Eliteism need not apply. They don't pay Sale for his opinion. They pay him to pitch. Williams runs the show. Facts are facts. Not to mention, there have been numerous reports that several players went over Ventura and "teh clubhouse" and straight to Williams to voice discontent with Laroche and his kid. Apparently "high level sports" is no different when it comes to talking to your boss.

Not to mention, if Sale is so keen on "keeping things in teh clubhouse" why is he publicly voicing his discontent with Williams and the Laroche issue? Why not abide by his own dumb line of thought and go to Ventura to voice discontent and keep it in house instead of sounding off via the media. This in the clubhouse malarkey doesn't make any sense nor is it followed by the guy complaining about it.

it's definitely created an awkward situation that will impact the team weeks before opening day.... it's right up there with the ridiculous "no facial hair" rules out there.....

Why would you not allow a sweet Don Mattingly style stache?

The locker room is a different place. Sports and your regular job are not the same thing. You are stretching big time.

Kenny Williams is a liar and made this the big deal that it is.

I'm not saying they're one in the same. I am saying the chain of command still exists and using a lousy argument based on elitism doesn't serve your cause.

I like how Williams is a liar, made this a bigger deal than needed, and needs to stay out of the clubhous and leave things to Ventura, when Sale is clearly going outside of the clubhouse via the media to voice discontent, putting up Laroche's jerseys for the media to see, and quite blatantly going against everything he bitched about. It is quite humorous.

I also like how several players went to Williams to voice discontent about the Laroche kid in the first place, which is what lead to to said kid being banned, this causing Laroche to take his ball and go home and then go OUTSIDE OF THE CLUBHOUSE to voice his discontent. It's all very stupid. And Sale just makes himself look like a dick bag by reacting the way he is. He tops it off by looking like a dumb dick bag for doing the exact thing he bitched about.

Brad Penny retired

:love:

Can't wait til June when the games start to matter a little bit.

You mean April?

You are the guys in the White Sox room that tattled to Williams instead of talking to your teammates.

If I'm a teammate that has a problem with the kid being there, my thought process would be to ask around my fellow teammates to see if I'm the only one, and if we accumulate a gang that thinks it's a problem, then we go to Laroche individually and talk to him. If he does nothing about it, then manager. Then GM, although I cannot imagine a 14-year old being that much of a nuisance to me that I'd ever have to "rat out" a teammate because of it.....

Think he's talking in terms of the playoff picture carving itself out. Although the AL is gonna be a clusterfuck of competitiveness.

Btw let me be clear about this.

Adam Laroche and his kid are weird. Go to fucking school. Who wants to hang out with their Dad everyday? Yeah it would be cool but EVERYDAY?! Get some friends one time for me.

The workplace is no place for a child. Every once in a while? Sure. But no kid should be there every single day.

I just feel like the whole White Sox thing is embarrassing for everybody involved. Chris Sale hanging up the kid's jersey in the locker room as if he had died or something. And Adam Eaton saying the kid was a leader in the clubhouse. Like...really?

I gotta say, as much as I can't wait to get real games underway I do love the randomness of spring and how the veterans, understandably, don't give a fuck. Colon gave up 5 runs on just 15 pitches yesterday as he was just hucking balls right down the middle of the plate. He clearly could not have been less interested in being in that game.

And then today Harvey pitched in some 10 AM game against a bunch of Cardinals minor leaguers and he gave up like 6 runs, said afterwards he was just treating it like an extended BP and the only goal was to get over 70 pitches as he ramps up for the opener. Yet for those minor leaguers just the chance to step in the box against a guy like Harvey was probably a thrill.

But yeah, real games soon please.

Oh and not sure if it's only like this in every market or if it's exclusive to the big ones grasping at straws for stories but it's hilarious to me when people freak out over spring stats as if they mean anything. A guy called into WFAN today complaining that Antonio Bastardo has looked terrible and how he's not going to be a viable late inning option.

Funny because Familia got lit up like a Christmas tree pretty much every game last spring and then turned out to be one of the best closers in baseball from April right up until he made the unfortunate decision of trying to quick pitch Alex Gordon in the World Series.

I find there are teams that play well early and fall apart when the heat is on. Aka many blue jays teams.

