Category: Baseball

Pablo Sandoval admits to “complacency” after big contract, vows to work harder in 2017

ESPN — Pablo Sandoval says he isn’t proud of what he has become over the past two years and insists he is ready to make the most of the second chance he’s about to receive.

In a joint English-Spanish interview with ESPN.com and ESPN Deportes, Sandoval said he got “complacent” after signing a five-year, $95 million contract with the Boston Red Sox in November 2014 and pledged to “start my baseball career all over again” now that he is fully recovered from left shoulder surgery.

“My career had fallen into an abyss because I was so complacent with things that I had already accomplished,” Sandoval said by phone in his first public comments since August. “I did not work hard in order to achieve more and to remain at the level of the player that I am and that I can be.”

Look, I’ll be honest with you; when this season abruptly ended and my first thoughts towards 2017 surfaced, Pablo Sandoval was not a part of them. I declared myself #done with this guy last April and I’ve had no intention on backing down from that. We overpaid him to start, then he got fat and lazy and played like crap and then missed an entire season. That a guy you want on your roster? No thank you. But I understand that trading him certainly isn’t an option, since his value right now would be so low, and I get that even though salary doesn’t dictate anything, you’re not gonna take a guy who you owe over $50 million to and throw him to the curb. The Sox obviously saw something in Pablo that made them pull the trigger on 5 years, $95 million, and they’re hoping it resurfaces. We all are.

Now that Travis Shaw is a Brewer, Boston’s 3rd base position is wide open for Sandoval to swoop in. Which is probably good, because we all know what happened last year when Pablo had a little competition for his spot. You can see in the image above that Sandoval has clearly lost weight, and now today’s ESPN piece shows something we really haven’t seen a lot of from Pablo; humility and regret. He seems to at least feel a little bad for what he’s put Sox fans through for the past two years, and he seems determined to turn his legacy around in 2017.

Now, a lot has contributed to Sandoval’s weight problems. He would rapidly fluctuate weights in San Francisco, and since he’s come to Boston we’ve heard about stress, eating disorders, the whole nine. But what matters now is that he cares; cares enough about Boston, the Red Sox, and his own career, to turn it around. Obviously Sandoval was a top-5 third basemen during his Giants days, and he’s still only 29 years old; this isn’t an impossible task we’re talking about here. I’m not getting my hopes up too much yet, but we could be well on our way to a brand new Pablo Sandoval era here in Boston. But I’ll believe it when I see it.

Red Sox acquire reliever Tyler Thornburg from Brewers for Travis Shaw, prospects

I’ll be clear to start: I don’t hate this trade. In 67 innings last year, Thornburg let up just 16 earned runs, walking 25 and striking out 90 (3.6 K/BB). You can never have enough relief pitching, especially when your rotation features guys like Clay Buchholz and Drew Pomeranz, and Thornburg will be a solid addition to Boston’s bullpen. What I do hate, however, is what this trade seems to mean for the 3rd base position in 2017.

Now, I know this is just speculation. Sandoval was supposed to start last year, and even before he got hurt he lost his spot to Shaw. He could get hurt again. Brock Holt could take over at the hot corner again. A surprising prospect could come out of nowhere in Spring Training. It’s too early, we have no idea. But I do know that I’ve only been #done with 2 things in my life: the dog face filter on snapchat, and Pablo Sandoval. Do with that what you will.

So goodbye, Travis Shaw. Hope Milwaukee respects your candidacy for Mayor of Ding Dong City. I know I did.

Bud Selig is in the Hall of Fame; are PED users next?

Bud Selig was the commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1992 to 2015. Before that, he was a trusted MLB executive and, before that, a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s been heavily involved in baseball since the 60s and, even though many have disagreed with his decisions in the past, it’s obvious that his life’s work has been dedicated to the advancement of the sport we all love. And now, Selig can add another title to his long and impressive resume: Hall of Famer.

It was announced yesterday that Selig, along with former Royals and Braves executive John Schuerholz, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017. Selig’s induction was pretty inevitable considering how much of his life he dedicated to the game, but it’s controversial nonetheless; now, people are saying that if the man who seemed to enable a decade-plus of PED use in his beloved sport is in the Hall, then maybe the men who used PEDs can be in, too.

