What you missed over the weekend

Did you know that there is a 100% correlation between watching football and death? Really, every single person who has ever watched a football game has either died or will, without question, die in the future. Stop the dying, people. Stop watching football. It’s for your own good.

In case you haven’t decided to turn your life around and drop the demon pigskin, here’s what you missed this past weekend on HBT. First, the playoff action:

The Cardinals stunned the Nationals in the ninth inning late Friday night.
But don’t worry, the Nats will be OK long term.
Still, OK or not, until they win a World Series, their legacy will always be that of the team that tempted fate and paid the price.
Meanwhile, the Giants watched and waited on the tarmac.
The series may have already started, but our ALCS preview and NLCS preview are still worth your time.
Over in the ALCS, Raul Ibanez played the hero again, but it wasn’t enough.
And losing the game wasn’t even the worst part of it. And the playoffs won’t be the same without Captain Jetes.
For the Tigers, their closer’s ninth inning meltdown was a blessing in disguise.
Stay classy, Washington: rooting for the Cardinals gets a Washington Wizards player threatened.
All the talk about Alex Rodriguez struggling when, actually, Robinson Cano has been worse.
And the umpiring has been even worse than Robinson Cano. And Joe Girardi is all over it.
Not Jose Valverde comes through.
The Cardinals beat the Giants, and it’s all on Madison Bumgarner.

Meanwhile, in non-playoffs news:

Jaime Garcia needs surgery.
Mixed signal theater: Bud Selig wants more instant replay. Yet his deputy, Joe Torre dismissed the botched Omar Infante call yesterday as just one of them things that happen. Get it together, baseball.
Oh, and Joe Torre is probably not gonna manage again. If he did, I presume that he’d change his tune about replay.
Jason Giambi a serious candidate to manage the Rockies? OK.
Tragedy struck the Carlos Corporan family.
The Dodgers dumped their hitting coach.
The Mets are going to talk to David Wright about a contract soon.

Wow. This time next week we’re gonna know who’s in the World Series. Nifty.

MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports that the Reds will interview John Farrell as the club attempts to find a full-time manager. Dick Williams, the Reds’ president of baseball operations, has already interviewed Pat Kelly, Billy Hatcher, and Freddie Benavides. Interim manager Jim Riggleman will be interviewed after the season. Williams clarified that Barry Larkin is not a candidate. Per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic, Williams hopes to have a new manager in place by the end of October.

The Reds got off to an abysmal 3-15 start, prompting the organization to fire Bryan Price. Riggleman took over in his place and the team seemed to respond, playing .500 ball under his leadership through the end of June. The club eventually fell back to earth, going 9-19 in August and is currently 9-13 in September.

Farrell, 56, managed the Blue Jays for two seasons in 2011-12, then took over at the helm of the Red Sox between 2013-17. The Red Sox won the World Series in 2013 and made the playoffs in three of his five seasons in Boston.

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