Category / Baseball

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2026 BBWAA Award Predictions

The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the recently completed baseball season, which will be announced next week.  It is a good bet that few of my original predictions for the winners will be accurate.  Hopefully, these new predictions will be slightly better, especially since I’ll have a 33% chance of being right.

American League

Most Valuable Player: Yordan Alvarez, Junior Caminero, Bobby Witt Jr.

Alvarez, who finished third in MVP voting in 2022, looks to be a lock after leading all qualifying hitters in batting average, OBP, and slugging while falling just short of the Triple Crown while setting career highs in home runs and RBIs.

Cy Young Award: Dylan Cease, Parker Messick, Cam Schlitter

Schlittler led the AL with a 1.95 ERA in 33 starts and he tied for the second-most strikeouts in the AL with Cease.  I assume he will be taking home the award.

Manager of the Year: Kevin Cash, Chad Tracy, Will Venable

As usual, I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season.  In a normal season, both Cash and Tracy would deserve serious consideration.  Cash led the underfunded Rays to the AL East title, holding off “superior” rosters in New York and Boston.  Tracy took over a dead-in-the-water Red Sox team and turned them around, leading them into the playoffs.  Unfortunately for them, Will Venable led the upstart White Sox to the most wins in MLB history for a team coming off of at least three straight 100-loss seasons, becoming the first team ever to make the post-season after two straight 100-loss seasons.  I can’t see any scenario where he does not win.

Rookie of the Year: Kevin McGonigle, Parker Messick, Payton Tolle

Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season.  McGonigle has been the assumed winner since June, and I don’t think anything Messick or Tolle did since has changed that.

National League

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Chasing 30

It’s been five years (plus a day!) since we’ve taken a look at the now 29 different stadiums I’ve been to and how often I’ve been to them.  With the World Series over and the off season upon us, it’s time to update that list with a twist.  This time, instead of sorting by the number of games I”ve attended at each park, we will look at the order I’ve added them to the count.  I’ve added just two additional stadiums in this time, one each in 2022 and 2023.  As usual, different names for the same physical stadium are listed separately, but counted only once.

Games Per Stadium

Stadium Name First Game Total Games Current Stadium Count Former Stadium Count
Comiskey Park 1984 13 1
Wrigley Field 1985 402 1
Comiskey Park II 1991 38 2
County Stadium 1993 1 2
Ballpark in Arlington, The 1998 3 3
Network Associates Coliseum 1999 1 4
Tiger Stadium 1999 1 5
3Com Park 1999 1 6
Cinergy Field 2000 1 7
Miller Park 2001 7 3
Busch Stadium 2001 1 8
Shea Stadium 2003 1 9
Great American Ballpark 2003 7 4
US Cellular Field 2003 414
Qualcomm Stadium 2003 1 10
PETCO Park 2004 3 5
PNC Park 2005 1 6
Ameriquest Field 2005 4
AT&T Park 2008 1 7
McAfee Coliseum 2008 1
Comerica Park 2010 2 8
Target Field 2014 2 9
Dodger Stadium 2014 1 10
Rogers Centre 2015 1 11
Guaranteed Rate Field 2017 203
Fenway Park 2017 2 12
Nationals Park 2019 1 13
Progressive Field 2019 2 14
Oriole Park at Camden Yards 2019 1 15
Oracle Park 2019 1
Tropicana Field 2021 2 16
Truist Park 2021 1 17
Coors Field 2022 2 18
T-Mobile Park 2023 2 19
Rate Field 2025 43
American Family Field 2026 1
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Against The Mets All Time Leaders – Through 2026

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we prepare for the uncertainty of the 2027 season due to labor strife, this offseason we will once again take a look at the leaders, both offensively and defensively, against all 30 clubs.  We continue today with the New York Mets.

