Outside The Confines: Is Taylor Swift taking over baseball next?

No, but she did get great seats for the ALCS.

The hullaballoo and backlash of Taylor Swift’s presence at Kansas City Chiefs games may now be moving over to baseball. It turns out the pop singer’s famous boyfriend Travis Kelce is a big Cleveland Guardians fan, so the pair headed to the first game of the ALCS to watch the Guardians take on the Yankees.

Of course, wherever Swift goes, controversy is sure to follow, and this time around it was leveled mostly at Travis Kelce, who didn’t show off his Guardians fandom with any Cleveland gear.

But hey, it looks like the lovebirds had a fun time, no matter what.

Now on to the rest of today’s links!

• Jay Jaffe remembers Luis Tiant after his passing.
• Clayton Kershaw speaks about his future with the Dodgers. Story by Madison Williams.
• Jay Jaffe reflects on the Yankees’ bullpen and how it has fared in the postseason.
• Ryan Phillips shares the classy way Shohei Ohtani spoke about Francisco Lindor.
• Michael Rosen looks at the Dodgers’ starting rotation and what it has managed to do thus far.
• Kyle Koster shares how incredible the MLB postseason ratings have been.
• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce (who is a big Cleveland Guardians fan) attended the first game of the ALCS. Story by Keegan Matheson.
• Kelce might be a big Guardians fan, but his lack of Cleveland gear had some fans riled up. Story by Kyle Koster.
• Thomas Harrigan and Theo DeRosa share this year’s Gold Glove finalists.
• Juan Toribio shares how Freddie Freeman’s Dodgers teammates have responded to his efforts to push through even though he is injured.
• Jesse Rogers shares that the Dodgers have no intention of moving Shohei Ohtani up to leadoff.
• The rays who live at the Tropicana Field touch tank were at the stadium during the hurricane. All seven are fine and have since been relocated to a temporary new home. Story by Marc Topkin.
• Sam Blum shares how local broadcasters are feeling as the postseason turns things over to the national media. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Christina De Nicola wonders if moving Francisco Lindor to leadoff helped position the Mets for victory.
• Nick Selbe looks at how Lindor’s legend continues to grow this postseason.
• Keegan Matheson has the big questions for the Blue Jays, like if Vladdy will be extended and so much more.
• The Phillies have extended Rob Thomson through 2026. (ESPN)
• Snakes at the game! An actual snake made its way into the Dodgers’ dugout. Story by Ryan Phillips.
• This could be bad news in terms of the Rays playing at Tropicana next season… or ever again.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.