Manager Ned Yost is supremely confident that if he can hand a lead or a tie game to Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, that the Royals will prevail.

The Orioles may be facing a 2-0 hole against the Royals in the ALCS, but center fielder Adam Jones believes they will rally.

Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright remains in line to start a potential Game 5 of the National League Championship Series after asserting to club officials the soundness of his right elbow on Sunday. At the same time, general manager John Mozeliak spoke of seeking ways to avoid such questions in the future.

They might have been the least appreciated of the 10 postseason teams, but the Royals head toward Tuesday night’s Game 3 of the AL Championship Series at 7 p.m. CT on TBS on one of the best runs in the era of expanded playoffs.

History is not on the Orioles’ side. But that doesn’t mean the O’s are willing to concede the American League Championship Series to the Royals, who hold a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven format.

From Opening Day to Kansas City’s thrilling, 6-4, victory in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, one thing has stayed consistent: the Royals’ skill at putting the ball in play.

Adam Wainwright did little in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Saturday to redirect the nagging narrative about his right elbow. Wainwright said that his arm never reached the proper release point.

Madison Bumgarner’s traveling show turned in another successful performance Saturday night as the Giants stifled the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0, in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

The Giants won another postseason game Saturday night, this one 3-0 over the Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. No surprise there. When the lights are bright and the stage is large, the Giants are at their best.

Travis Ishikawa did a double take at the lineup card Giants manager Bruce Bochy posted for a Sept. 25 game against the Padres. He was hitting seventh, which was no big deal, but the number “7,” denoting left field, was listed beside his name.

Cardinals reliever Seth Maness tossed two scoreless innings and came away impressed — again — with how well Marco Gonzales, the team’s first-round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, handled himself in high-leverage situations in the club’s 3-0 loss to the Giants in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series on Saturday.

While romping through the National League playoffs so often over the past decade, the Cardinals built a reputation of sound play with few mistakes. But they did make a few miscues in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series on Saturday, and the Giants — no strangers to fundamental baseball themselves — punished them in a 3-0 victory.

The postseason is Pablo Sandoval’s time of year, and on Saturday night, the man they lovingly call “Panda” had another exceptional playoff game for the Giants in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is confident that his crew will demonstrate the kind of resilience that has been one of the best characteristics of his club in recent seasons starting in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series on Sunday night. And the Cards can take heart from the fact that, no matter what else happens, they won’t be facing Giants ace Madison Bumgarner.

The Cardinals have grown used to producing seventh-inning magic, but that frame brought only frustration on Saturday, when the Giants’ escape helped seal Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

The first instance of replay review in National League Championship Series history was more hockey than baseball, and was settled before you could say “hip check.” In the seventh inning of what would become a 3-0 Giants win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner and Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong each converged on first base. The baseball and Bumgarner arrived first, and in applying a tag, Bumgarner bumped Wong out of the baseline.

With Statcast, a new tracking technology that measures player movement all over the field, we have access to player data that we never had before, and it’s changing the way we’ve been able to analyze this memorable October.