The Baseball Writers' Association of America announces its awards for the 2014 season this week, starting with the top rookies and finishing with the Most Valuable Players. Some races are obvious. Others are up for debate. Ballots were due the final day of the season, so October doesn't count. That's good news for the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw, not so much for Madison Bumgarner, the Giants' World Series hero. Here's the scouting report on each of the ballots: Ballot with the most No. 1...

Now that the San Francisco Giants have wrapped up their third World Series championship in five years, here's a look ahead to what will be going on this winter with the National League East: Atlanta: The Braves will try to rebound from their first losing record in six seasons. The first order of business for the new boss, John Hart, is to trade slumping outfielder B.J. Upton, who is still owed $46 million over three years. After hitting .251 with runners in scoring position last season, the...

The San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 to win their third World Series in five seasons, so let the offseason begin. Here's a primer on what's going on with teams in the American League East: Baltimore: The Orioles have already signed shortstop J.J Hardy, but they go into the offseason needing to sign outfielder/designated hitter Nelson Cruz, 34, and lefty reliever Andrew Miller. Cruz and Miller aren't going to be as easy to sign as Hardy was. Miller is expected to get...

The Giants-Royals World Series has a Game 6 tonight in Kansas City, the fifth time since 2001 that the World Series has had a Game 6. Is there any chance there will be a more exciting Game 6 than during the 2011 World Series when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers 10-9 after twice being down to their last strike? In that game, the Cardinals rallied with a run in the eighth, two runs each in the ninth and 10th, and one in the 11th. The Cardinals' David Freese hit a two-out two-run...

The World Series shifts to San Francisco this weekend, presenting a new set of questions for the Giants and the Royals, who are tied 1-1 going into Game 3 at quirky AT&T Park. Start with the bullpens. The Giants bullpen is thin. Rookie Hunter Strickland, who threw seven innings during the regular season after spending 2014 in the minors, is getting hit and had trouble controlling his emotions in Game 2. Jean Machi is not pitching well and Tim Lincecum left Game 2 with a cranky back that...

Watching the World Series from Kansas City, I thought of a friend from high school whose story has to be told. John Martin grew up on a farm outside of Bryant in eastern South Dakota, near my hometown. He had bushy dark hair with thick eyebrows and a crooked smile. He had a bear-trap handshake, molded from years of never-ending chores. He loved sports, especially baseball, but it was easy to see that his best sport was football. John often joked about his baseball ability, but that never...

The World Series opens Tuesday in Kansas City with two wild card teams, the Royals and Giants, playing for the title. Wasn't the new one-game wild card format supposed to make it tougher for a second-place team to make it to the World Series? The Royals, who have won eight consecutive games in this postseason, are playing in their first World Series since 1985, the year they beat the Cardinals. The Giants are in their third World Series in five seasons after beating the Rangers in 2010 and the...

Twenty-five years ago today, an earthquake interrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series between San Francisco and Oakland. I was there as a reporter for USA TODAY, and here's what I remember: The day of the game, a group of reporters chartered a boat from the Berkeley Marriott for an hour ride on the bay to Candlestick Park. It was a spectacular afternoon. We ate sandwiches and enjoyed great views of San Francisco on one side, Oakland on the other. We rode underneath the Bay Bridge, not...

After watching the Kansas City Royals take a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series, there's one question that's gone unanswered: How did this team go 6-13 versus Detroit and lose the American League Central? "We're playing our best baseball,'' Royals manager Ned Yost says. The Orioles know. The Royals, who have won six consecutive postseason games, will try to move a win closer to win the American League pennant when they host Game 3 of the American League Championship...

At the beginning of the postseason, there was a chance for a Bay Bridge Series between Oakland and San Francisco, an Interstate 70 Series between St. Louis and Kansas City, and a Beltways Series between Baltimore and Washington. Now the only possibility is the I-70 Series, but it's not going to happen. The Orioles will beat the Royals in five games and play in the World Series against the Giants, who will win the National League pennant in six games. It will be a black-and-orange World Series...