To a point, I agree with what these people are saying; it’s commonly believed that Selig knew about the PED problem for some time before taking any action, so why should a man who let his sport’s integrity go by the wayside to generate more fan interest and revenue be honored by that sport? Baseball’s Hall of Fame is historically extremely selective, so much so that the league’s leader in hits and its leader in home runs both currently find themselves on the outside looking in due to moral issues (obligatory #FreePeteRose), so obviously people are going to ask questions here. But are they justified? And, if so, does this actually change the fates of confirmed juicers who put up great numbers?

It could in theory, but in reality it won’t. No matter who gets into the Hall from the Steroid Era, the majority of voters are still gonna have qualms with voting for guys like Bonds, Clemens, and McGwire. Yeah, Selig may have turned a cheek while some shady things were going on, but he didn’t physically take the stuff; he didn’t personally cheat. The traditionalist voters that the Hall employs aren’t going to look the other way just because Selig is in. Maybe that’s hypocritical, maybe it’s not fair, but that’s life, kid. Deal with it.

Regardless, congrats to Bud. He may have made some controversial decisions in his time (canceling the ’94 World Series and basing World Series home-field advantage off the winner of the All-Star Game, to name a couple) but he worked hard to grow the game of baseball and deserves recognition. And, possibly being lost in the noise, congrats to John Schuerholz, the man who built the Atlanta Braves dynasty of the 1990s. Great guy, great executive, and very deserving of a spot in the Hall.

Major League Baseball has a new Collective Bargaining Agreement

Yesterday, just hours before the old CBA was set to expire and send MLB into its first work stoppage since the ugly strike of 1994, the opposing sides came to an agreement on a brand new collective bargaining agreement. There are plenty of reasons this CBA took so long to become solidified, like the possible institution of an International Draft and a remodeling of free agency, but the owners and the union were able to compromise enough to avoid a lockout. 21 straight years of labor peace, that’s what I’m talking about. So now, let’s see how this new CBA is going to have an effect on Major League Baseball now and in the future.

Luxury Tax: Baseball is essentially doing its best to have a salary cap without actually having a salary cap. And up till now, that’s happened in the form of a Luxury Tax that is imposed on teams whose payrolls exceed the limit set by the CBA, which is currently $235 million. If a team’s salary exceeds this, they’re subject to a penalty. In the past, the highest tax rate a team could have to pay was 50%; now that limit no longer exists. Teams will pay the tax according to how much they exceed the cap by. This improved on but didn’t fix a prominent argument against the luxury tax; if a team can afford to spend more than the cap on players, isn’t it safe to assume they can afford to pay the tax as well? It was discussed to have this penalty involve draft picks as well, which would hinder the team in a much different, more apparent way, but that discussion seems to have fizzled. Regardless, as ESPN’s Jayson Stark writes, the Dodgers are kinda fuuuuuuucked:

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Free Agency: The main talk here surrounded the rule that forces teams to forfeit a 1st-round draft pick if they sign a free agent that previously rejected a qualifying offer. It’s a strange rule, and now it’s been tinkered with a little; teams will still have to forfeit a draft pick, but a lower pick. And, if the team is also over the luxury tax threshold, they’ll forfeit two picks; a 2nd- and 5th-rounder.

International Draft: The arguments for and against an international draft are both good ones. In arguing for it, the owners cited safety above all; the idea to eliminate stories like Yasiel Puig or Jose Fernandez being smuggled to America overnight and having to face threats from those who helped them once they were here and signed huge deals. But additionally (and, in reality, more important to the owners), an international draft would be a huge money-saving maneuver for teams as opposed to spending tens of millions of dollars to lock up a talented player who hasn’t even seen a major league fastball yet. The players, on the other hand, love the current system; obviously. It was clear, however, that something had to change, and something did; teams now have a $5 million per year cap on signing international free agents. No exceptions. It will certainly change the landscape of signing free agents from overseas, but exactly to what extent we have no idea – yet.

Tobacco: In the last year, Boston joined Chicago, LA, and San Francisco as cities that have banned the use of smokeless tobacco in public parks. And yes, public parks encompasses major league stadiums. Many a player has been caught on camera violating these statutes, and none have been punished (as far as we know), so the new CBA went a step further; tobacco is now banned among major league players – sorta. If you’ve played at least 1 day of major league baseball as of today, you’re free to dip and chew all you want, but the newcomers can’t. It’s a strange rule that will need changing over time to reach their ultimate goal, which is to remove the substance from the game altogether, but an interesting wrinkle to the new agreement.

