Losing Is Good For You!

Don't get confused by the title, this isn't one of those things your parents, teachers and other respectable members of society are trying to tell you.  The whole "losing builds character" thing is fine, but since we write about real sports and real competitions where winning is everything, to hell with character!  Especially since we are talking about baseball, not saying that all baseball players are bad people, but look at the top two all time hits leaders!  One is banned from baseball for the rest of his life and the next is considered to be a disgrace to baseball despite being the leading vote-getter for the introductory class for the Hall of Fame, and is still the 4th leading vote-getter of all time.  I also hold the stiff belief that Barry Bonds was the best player I've seen in my life, possibly only being threatened by Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez and the potential of a healthy Ken Griffey Jr.  So you know what, character is great and I have all the respect in the world for the Chipper Joneses and Derek Jeters of the world, but in some cases you don't need to be the best person to be successful in baseball.  Returning to my point, even though you don't need character and losing builds character, losing can be important in the right circumstances.  Namely, the Championship Series.

Because I respect my readers..

As you should know if you are reading this, the San Francisco Giants are once again the World Series champions, and since the last time I wrote about this topic it went on to be one of my most viewed blog posts ever, I'll see if lightning can strike twice.  They once again won on a great pitching staff, which this time DID include Barry Zito and his curve.  But I don't want to talk about the Giants winning, I'm slightly more interested in talking about the Tigers losing.  They quite possibly have 3 of the top 10 players in the league right now yet looked completely helpless for the entire series, which only lasted 4 games.  The hell of it was that the Tigers also were playing their best baseball of the year down the stretch.  Miguel Cabrera had a fantastic September that catapulted him from "this guy is having a quite good season" to "this guy is winning the Triple Crown" and his Triple Crown is still something I didn't expect to see for a long time.  Their pitching staff was streaking with Max Scherzer and Doug Fister each having awesome Septembers, as well as Verlander being himself.  They had just swept the Yankees in an ALCS that looked too easy.  Yet Despite all this they still looked useless at the bat against San Francisco.  This could, of course, be due to the fantastic pitching staff they have, but that wouldn't be as fun to talk about as why they failed.

"Woah! San Fran can cheer for me!"

Even before the series started I couldn't have helped but remember the 2007 Colorado Rockies, streaking down the stretch of the season to make the playoffs, then not losing a single game before falling to the Red Sox in the World Series.  A World Series in which they were outscored 29-10, although most of that deficit was caused by a 13-1 loss in game 1 to set the tone of the series.  Needless to say the Rockies did not win a single game that series.  Being both a Red Sox fan and a fan of baseball in general, this was an interesting time for me, because while the Rockies swept their NLCS against Arizona, the Red Sox took their sweet time dispatching Cleveland in all 7 games.  So while the Red Sox were gaining tons of momentum coming back to win a series they once trailed 3-1, the Rockies were just sitting there at home waiting to find out where they had to go for game 1, a period of 9 days where they had not taken part in any real competition.  Needless to say if they had any momentum that was helping them out through the playoffs, it was long gone.

Also a little help from umpires, perhaps?

 Are you starting to see the connections yet?  I was vaguely thinking about this at the start of the series, but as it went on it seemed to be more and more like deja vu, so I actually took the time to look at the past results of teams that had swept their 7 game Championship series.  Since the 7 game series was introduced in 1985 here is the exhaustive list of teams that have won it in 4 games. The 1988 Oakland Athletics, 1990 Oakland Athletics, 1995 Atlanta Braves, 2006 Detroit Tigers, 2007 Colorado Rockies and the 2012 Detroit Tigers.  Out of these 6 teams in the playoffs, they have combined for 6 wins in the World Series, (4 of those coming from the 1995 World Champion Atlanta Braves) and a total record of 6-22.  Needless to say, sweeping the Championship Series has not been a particularly good thing for teams that desire to win the World Series, no matter how counter-intuitive and backwards that may seem.  This is by no means saying that if you sweep the Championship Series, you are going to get destroyed in the World Series, but it is starting to look like a trend, so please, try to lose at least one game will ya?

