Baseball season is over! How’d I do? (Part 2 National League)

Whew! OK I am back to update the second portion of this post… Let’s Get it on!

National League East: HAHAHA PERFECTO!!! I nailed it (minus that whole Wild Card thing) Hard to argue with the Phillies winning it, best pitching staff in baseball, and an unbelievable lineup. The Braves were an easy #2 for me they only know how to win, but they are in the transition of  getting younger but they have always drafted well. My surprise team was the Nationals and i know they surprised a boat load of teams this year… here’s the scary part they are getting better!! the Mets and Marlins are not good, lets hope the new stadium will help the ‘Miami’ Marlins… Final Standings: Phillies, Braves, Nationals, Mets, Marlins SPOT ON!

5 for 5 with 5 RBI’s mix in a HR (I would have hit for the cycle had it not been for the WC miss)

National League Central: OOPS here we go again… I had the Brew Crew right, then and oops with Cincinnati, should have had the Cardinals (never bet against the Pujols). However, for the last three years I have incorrectly predicted that the Pirates would not finish in last place, and they have… So, i intentionaly picked them last so that they would finish last… and they didn’t!! Congrats!! and my beloved Astros were the worst team in the central, if not the worst team in baseball… lastly the lowly Cubbies (who watched the ESPN 20 for 20? how can you not want the Cubs to win every year after that… sarcasm…) finshed second to last… HOWEVER, you will hear it here first, there is no better time for a new GM in Chicago, and there is no better time for a Red Sox GM to get out… see where I am goin with this? and his first signing… a certain first basemen with homerun genes from a city north and slightly west, will be the keystone signing… Final Standings: Brewers, Cardinals (WC), Reds, Pirates, Cubs, Astros

3 for 6 the bottom three are the bottom three… and I got the Division Champs right…

Finally the West: Not all that close… How the Rockies didn’t win it I’ll never know, no, really, I tried to watch the games on the west coast and every time I watched the Rockies they were destroying teams… Seriously if Ian Kennedy doesn’t win 20 games, they don’t win the division, besides Justin Upton can anyone name 3 guys in the everyday lineup? well besides me… the Giants again, not enough offense, to win in the NL. the Padres are just not that good without Gonzo. even the pitching suffered. And honestly, the Dodgers with the potential MVP and Cy Young award winner overachieved there was very little on that team besides those two.  Final Standings: Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies, Padres.

As it turns out i had forgotten to put the Dodgers in my original predictions, so lets just stick them in the middle and go from there… Oh they finished 3rd? lucky me… 3 for 5 for this league…

Award Winners

Surprise team: I picked the the Nationals, which they were a surprise team but the Pirates would have been a good choice too.

Comeback player of the Year: I think I may have nailed this one too. Lance Berkman may even recieve a couple of votes for the MVP.

Closer or the Year: Not so Close, Huston Street, had a decent year, spent some time on the DL, but not the best closer in the NL.

Rookie of the Year: Branden Belt was up and down from the minors, Freddie Freeman will have to battle his fellow relief pitching Rookie for the title.

Cy Young: THE U, Ubaldo Jimenez, eventually got traded to the Indians (for half the farm system)and was never really all that close to his 2010 performance. Clayton Kershaw will battle Roy Halladay, and Cris Carpenter for this award.

MVP: Tulow showed signs of brilliance but never really was in the same realm as Matt Kemp this year.

as far as the World Series winners… lets just say 0 for 4… I wasn’t even close…

I’ll be back next year… and Better than ever… or worse who cares, its not like I am getting paid to do this…

Baseball season is over! How’d I do? (Part 1 American League)

Have you ever wondered what happens to predictions for the experts? Like for instance on ESPN they always make predictions but very rarely follow through… they do keep track of predicting individual Pro football games but they never follow up on the season long predictions… well I am going to ‘throw myself under the bus’ a little bit and actually review my predictions from the beginning of the season… I have a bad feeling about this…

Lets start in the American League West. I said that the Rangers would win that division, what a surprise, most ‘analysts’ did as well. But I had the A’s coming in last because in my mind there was no reason to believe the Mariners could do as bad as they did the year before with that pitching staff…. well, INCORRECT.  Final Standings in the West: Rangers, Angels, Athletics, Mariners.

3 for 4 right? just go with it… it gets worse.

Moving on to the American League Central. If any one picked this division correctly please take a bow. I am sure no one saw the Indians 30-15 start happening, and no one could have foreseen the Twins collapse and finish dead last.  But I did say the Royals wouldn’t finish in last place this year, right? Final Standings in the Central: Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Royals, Twins

1 for 5 and I’ll take 2 (with closed eyes) Swinging K’s in that game… OUCH!!

And then the American League East. So as most of you reading this already know I am not a fan of the Yankees, but it is hard to argue that they will not make the playoffs with that lineup and a steady bullpen. To be honest flip a coin at the beginning of the year to see who finishes in second yet still win the wildcard between them and the Sox.  But the collapse that the Sox had at the end of the year makes me wonder if those Sox/Yanks, Yanks/Sox years are coming to a close… I did however INCORRECTLY predict that the Orioles would surprise a lot of teams… they did not… little to no pitching will kill any team. Pretty impressed with Toronto’s .500 record in the most difficult division in baseball. And if you don’t know by now, you can never count out a Joe Maddon coached team, the Rays were impressive when it mattered most, down the stretch. Look out next year, the Rays have so many Starters David Price, Big Game James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Jeff Neimann, Wade Davis, Matt Moore, Jake McGee, and Alex Torres… expect the Rays to move Neimann and or Davis. Final Standings for the East: Yankees, Rays (WC), Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles.

0 for 5 with a backwards K with RISP on the Orioles finishing in third… oops! That’s what I get for trying to be bold.

Awards

Closer of the Year: my pick wasn’t even a closer for most of the year… Joe Nathan.

Come Back Player of the Year: again, not a very good choice, Joe Nathan.

Rookie of the year: Jeremy Hellickson, Tsuyoshi Nishioka 2B/SS. Well at least I got one guy in the conversation….

Cy Young: Jon Lester, not a bad pick, he had a good year 15 wins (10th over all)  3.49 ERA (18th overall).  But hands down the Cy Young in the American League has to go to Justin Verlander. He was #1 in: innings pitched, Strike outs, Wins, WHIP, and ERA… unbelievable season,  unbelievable arm.

MVP: Adrian Gonzalez, this might be the only pick I get right…  and its still a long shot. In the AL you have Ellsbury, Bautista, Granderson, Cano, Gonzalez, and Cabrera… and every single one of them will potentially get at least 1 first place vote…