Trisha Yearwood has performed the national anthem at several World Series, but no matter how many of these she’s asked to do, it never gets old.

The World Series is Major League Baseball’s bully pulpit, and the league intends to use it. So with a worldwide stage available, baseball will again shine a light on a series of causes.

Korean Superfan SungWoo Lee made his return to Kansas City to see his beloved Royals in the World Series.

Here’s a breakdown of the pitchers for Game 2 of the World Series: the Giants’ Jake Peavy and the Royals’ Yordano Ventura.

Addison Russell, the Cubs No. 2 prospect and the 11th overall pick in the 2012 draft, went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a home run.

James Shields will take the ball opposite Giants ace Madison Bumgarner in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night. It lined up that way because Shields was skipped on normal rest for Game 4 of the AL Championship Series, partly because, as The Kansas City Star reported, the 32-year-old right-hander passed a kidney stone.

Six days after celebrating an American League pennant in front of their own fans by dispatching the Orioles, the Royals will host the Giants in the first World Series matchup between the clubs. First pitch in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for tonight at 8:07 p.m. ET. Pregame coverage on FOX begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Buster Posey casts an assertive presence as a hitter, but he could loom even larger in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals when he settles into his catcher’s crouch.

Bud Selig’s 22-year run as Major League Baseball’s Commissioner is coming to an end, which has plenty of people reflecting on his career. It happened once more on Monday night at the Waldorf Astoria, where Selig received a lifetime achievement award at the 24th annual Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame Awards.

Outside of Kansas City, how many of us really know the Royals? To that end, we took advantage of a 50-minute media session on Monday at Kauffman Stadium, where players were stationed inside one room at the Royals’ Hall of Fame and fielded questions from dozens of media types.

The trade that brought Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar to Kansas City almost didn’t happen, but happen it did, and Ned Yost calls the deal “the start to all of our success.”

Nine managers have won at least three World Series championships, and all of them are in the Hall of Fame. So if the Giants can get past these Cinderellas wearing Kansas City Royals baseball suits, their beloved skipper can count on baseball’s highest honor.

Twenty-nine years later, as the Royals prepare to finally play in a World Series again and Kauffman Stadium gets ready for a rocking Game 1, the unavoidable name of Don Denkinger is being brought back down from the shelves of the sport’s lore. The old umpire says that’s OK. He’s used to it.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Gregor Blanco of the Giants will realize his fondest baseball dream Tuesday night: Leading off and playing center field in the World Series.

When Madison Bumgarner starts Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday (4:30 p.m. PT on FOX, 5:07 p.m. PT first pitch), he will showcase one of the game’s most unconventional deliveries, which he spent the past decade crafting into one of baseball’s best.

Here’s a breakdown of the pitchers for Game 1 of the World Series: the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner and the Royals’ James Shields.

Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum has gone from the sublime to the anonymous in his baseball career. Thus far, Lincecum has not pitched during the 2014 playoffs, but he insists he is not obsessing about pitching in the World Series against the Royals. If Lincecum’s not used, he figures he’ll deal with all that when the postseason is over.