A ridiculously deep pitching staff on today's Birthday Team. Bob Walk was an All-Star who won 105 career games, but he's not good enough to make the rotation.

If you're feeling adventurous, you could play Jorge Orta at second base and bench Reynolds, but...man, Orta was a horrible second baseman.

C: Brian Schneider
1B: Fred Tenney
2B: Harold Reynolds
3B: Richie Hebner
SS: Eddie Miller
LF: Bob Johnson
CF: Hugh Duffy
RF: Bob Elliott

SP: Lefty Gomez
SP: Chuck Finley
SP: Larry Gura
SP: Matt Garza
SP: Mike Moore
RP: Jay Howell

Manager: Jeff Torborg
Fun Names: Gussie Gannon, Hanson Horsey

Up at THT, it's the 10 greatest Game Fives in LCS history. It might be the highest overall quality of games for any point in the LCS. Before I started researching, there were some contests that I hazily/lazily assumed would finish way up top that ended up getting crowded toward the bottom of the list instead.

Up at THT, it's the 10 greatest Game Fives in LCS history.

Good list, but I can't get around the fact that the winning teams in your two top choices then went on to lose the series. I realize that you want to make each game an independent entity, but I still think it's too bad you couldn't have a list that combined the penultimate and final games as an entry.

Rays extend Longoria through 2022. $100MM.

That's got to be one of the best birthday teams. If Schneider and Reynolds are your weak links ...

Rays extend Longoria through 2022. $100MM.

His options for 2014 and 2015 and 2016 were basically picked up, and he will make $100MM from 2017-22. There is an option for 2023.

Jeez, it feels weird typing those years. It's so far away....

That's got to be one of the best birthday teams. If Schneider and Reynolds are your weak links ...

Agreed, roll that team out today and it's an easy contender for the pennant. There are some birthday teams that would struggle to win 75 games, this is not one of them.

The weakest link is the manager...Torborg? Meh.

Up at THT, it's the 10 greatest Game Fives in LCS history. It might be the highest overall quality of games for any point in the LCS.

I have two of the top four postseason games ever as LCS Game 5s, and four of the top 26. Not bad for a 58-game sample.

My list:
10. 2009 ALCS - Angels 7, Yankees 6. Angels led 4-0 after 1, and preserved that lead through 6. New York then scored 6 in the seventh, but LA rallied with 3 in the bottom of the inning and hung on despite the Yankees loading the bases in the top of the ninth. (This includes an intentional walk to A-Rod with two outs and nobody on. In the postseason.)

9. 1993 NLCS - Phillies 4, Braves 3 (10). Philly was up 2-0 entering the ninth, then tacked on a Darren Daulton solo homer. Curt Schilling started the bottom of the inning by allowing a walk and an ROE, and was lifted for Mitch Williams; the result was exactly what you'd expect, with a single and a sac fly scoring a run each, another single moving the tying run into scoring position, and a pinch hit single bringing home the tying run.

The pinch hitter in question? Francisco Cabrera, picking up the second-most important hit in his 7 career postseason at bats. This time, however, his efforts were for naught; despite having a runner on third and only one out, Atlanta failed to score the winning run, and Lenny Dykstra took Mark Wohlers deep to win it in the tenth.

8. 1986 NLCS - Mets 2, Astros 1 (12). Nolan Ryan. Dwight Gooden. Yeah. Also, Jesse Orosco earned the win with two innings out of the bullpen (after Doc worked 10). But that was OK, because surely the Mets would be able to give him the next day off, right?

7. 1991 ALCS - Twins 8, Blue Jays 5. Minnesota took an early 2-0 lead; the Jays surged back with three in the third, then added two in the fourth. The Twins rallied to tie in the sixth, then put it away in the eighth on a two-out RBI single from Kirby Puckett, followed by a 2-run single by Kent Hrbek. I'm a little surprised this one grades out as well as it does, but it's a good game.

