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Hanshin Tigers third baseman Teruaki Sato, 27, who won the Central League Triple Crown this year (.306, 39 homers, 106 RBIs), entered Major League Baseball's posting system along with pitchers Kaima Taira of the Seibu Lions and Hiromi Itoh of the Nippon-Ham Fighters, AP reported on Nov. 2. They can sign with any MLB team from Monday, Nov. 2, until Dec. 16.

AP says Taira led the Japanese majors with a 1.36 ERA this year after moving back into the rotation, and Itoh won the 2025 Sawamura Award, Japan's version of the Cy Young. South Korean infielder Si-Hwan Roh of the Hanwha Eagles was also posted, with a 30-day window.

The timing matters: AP reports MLB is likely to lock out the players' union when the labor deal expires Dec. 1, and during the 2021-22 lockout posted players' signing windows were frozen until a deal was reached. The Japanese club gets a fee of 20% of the first $25 million of a contract.

The Milwaukee Brewers' championship parade and rally on Friday, Oct. 30, drew more than 750,000 people, according to the Milwaukee Police Department, FOX6 reports. That is nearly one and a half times the city's population of about 560,000 and almost 13% of Wisconsin's. Police said preliminary research suggests it may be the largest single-day event in state history; the NFL Draft in Green Bay drew about 600,000 over three days, and the Dodgers' title celebration last year drew about 250,000.

Spectrum News talked to fans along the route who remembered the 1982 Brewers, the last Milwaukee team to reach the World Series, 44 years ago. One said her seats for a game that year cost $18.

A federal fraud trial of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz began in Brooklyn this week. In opening statements on Wednesday, Nov. 4, prosecutor Rebecca Urquiola called them "cheaters" who "sold their pitches," AP reports.

Prosecutors say Clase, a three-time All-Star closer, started telling a gambler friend from the Dominican Republic in 2023 what pitches he would throw, letting bettors win at least $460,000 on bets on whether a pitch would be a ball or a strike, then asked for kickbacks and recruited Ortiz in 2025. They say texts using code words and testimony from gamblers will prove it.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and are on unpaid leave from the club. Defense lawyers told jurors a gambler who befriended Clase falsely claimed to have inside information on his pitches and tried to sell it to others.

The Seattle Mariners introduced Jason Kanzler as their manager on Wednesday, Nov. 4, AP reports. He went unrecruited out of high school and considered medical school, then became a two-time Gold Glove outfielder as a walk-on at the University at Buffalo. The Minnesota Twins drafted him in the 20th round in 2013, and after three minor league seasons he taught physics and chemistry at a high school in Katy, Texas.

Kanzler joined the Houston Astros as a minor league hitting coach in 2019, was on their major league staff for the 2022 title, and most recently ran player development for the Chicago Cubs. General manager Justin Hollander said Kanzler "dominated the process." Kanzler said teaching "has greatly informed how I do things." He is the 19th full-time manager in Mariners history.

The Milwaukee Brewers won the World Series on Wednesday night, Oct. 28, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 at Tropicana Field to take the series four games to one. Neither franchise had won a title before.

According to CBS Sports, presumptive NL Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski made his best start of the postseason and three relievers held Tampa Bay to one run the rest of the way. Rookie Cooper Pratt drove in two runs and, with hits in six straight at-bats going back to Game 4, set a World Series record for a rookie. CBS says the Brewers went 11-2 in the postseason after beating the two-time defending champion Dodgers in the NLCS.

The Rays had avoided a sweep the night before. NPR (via AP) reports that Pratt's 12th-inning home run put Milwaukee ahead in Game 4, but Tampa Bay rallied in the bottom half, with pinch-hitter Ben Williamson's chopper over first base winning it 4-3. The Rays were the fourth team in World Series history to avoid elimination with an extra-inning comeback.

Thousands of Milwaukee Brewers fans traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida, for the World Series games at Tropicana Field, the Associated Press reports. Before Game 4 on Tuesday, Oct. 27, a large group gathered in a parking lot more than four hours before first pitch, and by an hour before the game there appeared to be more Brewers fans than Rays fans in the stands.

According to ticket marketplace TickPick, cited by AP, 41.3% of all Game 4 purchases came from Wisconsin, against 30.5% from Florida; the cheapest ticket was $900. Back home, American Family Field in Milwaukee sold out a watch party for 31,000 fans.

Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell said the "Let's go Brewers" chants started during batting practice. The fans had to wait one more night: the Rays won Game 4 in 12 innings before Milwaukee clinched in Game 5.

The Milwaukee Brewers finished a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games for the American League pennant. The World Series opens Friday, Oct. 23, in Milwaukee.

According to the Associated Press, it is the first World Series between two teams that have never won a title since 1980, so the champion will be a first-timer. Both clubs are in the bottom half of MLB payrolls, and both play under roofs, so the AP says it will likely be baseball's first all-indoor championship.

The Brewers began as the 1969 Seattle Pilots and lost their only previous World Series, in 1982, to St. Louis. The Rays lost theirs in 2008 and 2020. Jake Bauers, a former Ray, was MVP of the NLCS; Freddy Peralta, a former Brewer, was ALCS MVP.

The Milwaukee Brewers beat Baltimore 3-0 to complete a sweep and reach 98 regular-season wins, a new franchise record.

Why it mattered

Milwaukee had tied the previous franchise high of 97 the night before and then immediately broke it. The Brewers also remained in contention for the best record in the National League heading into the postseason.

One more thing

The record-setting win came through a pitching relay: starter Jacob Misiorowski plus six relievers combined for the shutout.