The Mets began life in 1962, joining the National League following the abandonment of the New York market by both the Dodgers and Giants in 1957.  I’ve seen them play 21 times, including Tom Glavine’s 300th career victory, their pennant clinching victory in the 2015 NLCS, and, most recently, this past August at Rate Field.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Chicago Cubs 11 8 0.579
Chicago White Sox 1 1 0.500
New York Mets 9 12 0.429

Home Runs

Name Total
Corey Patterson 4
Aramis Ramirez 2
Nico Hoerner 2

Hits

Name Total
Corey Patterson 10
Aramis Ramirez 10
Moises Alou 8
Mark Gruzielanek 8

Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 5
Derrek Lee 5
Corey Patterson 4
Moises Alou 4
Michael Barrett 4
Sammy Sosa 4
Nico Hoerner 4

RBI

Name Total
Corey Patterson 10
Aramis Ramirez 7
Michael Barrett 6

Doubles

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 4
Michael Barrett 3
7 tied with 2

Triples Continue reading →

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Yeah Buddy

After three error-plagued seasons, the White Sox announced on Monday that they would not be extending the contract of embattled television play-by-play man John Schriffen.  Schriffen, who first got the job in 2024 after Jason Benetti was allowed to leave the booth due to growing frustrations with the franchise, started with three strikes against him.

  1. He was coming in to replace a popular broadcaster many felt was treated unfairly by Jerry Reinsdorf and Brooks Boyer
  2. He was considerably less polished, let alone skilled, than the broadcaster he was replacing
  3. His first season coincided with the White Sox becoming the worst team in MLB history

That said, he certainly made numerous unforced errors along the way that did not help his case, including not knowing why White Sox fans would boo Tigers infielder (and former Cub) Javy Baez and mispronouncing Bill Veeck’s name during a pre-planned bit and subsequently refusing to quickly address it, making sure it turned into a thing.  Both showed a lack of preparation that his over-the-top enthusiasm, especially for a team on its way to the most losses in MLB history. couldn’t cover.  When good things did happen and he pulled out what I’m sure he thought would be his winning catch phrase, “South Side, stand up”, he didn’t have the skills to make it seem like it wasn’t a pre-planned saying that he had been waiting to cram in.

Along the way, he improved a little as he went on, but was always awkward, whether it was using the White Sox airway to fight with the local radio hosts he was too afraid to speak with directly, growling when using Luis Robert’s big cat-inspired nickname, or his absolutely bizarre tirade on behalf of Tommy Pham after the later was thrown out easily in a play at the plate against the Brewers in 2024.  Even with the improvements, he still regularly confused left and right field and never seemed to bring any particular baseball knowledge or insight to the broadcast, which is strange considering he played the game at the collegiate level.

The writing was likely on the wall for Schriffen when, this past September 24, he chose to leave the booth for the night to call a UFC event rather than the game where the White Sox clinched a playoff spot.  Hopefully the UFC keeps calling as I doubt he ever works regularly in MLB again.

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Against The Nationals All Time Leaders – Through 2026

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we prepare for the uncertainty of the 2027 season due to labor strife, this offseason we will once again take a look at the leaders, both offensively and defensively, against all 30 clubs.  We continue today with the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals began life in 1969 as the Montreal Expos.  When the Expos missed out on their best opportunity to win a World Series due to the work stoppage of 1994, followed by years of alleged mismanagement, fan support dropped away, and the team moved to Washington in 2005.  I’ve seen them play 20 times, five as the Expos and fifteen as the Nationals, including a neutral site game at US Cellular Field in 2004, two games of the 2017 NLDS at Wrigley Field, and once at their home stadium in 2019.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Florida Marlins 1 0 1.000
Washington Nationals 9 6 0.600
Chicago Cubs 7 8 0.467
Montreal Expos 2 3 0.400
Chicago White Sox 1 3 0.250

Home Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 4
Corey Patterson 2
12 tied with 1

Hits

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 8
Ryan Theriot 7
Michael Barrett 6
Derrek Lee 6
Mark Grudzielanek 6
Juan Pierre 6

Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 5
Ryan Theriot 4
Derrek Lee 4
Moises Alou 4

RBI

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 13
Moises Alou 4
Jeff Conine 3

Doubles

Name Total
Moises Alou 3
Jacque Jones 2
Ben Zobrist 2
Michael Busch 2

Triples Continue reading →

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Manager Of The Year Part The First

The first group of year end awards were announced yesterday by The Sporting News and White Sox manager Will Venable is their AL Manager of the Year.  These awards are voted on by peers and, more often than not, returns the same result as the “official” awards handed out by the Baseball Writers of America.  Venable is just the sixth White Sox manager to win this version of the award, following Ozzie Guillen in 2005, Jerry Manuel in 2000, Jeff Torborg in 1990, Tony La Russa in 1983, and Chuck Tanner in 1972.

