MLB

While it was an easy call to place the likes of Josh Donaldson and Bryce Harper on this MLB 2015 Year-End All-Star Team, there were plenty of positions where the decision was far more challenging.

Simply put, there were a ton of spots with two or sometimes even three deserving players.

Alex Rodriguez said they were underdogs, and for once we didn't laugh at the thought.

The New York Yankees as underdogs?

The Texas Rangers were eight games back of the Houston Astros for the AL West lead on Aug. 1, but a late-season run of epic proportions vaulted them back into the pennant chase and the postseason party for the first time since 2012. 

On Thursday night, Chicago White Sox slugger Jose Abreu became the second player in Major League Baseball history to record 30 home runs and 100 RBI in the first two seasons of his career.

According to Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago, Abreu joins Albert Pujols, who performed the feat in 2001 and 2002.

The White Sox followed with a congratulatory message for Abreu:

Following a two-year postseason absence, the New York Yankees guaranteed they'll be playing playoff baseball in October again thanks to a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. The victory was also the 10,000th in franchise history.

A few days after Washington Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon choked Bryce Harper in the dugout, the face of the franchise once again was getting "choked" by a teammate.

Don't worry, it was all in good fun this time.

Love it or hate it, instant replay is here to stay in baseball.

Per the folks over at Baseball Savant, MLB's replay center has reviewed more than 1,200 plays through Sep. 20, with nearly half of those reviews (49.17 percent) overturning the call made on the field.

For decades, Major League Baseball was very much like the legendary duo of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar: It feared change.

But as attention spans draw shorter and people have more options than ever before as to how to spend their discretionary income and spare time, baseball needs to embrace change. Not only to improve the game, but to grow it, to remain relevant for future generations.

For a sport that presses traditionalism tightly to its bosom like a cap during "The Star-Spangled Banner," baseball has increasingly embraced technology in recent years—a surprising move from a league that saw the Chicago Cubs wait until 1988 for their first night game.

At a cursory glance, the final Blue Crew and Bay Bombers showdown of the 2015 season seems somewhat uninspiring. The Los Angeles Dodgers, crowned NL West division champs on Tuesday, shut down their California rivals' flirtation with postseason possibilities in the process.

With one team celebrating and the other standing in the rain, there certainly couldn't be any reason to tune in—or could there be?