I'm sorry if this doesn't fit in with your rules. People not agreeing with you seems to make you very angry. Some may call your approach "insufferable"

April is when they matter a little bit though. *monkey with hands over mouth emoticon*

what

:lol: Marlins name Wei-Yin Chen their Opening Day starter under the phony excuse that pitching Jose Fernandez in the second game will help limit his innings, even though the rotation order rarely stays set in stone all year. Pretty clear that the real reason is that Opening Day is a sellout for basically every team. And since the Marlins can't draw for shit the rest of the year they'd rather save their marquee pitcher Fernandez for the next game.

Hope teams don't start making a trend of that. Your best pitcher is supposed to go on Opening Day. It's not that complicated.

It's just another game really.

lol that is incredible and simultaneously unsurprising in the least for that organization

It might mean dick all in terms of the overall standings but it's still a day that the diehards have been waiting for since October/November. Plus it's just a nice tradition. Unless your best starter is hurt or unavailable for some other reason the ace should always head out there on day one.

Also because of that tradition there are never more great pitching matchups than there are on Opening Day.

"If you look hot, wear it"

- Joe Maddon

Chone Figgins calls it a career. He'll sign a 1-day deal with and retire as an Angel.

deGrom, Harvey, and Familia are on the cover of SI's 2016 Baseball Preview Edition. Fuck.

Bet it was someone from Chicago who bribed them to jinx the Mets so the Cubs can get back to the World Series unimpeded

I blame Frank Drebin, that slippery detective http://www.tpwwforums.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

Turns out they did regional covers this year. Cubs, Astros, and Giants all got their own covers.

WE'RE BACK! 1986 BABY!!!

Rays took on the Cuban National Team today. Won 4-1.

Both teams used a shitload of players, I guess they wanted everyone to play or something.

Rays only used 4 pitchers, Cubans used up 10.:eek:

Frank Drebin, Slippery Dick.

Doesn't sound like the YES/Comcast dispute is anywhere close to being resolved and that it will definitely carry into the regular season.

Sucks for the Yankee fans stuck with Comcast. But from what I've read most aren't fretting because Comcast's prices are a rip-off anyway and besides there are a shitload of games that will be on WPIX, FOX, and ESPN anyway. Plus you can always find streams.

Willing to stake my reputation as a "pretty smart guy" that the YES/Comcast situation is resolved before any games are missed,,,

Guy at my local Comcast office says no new talks. Gave me a list of the Yankee games not on YES.

Guy at the local comcast office is just some dope,,,it'll be resolved over a 5 minute call whenever ________ happens. I assume YES will get pretty much what they want because "the public" would never side with Comcast,,,even though "the public" is just being used as a negotiating tool by both sides

I'm one of those creeps who can only get Comcast where I live,,not worried about missing any games, not yet at least

A Rod :roll:

Ugh. Couldn't retire after this season.

Hated that contract he signed. And I'm dreading the one we're gonna offer that headache Bryce Harper.

A-Rod hit 33 home runs last year. It's no guarantee he can do it but if he stays on the field and has a couple more 30 home run campaigns (let's say he gets 60 total over the next two years) he'd only be 15 away from the record. I definitely think he'd come back under those circumstances.

There's a lot worse players you could "field" at DH than A-Rod.... 2 more seasons at 30 HR's is not out of the realm of possibility if the majority of his time is at DH, limiting his chances at getting hurt....

A rod was good last year, not the worst thing ever for him to keep playing lol

If the NL has a DH in 2018 I could totally see the Marlins bringing A-Rod in to market the shit out of his HR record chase. Would fit the bill of something they'd do.

Never liked A-Rod but sort of want him to get really close to Ruth on the HR list just to see how bad the media shitstorm becomes.

If A-Rod ends up not breaking the record, Pujols is next closest for active guys but he's about 200 HRs away from the record. Could probably get close within the next 5-7 years if he stays healthy or goes full time as a DH.

A Rod would be like 10 times better than whoever they are putting at DH for my White Sox.

I mean hell, our .200 batting average DH retired.

Lol the diamondbacks want a new stadium. Chase Field is only 18 years old. Come the fuck on lol

This is only going to be Turner Field's 20th season and that isn't stopping the Braves from moving.

Orioles have scored 27 runs in 2 games vs Yankees and Red Sox but allowed 18.

Going to be crazy

Droford are you signing up for fantasy this year? totally forgot to ask you.

Eh..not feeling it this year

Yankees recently publicly ranted about the revenue sharing system mainly in regards to luxury tax penalties.

