The Baseball Review: April & May

          With the first two months of the baseball season done, or in baseball terms the first three innings, the baseball season has had some predictable and not so predictable outcomes thus far. Predictable outcomes like Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, the Cardinals, Nationals and Dodgers still rule the National League and the Rockies have still not having traded Troy Tulowitzki, are all predictable. But the Twins and Astros leading their respective divisions? The Mets a ½ game back of the Nationals without David Wright? And what in God’s name is in Alex Rodriguez? It’s probably steroids. All that and more in the Baseball Review!

 So this is what the baseball world looks like…

AL East	AL Central	AL West	NL East	NL Central	NL West
Yankees	Twins	Astros	Nationals	Cardinals	Dodgers
Rays	Royals -.5	Angels  -4	Mets  -.5	Cubs -6	Giants -.5
Orioles -2	Tigers -3.5	Rangers -5	Braves -3	Pirates -7	Padres -5.5
Blue Jays -3.5	Indians -6.5	Mariners -6.5	Marlins  -8.5	Reds -10.5	Diamondbacks -4
Red Sox -4	White Sox -7	A’s -8.5	Phillies -10	Brewers -11	Rockies -6.5

AL Wild Card	NL Wild Card
Royals	Giants
Tigers	Mets
Angels -.5	Cubs -.5
Yankees -1.5	Pirates -1.5
Rays -1.5	Braves -2.5
Rangers -1.5	Padres -3.5
Indians -3	Diamondbacks -4
Mariners -3.5	Rockies -4.5

My Baseball Awards

AL MVP: Mike Trout

.295 12 HRs 27 RBIs 8 SBs

NL MVP: Bryce Harper

.325 18 HRs 43 RBIs 2 SBs

AL Cy Young: Dallas Keuchel

7-1 1.76 ERA 60 Ks

NL Cy Young: Max Scherzer

6-3 1.51 ERA 85 Ks

Gold Medal Story of the Year: Alex Rodriguez

            How is it possible for the game’s biggest disappointment since (Since McGwire, Sosa, Pete Rose, etc.) has once again captivated the baseball landscape?

Well, a .281 batting average with 11 homeruns and 27 runs batted in, is a good start. Arod may not be considered one of the best players anymore, but he has certainly become the most intriguing. While the Yankees stay in the thick of one of the most lethargic AL East divison races in recent memory, Arod could be the key to getting the Yankees back into the playoffs. All of the Creatine in the world could not overinflate that statement.

Silver Medal Story of the Year: Bryce Harper has figured it out.

            Is it naïve to say he has ‘finally’ figured it out at age 22? It feels like Bryce Harper has been in the big leagues for what feels like forever and we have pinned for years to see him play this well. We have been through 5 seasons of the Walking Dead with no explanation as to how the whole Zombie apocalypse happened, but we will run out of patience with Bryce Harper. Maybe Harper can get a little cameo on next season’s show…and get shot by Darryl, just in case things don’t work out in 2016. 

           

Bronze Medal Story of the Year: Kris Bryant propels the young Cubs.

            We all had hope that the Cubs would be in contention and that Kris Bryant would be the real deal. And fortunately for baseball fans both have appeared to be true so far this baseball season. The Cubs have taken off with their young stud slugger Kris Bryant provided a great 3-4 punch with Anthony Rizzo. The Cubs are young and talented, and even though it might not be their year (and really when is it for the Cubs?) it will still be a great story to watch for the remainder of the season.

Team That Needs To Go All-In: Toronto Blue Jays

            The AL East is bad, and if the Blue Jays are going to finally get over the hump and back into the playoffs for the first time since 1993, this may be their best opportunity. One thing is for sure, the Red Sox and the Yankees are going to spend money and/or make the big trade to fill their holes either during and/or after the season. The Blue Jays do not have that same luxury, because nobody is really pining to play in Toronto. So if they are going to make a run at the division this year, they may have to make 2-3 more moves to give them the best chance. But their best chance is right now.

Team That Needs To Give Up: Milwaukee Brewers

            The Milwaukee Brewers are very bad. They are so bad the Brewers organization has a better chance of showing old Green Bay Packer highlight films to fill their stadium than actually playing baseball games there. The Brewers need to being preparing for the future, and the future may not even be next year. Trading stars like Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez would be the start of doing so, so suspect to hear rumors very soon. It’s time to rebuild in Milwaukee.