Scheduling: A minor story, but starting in 2018 the season will start 4 days earlier. As a result, 4 more days off will be scattered throughout the season to give players a little extra rest, especially when the dog days of summer roll around. Schedule makers will also push for day games when both teams face a long flight immediately after the game. All of these are efforts to minimize exhaustion, which, the league hopes, will help keep some of its stars off the disabled list.

All-Star Game: I’d always been in the minority group for this, but I’ve always kinda liked the idea that the ASG decides home-field advantage for the World Series. It’s a strange stipulation, but it helps provide something that no other league can claim; an interesting, competitive All-Star Game. MLB’s Midsummer Classic has boasted the best ASG ratings out of the 4 major sports in the last few years, and I personally think the “This One Counts” idea was a part of this. I won’t say it’s the only reason the game got good ratings, because that’s certainly not true and we had great All-Star Games before this rule came into place, but it certainly helped. Nevertheless, I guess we’ll see the effect of this when the 2017 ASG in Miami rolls around.

More details about the agreement will undoubtedly emerge in the following days and weeks, and while some will be hated and some loved, one thing is now certain: we will have baseball in 2017. And thank God for that.

The 2017 MLB Hall of Fame ballot is out

The BBWAA has officially announced the names that will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the class of 2017, and we’ve got some interesting newcomers. Sure, eyes will be on the possible induction of guys like Jeff Bagwell (7th year on ballot, 71.6% last year), Tim Raines (10th year on ballot, 69.8% last year), and Trevor Hoffman (2nd year on ballot, 67.3% last year) and some others, but let’s take a look at some of the new guys and what kind of chances they have to be headed to Cooperstown next summer.

Manny Ramirez:

Manny is a real tough one. Obviously as a Sox fan I have kind of a soft spot for the guy, and overall with what he did in his career I think he’s a no brainer for the Hall. 14th all time with 555 homers, and 1st all time with 29 playoff homers and 78 playoff RBIs. 21 grand slams in his career, 3rd all time. Only 10 people were intentionally walked more, only 12 had more extra base hits, and only 17 drove in more runs than Manny. But, as we’ve seen with so many great players before, PEDs are gonna play a role here. There’s no doubt Manny juiced at some point, as he was suspended for multiple positive tests, but the question is when? Was he juiced up in ’04, or was is a late career move to try to squeak a few more seasons out of his legs? Nobody’s really sure, and that uncertainty sure doesn’t help Manny’s chances for the Hall.

Ivan Rodriguez:

In my extremely uneducated opinion, Pudge should definitely be in on the first ballot. He caught more games (2,427) than any other catcher in MLB history and his WAR of 68.4 is 3rd among catchers all time behind two Hall of Famers, Johnny Bench and Gary Carter. He was one of the most durable, consistent catchers (and players) to ever play Major League Baseball, and certainly earned a spot among the greats. Although not as much as Ramirez, Pudge did face some PED rumors surrounding his during his career, including being named in Jose Canseco’s book Juiced as someone who was personally injected PEDs by Canseco. Pudge always denied these claims and never turned up in a positive test, so he won’t be hurt as much as some others, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Vladimir Guerrero

GOAT. Vlad definitely has the best chance of any newcomers of being a first ballot Hall of Famer. He was a 9-time All-Star, won 8 Silver Sluggers, and was AL MVP in 2004 after hitting .337 with 39 homers and 127 RBIs. Plus he didn’t wear batting gloves, smothered his helmet in pine tar, and swung at literally everything that was ever thrown at him. The dude once hit a ball that bounced before the plate, for Christ’s sake. Plus, he was never credibly linked to PEDs. Call me crazy, but Vlad’s gotta get in this year. And, surprisingly enough, HOF induction for Vlad would make him the first Dominican-born position player to be enshrined, joining Dominican pitchers Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal.

Others:

Those 3 are the newcomers that have arguably the best chances to sneak on this year, but who else?

-Jorge Posada – .273 BA, .848 OPS, 1,065 RBI, 42.7 WAR in 17 seasons, all with the Yankees. Won 4 championships.