6. 1998 NLCS - Braves 7, Padres 6. San Diego, looking to clinch, took a 2-0 lead with a Ken Caminiti homer off of John Smoltz. The Braves picked up a run in the fourth on a Michael Tucker RBI single (and then tried to tie the game on a double steal, with Andruw getting thrown out at home). In the sixth, Andruw singled with two outs, stole second (successfully this time), and Tucker singled him in to tie the game. The tie didn't last long, however, as Smoltz served up a two-run bomb to John Vander Wal in the bottom of the inning. The Braves put two on with one out in the top of the eighth against the still-in-the-game Kevin Brown. The next hitter? Tucker, of course. His 3-run homer put Atlanta in the lead for the first time. They went on to add another two runs when Tony Graffanino doubled with a runner on first, then came all the way around on an error by Chris Gomez. The game wasn't quite over yet, as Greg Myers homered in the ninth to bring San Diego within one, but Greg Maddux came on in relief to secure the save and keep Atlanta's season alive.

5. 2005 NLCS (9th on Dag's list) - Cardinals 5, Astros 4. This game is one of the earliest entries in the ledger of Lance Berkman, unnoticed postseason great. Houston's 4-2 lead entering the ninth was a product of Berkman's 3-run homer off of Chris Carpenter in the seventh. For obvious reasons, that's not the home run people talk about in this game.

4. 1986 ALCS (4th)

3. 1980 NLCS (3rd) - Grades out as the best postseason game of 10 innings or less. Also caps off Jose Cruz's run to one of the best series ever by a player on the losing team - .400/.609/.600, with .454 WPA in Game 2 and .530 in this one.

2. 2004 ALCS (7th). Comparing this game to the '86 ALCS entry. Yes, the '86 game does have the extra Angel rally in the bottom of the ninth. But this game has more than just the eighth-inning comeback. The Yankees put runners on second and third in the ninth. The Sox got Doug Mientkiewicz to third in the tenth, then had two runners on with one out before Orlando Cabrera hit into a double play in the eleventh. New York picked up a one-out single+error from Miguel Cairo in the twelfth, and put runners on second and third in the thirteenth before Boston finally won it on Papi's walkoff hit an inning later. That's a total of six potentially game-ending innings, and each of them had at least one runner in scoring position. That's why I have this as the #4 postseason game of all time.

1. 1999 NLCS (1st). We agree on this one, though. The teams combined for 31 runners left on base, and capped the game with the latest successful comeback in postseason history. #3 all-time, and the best LCS game played to date.

Todd Redmond apparently just re-signed with the Reds. Uninteresting except that Reds.com and MLB.com already had him as a Red. I don't understand why the roster upkeep on the official websites is so crappy. From what I can tell, he was probably outrighted on or before October 30, but there is no record of that anywhere.

2004 ALCS

Although this game felt like it took months off my life, it will always be a personal favorite of mine.

Put Orta as your DH on that Birthday Team.

JOHN T. BRUSH DIES ON TRAIN ON WAY WEST
John T. Brush, owner of the New York National League baseball club, died suddenly in his private car at Louisiana[, Missouri], Pike county, early today. Mr. Brush had been an invalid from locomotor ataxia for years, and was en route to the Pacific coast in the hope that a change of air might benefit him. He was unconscious when taken from New York Sunday night.

Was Henry Fonda seen in the vicinity?

For one day only, you can order the THT Annual for 15% off.

Mets get IF Brandon Hicks from the A's for cash.

"Locomotor ataxia is ... often a symptom of tabes dorsalis, which is a key finding in tertiary syphilis."

Up at THT, it's the 10 greatest Game Fives in LCS history. It might be the highest overall quality of games for any point in the LCS. Before I started researching, there were some contests that I hazily/lazily assumed would finish way up top that ended up getting crowded toward the bottom of the list instead.

After that 2008 ALCS Game 5, I thought the Red Sox were definitely going to win that series. Unfortunately, Garza had other ideas.