On the player side, Chase Meidroth was named to The Sporting News American League All-Star Team as the second baseman.  He’s the first White Sox player to be named a year-end All-Star since José Abreu in 2020.

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Against The Rockies All Time Leaders – Through 2026

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we wait for the World Series to start and prepare for the uncertainty of the 2027 season due to labor strife, this offseason we will once again take a look at the leaders, both offensively and defensively, against all 30 clubs.  We start today with the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies began life in 1993, joining the National League along with the then-Florida Marlins.  I saw them for the first time in 2002, as they came to town to battle the Cubs.  Since then, I’ve seen them 21 additional times, including the 2018 Wild Card game, a trip to their home stadium of Coors Field in 2022, and to wrap up the 2026 regular season at Rate Field.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Chicago White Sox 4 3 0.571
Colorado Rockies 11 11 0.500
Chicago Cubs 7 7 0.500
Cincinnati Reds 0 1 0.000

Home Runs

Name Total
Todd Walker 2
Munetaka Murakami 2
21 tied with 1

Hits

Name Total
Derrek Lee 10
Alfonso Soriano 8
Aramis Ramirez 6
Corey Patterson 6
Mike Fontenot 6

Runs

Name Total
Derrek Lee 6
Alfonso Soriano 5
Ryan Theriot 5

RBI

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 6
Alfonso Soriano 4
Mark DeRosa 4
Jeromy Burnitz 4

Doubles

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 3
Mike Fontenot 3
Corey Patterson 2
A.J. Pollock 2

Triples Continue reading →

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2026 Final Pitching Leaders

Yesterday. we looked at the leaders in the 44 games I attended this season on the offensive side of the ball.  With the League Championship Series in full swing, it’s time to finish up our look back at the 2026 season with the pitching leaders, starting with everyone’s favorite pitching statistic:

Wins

Name Total
Anthony Kay 4
Sean Burke 2
Davis Martin 2
Jacob Webb 2
Edward Cabrera 2

Losses

Name Total
Anthony Kay 4
Bryan Hudson 3
Sean Burke 2
36 tied with 1

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Kyle Harrison 0.00
Hoby Milner  0.00
Sean Newcomb 0.67
Yoshinobu Yamammoto 1.08
Jacob Webb 1.17

Strikeouts

Name Total
Sean Burke 46
Continue reading →
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2026 Final Batting Leaders

Another season of baseball season is in the books, with both the White Sox and the Cubs advancing to the postseason for the first time since the pandemic year of 2020, with overachieving White Sox falling in the ALDS and the underachieving Cubs bowing out in the Wild Card round.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 44 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Munetaka Murakami 13
Miguel Vargas 9
Colson Montgomery 6
Pete Crow-Armstrong 6
Randal Grichuk 6

Hits

Name Total
Miguel Vargas 32
Sam Antonacci 31
Munetaka Murakami 26
Chase Meidroth 26
Colson Montgomery 22

Runs

Name Total
Miguel Vargas 27
Munetaka Murakami 27
Continue reading →
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2026 Final Standings

The Cinderella story that was the 2026 White Sox turned back into a pumpkin last night as they dropped the fifth and decisive game of the ALDS to the Guardians, bringing the 2026 Chicago baseball season to a close.  The White Sox became the first team in MLB history to make the playoffs following two (let alone three) consecutive 100+ loss seasons, winning their first postseason series since 2005.  The Cubs, meanwhile, faltered down the stretch, dropping out of the top Wild Card spot and found themselves having to travel to San Diego, where they were quickly swept.  Overall, I managed to attend 44 games, my eleventh highest total, at four different stadiums, seeing 23 of the 30 teams along the way.

2026 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Cincinnati Reds 2 0 1.000
Milwaukee Brewers 2 0 1.000
Washington Nationals 2 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 0 1.000
Atlanta Braves 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 1 0 1.000
Chicago Cubs 10 5 0.667
Cleveland Guardians 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 18 16 0.529
Houston Astros 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Continue reading →