Baseball... Now that's a topic that's heating up.

I was always under the impression that baseball was a summer sport which finishes in the autumn, just as football of whatever code is a winter obsession. Baseball isn't one of the better known sports here though we hear results from time to time. It seems a bit like softball or rounders, which was the sport we were consigned to at school, when for one reason or another we couldn't go swimming. At home kids used to play cricket. Apart from tennis, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and the Melbourne Cup, the most popular competitive sport over Christmas would be cricket, which becomes International in the off-season. Much like Rugby, Soccer and Rugby League.

The World Rugby Cup quarter finals starts this weekend. One game is Australia V Scotland, which will definitely be interesting in this household. The other three games are New Zealand (All Blacks - the most fearsome team) versus France, Argentina (Pumas) against Ireland and Wales against South Africa (Springboks).

You're right, wagga, baseball has always been a summer sport. But, the leagues have expanded to more teams, which leads to expanding the playoff schedules and extending the season. The World Series used to come at the end of October but now is in early November. (This has also happened in hockey and basketball, traditional winter sports that now have playoffs extending into June).

Congrats to the hometown WNBA team, the Minnesota Lynx, which won its third championship in 5 years last night.

Baseball... Now that's a topic that's heating up. Go 'stros! I've been a fan of the Astros since I was little. No matter how well they do in the post season, I just hope they have fun and learn a lot. It's a fairly young team compared to the last time the 'stros were in the playoffs 10 years ago.

Sorry my [default] baseball team won last night Kat, but my baseball-loving Kansas friends are pretty excited. I really don't care terribly much one way or another, I just follow the news so I don't look like an idiot when I'm talking to a sports fan.

But on the other hand, the Kansas City Royals were so AWFUL for so long, it's nice to see them winning again.

Eh. I'm just happy the Astros got as far as they did. They are actually quite a young team with like 3 - 6 years experience a player in the major leagues. The last time the Astros were in the playoffs, I think the average was like over 10 years experience per major player. So it should be interesting to see what happens next year.

Good luck to the Royals!

Ditto on the comment about now seeing an awful team playing so well. The nickname the Astros got tagged with for several years was the "Lastros" so yeah... I know that one.

Good luck to the Royals!

Crikey! Which "royals" do you mean? So far in the Rugby World Cup Australia's Wallabies have done extremely well, and though I have cheered for Wales (Prince William) against England (Prince Harry), I am not cheering for any other team that faces the Wallabies. That also includes the Scottish team (Princess Royal). I'll leave that to hubby. Oh sorry, you meant Kansas, not UK or Oz. Odd that in Kansas of all places there, you would be barracking for the "Royals".

When you refer to a world cup in baseball, do you have overseas teams competing as well?

While baseball is very popular in Japan, Cuba, Dominican Republic and other places, at this time the only non-US team in MLB (eligible for the World Series) is the Toronto Blue Jays (which, incidentally, face those Kansas City Royals in the next round of the playoffs).

Wikipedia says the KC Royals take their name from the American Royal, a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and championship barbecue competition held annually in Kansas City since 1899.

Toronto Blue Jays (which, incidentally, face those Kansas City Royals in the next round of the playoffs).

Now that should be an interesting and fitting baseball game! Toronto would be a Canadian city, and of course Canada, like Australia and New Zealand, is a democratic nation under the Westminster system, where the Prime Minister is Canada's equivalent of Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel. But like Germany's head of state, President Joachim Gauke, Canada's non-political head of state is the Governor-General, acting in place of the Queen, on behalf of Canada and its elected government. There is to be an election there tomorrow which will decide whether or not Stephen Harper, leading his political party, will remain as Canada's Prime Minister. Should I cheer for Toronto's Blue Jays? Or the Kansas Royals?

What an interesting competition this World Rugby Cup has been! England, which hosted it, was pushed into third place in Pool A, having been beaten by both Wales and Australia. But Australia topped Pool A in the deciding match, then Wales was defeated by South Africa in the Quarter Finals. Australia scraped into the Semi-finals by beating Scotland by a whiskery one point, after a thrilling game in which Scotland was in the lead until the dying moments of the game. In the other quarter finals, Argentina beat Ireland, whilst New Zealand absolutely slaughtered France.

For the first time in ages, all the four countries which make up both UK and the Republic of Ireland, have been eliminated, plus Japan, France, Romania, Italy, USA and Canada. All the semi final teams will be from the Southern Hemisphere. Australia will be facing Argentina, whilst New Zealand and South Africa will compete to enter the finals. The losers of both games will be competing against each other for third place. I doubt that South Africa, having had a surprise loss to Japan, in Pool B, would be strong enough to beat New Zealand's famous All Blacks.

I meant to post here so many times in the last month, but never got around to it. However now that the World Series is over I have to because the ROYALS are WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!

My brother and I were talking after the game last night about how spoiled the younger siblings are - in the last five years our teams (Cardinals and Royals) have been in the World Series four times and win it twice. Totally awesome, but it won't last forever. Definitely going to enjoy it while it lasts.

SnowAngel

It's that wonderful time of year when baseball has returned!

The KC Royals are 4-1 and the STL Cardinals are 3-3, after starting 0-3. I'm hoping I get to watch the Cardinals home opener today, I only saw part of the opening day game. Really want to see the team in action, highlights just aren't same. I never realized how spoiled I was when I lived in an area that had FSMW and I could watch the Cardinals every single game of the season until we moved.

SnowAngel

I want too say Congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers on end cleveland's 52-year championship drought.

I'm not much of a basketball fan (I prefer baseball) but having lived in northeast Ohio my hole life I know much it means to people here for a team to finally end the sport's "Curse".

What a matchup for the World Series this year. I am totally rooting for the Cleveland Indians to beat the stuffing out the Cubs.

Down to the last four races of the Sprint Cup Chase. All of the JGR drivers have advanced to the round of 8 including my favorite, Carl Edwards. Right now, NASCAR is my favorite sport (until STL Cardinals baseball returns in February).

Hockey is just getting started, so far the St. Louis Blues have play 6 games and are 4-1-1. I got to watch the first game of the season and they look good.

SnowAngel

My brother is one of the most avid baseball fans I know, and I guess I picked a little of it up by osmosis.

I'll be watching the World Series begin tonight. Not sure who I'm rooting for...the Indians represent my hometown team's division and haven't been there recently, but the Cubs haven't won since before my grandparents married. We'll see.

Well, I normally don't bother much with sports outside of the Olympics, but my Dad grew up in Chicago so we all watched the World Series. Last night was extremely nerve-wracking even though I didn't care very much. A homerun to lead it off, and then tied in the ninth, followed by a rain delay. My mother, who usually starts nodding after 9pm was wide awake at 1am and kept apologizing for how loud her cheers were.

Hahah, I didn't watch the World Series as I just don't care about baseball at all. But boy did my Facebook feed blow up last night.

Congrats to the Cubs! It was quite a finish. Dot, my mother, who also goes to bed fairly early (and doesn't really care about sports unless our teams are playing) also stayed up late (past midnight local time) to watch the finish.