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2012 Baseball Preview- AL West
Yesterday, I gave you my preview of the NL West in 2012. Tonight, I bring you the left coast’s American League counterparts. Texas ran away with the division in 2011 and brings back a young team in...
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2012 Quarter Season All-Stars
Most teams have played 42 or 43 games at this point in the season, enough to at least begin to evaluate player seasons. We know that Josh Hamilton’s excellence is more than a streak. Albert Pujols’s...
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Divisions May Make a Mockery of Second Wild Card
I’d be remiss not to record today’s AL Wild Card standings for posterity, as I’m not sure we’ll ever see anything like them again: Angels 49-41 Tigers 47-43 Indians 46-43, 1/2 game back Orioles 46-43,...
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How Do the A’s Keep Winning?
A few weeks ago in this space, I asked how the Orioles keep winning, and concluded that baseball’s randomness was more responsible for Baltimore’s success than any tangible factor. Today, I ask the...
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Are the Playoff Races Over?
As of this morning, teams have 11 to 14 games left to play before the first-ever one-game Wild Card showdowns. At this point, I think we know who’s going to the playoffs. The Reds and Nationals became...
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Postseason Predictions- An Exercise in Futility
Every year, predicting the winners of several short postseason series is a fool’s errand. The team that gets hot at the right time and catches a few lucky breaks is more likely to win the title than...
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Connie Mack Award Ballot, 2012 Edition
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance asks all its writers to weigh in on postseason awards. I like that a lot. The first award is the Connie Mack Award for manager of the year. I like that less. From my...
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Willie Mays Award, 2012 Edition
The second in my series of Baseball Bloggers Alliance-required postseason award ballots is the Willie Mays Award, for each league’s top rookie. One of these awards is worth some discussion. I’ll save...
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Where Have All the Good Teams Gone?
In case you missed it, here’s one I posted at High Heat Stats. Read the comments there for fascinating insights regarding luck, mathematicians, and the Tour de France. Even before the addition of the...
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BBA Gets ‘em Right
With about as much fanfare as the release of a new Wallflowers album, the Baseball Bloggers Alliance unveiled its postseason awards over the past week. The collective wisdom of my peers disagreed with...
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Franchise Player Mock Draft
I understand ESPN presented its annual franchise player mock draft today. I’d link to it, but I want to make my picks in a similar draft before I see who their experts picked. When I’m done, I’ll check...
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2013 MVP Picks
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Last year, Mike Trout was by far the best player in the American League, but lost the MVP Award based on silly things like not leading the league in RBI and playing...
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Remaining Award Picks
I’ve heard tell that the Baseball Bloggers Alliance may come out of hibernation to vote on our annual awards. Having already covered my MVP (or “Stan Musial”) and Cy Young (“Walter Johnson”) picks, I...
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Playoff Preview, Week Two
I’m not in love with the new playoff format, but I’ll admit that three consecutive nights of winner-take-all games makes for an exciting week of baseball. My early picks went 1-2. Let’s see if I can...
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A 2014 All-Star Ballot
The All-Star Game is less than a month away. Does that mean it’s time for an official ballot? Probably not, but it’s what I’ve been thinking about lately, so sit there and read my thoughts. It’s easier...
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2014 Second-Half Reset
The American League definitively and thoroughly defeated the National League in the All-Star Game, despite maximum effort from Mike Matheny, Adam Wainwright, and the senior circuit. That means it’s...
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Celebrating Fresh Blood
The Red Sox and Rangers are not going to the playoffs this year. The Yankees and Cardinals are barely above .500 and not guaranteed to play in October. The Braves are in a free fall, watching their...
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2014 Walter Johnson Awards
The awards for best pitcher, at least in the American League, are worth far more ink than I’m about to spill on them. Alas… NL Walter Johnson Award 1. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers You were expecting Dan...
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