By being less hasty of doing this, you can do this more often!

I do need to make sure that I give proper credit to the San Francisco Giants once again, they played a great series, and got some pretty great production out of all their players.  Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants, but don't get too soft the Dodgers are gonna be coming for you next year.  Speaking of next year, MLB Fan Cave look no further, I'm comin' for ya!

America's Most Hated Man

With the New York Yankees pitifully bowing out of postseason to the Detroit Tigers the insults of Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) are in full swing again. As if those insults ever cease. Not only was the loss of the series 100% Rodriguez's fault, it was also his evil powers that fractured Jeter's aging bone and took out Mariano way back in May. Apparently A-Rod had been planing this one for a while. A-Rod was even lifted due to his lack of productivity at the plate in favor of Eric Chavez. Chavez's stellar .000 postseason average was a major force in the Yankees offensive attack, proving that he was clearly a better hitter in the postseason than A-Rod who hit .120, only 120 points higher than Chavez.

Donald Trump reminds the Twitter universe just about everyday that A-Rod was better when he was on drugs. Much of the criticism of Rodriguez exists due to his enormous salary. Everyone who hates A-Rod because of how much he makes is absolutely correct. None of those people would accept the contract that A-Rod has because they all know they would be unable to live up to it. A-Rod is nothing to this Yankees team which should rid themselves of the man who had nothing to do with the team's 2009 World Series victory. A-Rod's 6 home runs and 18 RBI during the 2009 postseason did not help the Yankees win in the least bit. Derek Jeter could have won the World Series that year by himself.

I'm the number one hated person in America!

Since Alex was born in 1975 he has been a burden to our world. Despite playing in Texas during the 2001 season he shoulders the blame for the September 11th attacks on New York's Twin Towers. He was f**king New York well before signing with the Evil Empire in 2004. A-Rod is also the leading cause of global warming and it is only a matter of time before Al Gore sets out on a stingy campaign against the former Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and MVP award winner. Rodriguez's most recent damage to New York is of the smaller variety. Earlier this summer, A-Rod was the reason the city's mayor banned large fizzy beverages for purchase in his wonderful city. Clearly A-Rod is a major contributor to the obesity problem in the country and the mayor is doing all in his power to crack down on the superstar's terrible influence.

Not only is A-Rod destroying our environment and making Americans fat, but he is ruining our economy. One of the largest issues faced worldwide today is unemployment. The lack of jobs even in our great country has many people sitting at home all day collecting unemployment that they all definitely deserve. Rodriguez's ludicrous salary is preventing the Yankees from signing other overrated pricks to hefty contracts. The nerve of the bastard to do such a thing. If it wasn't for A-Rod the Yankees could be a better team with more than one player tying up the same amount of money. This would help the U.S. unemployment by about 0%, what a selfish f**k.

Apparently I had nothing to do with this

Fans from all over Yankee Universe are calling for A-Rod's head. They want him gone, and who can blame them, the numbers don't lie. In the 2012 postseason A-Rod only had a higher batting average than Chavez, Robinson Cano, and Curtis Granderson. Yankees fans would argue that Jeter would have been more productive playing in a cast or wheelchair than Rodriguez. The fans treat A-Rod the right way, too. If fans want to help out struggling superstars, then booing is the number one prescription to help them turn it around.

Let's not forget all the other horrid things that A-Rod has done during his time on earth. We haven't been hard enough on him to this point, not the Yankee fans, not Donald Trump, or any of the baseball experts out there. Don't forget what he did to New Orleans a few years ago, Katrina's nickname was A-Rod. Don't think you're safe on the west coast either. Those fires out in California were all caused by the same person. That's right, A-Rod, who is now the number one target for Al Gore and Smokey the Bear. Good luck finding your way out of that one, Mr. Rodriguez. A-Rod's devilish legacy has him chasing down even the greatest of evil icons. Watch out Adolf Hitler, A-Rod is hot on your trail. In fact, Donald Trump already thinks that what A-Rod has done to his beloved Yankees is much worse than what Hitler did to the Jews.

