Welcome to the final Weekend Links of the 2025 MLB season. One way or the other, the World Series will conclude this weekend; possibly tonight.
What a post season it has been across the board. 3 of the first 4 series went to deciding Game 3’s. Seattle and Detroit played an epic Game 5 in the Division round that would be the highlight of most postseasons. A nail biter Game 7 between Seattle and Toronto was also great.
However, those were all outdone by an 18 inning masterpiece in the World Series this week. As a pure fan of the game, this has to be among the greatest games I’ve ever witnessed and will ever see.
Freddie Freeman walked it off with a solo shot in the bottom of the 18th inning. At this point, I’m pretty sure he’s on his way to the Hall of Fame when he’s done playing. Future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer started the game for Toronto and fellow lock Clayton Kershaw pitched in relief. Add in the fact Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Vladdy Jr. are all having tremendous careers and we may have seen 6 HOF’ers in this game.
There is no shortage of star power in this Series. In fact, we saw one of the game’s biggest stars take the game’s biggest star deep.
My favorite part about this World Series is the Blue Jays winning 3 games to the Dodgers 2. Your rooting interests may vary but my second favorite team is whoever is playing our neighbor to the north.
Hopefully, the Blue Jays wrap this game up tonight but it will be difficult. Yamamoto is just dealing right now. And this isn’t his first rodeo in a Game 6.
As great as the Fall Classic is, it isn’t the only baseball being played. Out in Phoenix the Arizona Fall League is in full swing and an Angel is doing some serious damage. Per the team site three Angels prospects are on fire, but really one guy is carrying most of the freight.
Raudi “Roddy” Rodriguez (yes, I’m proud of that one) is slashing a ridiculous 471/.571/.706Â with a homer, 3 doubles, and a triple across 11 games. Small sample size beware, but the 22 year old had a breakout season in A ball this year and just might have unlocked a little something. He’s getting a lot of love on social media and should be on his way to AA next season.
There’s been more digital ink spent on Raudi in the comments than by the staff so I’ve tasked new intern Landon with writing an in depth piece on him this week. Let’s see what the kid has and what we learn about our newly christened prospect.
I have articles from each of them posting this weekend, so check back in for fresh reading material.
Baseball is such a great distraction from life, but real life is happening. There’s nothing more real than the Tyler Skaggs wrongful death trial. This week Eric Kay’s ex wife testified that she had voiced concerns about Kay’s drug use to Tim Mead among other things. She also stated she knew players on team planes were trading pills like candy but somehow didn’t actually see the exchanges.
In following the trial, it is like watching a drama or reading a novel in which every character looks like a bad person. I can’t say I fully believe a single one of them, but I can definitely tell many are hurt and angry. Absolutely nobody will come out of this thing as a winner, now matter how much cash does or does not change hands.
There’s more investigation news but it isn’t the Angels. At least not yet, anyway. The Feds are investigating Players Way, a for profit company owned by MLBPA. In an in depth piece on ESPN, it is revealed MLBPA has sunk at least $3.9 million into this thing with sources saying the figure is a cool $10 million. So far it has generated a few hundred grand in revenue.
That’s not good math. The WNBA doesn’t even have math that bad. Somebody is getting rich here, and it isn’t the union.
Could be worse, though, could be basketball. This is completely unrelated, but a cool read on the guy at the center of the rigged poker and NBA bets scandal. Let’s call that the long form reading for the weekend.
All this talk about great World Series games has made me a bit nostalgic. So I’ll leave you with a video of the absolute greatest game of my lifetime and wish you a happy weekend.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. It will be a busy weekend for my family and I will see my childhood friends. When you are from a small town you meet your friends early in life. Many of us can’t remember when we met as our parents were friends. It is a unique bond and I appreciate it.
