AL Wild Card:

Rays blast 4 home runs in decisive wild card game in Oakland.

“He made us look a lot smarter than what we really are,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said about batting Diaz in the leadoff spot.

The Rays advance to the ALDS to face Houston in a 5 game series.

A’s elimination-game futility continues in loss to Rays.

“You get into this wild-card game, and a lot of times, it comes down to pitching and timely hitting,” Melvin said. ”They got us on the run early in the game, and we really couldn’t answer. ... We’ve won a lot of games the last couple of years. What we need to do, probably, is win the division if we want to play a longer series.”

Hazen talks extension, being in Arizona.

“Being here, what this community means for my family, what we’re trying to do I think is significant in its task given the situation we’re in in this division, that motivates us. We love it. It’s the ultimate challenge.”

Diamondbacks 2020 top-prospect list: Kristian Robinson leads a new-look, vastly improved system.

The top 3 according to the article are:

1: Kristian Robinson, OF

2: Alek Thomas, OF

3: Dalton Varsho, C? CF? 2B?

5 Questions facing the Diamondbacks this off season.

Where will Marte play? Who will play RF? Extend Ahmed? What of Ray? Keep Lamb?

Around Baseball:

Daniel Hudson went from L.A. cast-off to Nationals closer.

“He’s meant a lot to our bullpen, especially with the struggles that [closer Sean Doolittle] had,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said. “All of a sudden, he stepped up and started closing games for us. He’s kept that bullpen together.”

David Ortiz will be back on T.V. for MLB postseason.

Ortiz who retired in 2016, and has recently recovered after being shot in June of this year, will return to broadcast during pre and post game segments for MLB.

‘You can’t trust nobody’: Inside MLB’s war on high-tech sign stealing.

“The paranoia is off the charts,” Astros ace Justin Verlander says. “You saw that last year with us. People thought we were doing something. We were trying to make sure the Indians weren’t doing anything. That was just us being paranoid.”

Off Topic Snake Byte:

The states where it’s illegal to kill snakes.

“To put it briefly, it’s illegal to kill a Mexican gartersnake, narrow-headed gartersnake, rock rattlesnake, twin-spotted rattlesnake, Massasauga rattlesnake and ridge-nosed rattlesnake in Arizona. You also can’t kill a milksnake in Cochise County. If you do want to kill a rattlesnake, make sure you have an appropriate hunting license...”