The encounters were between two professionals — a manager and player. Yet the experiences were so personal they were characteristic of father-and-son moments.

In an effort to keep the Cardinals’ running game in check, the Braves will go with David Ross behind the plate in the NL Wild Card game rather than Brian McCann, who has been plagued by shoulder discomfort all year.

Major League Baseball announced Thursday that the 30 clubs drew a combined 74,859,268 fans, representing the highest attendance since 2008 and the fifth-best single-season attendance in baseball history.

Runs and wins count for exactly the same regardless of when they happen, so don’t let “clutch” performance factor into the argument for any personal awards.

Bobby Valentine’s tenure as the manager of the Red Sox lasted less than a calendar year, as the club relieved him of his duties on Thursday, a day after a disappointing regular season came to an end.

The Phillies retained three coaches and promoted three others — including Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg — to the Major League club on Thursday.

When a Boston couple went to a recent Red Sox home game on a ballpark date, and at first they weren’t sure what to think when the “Bucks on the Pond” crew approached them during the third inning. New episodes of the hit MLB.com game show are being released every Tuesday and Thursday this season, and you can watch episode 19 to see how they handled the pressure and whether it was sealed with a kiss.

A big part of the fun of postseason baseball is the unpredictability. Five Wild Card teams have won the World Series. In 14 of the past 17 years, the team with the best record has not won the World Series. We’re all trying, but none of us have figured it out.

Two of the most storied National League franchises will meet in a postseason series for the first time Saturday, and their Division Series begins with a Game 1 that features the requisite matchup of aces, along with a few unique storylines.

Two years after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Joe Nathan converted 37 of 40 save opportunities this season, his first with the Rangers. He had a career-high 31 consecutive saves from April 15-Sept. 12 and made his fifth All-Star team.

The Oakland A’s came out of nowhere to win the AL West while the Tigers were a preseason favorite, but both clubs find themselves in the American League Division Series.

The Rangers are back in the playoffs for the third straight year. They just didn’t get there the way they expected. Instead the Rangers are going in as a Wild Card team.

A look at how the American League Wild Card game breaks down, position by position.

The Cardinals and Braves will meet in the first ever NL Wild Card Game, and here’s a look at the position-by-position breakdown.

Four games had important playoff implications on Wednesday, and that didn’t include the finale in Kansas City that saw Miguel Cabrera cement himself in baseball lore by winning the first Triple Crown in 45 years.

You can watch the most exciting part of the sports calendar year from numerous angles thanks to Postseason.TV, which will show live companion coverage of the two Wild Card knockout games on Friday, all four Division Series starting on Saturday and the American League Championship Series — all postseason games broadcast by TBS and MLB Network.

In the byproduct of baseball’s successful push for a second Wild Card team in each league, the Braves and Cardinals will jockey for that chance to the advance to the National League Division Series.