-Jason Varitek* – .256 BA, .776 OPS, 1,307 hits in 15 seasons, all with the Red Sox. Won 2 championships and caught MLB record 4 no hitters. Only player to ever play in the Little League, College, and MLB World Series (which is the coolest stat ever).

-Pete Rose – FREE PETE ROSE GOD DAMN IT

 

The 2017 MLB Hall of Fame class will be announced on January 18th, 2017 and the induction will take place in July.

*I know Tek’s a long shot, but had to throw him in. Guy’s a legend

Rick Porcello wins AL Cy Young; will Mookie’s MVP be next?

Last night it was announced that the NL Cy Young Award was won by Max Scherzer in a landslide, and the AL Award went to Boston’s Rick Porcello in a very close vote. Porcello actually got 6 less 1st place votes than Justin Verlander, who finished 2nd, but what set Pretty Ricky apart was his 18 2nd place votes to Verlander’s 2. You can look at this a lot like a presidential candidate winning the popular vote but not the election; it may seem a little confusing, but it’s the system in place and it makes sense (so stop protesting, idiots).

And speaking of protests, some people weren’t exactly thrilled about the results. The most notable, obviously, was Verlander’s fiance, Kate Upton.

Does she have a point? Maybe. But the point isn’t that since he got the most first place votes, he should’ve won. That’s the Clinton argument, and it’s wrong. If she centers her argument around Verlander being the most deserving pitcher of the award, then she has a case; as Verlander’s self-proclaimed “Salty Younger Brother” shows us, he may have been the easy choice.

Was he hurt by being on a bad team? Maybe. And that shouldn’t impact a pitcher’s chances at an award, but that’s how it goes. That’s why only a handful of guys have won MVP despite being on a non-playoff team, and that’s why Trout may not win MVP tonight even though he’s pretty blatantly the best player on the planet (more on this later). Bottom line is, Kate can say whatever she wants, but the result of the voting isn’t gonna change – hmmm, sounds familiar.

So Pretty Ricky and his 22 wins, 3.15 ERA, 189 strikeouts, and 5.2 WAR are the 2016 AL Cy Young winners. And I, for one, am pumped that we can finally put the “Porcello is a bust” narrative behind us. He had a rough start to 2015, recovered nicely after a DL stint, and was the best pitcher in the American League in 2016. Is this a good sign concerning David Price in 2017? We can only hope.

Now, tonight’s the big one: MVP. Kris Bryant should win the NL award in a landslide, but the AL MVP is still very much a toss up. First there’s Trout, who I will reiterate is the best player on the planet. Period. He’s the LeBron of baseball; he’s insanely talented and has been for so long that we get bored of it and look for others to be “the future” when it’s clearly this guy. He’s on a shitty team who never even sniffed a playoff spot this year, but he’s a once in a generation player coming off arguably his best year as a pro.

If he doesn’t win (which could certainly happen), the other two candidates are equally interesting; Houston’s Jose Altuve and Boston’s Mookie Betts. Altuve won the AL batting title this year and continued to be one of the toughest outs in baseball along with playing a great second base for the Astros. He’s a great candidate, but is less of a complete player than the other two and will likely finish 3rd in the voting.

Then, we’ve got Mookie. The guy yours truly predicted as the AL MVP in February. The 24 year old who just had his breakout year and won’t be looking back. He had 214 hits and was the fastest in baseball to 200. He hit 31 homers, drove in 113 runs, and hit .318 on the year. Am I biased? Hell yeah, I’d love to see Mookie rewarded for the amazing year he had. Believe it or not, as great as playing in Boston is, it’s not an easy place to succeed in. If you have a bad stretch, you’re gonna hear about it, and that definitely makes it harder to get out of the funk. But that’s why only the great ones survive here, and Mookie is for sure looking like the next great Red Sox player.

So if I have to choose, I’m sticking with my original pick from February 11th and saying Mookie wins the AL MVP. Hopefully those idiot voters who won’t let Pete Rose in a Hall of Fame will agree with me on this one.

Breaking down the BBWAA award finalists

So last night the Baseball Writers Association of America announced the finalists for their awards; Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP. There weren’t any major surprises, but there will definitely be some disputes over who actually takes home the hardware, especially in the MVP races. For those who have been with me since Keegansports (RIP) I made some MLB award predictions back on February 11th (check them out here), before pitchers and catchers even reported. Most were horrible because I’m pretty stupid and I pretty much guessed, but regardless, let’s see how my picks stack up against this year’s finalists.