Everyone is definitely going to pick on me again

We all know the Mayans predicted the world to end in 2012, but the untold part of their prediction is that the world will end this December because of Rodriguez. The stories about plagues and environmental disasters are simply stories. However, A-Rod is the figure of impending doom and the Mayans correctly predicted him as the downfall of mankind. The Mayans foresaw the 2012 season that A-Rod had at the plate and knew it was all over without any doubt.

If we somehow make it through December of 2012 will the Yankees get rid of A-Rod this off-season? No one knows for sure right now, but we can all agree that he played absolutely no part in the Yankees winning the World Series in 2009. What A-Rod will do next no one knows either. Keep your fingers crossed and hope that the game's most expensive player doesn't f**k what's left of the Yankee legacy and the great country of America.

What a Year!

It's October as Toninho pointed out in a post the other day!  He also talked about the end of the baseball season and the start of playoffs.  That's where I come in, a majority of this was written about a week ago on the last day of the season, I tried to update it as much as I could.

AL East
I say it's obvious that the biggest story of the year in the AL East was the Red Sox deciding to take a very talented team and driving it into the ground again.  Going into this year, this Red Sox team was not the same team that I knew when they reversed the curse and won two titles in 3 years after an 86 year drought.  They had Fried Chickengate, Francona's firing and the sting from last year's collapse on their mind, a real Red Sox team would have gone in with a chip on their shoulder and be what Bill Simmons often refers to as the "Nobody Believes in Us" team.  Instead they got a team full of entitled players and sedated management, it was a disaster from day 1, and now they have to start from scratch.  Meanwhile the Yankees hardly even stumbled through the season and will likely beat the Sox in the two remaining games to clinch the AL East and the top seed (they did).  I can't think of anything positive or negative to say about Toronto other than better luck next year.  The Rays had the season they were expecting to have and would've made the playoffs if it wasn't for those meddling kids in Baltimore.  Yes, the Orioles, a team running completely on bravado winning pretty much every 1 run game they played in and are a jaw dropping 11 games better than their Pythagorean Record.  Holy Buck Showalter Batman!  I can't imagine they can keep this up in the playoffs, but you can never rule out the real "Nobody Believes in Us" team.

Been there, done that...

AL Central

I wrote about them earlier in the season, it turned out to be fairly accurate so read on that and love my predictive talents.  The Tigers put it together and clinched the division despite underachieving, the White Sox did find consistent pitching and held it together until dropping out of the playoff hunt the other night, I overrated the Indians who found a 12 game losing streak in August and never looked back, Kansas City started playing better but they were never destined to much and the Twins are the worst team in the American League.  Detroit is ending the season and going into the playoffs as a streaky team, the magic of October will have to decide their fate.  Meanwhile, Miguel Cabrera is making me look slightly good since I said after this year there won't be any question that he is the best hitter in baseball, winning the Triple Crown will surely do that.  He has been in the top 5 of MVP voting 5 years in his career, including the last 3 years, I think this is the year he going to finally get over that hump.  I'll gush over him more later.

Gushing.

AL West

I honestly can't wait to get to talk about the Astros in this camp next year.  Anyways, the Rangers have been mildly uninteresting like the Yankees and just kept winning and still have (had) the upper hand in winning the division again.  What the people really want are surprises!  Like the Mariners!  Oh wait... they didn't play that well, except for the fact they were probably like 15 games better than I expected out of them.  Lets try again.  Like the Angels!  Kinda... Trout had been a total spark plug and having the best rookie season since Ichiro broke into the league in 2001, Pujols also ended up having a good year after his abysmal start but their pitching betrayed them despite signing C.J. Wilson and trading fro Zach Grienke so they are on the outside looking in.  One more try for the excitement.  Like the Athletics!  Now that is exciting, this team of nobodies who signs a top free agent in Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, trades their best starting pitcher (Gio Gonzalez) and their closer (Andrew Bailey), should not be competing.  And that's what we thought when it reached midseason and they traded their catcher Kurt Suzuki to join Gonzalez in Washington, yet they just didn't stop winning.  I still haven't watched any of their games so I don't know if they are actually good or not, but I can't think of anything more fitting than them having this amazingly unexpected year the year after Moneyball came out and made a splash at the box office.  The baseball gods have an interesting way of working, I'll call this a team of destiny for now and may the gods (or Brad Pitt) be with them.