When the Orioles open the American League Championship Series Friday night at home versus the Kansas City Royals, both teams will have the underdog mentality that will make them each a version of "America's Team." Each is in need of a title. The Orioles last won the World Series in 1983, the Royals in 1985. But at least the Orioles have been to the postseason since 1983, playing in October in 1996, 1997 and 2012. The Royals beat St. Louis in the 1985 World Series. Since then, they've had...

Looking for ways to impress your friends with tidbits about the San Francisco Giants? You've come to the right place. Here are 10 things to know about the Giants, who play the Nationals in the National League Division Series starting Friday. * Lefty Madison Bumgarner, who pitched an 8-0 shutout to beat Pittsburgh in the wild card game Wednesday night, is their best pitcher. He's to the Giants what Stephen Strasburg is to the Nationals. Bumgarner is 18-10 with a 2.98 ERA. He's got a 2.22 ERA...

The Detroit Tigers will be in Camden Yards on Thursday to play the Orioles in the American League Division Series. Here are 10 things to know about the Tigers: * The Tigers have a rookie manager in Brad Ausmus, a former catcher known for communication. General manager Dave Dombrowski went with a rookie after the experience of Jim Leyland couldn't bring Detroit a World Series title in the first three years of the Tigers' postseason run. Dombrowski said that when Leyland retired, he had a...

While the Nationals and Orioles deal with rotation depth going into October, here is how they compare to other teams. * Angels: The Angels' rotation is Jered Weaver and questions. Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs are injured. Weaver is money. C.J. Wilson is inconsistent. Matt Shoemaker, the rookie who saved the rotation when Richards and Skaggs went on the disabled list, is coming back from an oblique injury and hasn't pitched since Sept. 15. His next start will be in the postseason, a huge...

When the Orioles made pitcher Gregg Olson their first-round draft pick out of Auburn in 1988, he had mixed feelings. He was happy to be selected, but was hoping to land with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team that picked one slot after the Orioles. These days, Baltimore means something different. "When I think of Baltimore, I think of family," Olson says. "You felt like you knew everybody's family and friends. I never found that again (in my baseball career). It worked perfectly. I love...

With a month left in the season, here's a look at what's going on with National League contenders. Atlanta: The Braves aren't out of the division race yet, but their best chance to make the playoffs is the Wild Card route. They know how to beat the Nationals, but they are not consistent enough against the rest of the league to win the NL East. Seven- and eight-game losing streaks have hurt them. The biggest problem is struggling to average four runs a game. Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward,...

Here's a look at the American League's contending teams as the season arrives at September. Baltimore: The Orioles beat the pitching-rich Rays three of four and with the way things are going, they look much like last season's World Series champion Red Sox. Everything is going right for the Orioles. Well, almost everything. Ubaldo Jimenez has been bad, but lefty Andrew Miller was a brilliant move for the bullpen. And when was the last time there were concerns about the rotation not going...

Outfielder Frank Robinson started his career in 1956 and played his final game in 1976. In between, he put up Hall of Fame numbers. Robinson finished with 586 home runs, 2,948 hits and 1,812 RBIs. As an Oriole in 1966, he hit .316 with 42 homers and 122 RBIs to win the American League Triple Crown. He won National League Rookie of the Year and an MVP award in each league. He helped the Orioles to two World Series titles in 1966 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and in 1970 against Cincinnati....

When pitcher Dennis Martinez saw former teammate Brooks Robinson at the Orioles' 60-year anniversary celebration, he greeted him with a line that goes back nearly four decades. "It was great to see Brooks, and when I saw him, I said, 'Hey Brooksie, we can't go any higher, but if there were a higher league, you would be there. He was always fun, always joking,'' Martinez says. It's a standard greeting between the two Orioles Hall of Famers, and goes back to 1976, the year Martinez was...

When Don Buford came to Baltimore in a trade from the Chicago White Sox before the 1968 season, he wasn't sure where he was going to play. So he asked coach Earl Weaver to lobby manager Hank Bauer to let him play in the outfield. "The Orioles had Davey Johnson at second and Mark Belanger at shortstop and the outfield had Paul Blair, Curt Blefary and Frank Robinson, so I didn't know where I was going to play," Buford says. "I asked Earl if he'd tell Hank Bauer that I could play the...