AL Rookie of the Year:

My pick: Byron Buxton, Twins

Finalists:

Tyler Naquin, Indians

Gary Sanchez, Yankees

Michael Fulmer, Tigers

So I’d seen some glimpses of Buxton’s speed and glove late in 2015 and I thought it would translate well to his first full season. I also knew that the Twins would be trash this year and even if Buxton didn’t start the year with the club, he’d be up real soon. I was right to a point, as Buxton played 92 games for the Twins this year, but he never really got off the ground, finishing the year with a .225 batting average, 38 RBI, and 10 steals, and he struck out in over 35% of his plate appearances. Woops.

As for the actual winner, it’s hard to go against Gary Sanchez here. Yeah he only played 53 games for the big league club in 2016 (compared to 116 for Naquin and 26 starts for Fulmer) but Sanchez was just impossible to get out in the 2nd half of the year. If you watched him play, which we in Boston got to do plenty of, you know that even when he wasn’t going yard (which he did 20 times in those 53 games) he was making an impact. He gave Brian McCann some much needed relief behind the plate, and he also finished with a .299 batting average. All 3 are deserving, but I think Sanchez takes this one.

NL Rookie of the Year:

My pick: Steven Matz, Mets

Finalists:

Kenta Maeda, Dodgers

Trea Turner, Nationals

Corey Seager, Dodgers

This pick was really up and down for me this year. Matz got shelled in his first start of the year, then won his next 7 starts and took home NL Rookie of the Month honors in May, where he went 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 5 starts. He struggled mightily for the next 2 months, going 1-6 in June and July before it was announced he had been pitching with a bone spur in his elbow. He put off surgery for a while, but was placed on the DL in August and had surgery to remove the spur, ending his season.

As great as Maeda was this year for LA, I think this is a 2 horse race between Turner and Seager. These two were a couple of the most exciting players in baseball this year, both incredibly athletic and very talented. Seager will surely benefit from the fact that he was an Opening Day starter while Turner was called up on July 26th and only after a position switch (from shortstop to center field), but both have phenomenal numbers. In the end, I’m taking Seager because he had more exposure and arguably a better season numbers-wise.

AL Manager of the Year:

My pick: AJ Hinch, Astros

Finalists:

Jeff Banister, Rangers

Terry Francona, Indians

Buck Showalter, Orioles

My pick of Hinch was mainly due to the success I envisioned in 2016 for Houston, which never really panned out. The Astros did turn things around a bit to finish 3rd in the AL West, 6 games above .500 and 11 games back of Texas, but a 3rd place finish rarely gets you Manager of the Year consideration (unless you’re Buck Showalter, apparently).

All are definitely worthy here, but I’m going with Francona. Partially because of the postseason success, but primarily because he’s the best of the 3 at working with what he’s got. He did it in Boston, and he’s been doing it in Cleveland, too. Banister inherited a very talented Rangers team, got more additions at the deadline, and some could say they underachieved. But Francona took a team with great pitching and decent offense and made them pennant winners. And it’d actually be a shame for Showalter to be pardoned after neglecting to use All-World closer Zach Britton in the Wild Card game.

NL Manager of the Year:

My pick: Terry Collins, Mets

Finalists:

Dusty Baker, Nationals

Joe Maddon, Cubs

Dave Roberts, Dodgers

Again, this pick was based off a team having success that it didn’t necessarily have. I do think Terry Collins deserves a little more credit than he’s gotten for navigating the insane amount of injuries this Mets team endured, primarily to its pitching staff but really all over the roster, and still coming within a few outs of the NLDS. It took a great finish to the season to even get there, and he deserves a good deal of the credit.

I don’t think there’s any doubting that Joe Maddon wins this one. World Series victory aside, because postseason doesn’t factor into these awards, writers LOVE Joe Maddon. Maybe it’s the quirkiness or something, I don’t know, but everyone in the media loves this guy. If I had a vote I’d probably go Dave Roberts honestly, partially because I’ll always love him after that stolen base but also because I think he did a good job this year with a young and sometimes injury-plagued Dodgers team. He won’t win, but one could argue he should.

