Now that all 162 games (163 for the Rangers and Rays) are complete, it is time to look back on this interesting season of Major League Baseball. There were many great stories and bright young stars, and some elite players who are calling it a career. It was a season full of drama, injuries and a lot less hitting than we have seen the last 20 years in the league. Here are my top stories and conclusions from the regular season...
10. The Rays and A's have it figured out-somehow both of these teams see themselves consistently making the playoffs despite not having the top stars or payrolls. Each team has its own way of constructing rosters full of young talent topped with a few all star veterans. Who needs the 'elite' hitters when the A's have Coco Crisp, Josh Donaldson, and Josh Reddick anchoring their lineup. Meanwhile the Rays do pretty well with Evan Longoria, Wil Myers and James Loney as the core hitters in their daily lineup. Most importantly, Jamey Wright has qualified for the postseason for the first time in 18 years!
9. The Pirates are relevant again! After 20 straight seasons of losing records, the Pirates have finished on top of the National League wild card. There are many reasons they reached this level starting with the job Clint Hurdle has done as manager. Hurdle is definitely the manager of the year favorite and has taken this team to relevance for the first time since BARRY BONDS left. Andrew McCutchen is a MVP candidate, Francisco Liriano has had a miraculous comeback season and many other players have had career years to lead this team to relevance again. However, a loss to the Reds in the one game wild card playoff would be disastrous.
8. The steroid era is not quite finished, but just about there. There were relatively few suspensions this year due to PEDs opposed to the last few years, but the big ones were connected to the Biogenesis 'scandal'. Ryan Braun began the season as one of the league's most likable players and is now seen as a liar and cheater. A-Rod is hanging on a limb and will await his appeal to see if he will be able to play next year. If the suspension is upheld, maybe he has played his last game as a Yankee or even as a major leaguer.
7. Speaking of last games as a major leaguer, there were some old timers who officially called it quits this year which paves the way for new stars to enter the league. Mariano Rivera's season was interesting, seeing as every series he went to a ballpark for the last time, he seemed to get a nice gift from the opposing team. I have never heard of stuff like this happening, and while he might be a future Hall of Famer, I don't think Babe Ruth would have deserved the same treatment when he was retiring. Other greats retiring include Andy Pettitte and Todd Helton who both have had long and impressive careers. Also, other veterans including Darren Oliver and Mark Kotsay have made it known they are retiring.
6. Roo-keys of success. This year had a dominant class of rookies, more so in the National League including Yasiel Puig, Jose Fernandez, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Shelby Miller and many more. While most sports people think Fernandez is the favorite, all of these rookies have nice careers to look forward to. Meanwhile the league has a lot to look forward to with these future stars.
5. The Dodgers proved that two near perfect months of baseball is more than enough to get you into the playoffs. The Dodgers had a terrible start to the season and were double digit games under .500 at the beginning of June. They also played sub-.500 ball in September. Yet, they won the NL West by double digit games. That is pretty amazing and I am sure the first time a team has done that. The rise of Puig, great 'half season' of Hanley Ramirez and dominant pitching by Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke carried the Dodgers into the playoffs.
4. The Marlins rebuild more than the city of Miami does after a hurricane. The Marlins lost more than 100 games this season after another rebuilding year. It has now been ten years since they won the World Series and almost as long since they have been relevant, so when are they going to stop believing that if you keep rebuilding after winning, you will still be good in the near future?
3. The Houston Astros were one of the worst teams ever this year. While they were far from worst winning percentage ever they still were extremely bad, finishing 51-111. They set the record for most strikeouts in a season as a team and traded away just about every player who had played in the major leagues two years ago. Their payroll is less than many individual players made this season. And they somehow made great profit this year, amazing business plan, but does not make for good entertainment.
2. The Trout vs. Cabrera MVP debate take 2. What might be an annual occurence the MVP award is likely to come down between Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout for the second straight season. Once again Cabrera helped lead the Tigers to the playoffs while the Angels are already done for the year. Trout has overall had another great year in almost every major stat, but Miguel Cabrera won the batting title again and finished towards the top of the leader board in home runs and RBIs. Will the voters choose Cabrera again or give Trout a nice award to hang up in the early stage of his career.
1. No one has any idea who will win the World Series. There is no clear favorite to win the World Series this year and that makes sense considering no team has been super dominant throughout the whole season. It is hard to believe the Red Sox finished with the best record in baseball, but they did and have a decent chance of winning it all. However, the Tigers and A's both have reasoning to say they could win it too. The Indians and Rays just need the wild card game to give themselves motivation to continue their hot streak further into the playoffs.
The same goes in the National League. Both the Dodgers and the Braves can be seen as World Series favorites, yet only one team will make it to the second round. The Pirates and Reds have had great seasons, yet one game will determine if they will advance to play the Cardinals, who have been great all year. The Cardinals must remember how they blew a 3-1 series lead in the championship last postseason, which will either give them determination or nightmares.
In Conclusion, no one knows who will hoist the World Series trophy in just a few weeks. Clayton Kershaw is the runaway NL Cy Young Award winner and Felix Hernandez should probably find a new team if he ever wants to win 20 games.
(My Predictions) Don't Bank on them
Wild Card Winners-Rays, Pirates
Division Series Winners-Dodgers, Cardinals, Red Sox, Tigers
Championship Series Winners-Dodgers, Tigers
World Series Winner-DODGERS!!!! (but if I was not biased, I would pick the Tigers).
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