This town ain't big enough for the two of us!

NL East

I was a moron and didn't publish my thoughts on the Nationals before this year, but Toninho, my brother and some of my close friends are sure of how I felt before this season.  I thought they were a year away from being a playoff contender, but then they traded for Gio Gonzalez and basically told the world "were gonna be in the playoffs, deal with it."  I knew Gio was a good move but a 20 game winner was beyond my wildest dreams, not only did I enjoy this from a fantasy owner perspective (taking Gio in effectively the 11th round of my draft) but I enjoyed it from the seats as I happened to organize a trip to DC to see a game with some friends and it was the day he won his 20th over the Brewers!  I think the Nationals are going to hang around for a long time and can still make a dent in the playoffs without Strasburg.  I have also been a big fan of the Braves for a large chunk of my life and am really happy to see them playing so well in the final year of Chipper Jones's illustrious career, and am also happier to see Heyward may be stepping up to be the new franchise guy with a great year.  Unfortunately I sat through a game that I could only describe as condensing a long term relationship into 3 and a half hours, to see the Braves lose the Wild Card and Chipper end his career, we'll miss you.  The Marlins were struck down by the baseball Gods after hosting the Opening Night game which is an honor that should go to the defending champs every year.  The Phillies got old.  And the Mets held in there better than I would have ever imagined, especially R.A. Dickey's continued success.

Didn't even mention this fine lad!

NL Central

Fuck the Cardinals.  They are the New York Giants of the MLB and are one of the main reasons I'm starting to agree with Toninho about how the American sports playoff systems are kinda dumb.  They have a very good offense and some fine pitchers but screw them.  If you want a playoff team let me show you the Cincinnati Reds, a team I truly can respect, from the OBP monster Joey Votto, the playful spirit of Brandon Phillips and the guitar of Bronson Arroyo.  I hope to see them continue the success they have seen thus far in the Playoffs (unless the face off with Washington).  Milwaukee saw a late season run be for naught, but saw fantastic years out of Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Braun, they could be a good team next year.  The Cubs and Astros were absolutely abysmal, it is kind of sad.  And lastly we all missed out on a great story in the Pirates who keep on teasing us by performing admirably until the All-Star break and then losing control.  I want to see them make it back to the playoffs some time.

It's been too long...

NL West
The Dodgers should be ashamed of themselves, they started out the season like wildfire, then by the time California reached actual wildfire season they bought every available player on the market and performed worse.  Now they are paying infinity dollars for a non-playoff team, just like the Cubs!  The Giants managed to keep up their amazing season despite Melky Cabrera informing us that BALCO does, in fact, still conduct their business (Bartolo Colon only confirmed it), mostly due to Matt Cain having his breakout year and Buster Posey stepping up to take the slack.  I guess the Diamondbacks were lightning in a bottle last year as they brought in an improved team and finished at a respectable .500.  San Diego put up a solid year despite having no more than one nationally known player on their roster.  I still don't know what happened to the Rockies, their DL looks like it could win 70 games!  Lets look at award winners now!

I guess there wasn't enough Magic.

