Saturday, January 31, 2009

Game 7: Who Ya Got?

If you were in a game 7 situation, which active pitcher would you choose to want the ball to? I’ve only submitted candidates who have won a championship (sorry Jim Perry). Interestingly, Van Hekken is the only pitcher here who has won titles with two different teams (Brewers and Marlins). Well, actually, McDevitt has as well, but he did not make much of a positive contribution to the Twins title team. Hopefully, this stirs up some good conversation.

Oliver Perez 209-120 3.39 ERA 2 Rings (Rangers)
Burleigh Grimes 149-86 3.03 ERA 2 Rings (Marlins)
Addie Joss 210-142 3.12 ERA 1 Ring (Pirates)
George Blaeholdger 94-46 3.56 ERA 1 Ring (Expos)
Rick Reuschel 181-142 3.30 ERA 2 Rings (Marlins)
Orel Hershiser 165-83 3.01 ERA 2 Rings (Marlins)
Danny McDevitt 133-92 3.41 ERA 2 Rings (Twins, Pirates)
Adam Eaton 206-111 3.12 ERA 1 Ring (Phillies)
Zachary Grienke 175-138 3.45 ERA 1 Ring (Phillies)
Jake Peavy 210-120 3.47 ERA 3 Rings (Rangers)
Doug Rau 157-74 3.28 ERA 2 Rings (Rangers)
Kelvim Escobar 181-158 4.00 ERA 1 Ring (Brewers)
Andy Van Hekken 241-155 3.45 ERA 3 Rings (Brewers, Marlins 2)
Roger Clemens 261-211 3.55 ERA 2 Rings (Royals)
David Cone 184-81 3.35 ERA 1 Ring (Twins)
Tom Glavine 135-70 3.78 ERA 1 Ring (Twins)
Ken Brubaker 129-102 3.21 ERA 1 Ring (Pirates)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Steve's 2036 Predictions

AL East

1 Baltimore Orioles
2 Boston Red Sox
3 Detroit Tigers
4 New York Yankees
5 Toronto Blue Jays

The Boston rotation is looking very solid, but it probably won’t be enough to hang with a still deeper Orioles team. Baltimore still boasts the two biggest stars in the division (Haywood and Baines) and a pretty strong rotation themselves. The Yankees will be very good soon, but are still a couple seasons away.

AL Central

1 Minnesota Twins
2 Kansas City Royals
3 Chicago White Sox
4 Cleveland Indians
5 Milwaukee Brewers

The Twins and Royals are still the teams to beat, but this division has gotten a lot tighter. The White Sox youth are beginning to make a big impact and the Brewers pieced together a decent rotation through free agency. The most dominant player in the division (Howard) will keep the Indians in the mix.

AL West

1 Oakland Athletics
2 Texas Rangers (WC)
3 Anaheim Angels
4 Seattle Mariners

This could be a very strong division led again by the A’s. The Rangers need a big bounce back year from the top of their rotation in order to contend. With the young talent on Seattle’s and Anaheim’s rosters, we could see all four teams break the 80 win plateau.

AL MVP: Terrence Lee
AL Cy Young: Burleigh Grimes
AL ROY: Lastings Milledge
AL Fireman: Houston Street



NL East

1 New York Mets
2 Atlanta Braves
3 Philadelphia Phillies
4 Montreal Expos
5 Florida Marlins

The begin of the Braves reign of dominance is probably still a season away, as the Mets still appear to have the upper hand for now. How did the Marlins fall so far, so fast. Expect the Babe to ask to be traded to a contender soon.

NL Central

1 St. Louis Cardinals
2 Houston Astros (WC)
3 Chicago Cubs
4 Cincinnati Reds
5 Pittsburgh Pirates

This should again be a two horse race, with the Cubs, Reds and Pirates still in the middle of rebuilding projects. At the end of the day, as good as Abreu and Cepeda are, there not Hank and Turkey.

NL West

1 San Francisco Giants
2 Los Angeles Dodgers
3 San Diego Padres
4 Colorado Rockies

With the signing of Gehrig and the acquisition of Beckett, the Dodgers showed they are in it to win it. However, the Giants rotation led by Wang and Roe will likely be too much to overcome.

NL MVP: Prince Fielder
NL Cy Young: Chien-Ming Wang
NL ROY: Lance Talford
NL FOY: Clay Carroll