Kurt Suzuki of the Oakland Athletics breaks up the double play sliding hard into Bill Hall of the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the sixth inning during a MLB baseball game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) The Oakland A's want to move to a new ballpark in San Jose.

The umpiring crew talk before the start of Game One of the MLB World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St Louis, Missouri. Expanded instant replay might open more opportunities for women umpires, who've been caught in the traditionalists' world for too long.

Tucked away in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is the addition of the words "sexual orientation" to the existing anti-discrimination provision. The CBA in effect from 2006-2011 stated, in Section XV: The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied to all Players covered by this Agreement without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.

Yes, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement between Major League Baseball and the Players Association means five more years of labor peace. But there are big changes afoot, and we've got the only primer you'll ever need. Big changes are coming to Major League Baseball. Changes to instant replay.

The weather's turned. The sun sets early. Your neighbor is gathering her Christmas decorations. Yes, it's time for another Thanksgiving. Time to sift through your recipes, set your menu, shop for dinner, cook, eat, eat, eat, eat, and take a nap. Oh, and one more thing. You have to make your guest list.

Within minutes of the final out of Game 7 of the World Series, Rogers Hornsby's famous quote zoomed through the Twitterverse: "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." For you, dear baseball fan, there is much to do other than stare out the window until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

You're sick of it. I'm sick of it. Everyone you follow on Twitter is sick of it. All of your Facebook "friends" are sick of it. No, I'm not talking about the Kardashian-family media empire. That's a post for another day. It's the Major League Baseball postseason commercial on MLB Network and TBS featuring the song Written in the Stars by Tinie Tempah.

Last week, Baseball Prospectus Editor-in-Chief Steven Goldman wrote a thought-provoking piece over at Baseball Nation entitled Hanley Ramirez and I, On the Shivering Highway. In it Goldman discussed mid-life crises, nervous breakdowns and living up to your god-given talents. It was a mediation of sorts, a reflection by Goldman on his current station in life and a plea to Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez not to squander his immense talent.

The shock is beginning to wear off. The shock of the collision, the fierce and loud and brutal collision. The shock of Buster Posey writhing in pain next to home plate, pounding the reddish brown dirt. The dirt he plays in. The dirt he squats in over and over again, game after game. The shock of Posey hobbling off the field, supported by the trainers, his left leg dangling.

Back in March, I analyzed whether unbalanced interleague schedules had affected National League division races and wild card races between teams in the same division. I concluded that, for the most part, unbalanced interleague schedules had not affected those races. In that post, I admittedly didn’t analyze whether unbalanced interleague schedules had affected wild card races between National League teams in different divisions because of the unbalanced intraleague schedule introduced in the 1998 season.

As you may know if you’ve read this, I practiced law for nearly 20 years before taking a break and becoming a baseball blogger. I’ve tweeted some about the Barry Bonds trial, but have intentionally avoided blogging about the Bonds trial because my focus now is baseball, not the law. I also know and worked with one of Bonds’ main lawyers–Cris Arguedas–who deserves her fantastic reputation and then some.

Last week, I posted my analysis finding that unbalanced interleague schedules had not affected the divisional and wild card races in the National League, except for two possible races in 2007: the NL Central race and the NL Wild Card race. You can read my previous post here. In 2007, the Cubs beat out the Brewers by 2 games in the NL Central and the Rockies beat out NL West rival Padres for the NL Wild Card by 1 game.

Lots of folks in and around baseball do not like interleague play. Baseball purists dislike interleague play because, well, it’s interleague. My favorite argument against interleague: American League pitchers shouldn’t have to bat because they might get hurt. One objection I’ve heard a lot is that interleague play gives rise to unbalanced schedules for teams in the same division and those unbalanced schedules could give one team an advantage in the race for the division title or the wild card.

I remember exactly where I was. I was in the student government offices in the campus center, around lunchtime. My friend and fellow student-government geek Jeff approached. "My dad just gave me two tickets to Game 7 tonight. I can't think of anyone who'd appreciate going to a Game 7 more than you.