprinted over to the foul line, desperately trying to run down Allen Craig’s tailing liner. The right fielder came up just short, and so did the Texas Rangers.

Craig’s pinch-hit drive landed an inch or two in front of Cruz’s outstretched glove for a go-ahead single off reliever Alexi Ogando in the sixth inning that carried the St. Louis Cardinals over the Rangers 3-2 Wednesday in a chilly World Series opener.

On a night when all the runs were driven in with opposite-field hits to ...

An afterthought in early September, the St. Louis Cardinals are taking their wild ride all the way to the World Series.

David Freese hit a three-run homer in the first and manager Tony La Russa turned again to his brilliant bullpen for seven sturdy innings as St. Louis captured its 18th pennant with a 12-6 victory over the bumbling Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday night.

Albert Pujols and the wild-card Cardinals took out the heavily favored Phillies in the first round, then dispatched the ...

Well…didn’t Joe Buck call Michael Young “arguably the best hitter in franchise history”. So there’s that.

The Rangers didn’t need Cliff Lee to get back to the World Series.

They did need Michael Young.

They weren’t severely damaged on that night in December, when Lee turned down their millions to sign with the Phillies. But they may well have been saved on those days in February, when they didn’t trade Young.

The Rangers without Lee are American League champions, just as they were with him. ...

It was more than a little bit scary—terrifying at times, to be perfectly honest—but it still counts. The Cardinals took control of the National League Championship Series with an agonizing 4-3 victory over the Brewers on Wednesday night. St. Louis is now two wins from its third trip to the World Series in eight years.
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While Carpenter was the winning pitcher, he was also the least effective man to take the mound for the Redbirds in an ulcer-inducing victory. Five Cardinals relievers combined ...

The Rangers, after another heart-stopping game, are one win away from returning to the World Series for the second time in as many years.

Texas put itself in that position with four runs in the top of the 11th inning off All-Star closer Jose Valverde on Wednesday, setting up a 7-3 victory over the Tigers in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series at Comerica Park. Mike Napoli put the Rangers ahead with an RBI single, and Nelson Cruz, who also made the defensive play of the night, ...

Though Victor Martinez’s game-tying home run came at a price with a strained oblique that left him hobbling around the bases, it sparked an outburst of five unanswered runs for the Tigers in what shaped up as a must-win Game 3 in their American League Championship Series showdown with Texas. Doug Fister’s 7 1/3 quality innings took care of the rest for a 5-2 victory.
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Detroit still trails in the series, two games to one, but looked like a different team than the club that dropped two close ...

Albert Pujols led an all-out assault on Shaun Marcum and a parade of relievers as the Cards handed Milwaukee its worst home loss of 2011, throttling the Brewers by a 12-3 score Monday night in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. The game was over for all practical purposes in the middle of the seventh following the Cards’ fourth multi-run inning.
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Pujols hammered a two-run homer to left in the first, a two-run double to center in the third and an RBI double to right-center in ...

Nelson Cruz, batting with no outs, hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Rangers a dramatic 7-3 victory over the Tigers in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. It was the first walk-off grand slam in postseason history.

The victory, before 51,227 at the Ballpark in Arlington on Monday, put the Rangers up 2-0 in the ALCS with Game 3 scheduled for Tuesday night at Comerica Park in Detroit.
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Mike Adams was the winning pitcher as five Rangers relievers ...

Harvey Kuenn’s ‘82 club won by bashing the baseball, which is precisely what the Brewers did in a 9-6 win over the Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday, an opener owned by the offenses. If these NL Central rivals trudged any of their regular-season tension into October, they released it by swinging the bats.
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Ryan Braun led the way with four RBIs and hit one of the Brewers’ trio of two-run home runs in the opener of an all-NL rematch of ‘82 World Series ...

The Cardinals secured their first postseason series win since the 2006 World Series with a sensational 1-0 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night. The win gave them a 3-2 National League Division Series triumph over the league’s best regular-season team, and moved them into the NL Championship Series for a delicious matchup with their Central Division rivals, the Brewers.

Rafael Furcal and Skip Schumaker teamed up to get a single run for the Redbirds before the game’s ...

A hysteria-inducing 3-2 win over the D-backs in Game 5 clinched the NL Division Series, a win-or-go-home game decided in the bottom of the 10 inning on Nyjer Morgan’s single after John Axford’s first blown save since mid-April.

Carlos Gomez, at second after a single and a stolen base, raced home on Morgan’s hit to give Milwaukee’s its first postseason series win in 29 years.

The NL Championship Series opponent still awaited as the Brewers celebrated with 44,028 deliriously towel-waving fans, ...

The Yankees’ dreams of a 28th World Series championship were packed into winter hibernation on Thursday, as the Tigers defeated New York, 3-2, in Game 5 of the American League Division Series.
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Manager Joe Girardi’s bullpen usage raised eyebrows after starter Ivan Nova was pulled after two innings with right forearm tightness. But the Yankees managed only two runs against four Detroit pitchers, including Doug Fister, who pitched five good innings for the win.

Nova surrendered two ...

The D-backs are headed back to Milwaukee for a decisive Game 5 after slamming their way past the Brewers, 10-6, on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Chase Field.

The two teams each won both games played on their home fields, and if the D-backs hope to advance to the NL Championship Series, they will have to beat Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo at Miller Park on Friday, something they were unable to do in Game 1.

The Cards spotted Roy Oswalt a first-inning lead, but it didn’t matter as the irrepressible Redbirds pulled out yet another comeback win. This time it was hometown hero David Freese leading the charge with four RBIs in a 5-3 win at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals evened their National League Division Series with the Phillies at two games apiece, with a deciding fifth game in Philadelphia on Friday.
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The St. Louis native drilled a two-run double to put the Cardinals ahead in the fourth inning, ...

A return home seemed to be what the Arizona Diamondbacks needed as they used an outstanding pitching performance from Josh Collmenter and a grand slam by Paul Goldschmidt to breeze past the Brewers, 8-1, in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday.

The D-backs still have a hill to climb as they trail the best-of-five series 2-1 and need a win in Wednesday’s Game 4 to force a decisive game in Milwaukee on Friday.

A.J. Burnett and the Yankees staved off elimination with a 10-1 victory over the Tigers in Game 4 on Tuesday at Comerica Park.

Originally slated to be in New York’s bullpen during this series, Burnett rose to the occasion, delivering 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball to prolong the Yankees’ season for at least another two days.

Two terrific catches by center fielder Curtis Granderson aided the effort, as the former Tigers star patrolled his old stomping grounds with aplomb.

[Jaime] Garcia had allowed a combined three earned runs in four career starts against the Phillies and had cruised through six innings until Ben Francisco hit a pinch-hit, three-run home run in the seventh in a 3-2 victory that gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

The Phillies can clinch a trip to their fourth consecutive NL Championship Series with a victory in Game 4 on Wednesday.

Adrian Beltre, 1-for-11 in the first three games, hit a playoff-record-tying three home runs as the Rangers advanced to the AL Championship Series with a 4-3 victory over the Rays in Game 4 on Tuesday at Tropicana Field. Neftali Feliz earned his third save in three games to preserve the victory for Matt Harrison and touched off another raucous ginger ale and champagne celebration in the visiting clubhouse.
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Ian Kinsler also hit a home run on the second pitch of the game from Rays starter ...