The Royals’ midseason turnaround coincided with Dale Sveum becoming the club’s hitting coach, and while some of the success was simply players getting back to their normal numbers, some of it was also the concepts Sveum brought, and the manner in which he incorporated them.

There was nothing more impressive in the Cardinals’ four-game National League Division Series victory over the Dodgers than the way lefty-swinging third baseman Matt Carpenter handled a bevy of high-profile Los Angeles left-handed pitchers.

Cal Ripken Jr. was just 23 years old when the Orioles last won the World Series in 1983. He was the American League MVP, and the future looked promising for him and his team. A Hall of Fame career ensued, but Ripken and the O’s never made it back to baseball’s biggest stage.

The Cardinals’ rotation for the National League Championship Series against the Giants for Games 1-4 will again be Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, John Lackey and Shelby Miller, respectively — exactly the same as their just-concluded NL Division Series victory over the Dodgers in four games.

Thieves stole an undisclosed number of Hall of Famer Yogi Berra’s World Series rings and two of his MVP plaques from the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, N.J.

Bret Saberhagen, the Most Valuable Player of the 1985 World Series, sees a similarity between those champion Royals and today’s team. And it starts with their confidence level.

The road to the National League Championship Series was a familiar one for many on the Giants’ roster, their 2012 trip still fresh in their minds. But for Tim Hudson, the trek to the next level of baseball’s postseason took some 16 years to traverse, with six frustrating roadblocks along the way.

The Cardinals and Giants are more alike than they are different, and shouldn’t that make this National League Championship Series even more interesting? Unwrap these franchises a layer at a time, and you’ll find common threads.

Right-hander Mark Appel, ranked No. 41 on MLBPipeline.com’s Top 100 Prospects list, tossed three scoreless innings Wednesday for Salt River, striking out two and allowing a hit and a walk. Brandon Drury and Peter O’Brien, the D-backs’ Nos. 6 and 7 prospects, each hit a home run to power the Rafters to a 6-3 victory.

The Royals have stolen many a heart in their ascendance to the American League Championship Series, and they’ve also stolen many a base.

The Royals and Orioles both enter the American League Championship Series with an excellent bullpen. Which unit performs better may very well dictate which club moves on to the World Series.

The Rangers continued their interviews with managerial candidates by meeting with Pirates bench coach Jeff Banister and White Sox third base coach Joe McEwing on Wednesday. The Rangers have already interviewed pitching coach Mike Maddux, Triple-A manager Steve Buechele and Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo. They are still planning to interview interim manager Tim Bogar, Indians bullpen coach Kevin Cash and Puerto Rico winter league executive Alex Cora.

Dating back to his rookie year with the Twins, in 2006, Pat Neshek has had a deal with the fans: Send him a card of anyone who has played in the history of Major League Baseball, and he’ll send back a Pat Neshek card. To date, Neshek estimates that he has obtained 10,000 to 20,000 cards, just by trading them with others, from the time this whole exercise started eight years ago.

During a team workout on Wednesday, Giants manager Bruce Bochy confirmed that Tim Lincecum will crack his 25-man roster for the NLCS against the Cardinals. Bochy hopes to find a way to utilize Lincecum, who served as a reliever over the final month of the regular season.

It looks like the Giants will be getting one of their most powerful bats back for their upcoming National League Championship Series against the Cardinals, which begins on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT on FOX. Manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday that Michael Morse was in Arizona, taking batting practice against live pitching. The plan is for Morse to start in left field in an instructional league game on Thursday, and then meet the team in St. Louis on Friday. Barring any unexpected setbacks, Morse will be on the 25-man roster for the NLCS.

The Giants and Cardinals are back at it in the National League Championship Series for the fourth time since 1987, and memories of what happened just two scant years ago have to be fresh in the minds of Redbird fans everywhere.

On Wednesday, the game times were announced for the ALCS pairing of Kansas City and Baltimore and the National League Championship Series between the Giants and Cardinals.