AL Cy Young:

My pick: Sonny Gray, Athletics

Finalists:

Rick Porcello, Red Sox

Corey Kluber, Indians

Justin Verlander, Tigers

Wow, so this was probably my worst pick. Coming off a 3rd place finish in 2015 Cy Young Voting, Gray was poised for a real breakout year at age 25. Instead, he finished 5-11 with a 5.69 ERA and made multiple trips to the disabled list, all of which lowering his trade value for when Oakland inevitably dumps him for a bunch of prospects.

If this award was voted on after the playoffs, I think there’s no question it would be Klubers, as he was a vital factor in the Indians being a few innings away from being World Champs. But this is a regular season award, and it’s hard to say anyone had a better regular season than Pretty Ricky. Yes win total is kind of an outdated stat and he definitely benefitted from some great run support, but it’s hard to argue with 22-4, especially when combined with a 3.15 ERA. Kluber and Verlander may top him in strikeouts, ERA, etc but if we’re talking about the most important pitcher to his team, which is how I like to interpret the Cy Young Award, I’m leaning towards Porcello.

NL Cy Young:

My pick: Gerrit Cole

Finalists:

Kyle Hendricks, Cubs

Jon Lester, Cubs

Max Scherzer, Nationals

Another bad one. Cole was coming off a 4th place Cy Young finish with a 19-win, 202 strikeout campaign in 2015 and looked ready to lead Pittsburgh to the playoffs in ’16. Instead, he made just 21 starts due to injury and went 7-10 with a 3.88 ERA and posted career-worst numbers in WHIP, SO/9, and K/BB ratio. I sure know my pitching, huh?

Instead, the writers will choose between the Nats’ Max Scherzer and a pair of Cubs, Hendricks and Lester. All three had phenomenal years and finished in the top 3 in NL ERA (Hendricks, Lester, Scherzer), but I’ve gotta give the nod to Kyle Hendricks. Maybe it’s because he started the year as Chicago’s 5th starter and ended up leading the majors in ERA, but I just love the story and the season from this kid. You could defend voting for all 3, but if I had a vote it’d go to Hendricks.

AL MVP:

My pick: Mookie Betts, Red Sox

Finalists:

Mookie Betts, Red Sox

Mike Trout, Angels

Jose Altuve, Astros

MOOKIE! Making me look like a damn genius! Even at the All-Star break he was nowhere near the favorite for AL MVP, but he’s gotta be up there now.

But Sean, Altuve won the batting title! And you’ve said a bunch of times that Trout is the LeBron of baseball; that we get so accustomed to his greatness that we don’t even notice it anymore, but he’s obviously the best player on the planet. How can you be that biased to vote Mookie? Well, made up person who likes to criticize me, you’re right. Altuve did win the batting title, and I do think Trout is the best baseball player on the planet right now. But the MVP award is always up for interpretation, and I see it as whoever’s absence from their team would hinder them the most. Mookie is immensely valuable to the Sox, more so than the others, and fully deserves this win. Plus, honestly, I just wanna be right on one of these picks.

NL MVP:

My pick: Paul Goldschmidt

Finalists:

Kris Bryant, Cubs

Daniel Murphy, Nationals

Corey Seager, Dodgers

Goldy was making me look real dumb early on, but he ended up turning it around and salvaging a decent season. He finished up batting .297 with 24 homers and 95 RBI; solid, but not MVP numbers.

Let’s start with this: it won’t be Seager. The fact that he’s nominated in his rookie season is incredible, and he’ll definitely win the ROY, but that’s as far as I’ll go. Murphy was the most consistent hitter in the NL this year, but it’s hard to argue that he was more valuable that Kris Bryant. As much talent as the Cubs have, there would be a gaping hole at the hot corner without Bryant. A little bias is coming in here as well, as Bryant is probably my favorite non-Red Sox player in the league due to both his play and his phenomenal attitude, but who cares; you don’t think the BBWAA voters have bias, too?

So there we have it, your 2016 MLB awards winners. Crazy to think it was 9 months ago when I made those predictions. The actual winners (which will probably differ greatly from my predictions) will be announced in a series of 1-hour specials next week, starting on Monday with the ROY winners, followed by managers on Tuesday, Cy Young on Wednesday, and finally the MVPs on Thursday.

The Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years last night with a CRAZY Game 7 win

I’ve heard this to describe last night’s game a bunch of times today, so I’m not sure where it originally came from but I think it’s the best way to put it: last night’s Game 7 in Cleveland, which the Cubs won 8-7 to clinch their first World Series title since 1908, was definitely not the best baseball game ever, but as far as most memorable, I can’t think of another game that compares.

This game pretty much had everything. A starting pitching matchup between two guys who could both take home the 2016 Cy Young Award for their league. A combined 176 years of futility. Series comebacks, game comebacks, rain delays, and clutch homers. And when it comes down to it, this was the kind of series that had to break the curse for Chicago. 108 years of frustration and let down couldn’t end with a cookie cutter 3-2 series win, just like Boston’s 86 year drought wasn’t gonna end with a typical road to the Fall Classic. The Cubs just had to come back from down 3-1 in the series with the last 2 games on the road. They had to blow a 3 run lead with their multimillion dollar closer in the 8th. There had to be a rain delay after the end of the 9th inning. A normal series just wasn’t gonna cut it.

My prediction at the beginning of this season was Red Sox over Cubs in 6 games, so I guess I did ok. But it was clear early on that this Cubs team was special and they were gonna go places. Just look at the personalities on this team, starting at the top. You’ve got the genius Theo Epstein, who’s just ended his second curse with just a phenomenal eye for talent and how to acquire it. Then there’s Joe Maddon, an admittedly unorthodox manager who could’ve blown this series about a million times but in the end did what he had to do to win it. David Ross was basically a player-manager all year, knowing he was in his last year and wanting one more shot at another ring. And I, for one, am psyched he got it. Then you’ve got the young studs; Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, etc etc. This may be the first one for these guys, but it certainly won’t be the last. Particularly, I think Kris Bryant is my favorite player in baseball (non-Red Sox division). I’ve said this before I’m sure, but the guy just has a phenomenal attitude, always has a smile on his face (even while recording the final out), and he’s got talent coming out of his ears to boot.

Then there’s the pitching staff, one of the best we’ve ever seen. Kyle Hendricks starts the year as the #5 starter; fast forward to November, he’s starting Game 7 and possibly preparing to accept his Cy Young after leading the majors in ERA. Lester finished 2nd in ERA, and the entire staff was in the top 20 in the NL. Hendricks, Lester, Lackey, Hammel, and Arrieta; it’s not even fair. And these guys, as talented as they are, make up possibly the most composed and mentally tough group in the bigs (besides Lester not being able to throw to first, that’s just absurd). Combine that with the offensive stars we’ve talked about and the best defense in baseball, and this was just a matter of time. The curse is lifted, and the Cubs have won.

And fuuuuuuuuuuck Cleveland. “LOL Golden State blew a 3-1 lead, what idiots, Cleveland against the world! We’re turning it around!” Yeah how’s that going? Karma’s a bitch, huh? At least now LeBron can stop pretending he’s an Indians fan, because that was getting really old.

Yeah dude?

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Doesn’t shock me even a little that LeBron was one of those kids who rooted for teams from other cities because they were good at the time. Most annoying kinds of people, btw.

Ok, I got off track. Bottom line, congrats to the Cubbies, they deserved it. Could be the start of a dynasty in Chicago, but obviously it’s too soon for that. But for now, enjoy it Cubs fans; we in Boston know how great it is to lift a curse like this.

The Cubs will try to force a World Series Game 7 in Cleveland tonight

A few days ago, the sky was falling in Chicago. The Cubs were down 3-1, on the brink of elimination, and at the same time having to deal with the embarrassing stat that the Indians have now won more World Series games at Wrigley than they have. So, not ideal. But now, they head to Cleveland down 3-2 with Jake Arrieta on the bump against Josh Tomlin. So, they got em right where they want em?

As great as the matchup looks for Chicago, it’s playoff baseball. Even pretending you can predict this shit is just dumb, because you can’t. Arrieta looked great in his Game 2 start in Cleveland, going 5.2 innings allowing 1 run, striking out 6 and getting the win. But his previous start, against LA in the NLCS, wasn’t so hot: 5 IP, 4 ER, 5 K, and a shutout Game 3 loss. Tomlin, meanwhile, looked pretty solid in his one World Series start so far, a 4.2 inning 0 ER effort in Game 3 that ended in a 1-0 Cleveland win. He also won the clincher against Boston and Game 2 of the ALCS, so he’s got some good work to build off of from this postseason. I feel like everyone’s been looking past the Indians all postseason, and this is another time where we gotta make sure we don’t.

