Wallyball Applesauce: Backman Announces He Will Stick With Mets, Rangers Advance to the World Series

Wally Backman was a guest on Ed Randall's Baseball Show on WFAN Saturday and during the interview, stated that he will stay with the Mets organization. Wally and the Mets have yet to discuss where he will manage in 2012 but it is believed by most that he will go to Buffalo. Click here to listen to the entire interview, in which Wally talks about his dedication to the organization, the crop of pitching prospects on the way and the '86 Mets.

Speaking of those '86 Mets, Mark Simon continues his look at the playoffs from that year with Game 6 of the NLCS.

Joe Janish examines the Bob Geren hiring, along with some Alderson/Wilpon conspiracy theories. That sort of thing is typically not my cup of tea but the mere idea of the Wilpons beginning to meddle with the baseball operations again scares me.

Third base prospect Jefry Marte hit his first home run in the Arizona Fall League on Saturday. Juan Lagares also had a big day, going 2-4 with a two run home run, his second, all while playing center field. Both Marte and Lagares are Rule V eligible for the first time this offseason.

The Daily News put out an interesting article about 40 year old righty Miguel Batista and his love of poetry.

Things were looking up for the Tigers through the first two and a half innings on Saturday evening. Solo home runs from Miguel Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta had Detroit up 2-0 with Max Scherzer on the hill. And then, the bottom of the third inning happened. Nine Rangers runs later, the Tigers saw their World Series hopes dwindle down to nothing. The Rangers lit up Scherzer and the Tiger bullpen, sending Detroit home for the offseason with a 15-5 drubbing. Texas heads to the World Series for the second season in a row and with the way they've played this postseason, have to be considered the favorites to win it all.

With the ALCS completed, the start of game six of the NLCS will be pushed back to 8:05 in Milwaukee. The Cardinals, up 3-2 in the series, send Edwin Jackson to the mound up against the Brewers' Shaun Marcum.

Here's some more Nelson Cruz love. The guy is having a ridiculous postseason.

Red Sox President Larry Lucchino is playing hardball with the Cubs in the negotiations for Theo Epstein's compensation. Certainly, the Red Sox are entitled to try to get whatever they can for letting their GM walk away but at the same time, the longer this situation goes on, the worse the press seems to get for the BoSox.