What we learned: October 15, 2014

First base has been a very problematic position for the Brewers.

Ever since Prince Fielder left the Brewers in free agency following the 2011 season, the Brewers have struggled to find consistent production from the first base position. Despite many different options, nothing has managed to work there long term, and it has created a hole in the Brewers lineup in terms of production. Noah took a two-part look at this yesterday, starting with the recent history of the position for the Brewers. Basically, it's been bad, though it's partially been because there hasn't been a search to find someone strong to fill the position. It brings the Brewers to this offseason, where they will have to make a decision on what to do with the position for 2015. There are a couple of free agents that could help, or they could try to fill the position internally. We've had no indication of what the Brewers want to do yet, and with the end of the World Series at least a couple of weeks away, the Brewers have time to figure out a strategy. What's clear is that the Brewers can't sustain such a big hole in the lineup for so many years.

Cram Session

• The Brewers are looking to move fast on hiring new hitting and first base coaches. Team officials plan to meet with three candidates today for the hitting coach position.
• Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker analyzes the downward trend of runs allowed by starting pitchers in the National League, despite losing several pitchers to injury in 2014.
• Bill Berg of Reviewing the Brew has a profile of free agent pitcher Tom Gorzelanny.
• How many baseballs does a team use in an average game? Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs got a few opinions from different team officials on how many are used.
• Michael Trzinski of Reviewing the Brew looks back at the 2000s in the history of Brewers baseball.

Postseason Update

Yesterday's Games

• NL Championship Series Game 3
  Giants 5, Cardinals 4 (10 Innings)
  Giants Lead Series 2-1
• AL Championship Series Game 3
  Royals 2, Orioles 1
  Royals Lead Series 3-0

Today's Games

• AL Championship Series Game 4 - 3:00 pm, TBS
  Orioles (Miguel Gonzalez) @ Royals (Jason Vargas)
  Royals Lead Series 3-0
• NL Championship Series Game 4 - 7:00 pm, Fox Sports 1
  Cardinals (Shelby Miller) @ Giants (Ryan Vogelsong)
  Giants Lead Series 2-1

News & Notes

• After winning Game 2 on a walk-off home run, there was a much different feeling in the Cardinals clubhouse following Game 3, where they lost on a walk-off error.
• Meanwhile, the Royals are one win from the World Series following their 2-1 win last night, and David Brown of Big League Stew notes that one fan decided to celebrate it in a reckless way: by jumping into the left field fountains.
• Meanwhile, here's a reminder about why you should keep your Twitter account secure. Mark Townsend of Big League Stew notes that after the Giants won on a walk-off error, retweets appeared on Seth Maness' Twitter account criticizing Mike Matheny. They were later found to be from Maness' girlfriend.
• Yesterday's pitching matchup in the NLCS featured two older pitchers on the mound. Eno Sarris of FanGraphs looks back at the career of both pitchers and how they got to where they are.
• In San Francisco, parking garage owners are taking advantage of Giants success in their own way. Mike Oz found several tweets of people complaining about parking rates around AT&T Park, which reached $100 in some areas.