Morning Rundown: Quiet day in AFL, Texas Rangers win World Series

Bowen, Bins go hitless. Texas Rangers win first ever World Series.

Nov 02, 2023

The Salt River Rafters pitched a two-hit shutout against the Peoria Javelinas, which owns one of the better lineups in the AFL.

Overall, six pitchers combined to win, with Case Williams starting and going three innings. Fellow Rockies prospect Chris McMahon pitched the next two innings and eventually got the win for the Rafters, his first of the fall.

On the Pirates side, Carter Bins got a rare start behind the plate but went 0-4 in the batters’ box with two strikeouts. Jase Bowen played center field and batted ninth, going 0-3 with a walk and strikeout while picking up his third stolen base.

Salt River has just four games left in the AFL season, with the All-Star game this weekend and the final guaranteed game on November 9.

Just two years after losing over 100 games, the Texas Rangers have won the World Series, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games.

Zac Gallen pitched six shutout innings, but things fell apart when they turned to the bullpen.

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The Rangers hit the free agent market hard, bringing in Corey Seager and Marcus Semien on big deals. That, combined with some aggressive trades and a few home-grown players, was a perfect storm and an incredible turnaround accelerated by the aggressive push in the free-agent market.

With the season officially ending, we can gear up for the off-season. As a refresher, here’s Ethan’s recent article that laid out the schedule for the things to come.

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Laying Out the MLB Offseason Calendar

There are still a few rounds of playoffs left to go and a World Series champion to be crowned, but for me, the offseason is already well under way and always on my mind. That’s the reality for those of us that follow the Pittsburgh Pirates, so it’s always important to have an idea of what’s to come and when, as baseball’s offseason starts off hot and hea…

a year ago · 7 likes · 26 comments · Ethan Hullihen

I’ve been thinking of what else I can do here at the site for content, and while it seems to be a popular thing as of late at other sites, I wanted to gauge interest in doing some weekly mailbag-type articles.

My thought with it is while it seems to be something almost every site does, you can probably ask the same question to 10 different places and get 10 different answers. We all view the game differently, and since we here specialize in a different part of the organization, I think we can still stand out.

So, if it generates interest in the comment section, I’ll figure out the best way to go about it.

A look back at yesterday’s feature, which took a look at Michael Kennedy’s lone appearance at home for Bradenton at the end of the 2023 season. He’s a prospect that I’m intrigued by, and I'm looking forward to seeing him more in Bradenton during the 2024 season.

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Michael Kennedy: FCL success earned him a promotion to Bradenton

A trend that seems to continue with the Pirates has been targeting prep pitchers in the draft and signing them to over-slot deals to lure them away from college commitments. In each draft under Ben Cherington, they have done this at least once - with some more notable names in the system being that. During the 2022 draft, their target was a left-handed pitcher out of New York, Michael Kennedy, who committed to LSU…

a year ago · 1 like · 7 comments · Anthony Murphy

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