Let the free agent shopping begin. The Kansas City Royals are the 2015 World Series champs after scoring two runs in the ninth last night to tie the Mets and then five in the 12th for a 7-2 win. Kansas City won its first championship since 1985 in five games. With the end of the World Series, players that were pending free agents are now actual free agents. The Orioles have six such players. Today, we take another look at these players and whether they may return to the Orioles in 2016. Chris...

Second baseman Daniel Murphy was a big reason why the New York Mets got to the World Series. So when he was also a big reason why the Mets lost critical Game 4 last night, it was good to see his teammates didn't forget that. Murphy's error on an easy grounder allowed Kansas City to tie the game 3-3 in the eighth inning last night. They went on to score twice more to rally for a 5-3 win and 3-1 lead in the World Series. The Royals are now one win away. "Jeurys (Familia) did his job," Murphy...

Jonathan Schoop would have made that play last night. Just saying ... It's way too early for Orioles fans to project starters at each position, with the free agent market still closed and lingering uncertainty over Chris Davis' status for the 2016 season. However, it's October and it's fairly quiet in Baltimore and why not? Adam Jones will patrol center field, Manny Machado will handle the hot corner, J.J. Hardy will remain the leader of the infield at shortstop and Schoop will continue his...

We are seeing a scorching start for Nationals outfield prospect Rafael Bautista, who currently ranks second in the Dominican Winter League in batting average at .472 over his first 10 games. His slash line is .472/.513/.639 and his OPS is 1.152. Bautista is 17-for-36 with four doubles and one triple, plus three RBIs and two stolen bases for Escogido. Catcher Pedro Severino is hitting .261 over eight games for Aguilas. He has two doubles, a homer and three RBIs. * In the Arizona Fall League,...

Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays and Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals have been selected as the American League and National League winners of the 2015 Hank Aaron Award, Major League Baseball announced today. Established in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's all-time home run record, the Hank Aaron Award is officially sanctioned by MLB and recognizes the most outstanding offensive performer in each League. Fans voted for the award on MLB.com, and...

An offseason that figures to end with an overfilled trophy case began for Bryce Harper this evening with the Nationals slugger capturing the Hank Aaron Award, honoring the National League's best offensive performer. The 23-year-old secured the hardware following a breakout season that included the majors' best on-base percentage (.460), slugging percentage (.649) and OPS (1.109). Harper lost out on an NL batting crown to Miami's Dee Gordon on the final day of the season, finishing as...

After a 9-3 victory on Friday night, the New York Mets can even the World Series at two wins each with a victory tonight at Citi Field against the Kansas City Royals. After being held to five runs and 13 hits in the first two games, New York produced nine runs on 12 hits last night. David Wright went 2-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs. Curtis Granderson went 2-for-5 with a homer, three runs scored and two RBIs. Wright and Rusty Staub are the only Mets players to have at least four RBIs in a...

Matt Williams certainly deserved blame for the Nationals falling woefully short of sky-high expectations this season. But believing that general manager Mike Rizzo's firing of Williams and hiring of Bud Black will simply solve all the Nationals problems is ignorant. Black, a pitching guru, assumes a team in desperate need of a bullpen rebuild. Order one will be how to handle Jonathan Papelbon after his choking of Bryce Harper left the veteran closer suspended for the remainder of the season....

Another Halloween is upon us and I'm still breaking out the same costume - sportswriter sitting on his front step handing out candy. If something works, I stick with it. I don't pass out candy corn, toothbrushes or pennies. I'm not that guy. I grab bags of fun-size candy bars from the shelves of my local grocery store and ponder exactly what makes them fun. Two bites, max, and they're gone. The Orioles held another organizational meeting yesterday and the usual topics were addressed again,...

For a brief time in the 2014 season, outfielder Nolan Reimold was an ex-Oriole. The player the club drafted in the second round in 2005 out of Bowling Green played in 22 games for Toronto and seven for Arizona. But when the 2015 season began, he was an Oriole again. Signed by the O's to a minor league deal in February, Reimold had a healthy 2015 season. He showed he is now fully recovered from a corrective procedure in 2013 to fuse two vertebrae in his neck. Reimold got about 400 plate...