Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager was named the World Series MVP for the second time Wednesday. Over the course of the five games, Seager hit three home runs to lead the team to several key victories.

“It truly is incredible,” Seager said after the game. “But it’s not just me, man. What this team did and how we competed and all the guys in there rallying, we don’t really have one leader. That whole clubhouse is the leadership.”

Seager deflected direct praise, but without his home runs in Games 1 and 3, the Rangers would have had significantly more trouble getting past the Diamondbacks in such short order. He did exactly what the team expected him to do when they signed him to a massive 10-year, $325 million deal going into the 2022 season.

“I don’t know what else to say about the man; he’s just incredible,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s a guy you want up there, obviously.”

Seager was also the World Series MVP in 2020 as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, when he had eight hits in 20 at-bats, including two timely home runs to lift the team past the Tampa Bay Rays.

After the World Series win in Los Angeles, Seager, now 29, assumed a new vision for the rest of his career. Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young convinced Seager to lead a fledgling franchise, one that was still looking for its first World Series win but mostly trying to attain relevance in a crowded league.

“It was definitely a drawing point for me,” Seager said. “I won in L.A. They hadn’t won in 30 years (actually 32) and I saw what it did to a fan base. When I found out they had never won here, that was something that intrigued me, to be able to start at the bottom and try and build something and compete. And to be able to do it, it’s really satisfying.”

The Houston Astros earned their first win of the ALCS in Game 3 Wednesday night, defeating the Texas Rangers 8-5 on the road. Houston now trails 2-1 in the best-of-seven series and can even the score with another road victory on Thursday.

In his first start since suffering a muscle strain in early September, Max Scherzer was dull in his 28th career postseason appearance. Though he became the second pitcher ever to make postseason starts for five different teams, his playoff debut for Texas was not memorable for good reason. He allowed five runs on five innings in four innings of work before exiting.

“I thought he had good stuff,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “He’s a little rusty. It’s been a month since he’s been out there. He’s only going to get better. He feels good. That’s the good news.”

Scherzer told reporters after the game that he had mixed feelings about his performance, arguing that he did better than the box score might suggest.

“In these situations, look there’s some bad in this I get it, but that’s what you kinda gotta tune out and look at the good,” Scherzer said. “Look, I made some mistakes, I get it. I got punished for it. There were some good things I did as well. … I’m not going to sit here and beat myself down.”

The Astros and Rangers have now played three closely contested games, with the pair matching up well on the mound and at the plate. Texas took Games 1 and 2 on the road by 2-0 and 5-4 scores, respectively, meaning that there has not yet been a home win for either team heading into Game 4.

Both teams are reaching the bottom of their rotations as the series reaches a potential midway point, as the Rangers’ Andrew Heaney and Astros’ Jose Urquidy are expected to match up this evening. Urquidy was one of Houston’s heroes in the ALDS, as he led the team to a win over the Twins to clinch that series. Heaney had several bad outings for Texas during the regular season, inflating his ERA, but also recorded 151 strikeouts in 28 starts.

It was announced Monday that the Royals’ all-time winningest manager, Ned Yost, will be leaving the dugout at the conclusion of the 2019 season.

Yost has amassed 744 wins and counting as manager for the Royals.

After being hired in May 2010, Yost led the Royals to back-to-back World Series appearances, as well as a championship in 2015. Since then, however, the Royals have been in a steady decline and have entered into a major rebuilding phase.

Yost has garnered 1,201 wins in his tenure as a manager, good enough to earn him 45th on the all-time list.

In a statement from the Royals, Yost discussed his impending retirement:

“With the development of our young players and our returning veterans, I feel and hope the worst is behind us in this rebuilding phase of our organization. My plan all along was to get us through the rough times and then turn it over to a new manager to bring us the rest of the way. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here as your manager and will never forget the good and hard times we had together as an organization and a fan base.”

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Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was one of many to congratulate Yost on his retirement:

Although no replacement for Yost has been announced yet, a likely candidate is former St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheney, who is currently a special advisor in player development for the Royals. Matheney arises as an option following his stint with the Cardinals, during which he won 55 percent of his regular-season games, three division titles, and a pennant in 2013.

Many changes are afoot in terms of MLB managers, with the Giants searching for a new leader to replace Bruce Bochy and the Padres seeking a replacement for Andy Green. The Royals, who are coming off of a rebuilding phase that spanned multiple years, could be a target destination for many different potential managers looking to lead them back to the postseason.