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera (Week 1 Prediction: Miguel Cabrera)

Nailed it!  I thought for a little while that I was going to have to give it to Mike Trout, but then Miggy finished the season like a man possessed and gave us the first Triple Crown since 1967.  I am proud of him, as he has put himself above Pujols and could easily be sold as the best hitter in baseball right now.  I can understand how some people still think Trout deserves the MVP, but the modern convention has given precedence to playoff players and milestones.  Trout had plenty milestones, but if Ichiro doesn't get a single 1st place vote for the most hits ever in a season I don't know how a leadoff hitter could ever win (you know unless he manages only a .344 OBP...)  Sorry Trout you put up a valiant effort, but you aren't getting this trophy yet.

NL MVP: Buster Posey (Weel 1 Prediction: Troy Tulowitzki)
Yeouch, Tulo got hurt so I should get a waiver for that, but saying the NL West was winnable for the Rockies was terrible.  I wish Tulo the best of luck in years going forward.  I don't want Posey to win, but I think the convention of the voters will make him the winner, despite making it obvious that the first half of the season is meaningless.  Here are some players that deserve it over Posey.  Ryan Braun, who likely put the whole steroid mess behind him and put up better numbers with a worse guy hitting behind him.  Yadier Molina, who didn't quite have the statistical prowess of Posey but still put up a very good statistical year and is indispensable for a very easy to hate Cardinals team.  Andrew McCutchen for his breakout year everyone knew was coming.  And finally, Adam LaRoche, I can hardly think of a player who was more consistently effective for his team.

AL Cy Young: David Price (Week 1 Prediction: Justin Verlander)
I could still be right, some analysts have said Verlander has put up a better year than Price.  But I am usually of the convention that when WHIP and ERA are comparable you look at wins, not strikeouts, cause sometimes you need a little luck to win a game and you need a little more luck to win a Cy Young.  I wouldn't be surprised if either player won.

NL Cy Young: Gio Gonzalez (Week 1 Prediction: Adam Wainwright)
Apparently I had no feel for the NL awards going into this year.  I am very proud of Gio Gonzalez, when he was traded to Washington I felt that was the turning point for the Nationals to be a playoff squad, and it needed to get more attention than it did.  Seeing him live, I was only more drawn in to his aura, where he seems like a truly nice guy who deserves this honor.  I wish him all the best in his career and will watch over him as long as I can.  Johnny Cueto and R.A. Dickey have also put up good years, but as I said with Price, when all else is similar, consult the wins.  Or give it to the guy whose slugging percentage against is less than .300.

AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout
I discussed him for MVP, that is some Ichiro shit right there.  Nobody else should even get a vote, no second place votes, just give Trout the trophy.

He can also catch a ball!

NL Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper
This was a very close race for a large portion of the year with Harper doing admirably for a 19 year old, but still seeming like he was worse than Wade Miley and Todd Frazier.  Then September happened.  Harper was a monster in that final month of the season, and made me wonder if the way he runs the bases was similar to the spirit Ty Cobb had.  I've never seen a player before that forces the opposition to make a perfect throw as often as Harper has.

AL Manager of the Year: Buck Showalter (Week 1 Prediction: Joe Maddon)
Buck did an amazing job, which I have already talked about.  Now he has to get them to beat the Yankees.  I also feel obliged to mention Robin Ventura.

NL Manager of the Year: Davey Johnson (Week 1 Prediction: Ozzie Guillen)
The Nationals have such a young team, and even though they are very talented it has to take a good managerial job to make them the best team in baseball.  Ozzie Guillen never could get the Marlins off the ground.  I also think Dusty Baker did a good job bringing the Reds back into the playoffs after stumbling last year.  Screw Mike Matheny only because I hate the Cardinals.  Also, I like the Nationals this year.

Playoff Picture
Detroit over Oakland (It's basically over already)
Baltimore over New York (Unless Jeffrey Maier has anything to say about it)
Washington over St. Louis (Go home Cards, you are living a lie)
Cincinnati over San Francisco (Ditto from Detroit)

Detroit over Baltimore (Detroit is a better team than they have shown all year)
Cincinnati over Washington (It pains me to say it)

Cincinnati over Detroit (We may have a new Big Red Machine)

Maybe not...