Tuesday, November 22, 2011

2011 MLB End of Year Breakdown

Just so you know I had this shit done weeks ago I was just waiting on Major League Baseball to take their sweet ass time handing out the end of the year awards!!

World Series

First of all Congrats to The St. Louis Cardinals on winning their 11th Championship for their franchise this seasons World Series was by far one of the best I have ever seen in my lifetime and it didn't even involve one of my favorite teams! The Cardinals fought hard and put it all together at the end of the season to get into the playoffs by getting the wildcard spot on the last game of the season, then beat out The Phillies and Brewers, who everybody assumed would just walk all over them, then they get into The World Series and win one of the most exciting matchups! David Freese ended up not only winning the NLCS MVP, but also The World Series MVP, he stepped up big when his team needed him and became the unsung hero in this stacked lineup. Albert Pujols also had a historic Game 3 going 5-6, 3 HR's and 6 RBIs, the rest of the series he wasn't as involved but he got the hits when his team needed them. If The Cardinals do not resign him this offseason than they are absolute morons! Tony LaRussa retiring after this World Series is a great way for a great manager to leave the game, on top! Congrats to Tony LaRussa on a great career. The Rangers had a good run but I figured their pitching staff would let them down in the end, if they get some help with their pitching this off season they will probably end up back in the playoffs next year.


San Francisco Giants

Since The San Francisco Giants are my favorite team I gotta break down their season! They started off hot, but the injuries slowly started to take a toll. It seemed that whenever they got someone back, another guy would be put on the DL. The starting pitching was dominant, but if you have nobody driving in any runs it's tough to get the wins! What The Giants need to do this off season is get a power hitter and there will be a lot of good guys available to them this off season, it all just depends on what they are willing to spend. Their pitching staff is solid from starters, to bullpen, to closer so I'm not worried about pitching at all, but they need some help with the offense. If they can sign a guy like Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols that would be great, even signing the injury prone Carlos Beltran or Jose Reyes would be an upgrade. But we'll see how it goes The Giants aren't known for going out their and spending a lot of money on one guy, unless it's on some loser named Barry Zito!


New York Yankees

Since The Yankees are my second favorite team in baseball I gotta break down their season too! The Yankees had a pretty mediocre season in my opinion their poor pitching and injuries killed them throughout the regular season. It was nice to see Derek Jeter get the 3,000th hit of his career and Mariano Rivera becoming the all time saves leader, but other than that it wasn't a great season. Curtis Granderson had the season of his life he had 41 homeruns, 119 RBI and had a batting average of .262, he also played some great defense in the outfield into the playoffs. Mark Teixeira also had a monster season with 39 homeruns, 111 RBI's and batted a .248, but those were the only two consistent guys in the lineup and even Teixeira played like garbage in the playoffs. The Yankees need some starting pitching and BAD! They got Sabathia locked in, which was exactly what they needed to do and Ivan Nova was definitely a nice surprise and looks to be a solid starter, but beyond that they don't have anybody reliable. AJ Burnett has got to go this guy has been an overrated sack of garbage since he's signed on with The Yankees and Phil Hughes is also weak it seems like he always ends up on the DL with a busted vagina or some shit!


Quickhits

  • I loved watching the epic collapse of The Red Sox! They were in first place and then everything just came crashing down around them! Nothing makes me smile wider than The Red Sox losing HARD! Carl Crawford was their big acquisition in the off season and he played like garbage! Jonathan Papelbon seems to have lost his edge as a closer and their starting pitching seemed to get worse each and every game. The Red Sox will be an entirely different team next year with all the changes they have made and will continue to make, but I thank them for giving me a good laugh this year!

  • The Dodgers misfortunes were also hilarious to watch! Frank McCourt's divorce has started to fuck with the franchise and now he is being forced to sell the team finally! But it was a distraction all season long and The Dodgers had a pretty awful season for the most part. Matt Kemp had an amazing season but other than that The Dodgers sucked and that's the way I like it!

  • The Playoffs overall were fun to watch. After the Wild Card Round ended and My Yankees were kicked out I didn't like or hate any of the remaining teams so I just got to enjoy all the baseball being played and all the great games.

NL Rookie of the Year: Craig Kimbrel
The Atlanta Braves closer won The NL Rookie of the Year award in a unanimous decision. Well deserved too he set the rookie record for most saves in a season with 46.

AL Rookie Of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson
The Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher was big reason why they ended up making the playoffs. He went 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA, but in my opinion Mark Trumbo of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim should have won the award. I think Trumbo had a much more outstanding season even though his team missed the playoffs.

NL Cy Young Award: Clayton Kershaw
Kershaw was literally one of two or three brightspots for The Dodgers this season. He went 21-5, had a 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts. I'm usually against players winning the big awards when their team doesn't even come close to making the playoffs, but when you own pretty much every pitching category it's hard to vote against you. Even if you play for The Dodgers!

AL Cy Young Award: Justin Verlander
The Detroit Tigers pitcher was a unanimous decision for the AL Cy Young Award and he absolutely deserves it. No pitcher was as consistent as he was this season. He went 24-5, which led the majors, 250 strikeouts, which led the majors, and a 2.40 ERA. He had a no hitter this year (his second of his career), also won 12 straight starts to get his team into playoff position and had 4 complete games.

NL Manager of the Year: Kirk Gibson
The Diamondbacks had a breakout year, they started off slow but managed to absolutely dominate the NL West and that is thanks to their manager. They played smart baseball, great defense, solid pitching and great hitting.

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon
The Rays started the season off like shit, they were at the bottom of a division dominated by the Yankees and Red Sox, then got red hot during the second half of the season. The Red Sox did help them out by choking hard, but they didn't let up no matter how far out they were and that's a credit to their manager.

NL MVP: Ryan Braun
The Brewers outfielder had a great season and helped The Brewers have one of their best seasons in a long time! Braun hit 33 homeruns, 111 RBI, 33 stolen bases, batted a .332 avg and had a .597 slug pct! On top of that The Brewers won their division for the first time in decades and had a good playoff run and that was because Braun had such a great season.

AL MVP: Justin Verlander
This is the first time since 1986 that a pitcher has won the MVP award so that tells you a lot about the season Verlander had. Verlander did have a spectacular season for a pitcher and he was most definitely the Most Valuable Player for The Detroit Tigers, but I don't know if I would say he was the MVP of the league. Pitchers aren't out there playing everyday like the rest of the guys, hell they may only pitch once in a fucking week, but I'll give Verlander his props he had a great season and helped carry his team into the playoffs.

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