What we learned: October 21, 2014

Cram Session

• With over 90% of the vote, Jonathan Lucroy was voted by BCB as the Most Valuable Brewer of 2014. There's still time to vote for #2 in the poll, as Carlos Gomez has opened up a big lead in that one.
• Jordan continued his review of preseason projections with a look at the non-first base infielders. Some highlights: Scooter Gennett progressed, Jean Segura regressed, and Aramis Ramirez and Rickie Weeks were themselves.

NL Central Update

• Jon Jay of the Cardinals will undergo wrist surgery on Wednesday and need 6-8 weeks to recover.
• The Cardinals have begun their offseason planning, and their main areas of concern are the bench and the bullpen. There's also some other notes in here, but one other point to highlight: Rawlings will release it's Gold Glove finalists on Thursday, and it's possible that Yadier Molina's streak at catcher could be in trouble.

Postseason Update

Today's Games

• World Series Game 1 - 7:00 pm, FOX
  Giants (Madison Bumgarner) @ Royals (James Shields)
  Seried Tied 0-0

News & Notes

• Nicholas Zettel of Reviewing the Brew has a preview of the World Series.
• Mike Oz of Big League Stew has eight players that you want to root for in the World Series. He also runs down the eight best moments of the MLB postseason so far.
• Why should this year's World Series be good? David Schoenfield of ESPN SweetSpot has ten reasons for you.
• Ned Yost has some famous friends. Anthony Castrovince of Sports on Earth profiles Ned Yost and highlights his friendship with comedian Jeff Foxworthy.
• After San Francisco radio stations banned the playing of "Royals" by Lorde during the World Series, at least one radio station in Kansas City plans to play it more frequently.
• The Value Over Replacement Grit blog has some random facts about some of the World Series players.

One final note for today. The last time I missed this, there was a bit of a negative reaction, so I'm including it this time. Today is a Woot-Off.