The Season is Over, but Baseball is Not

The baseball regular season is over, unfortunately. But good news! The playoffs are here! But first, I want to recap everything that happened this year.

 Here are the final results for each division:

 

AL East:

Boston- 97-65

Tampa Bay- 91-71

NY Yankees- 85-77

Baltimore- 85-77

Toronto- 74-88

AL Central:

Detroit- 93-69

Cleveland- 92-70

Kansas City- 86-76

Minnesota- 66-96

Chicago Sox- 63-99

AL West:

Oakland- 96-66

Texas- 91-71

LA Angels- 78-84

Seattle- 71-91

Houston- 51-111 (Finishing with a 15 game losing streak. 51-111 and a .315 is the worst record in baseball history since the 2002 Detroit Tigers)

 

NL East:

Atlanta- 96-66

Washington- 86-76

NY Mets- 74-88

Philly- 73-89

Miami- 62-100

NL Central:

St. Louis- 97-65

Pittsburgh- 94-68

Cincinnati- 90-72

Milwaukee- 74-88

Chicago Cubs- 66-96

NL West:

LA Dodgers: 92-70

Arizona- 81-81 (shocking…)

San Francisco- 76-86

San Diego- 76-86

Colorado- 74-88

That’s it. A long time ago, I made my predictions, and got four of the six division winners correct, including the Red Sox, who were seen as a surprise pick. Hey, I’ll take that. 

I don’t know about you, but I thought this year was fantastic. We saw the surge of the Atlanta Braves earlier in the season, and they continued to be a dominant team throughout the season. We saw the AL fight between Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout… again. We saw teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals have winning seasons for the first time in forever, while teams like The LA Angels, Washington Nationals, and San Francisco Giants disappointed. 

If you look at players, we’ve found ourselves in the beginning of a new era. We saw a guy named Chris Davis stop Miggy from getting another Triple Crown with his 53 homers and 138 RBI’s. We also saw guys that were top prospects two years ago, like Manny Machado, Matt Harvey, and Paul Goldschmidt, bring their bright talents into a new era. But then rookies came, such as Yasiel Puig (who we all know how that turned out), Jose Fernandez, and Jose Iglesias. We also saw top prospects come during the season besides Puig, like Gerrit Cole and Xander Bogaerts. 

But with the rise of new players, there has been a fall of great veterans. As we know, the New York Yankees are crumbling, as both Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte, the faces of the organization for years, have retired. It seems like Derek Jeter is coming close to retirement too. Todd Helton, the greatest Rockie to ever play the game, is gone too. Jason Giambi might be gone any day now, and Roy Halladay is on his deathbed, after having a terrible but sad-to-watch year this year. Ichiro hit his 4,000^th hit, and might retire soon as well. There’s no Johan Santana vs. Tim Lincecum matchup anymore; now it’s Clayton Kershaw vs. Yu Darvish. 

I mentioned a load about statistics. There is Wins Above Replacement, Batting Average On Balls In Play, Ultimate Zone Rating, and Power-Speed #, which are just a few to mention. There are so many more that have impacted this game completely.

The steroid era might be in a close, thank god. Though the Bonds era also had some of the greatest players too, the suspensions of players like Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez (kind of), and many other players have marked that the issue just might be over. 

This year, there’s no clear cut of who will win the MVP, in both leagues. If you think Miggy had it in the bag, look at the stats. Things have changed. The Cy Young is clear for the NL (Clayton Kershaw, who is only the fourth person to finish with an ERA under 2 in the live ball era), but the AL is still finding a shoe-in. Max Scherzer seems like the favorite right now, but there are others that might deserve it more.

We saw three no-hitters, including one just yesterday to end the season. Henderson Alvarez threw a no-hitter, and the Marlins walked-off in the ninth to win 1-0. How many pitchers can say that they threw a no-hitter by standing in the on-deck circle? There were also many one-hitters, and an absurd amount of no-hit bids that were broken up with two outs in the ninth. 

There were fights, injuries, and questionable trades. There was a time when it seemed like the LA Dodgers were completely throwing their money away. But those times are over, and now we’ve found ourselves in a play-in game to a play-in game to get into the playoffs. How crazy is that!

I can’t wait for tonight. It’ll be the start of the playoffs in September. 

Then it’s October, and we all know how magical this can be. 

I read an article questioning whether baseball is over, and is no longer America’s pastime. I would say hell no. Even though football and basketball and even hockey are rising, baseball is just transitioning into a new era. This isn’t the baseball that we know of ten years ago. The rise of new players and statistical analysis has changed the game, in a good way, and we must accept that. 

There’s no more Mariano Rivera. But there is Craig Kimbrel.

Baseball is not over, it’s only beginning. Soon even the Cubs will have a shot at the World Series. Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd

It's All Down to This

It all comes down to this. The moment that we’ve been waiting for. We STILL do not know who will get the AL Wild Card, and there’s only one game left! If you’ve had your head in the sand this month, the three teams fighting for the spots are the Cleveland Indians, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Texas Rangers.

The surprise here is Cleveland. At the end of August, the Rangers weren’t even in the wild card race because they were first in the AL West. It was the Oakland Athletics that had a three and a half game lead over the Baltimore Orioles, and the Rays were a half-game ahead of the A’s. Cleveland was four games out. 

Now, as they are 20-6 in September, the Indians have a game lead over Texas and Tampa Bay. But it is not over. Despite an amazing month of September, the Rays have won 7 of their last 10, and the Rangers have won 8 of their last 10, including 6 in a row. Cleveland has won 9 in a row, and the Rays have lost two in a row. 

Cleveland is on the road, as they play their final game against the 66-95 Minnesota Twins. Ubaldo Jimenez (12-9, 3.38 ERA, 2.88 WAR), takes on Scott Diamond (6-12, 5.54 ERA, -1.0 WAR), and one of the worst pitching rosters in the Major Leagues. Minnesota is 8-19 in the month of September, and 4-12 at home. 

The Rangers, who have the home field advantage IF they tie with the Rays by the end of the season to have a one-of-two wild-card play-in games, have their final game at home against the Angels. It’ll be Yu Darvish (13-9, 2.82 ERA, 269 K’s, 5.7 WAR), takes on Jason Vargas (9-7, 4.01 ERA, 1.8 WAR). The Angels have a 16-11 record in September, while the Rangers, choking as they usually do, have an 11-15 record. The Rangers, however, are 10 games above .500 when playing at home. 

The Rays are playing right now, actually. They are on the road against the Blue Jays, and are only 39-41 on the road. They have lost their last two in a row against a Toronto team that has shut down top players like Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Currently, they are up 2-0 in the top of the first.

If either the Rangers or the Rays lose, the Indians clinch the wild card spot. If all three lose, then Cleveland makes it, and the Rangers and Rays will play against each other before taking on the Indians. If they all win, the same thing applies. Basically, all Cleveland has to do is win. If they lose and both Texas and Tampa Bay win, then there’s a three-way tie, and they would probably have to go with the matchup records. That would be quite exciting though. 

Cleveland has the best chance, especially playing the Twins, while the Rangers probably have the hardest (especially when the Rays are already winning). I want the Indians to lose and the Rangers and Rays win, just because a three-way tie would be great. 

It’s all down to this day. Whoever said that one game doesn’t matter is wrong. It’s all down to this. Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd