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My man Fernando Alejandro from Respect Jeter's Gangster was kind enough to give us his sometimes humorous and always entertaining take on how the MLB Playoffs will shake out and who he thinks deserves all the major awards. In case you couldn't tell from the blog name, he is a Yankees fan, so if you are too then I suggest you check out his blog.Angels vs Red Sox
Angels, and not just because I'm a Yankee fan. Actually, it is because I'm a Yankee fan. Write this one up to author bias.
Rays vs White Sox
The Rays. Rays are too scrappy to let a lumbering team like the White Sox get in their way. They've been building correctly over the years, and now have a pretty decent shot at winning it all.
Cubs vs Dodgers
I love Joe Torre, but let's face it, his team sucks. Plus its not a bad thing to pull for former Yankee Lou Pinella to break the Cubs curse. He won't, but I'll still pull for the man.
Phillies vs Brewers
Brewers, but not before Sabathia throws another 52 innings in the post season. We need him over 300 innings on the year before we sign the man.
ALCS Winner
The Rays. Too much momentum, and too much fear. The Rays are a young squad in unfamiliar territory. They'll be playing with that fear adrenaline, which is the most potent adrenaline on the market. They're likely to get spooked and hit homeruns when they're needed and that will take them past the Angels.
NLCS Winner
The Cubs. They're like an AL team playing in the NL, which as long as you're not the Yankees can be a pretty good thing.
World Series Winner
The Rays. They're not making it all the way to the World Series just to lose it. This is like a Disney movie in the making only they can't show the part where their set up guy gets tasered in a bar twice for resisting arrest.
World Series MVP
Scott Kazmir. Then the Rays will trade him to the Yankees to complete the dream I've had over the last 3 years. I don't know exactly how the trade works, but the Yankees get Kazmir and the Rays end up with Kei Igawa. We might throw in Chad Moeller, but that's pushing it.
AL MVP
Everyone already knows who the perennial AL MVP is: Alex Rodriguez. With a powerful right handed bat he stirs fear into all his opponents and weakens the knees of 50 year old 80's pop singers everywhere. Never mind all the double plays he hit into, and never mind all the times we needed him to hit and he didn't, hitting with RISP is overrated anyway. We need more players who are not afraid to strike out in a big spot, and to this end, A-Rod is the most valuable player not just in the American League, but, oh, wait for it, in the world.
NL MVP
Alfonso Soriano. Not because he had such a great season, but because he's one of 5 players in the National League I know by name. So congratulations to Alfonso Soriano for being the most valuable out of the 5 I've committed to memory.
AL Cy Young
Cliff Lee. I don't know where his sudden pitching talents came from, but I have a theory that involves him getting bitten by a radioactive Sandy Koufax.
NL Cy Young
CC Sabathia. That's the second of 5 players in the National League I know, but he actually deserves the award. I know he switched over late to the NL, but I'm pretty sure he qualifies, and who was better? The man went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and averaged 7.2 innings a start. He threw 7 complete games. That's more than most pitchers throw in their entire life.
AL Rookie of the Year
Evan Longoria. He was exactly what Hughes and Kennedy were supposed to be for us. A top rookie prospect who could help win now. Without Longoria the Rays aren't where they are now.
NL Rookie of the Year
David Wright. Some people may disagree with this pick mainly because Wright isn't a rookie, but if you look past that one trivial detail, you'll see this pick makes sense. 33 homeruns, a .302 average, 124 RBI's and 15 steals, I mean what real rookie had better numbers? Choosing a rookie to win the Rookie of the Year award is overdone, and cliché. I mean since its inception in 1947, 61 rookies have received the Rookie of the Year award, and at this point I'm tired of it.
AL Manager of the Year
Has to go to Joe Maddon. Any man who can over come being manager of the Devil Rays has some true courage and determination.
NL Manager of the Year
Has to go to Joe Torre. Yes he's in a weak division and blah, blah, blah, but the fact of the matter is Joe Torre took this awful team to the playoffs. Just think about what he did it with. Brad Penny, his best pitcher, has been out for half the season, his two biggest power threats Andruw Jones and Nomar Garciappara, spent the majority of the season on the DL and hit a combined 11 homeruns and 42 RBI's, their shortstop was Kansas City cast off, Angel Beroa, the team leader in homeruns hit 20 of them this season, and Chan Ho Park threw 95.1 innings for this team. You take A-Rod and Abreu out of the Yankees season, and forget third place, the Yankees would be a sub-.500 team, and Bud Selig would demote them to the National League West where they would still get beaten out by Joe Torre's Dodgers.
More: MLB Postseason Predictions, Analysis, & Awards
NL MVP
Alfonso Soriano. Not because he had such a great season, but because he's one of 5 players in the National League I know by name. So congratulations to Alfonso Soriano for being the most valuable out of the 5 I've committed to memory.
AL Cy Young
Cliff Lee. I don't know where his sudden pitching talents came from, but I have a theory that involves him getting bitten by a radioactive Sandy Koufax.
NL Cy Young
CC Sabathia. That's the second of 5 players in the National League I know, but he actually deserves the award. I know he switched over late to the NL, but I'm pretty sure he qualifies, and who was better? The man went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and averaged 7.2 innings a start. He threw 7 complete games. That's more than most pitchers throw in their entire life.
AL Rookie of the Year
Evan Longoria. He was exactly what Hughes and Kennedy were supposed to be for us. A top rookie prospect who could help win now. Without Longoria the Rays aren't where they are now.
NL Rookie of the Year
David Wright. Some people may disagree with this pick mainly because Wright isn't a rookie, but if you look past that one trivial detail, you'll see this pick makes sense. 33 homeruns, a .302 average, 124 RBI's and 15 steals, I mean what real rookie had better numbers? Choosing a rookie to win the Rookie of the Year award is overdone, and cliché. I mean since its inception in 1947, 61 rookies have received the Rookie of the Year award, and at this point I'm tired of it.
AL Manager of the Year
Has to go to Joe Maddon. Any man who can over come being manager of the Devil Rays has some true courage and determination.
NL Manager of the Year
Has to go to Joe Torre. Yes he's in a weak division and blah, blah, blah, but the fact of the matter is Joe Torre took this awful team to the playoffs. Just think about what he did it with. Brad Penny, his best pitcher, has been out for half the season, his two biggest power threats Andruw Jones and Nomar Garciappara, spent the majority of the season on the DL and hit a combined 11 homeruns and 42 RBI's, their shortstop was Kansas City cast off, Angel Beroa, the team leader in homeruns hit 20 of them this season, and Chan Ho Park threw 95.1 innings for this team. You take A-Rod and Abreu out of the Yankees season, and forget third place, the Yankees would be a sub-.500 team, and Bud Selig would demote them to the National League West where they would still get beaten out by Joe Torre's Dodgers.
More: MLB Postseason Predictions, Analysis, & Awards
Are you sure you don't want to rewrite your "Cubs vs Dodgers" section, my friend?
ReplyDeleteThe Cubs played like the Dodgers Hank dreamt about.
And CC's arm might have fallen off already.
Just for the record, this is a guest post that I did not write and most of it is meant to be humorous. But yeah the Cubs have sucked so far.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Cubs aren't quite up to par. They have the better team on paper, but the Dodgers have Torre, and as I've said before, Torre is magic.
ReplyDelete