Were upset the most about still having to pay high taxes although for some odd reason decided to target the Mets and not known cheapass teams with their rants. Somehow felt since the Mets were also in New York, either the Mets should be paying more or the Yankees paying less to make things fair for the New York market.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15...evenue-sharing

Brewers' closer tore his LCL.... tying his shoe

never change, baseball

that's right up there with pinching your ballbag in a cup and missing a few games.....

Orioles wise I remember Marty Cordova falling asleep in a tanning bed and burning his face up.

Orioles are rumored to have discussed releasing their recent Korean import lol. The best offseason of year continues to get better.

Joey Rickard has been playing better. Rule 5 guy..has been hitting..has speed and good defense.

Ultimately if Kim would take a minors assignment I could see him panning out but otherwise he's like the Korean pitcher they signed a few years ago that flopped hard in spring training.

Mariners place Jesus Montero on waivers. One of the biggest prospect busts in recent memory.

Joey Rickard? You mean the guy that was soooooo good the Rays, a team always looking for cheap talent, left him off their 40 man roster and allowed to be given away? Yeah. Spring training stats mean jack shit. They could give Rickard every chance to stick and the likelihood is he's probably a bench player at best.

Finally working on my trademark Vito Cruz MLB Predictions. MLB The Show comes out this week. This time next week I will be watching actual baseball instead of fake Spring Training baseball.

So glad it's here.

He's played in just about every ST game and he's 21/53 hitting a lot in the leadoff spot with speed and playing good defense in LF. If Kim goes away he's at least in a platoon with Reimold but because he can lead off and has speed I think he'll stick. They don't have anyone else who is a typical leadoff guy

In 4 minor league seasons he hit .288/.390 with 72 sb

Last year in about 90 AA and AAA games he was a .320/.420 guy

I personally think the Rays fucked up. He doesn't have power but how many 25 year olds are there that can hit for a .300+ avg .400+ obp? Even if it drops to .280/.360 thsts still better than everyone but Machado and they can't have him leading off after he hit 35 homers last year like they have previously

They probably didn't like his 19% k rate and 9% bb rate..and his high babip .457 in AAA but that fits in with the Os

Jesus Montero had a .355 average last year in AAA

I am feeling positive about Sanchez as a starter. I think he's the type of guy that'll get better with the more innings he'll pitch.

Can't wait to see how many talking heads who had picked the Mets to win the NL East after they got Cespedes back end up changing their picks now that the Nats have the best record in the Grapefruit League while the Mets have lost like 11 straight. Because obviously spring training performance is so important.

Well lucky for you the Jays have apparently already claimed him.

Hutchison to AAA. Thank God.

Best scouting report ever on Evan Gattis: "Gattis swings the bat like he's in some weird Jason Statham movie where if he doesn't give it every ounce of energy he has, he'll die."

Braves release Nick Swisher.

Wouldn't mind seeing him back in pinstripes for 1 more season as a bench player. Hell of a guy in the clubhouse and off the field.

sounds like the Astros in a nutshell last year tbh

which is why they were one of the most fun teams to watch

But which Jason Statham movie?

I think Crank was awesome.

needs more pitches

....it can't be

Cubs released Kawasaki :wavesad:

then immediately resigned him to a minor league deal, no Jays return for Muni :(

Lol Joe Madden said that Mune is going to be one of the most popular Cubs when he gets called up. Sad to see Mune in a different jersey.

Reading that the Royals are considering retaliating against the Mets because they are still mad that Thor threw over Escobar's head in game 3. Come on. First off the ball didn't come even close to hitting him by design, but besides that wasn't winning the series and celebrating on the Citi Field grass not revenge enough for them?

I'm guessing nothing will happen. But if they blatantly hit a Met batter on Opening Night when no Royal got hit I bet Harvey will follow suit and we'll wind up with a basebrawl on the first day of the season.

As if the Royals needed more reason to hate them

It's unfortunate because I actually want to like the Royals. I was pulling hard for them in 2014 because they had come out of nowhere and I thought it would be a great story not to mention it would have saved us from the Even Year Giants ©

If you had told me going into last season that the Mets would make it to the WS but lose to the Royals I'd have been like "okay, well at least a team I don't mind is winning it and they're fun to watch" but christ have they ever become annoying. Glad it's only a 2 game series with them to start the year.

