The baseball playoff races are heating up, particularly in the American League, which I will take a look at here. The Athletics (88-67) have come up with two huge wins the last two nights in Texas against the Rangers (91-64), especially with the Angels (85-69) breathing down their necks. We're talking two big road wins with the season winding down against the two-time reigning American League Champions. The A's are just a half-game behind the Orioles (89-67) for the top Wild Card spot. I don't want to jinx things, but it looks like the A's have what it takes to get to the play-in game. And don't look now, but if they win tomorrow afternoon against Texas, they may have a chance to make things interesting in the AL West as well.
The Rays (85-70) have won seven straight to remain in the race. Their saving grace is that they have three games at home against the Orioles next week to close the season. The Yankees (90-65) aren't out of the woods yet, but the bet here is that they will win the American League East, leaving the A's and Orioles in the play-in game (hard to see Tampa Bay getting a sweep of Baltimore, which is what they may need). But, there sure are a lot of teams in the chase even at this late juncture.
Though it should still be interesting to see what happens, I still oppose the second Wild Card being added. I like that it should be harder to make the playoffs and that the regular season was still a reward. Although, on the plus side, I think baseball's regular season is still the least watered down in all of sports (though this doesn't make it okay in my book to water it down more).
The AL Central is going down to the wire as well. The White Sox (82-73) appear to be fading at the wrong time and now trail the Tigers (83-72) by one game after leading the division by a few games not that long ago. This thing is far from over, but the Sox need to turn it around now. I think the Tigers now have the momentum, not to mention a talent advantage and will win the division by a slight margin. Detroit would be a very dangerous team in the playoffs, with Justin Verlander at the top of the rotation and a middle of the lineup that features Miguel Cabrera (still a realistic chance to be the first player to win the Triple Crown since 1967) and Prince Fielder.
Showing posts with label Justin Verlander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justin Verlander. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Friday, September 30, 2011
My American League Awards
Since the playoffs start later today, it is time for my coveted annual Derek's Baseball Awards:
American League:
MVP: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers. Not only did Verlander win the AL pitching triple crown (24-5, 2.40 ERA, 250 strikeouts), but he led in pretty much every relevant pitching category, not just in the American League, but in all of baseball.
Verlander led in innings pitched (251) as well as WHIP (0.92), which measures the number of hits and walks given up per every inning pitched. He also led all of baseball in batting average against (.192) and on-base percentage against (.242). The man was simply a beast. He ran away with the Cy Young Award along time ago, but I think he was clearly the best player in the American League this year.
Others players should be mentioned in the race for 2nd in the voting, such as Blue Jays OF Jose Bautista (my pick for 2nd), Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury and 1B Adrian Gonzalez and Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera. Bautista had a huge year, leading the league in homers (43) and 2nd in on-base percentage (.447 behind Cabrera's .448) and knocked in 103 runs. However, Verlander to me was just head and shoulders above the rest. I know it's been almost 20 years since a pitcher has won an MVP award, but I think Verlander clearly deserves it.
Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers. See above, you can make all the same arguments except you don't have to factor in the hitters.
Rookie of the Year: Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals. He hit .293 with 19 home runs and 78 RBIs. There wasn't a whole lot of competition, but Hosmer still had a nice year. Also to be mentioned are Jeremy Hellickson of the Rays and Ivan Nova of the Yankees.
Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays. Maddon lost a ton of key players from last year's AL East Champion team, but still managed to get this year's team into the playoffs with a 91-71 record, despite being 9 games out of the Wild Card in early September. He kept the team believing, the man can manage.
National League: I'll hit those up later tonight or tomorrow morning since the National League Playoffs don't get underway until tomorrow.
American League:
MVP: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers. Not only did Verlander win the AL pitching triple crown (24-5, 2.40 ERA, 250 strikeouts), but he led in pretty much every relevant pitching category, not just in the American League, but in all of baseball.
Verlander led in innings pitched (251) as well as WHIP (0.92), which measures the number of hits and walks given up per every inning pitched. He also led all of baseball in batting average against (.192) and on-base percentage against (.242). The man was simply a beast. He ran away with the Cy Young Award along time ago, but I think he was clearly the best player in the American League this year.
Others players should be mentioned in the race for 2nd in the voting, such as Blue Jays OF Jose Bautista (my pick for 2nd), Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury and 1B Adrian Gonzalez and Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera. Bautista had a huge year, leading the league in homers (43) and 2nd in on-base percentage (.447 behind Cabrera's .448) and knocked in 103 runs. However, Verlander to me was just head and shoulders above the rest. I know it's been almost 20 years since a pitcher has won an MVP award, but I think Verlander clearly deserves it.
Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers. See above, you can make all the same arguments except you don't have to factor in the hitters.
Rookie of the Year: Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals. He hit .293 with 19 home runs and 78 RBIs. There wasn't a whole lot of competition, but Hosmer still had a nice year. Also to be mentioned are Jeremy Hellickson of the Rays and Ivan Nova of the Yankees.
Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays. Maddon lost a ton of key players from last year's AL East Champion team, but still managed to get this year's team into the playoffs with a 91-71 record, despite being 9 games out of the Wild Card in early September. He kept the team believing, the man can manage.
National League: I'll hit those up later tonight or tomorrow morning since the National League Playoffs don't get underway until tomorrow.
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