So now we have Game 6. In Cleveland, with the Indians looking to close it out and the Cubbies trying to live to play another day. I’m sure the Cubs wouldn’t want anyone but Arrieta on the mound for this one, despite their stacked rotation, because this guy’s just a gamer and loves the big stage. Plus, his bat can absolutely change the outcome of a game, something very few pitchers are really capable of doing. So the Cubs do go in with a bit of an edge, mentally if nothing else. Also, what more is there to play for than to keep playing? This is it for Chicago; lose, and the curse lives on another year. You think those guys are kind of sick of hearing about how they can’t win a championship and reach the pinnacle of their profession because of some goat in the 1940s? I’d think so.

I’m not even gonna try to make any kind of prediction on this game, because as I said before, playoff baseball is just too unpredictable. I’ll probably root for/bet on the Cubs because I’d LOVE to see these two teams play a Game 7 for the title, but it’s really anybody’s guess.

8:00 first pitch in Cleveland on FOX. Tomlin vs. Arrieta. Chicago playing for Game 7, Cleveland playing for the ship. Let’s go.

The World Series finally starts tonight: Who you got?

The day we’ve been waiting for since Spring Training began is finally here; Game 1 of the 2016 World Series. A little bittersweet because I’d obviously hoped the Sox would still be kicking at this point, but an exciting day nonetheless.

After my dismal 1 for 4 showing in the Divisional Round, I got my shit together and correctly picked both World Series teams. Whatever, I mean the term “expert” gets tossed around a lot but maybe it applies here, I don’t know. In any case, the Tribe are in their first Fall Classic since ’97 and trying to win for the first time since ’48, and the Cubs are here for the first time since ’45 and trying to end professional sports’ longest championship drought of 108 years. Two pretty horrific histories are clashing here, and one of them’s gonna get just a little bit worse.

Heading into this series, you gotta say the pressure is on the Cubs. Yeah they’ve both had long droughts, but Cleveland has an onslaught of excuses to make if they don’t come through in 2016; “circumstances”, if you will. Salazar is back for the World Series but hasn’t pitched since September 9th because of a forearm injury. Michael Brantley and Yan Gomes both found their way to season ending injuries. They’ve overcome a multitude of obstacles (including being from Cleveland) to get here, and they’ve truly earned it, shutting down two of the AL’s best offenses along the way. Chicago, meanwhile, was the betting favorite from day one. And how couldn’t they be? What started the season as a great rotation quickly became a historic one, with all 5 starters finishing in the top 20 in NL ERA. The entire infield started the All-Star game, and they dominated the majors on their way to an MLB-best 103 win season (next highest was 95). If the Indians lose this series, it’s just another “close but no cigar” scenario for the city of Cleveland; if the Cubs lose, the curse may be here to stay.

Looking at the series as a whole, Chicago is logically the favorite. I feel like I’ve written this a billion times, but their pitching is just RIDICULOUS. Cleveland’s is phenomenal too, don’t get me wrong, but the fact that the Cubs managed to amass this collection of pitching talent is downright unfair. Plus you take a lead into the 9th and Chapman comes out tossing 102 on the corners, and it’s game over. What’s gonna set this series apart, though, are the offenses. Chicago’s is great, and Cleveland is going to have to match them to have a chance. They’ll get tested early with Lester in Game 1 and Kluber in Game 2, and if they’re not up to the challenge this series is going to be over before you can say “Go Cavs!”

Ultimately Cleveland HAS to win at least 1 of the first 2 games and capitalize on their home field advantage. Hate the system all you want (I don’t, but I know some people do), but the AL won the Midsummer Classic and the first two games are at Progressive Field. I think they’ll get one of the first two, but honestly I think that’s it. Chicago is too good, too powerful, too talented to not win this one. Picking against Cleveland hasn’t worked for me yet, but I gotta do it.

Prediction: Cubs in 5*

First pitch is tonight at 8. Lester. Kluber. Cubs. Indians. Let’s go!

*If karma is real and the world is actually a good place, the Indians will get a 3-1 lead in the series then lose in 7. Let’s see how Cleveland feels about being on the wrong end of a blown 3-1 series lead.