Home run contest the Os site in on..You pay $50 and pick 8 players who home run total from last year is 162 or less with 7 active and 1 bench replacement. High total each month wins thev$50 and there's also payout for high total at ASB and end if season.

My team
Mike Trout 41
Anthony Rizzo 31
Giancarlo Stanton 27
Joc Pederson 26
Miguel Sano 18
Miguel Cabrera 18
Devin Mesoraco 0
Bench Byung ho Park 0
Total 161

I wasn't aware about the Dodgers not feeling Pederson this spring..so kinda regretting him already. Mesoraco is 20+ homers as long as bed healthy. Park is projected for 30+. Sano is also projected 30+..

Tigers need to back off with The all orange hats

They are the Seth Rollins of MLB

I think that's kind of apt. He does the whiney heel role well.

They've denied this. I think the real issue is why are they having the interleague play this early. Time to rein in this gimmick or just end it all together.

Interleague is dumB.. Tigers open the season @MIA and end it @ATL... soooOoo dumB

but lol @ the Sox, Travis Shaw won the starting job over Pablo... the right move, but goddamn @ that contract still

Yep. Throwing money at people that weren't really that sought after. I don't think we'll find a moron like the Dodgers to dump most of it this time.

Yeah because if they were gonna throw at somebody on purpose or they totally would admit to it beforehand.

Hopefully cooler heads prevail since this shit all happened 6 months ago. Time to move on.

I'll actually be disappointed if the Royals don't bean him. Not because he deserves it. I just want to see Bartolo Colon give Ventura a 747 splash.

I don't feel sorry for anybody or anything about this other than the bench. Don't think she'll hold up.

They also won the whole thing. Seems preposterous they'd still be this mad.

For inter-league play if you throw at somebody intentionally in an American League stadium they should do something like you lose your DH spot for the next game.

Red Sox management has been hinting during Spring Training if they have another terrible start, Farrell likely is out as the manager shortly afterwards.

That seems crazy to me since they were world champions in 2013. It wasn't that long ago.

But whatever. I feel like winning a title should buy you like 5 years of job security no matter what. For that matter if you win a title the fans probably have no right to bitch about the state of the team for 5 years either but I know that's unrealistic for most.

Guess its more of they way they've been horrendous the past few years and 2013 being seen more as a fluke than proving Farrell as great choice for manager. Pitching should have been a lot better considering that's Farrell's biggest strength but instead its been their huge weakness.

Not all his fault though but since they've already cleaned house with management, he's the last big leftover before Dave Dombrowski has complete control over the team.

About to be 14 straight winless game with one spring game left to play. Wonder if they're on the verge of setting a record.

Remember when the Orioles lost like 10 in a row..11-5 with a bunch of times since.

Taylor Teagarden got hit with an 80 game suspension from MLB. No word on if he failed a drug test or anything. But, he was involved in that Al Jazzera expose' involving various players using PEDs. He's a free agent at the moment.

With the first pitch of the 2016 season tomorrow night, it’s time to go ahead and post my annual predictions. Last season I had four of the five NL playoff teams correct (albeit I had my Mets as a wild card, not winning the division) but Toronto were the only AL playoff team I guessed correctly. My Freeway World Series prediction of course did not come to fruition with the Angels narrowly missing out on a Wild Card berth, and the eventual world champion Royals I had finishing in fourth place. Let’s see how I fare this year:


Regular Season Standings

American League East
1. New York Yankees
2. Toronto Blue Jays (Wild Card 1)
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

The AL East is habitually one of the hardest divisions to pick. But in the end I’m going to go with the old guard in the Yankees, quite literally in this case as they have the oldest roster in the entire league. They are far from a perfect team; their aging position players seemed to fade in the dog days of summer last year and their rotation is questionable especially with the ever-looming concern about Tanaka’s elbow. But that back-end of the bullpen is absurd and they should be able to win just about any game that they’re winning after six innings, maybe even earlier. They could just be following the Royals model in terms of allowing your incredible bullpen to offset a less than stellar group of starting position players. The Yankees stave off a late charge from Toronto to win their first division title in four years.

I’m not willing to write Toronto out of the postseason entirely, they should still be able to tear the cover off of the ball although Tulowitzki is always an injury risk and who knows if Bautista and Encarnacion’s contract situations become a distraction. Stroman is really good but the real X factor for them will be if Aaron Sanchez can solidify himself as a legitimate #2 starter. Boston will be improved over a year ago and Price is a Cy Young frontrunner but I still think they’re going to need to swing a trade for another starter and I have no idea if Hanley will rebound to be a force in the lineup. Tampa Bay seems solid overall and have a good front three but I can’t really find any reason to put them into October this year. The Orioles just seem to be all over the place. Machado is one of the best players in baseball but I still think they overpaid spectacularly for Davis and that rotation leaves a lot to be desired.


American League Central
1. Kansas City Royals
2. Cleveland Indians (Wild Card 2)
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Chicago White Sox

As mentioned I left the Royals out of the playoffs altogether last year, I’m not about to make that mistake again. While they did lose Ben Zobrist they still kept their lineup mostly intact, and they are capable of just grinding out one quality at-bat after another along with playing nearly flawless defense. Their bread and butter is still the bullpen, with Greg Holland this year being replaced by Joakim Soria. As in year’s past this group of hard-throwing relievers should help take some of the burden off of what looks to be a less than stellar starting rotation. However just like last year, the opportunity is very much in play for them to try to swing a deadline deal for a starting pitcher. Either way I still feel this is a very well-rounded ball club and I have no hesitation with picking them to repeat as division champions.

Cleveland had high hopes for the Indians last year but a bad start really put them behind the 8-ball right out of the gate. I am bullish on their collection of young, hard-throwing starters though and feel their lineup is even better than it was a year ago. It’s a mostly young team that now has had some extra seasoning, and in a competitive AL I think enough of them to give them the other Wild Card spot. I really liked the moves the Tigers made this offseason and think they should be in Wild Card contention for much of the year, my main concern is whether or not Cabrera or V-Mart can stay on the field all year. The Twins caught everybody by surprise last year and feature two players who should be exciting to watch for years to come in Buxton and Sano, by next year they could be a division threat. I feel that the off-field LaRoche drama set a bad tone for the White Sox, although I’m expecting a typically stellar year from Chris Sale.

American League West
1. Houston Astros
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
5. Oakland Athletics

Years of tanking appeared to finally pay dividends for the Astros last season, and I expect them to take another step further this year. For starters you have three dynamic young players anchoring the lineup in Correa, Altuve, and Springer. Then on the mound you’ve got a trio of young guys who sound like they’d make for a good law firm: Keuchel, McHugh, and McCullers. And then they pounced on what appeared to be their biggest deficiency last season in the bullpen and helped to shore that up by bringing in a hard-throwing stopper in Ken Giles along with re-signing one of their good returning pitchers in Tony Sipp. I just love the look of this team altogether, and perhaps there is no division winner I’m more confident in picking that the Astros winning their first AL West title.

The Mariners had high expectations last year and they under-achieved big time. But I’m thinking bigger years for Cano and Felix (who had “down years” in 2015 despite still being pretty good) and the nice bullpen additions of Cishek and Benoit could lead to meaningful games in September. The Rangers should theoretically be good but without knowing how Yu Darvish is going to fare when he makes his eventual return or knowing whether or not Josh Hamilton can turn back the clocks to 2012 it’s tough for me to pick them over the Astros. Mike Trout is still the best overall player in baseball in my opinion but I just see too many question marks surrounding the Angels this year. The A’s have one of the best pitchers in the league in Sonny Gray but they still are filled with defensive butchers and it’s tough to win in a ballpark that big when Moneyball has decided that defense is unimportant.


National League East
1. New York Mets
2. Washington Nationals (Wild Card 2)
3. Miami Marlins
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. Atlanta Braves

First off any discussion about the Mets’ chances has to begin with the Four Horsemen in the rotation, with Zack Wheeler hopeful to join them in July. As long as they can stay healthy it’s scary to imagine them being even better this year. The lineup is very similar in depth to the one they had down the stretch last year except with Walker/Cabrera replacing Murphy/Flores in the middle infield, which looks like a lateral at worst and slight upgrade at best. Wilmer “Tears of Joy” Flores is still there to anchor a pretty deep looking bench that appears poised to be able to withstand injuries that might come up. I do still have some concerns about the bullpen and some of the defensive woes the team suffered last year could still be there (particularly Cespedes in center) but at the end of the day I still really like the look of this team. Yes, they are my favorite team. Yes, this is the first time I’ve ever picked the Mets to win the division since I started doing real predictions. Yes, I’m slightly terrified that if things go off the rails somehow it will be all my fault for jinxing them. But this appears to be the deepest team the Mets have assembled heading into an opener since at least 2006. If you’re a Mets fan and can’t shake your paranoia long enough to pick the Mets to win the division this year, you’ll never pick them.

I shamelessly wrote more about the Mets than any other team because they’re my favorites, but it’s still no given that they win the division. The Nationals had a ton of pressure on them last year, and this year the target is off their backs. They suffered a ton of bad luck last year with injuries to key players such as Rendon and Werth, I can only assume that kind of bad luck is unsustainable. They still have the reigning MVP in Harper, Scherzer to head up their rotation, and they added a ton of bullpen help. I could easily see the division not being decided until the final weekend of the season. The Marlins are a team I could see being around .500 but that comes with the big caveat that Stanton and Fernandez stay on the field. The team will go as far as those two take them. I really don’t know what to say about the Phillies and Braves, I gave a Wild Card spot to the NL East in part because they get to play these two doormats so many times. Neither of those clubs seems interested in contending in 2016.


National League Central
1. Chicago Cubs
2. St. Louis Cardinals (Wild Card 1)
3. Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Milwaukee Brewers

Even though the NL Central has three bona fide contenders in it, the Cubs seem to be a near-unanimous pick to win it. As much as I would like to find a reason to be a contrarian, I can’t. They haven’t lost any key players from their stellar 2015 team, added a versatile guy in Zobrist who Maddon will be able to utilize to the best of his abilities, and took Heyward and Lackey from their archrival in the division. They still have the reigning Cy Young Winner in Arrieta, a really good #2 in Lester who most thought would be the ace of the staff, and a small army of young power hitters who should send balls flying over the ivy with regularity in Rizzo, Bryant, and Schwarber. Add all of that up and what you have is a team that seems more than poised to make this a really fun year on the North Side.

I’ve often said that the Cardinals need to be picked to make the playoffs every year until they don’t actually make it. In fairness though, they should still be excellent. Look for Grichuk and Piscotty to start to really establish themselves as big league starting outfielders, and of course they’ve still got Molina behind the plate to guide the pitching staff. Truthfully it doesn’t seem to matter much who gets injured for them during the year, they always find a way. I feel bad leaving the Pirates out as I think they are really good and think the world of McCutchen, they should be in the race right to the bitter end and at the end of the day the difference is going to come down to who can manhandle the division jesters the most. The Reds and Brewers don’t appear to be Phillies and Braves bad, but they’re still quite dreadful.


National League West

1. San Francisco Giants
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Diego Padres
5. Colorado Rockies

The Dodgers have been labeled as the prohibitive favorites in most of the betting lines but I’m giving the West to the Giants this year. First off I thought Cueto and Samardzija were really good additions for them and adding them to Bumgarner, Peavy, and Cain gives them a stable of experienced, quality starters. The bullpen is filled with veteran arms who have been through the rigors of a pennant chase before. Aside from Posey there may not be another player in the lineup that totally blows you away but they have guys who look like they could put up All Star quality campaigns pretty much all around the diamond, and I think getting Hunter Pence back will be huge for them as he was sorely missed for a large chunk of last season. Overall they just look like a really well-rounded team.

I’m definitely going against the grain by picking the Dodgers to not even make the playoffs at all, even Baseball Prospectus gave them a 75% chance of making it – higher than any other team. I’m not sure I understand the hype. Kershaw is obviously amazing but there is no way of knowing if the rest of the rotation will stay healthy or how Maeda will do in his first foray into the big leagues. Puig should be a perennial MVP candidate but I question if he’s ever going to get his head straight, he seems like a loose cannon. So yeah, I’m leaving them out of the playoffs which of course means they’ll go on to win the World Series a year after I actually picked them to do so. Arizona should be competitive and very much in the Wild Card fight but I must admit this late spring injury to Pollock could be devastating. The Padres were possibly baseball’s biggest disappointment last year and may continue to even further strip down their roster after last offseason’s spending spree. Colorado looks like it will have a typical Rockies year – amazing offensive numbers from a few guys (especially Arenado) but just not enough pitching to make a serious run to October yet.


Awards

American League
MVP: Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
Cy Young: Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
Rookie of the Year: Byung-Ho Park, Minnesota Twins
Comeback Player of the Year: Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees
Manager of the Year: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros

While I still think Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, he’d need to absolutely blow away the competition to win MVP on a fourth place team. Therefore I’m giving the nod to Correa who can not only put up big numbers but do so at a premium position. MVP numbers from Correa would go a long way towards getting Hinch an award too. I was thinking of going with Buxton for Rookie of the Year but then shifted course to the Korean import Park, who could put up big power numbers for Minnesota. I’ll go with Sale winning an award in an otherwise bleak year on the South Side. It’s always tough to guess the Comeback award – it’s either a guy coming back from a prolonged injury and playing well or a guy strongly rebounding from a crappy season. I’ll go with the latter and say Ellsbury redeems himself after winding up on the pine down the stretch for the Yankees last year.


National League
MVP: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Rookie of the Year: Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
Comeback Player of the Year: Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker, Washington Nationals

Well, I’ve gone to Chalk City with these picks. Harper coming anywhere close to his 2015 numbers should trump anything else if Washington does indeed make the playoffs. I also considered Rizzo and Bryant but they might cancel each other out to a degree. Kershaw is amazing enough that you can practically guarantee he’ll be a finalist at bare minimum, so him winning the award is a safe bet. Seager is the runaway favorite for Rookie of the Year. I make no shortage of jokes about Baker but the old school voters love him and besides it’d be tougher for a guy like Maddon to win the award when everybody already has huge expectations for the Cubs. Wainwright missed basically all of last season to injury but even though he got back in time for the playoffs I’d have to think that him staying on the mound and delivering anything close to a typical Wainwright year would make him a strong contender for the Comeback award.


Playoffs

Wild Card Games
Indians over Blue Jays
Cardinals over Nationals

I’ll probably whiff on half of my playoff teams, so trying to pick two individual games is lunacy. Literally anything can happen in a single game. Anyway, let’s just say the Toronto offense picks a bad time to have an off-day as Kluber keeps them off balance. Meanwhile the battle-tested Cardinals pull out a win over the Nationals following some really questionable decisions from Dusty Baker (see? I told you there would be no shortage of jokes).


Division Series
Royals over Indians
Astros over Yankees
Cubs over Cardinals
Giants over Mets

A best-of-three series really isn’t all that much less random than a one game series. It’s all about who gets hot at the right time. Let’s say the Cubs handle the Cardinals in the NLDS again, while the Royals also dispose of their divisional foes. The Astros and Yankees also meet in a rematch from last year’s playoffs and the Astros prevail once again. I obviously love the Mets rotation but I also said some very nice things about the Giants’ as well. Putting my personal preferences aside, history says that the safer bet the Even Year Giants ©.


Championship Series
Astros over Royals
Giants over Cubs

I have to imagine that the Astros still have some open wounds from last year’s ALDS. They came so close to knocking off the Royals only to pretty much choke it away and then have to watch the Royals go on to win the whole thing. But I think they’re good enough to head into a series of like this and try to eradicate the demons from the year before. Astros go on to knock off the division champs in a fun series. The Giants’ rotation is good but they don’t have the kind of power arms that typically give the Cubs trouble. Unfortunately though baseball is a weird game and the playoffs, as mentioned, are about who gets hot at the right time, and no team eems to get hotter than the Even Year Giants ©.


World Series
Giants over Astros

This is Houston’s fourth year in the AL and I’m still not used to it. Just imagining them representing the Junior Circuit in the World Series feels weird to me. But anyway, this series would almost resemble the 2014 one a bit. You’d have a team with no shortage of recent success going up against a team that nobody could have imagined would be a World Series team just two years earlier. By this point I’d have to assume that Houston would be the sentimental favorites and that just about everybody outside of San Francisco would want them to win. But sentiments only get you so far in baseball, and that means the 2016 World Series will be won by, let’s say it one more time: the Even Year Giants ©. As for a MVP pick, it seldom seems to be the clear-cut best bat in the lineup and it’s tough to imagine Bumgarner replicating his ridiculous 2014 showing, so let’s go ahead and take a flyer on a guy who could contend for Comeback Player of the Year: Hunter Pence.

IT'S OPENING DAY!!!!! :love:

shit yeah

STILL...................NO.........................YES NETWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:fu: to everybody who can watch their teams play.