The 2019 baseball season is scheduled to kick off tomorrow, at least the North American portion, with a full slate of games featuring all 30 teams. For the ninth consecutive year, I’ve looked into the crystal ball to make my picks for the upcoming season.
East: Yankees
Central: Indians
West: Astros
Wild Cards: Red Sox, Angels
AL Champion: Astros
Cy Young: Justin Verlander
MVP: George Springer
A disappointing week, as I headed back to work after my long trip to Europe. Sunday was a good start to the week, garnering my highest step total with nearly 8700 steps. Monday was my first day back at work and my first day sequestered up on the 6th floor for a special assignment. I finished just shy of 6500 steps. Tuesday was a nice bounce back, with 8600 steps thanks to a post-work trip to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs blow the Wild Card game against the Rockies, which bled in to Wednesday morning. Thanks to that, I finished with nearly 8400 steps. Thursday was another down day, coming in 4 steps higher than Monday’s total. Friday was even worse, finishing just over 5000 steps. Saturday was a bust, with just over 1800 steps.
Total steps: 45,508
Daily average: 6501.1
Another baseball season has come to an end, with the Cubs shocking late season collapse ending with a Wild Card game loss to the Rockies and year two of the rebuild for the White Sox hitting some bumps along the way. Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 29 games, including the post-season, that I attended this season:
Home Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Tim Anderson | 4 |
| Matt Davidson | 3 |
| Anthony Rizzo | 3 |
| Yoan Moncada | 3 |
| Nicky Delmonico | 3 |
Hits
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Jose Abreu | 23 |
| Yolmer Sanchez | 23 |
| Tim Anderson | 19 |
| Matt Davidson | 18 |
| Adam Engel | 18 |
Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Tim Anderson | 15 |
| Jose Abreu | 10 |
| Continue reading → |
Despite holding a 5 game lead in the NL Central on Labor Day, the Cubs lost the tie-breaking game 163 on Monday to give the division title to the Brewers and then fell in the Wild Card game yesterday to the Rockies, prematurely ending their season and bringing my game-attending portion of 2018 to an end. I made it to only 29 games this season, tied for my lowest total since acquiring season tickets in 2002. I didn’t even manage to attend any games outside of the 2 Chicago stadiums. Here are the final standings for those games and the 18 different teams I saw in person, through both the regular season and the Wild Card.
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Astros | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Colorado Rockies | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Boston Red Sox | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Cleveland Indians | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Oakland Athletics | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Detroit Tigers | 3 | 1 | 0.750 |
| Minnesota Twins | 2 | 1 | 0.667 |
| Chicago Cubs | 4 | 3 | 0.571 |
| Continue reading → |
Six months ago, at the dawn of the 2018 baseball season, I made my annual predictions as to who would win what. Now that the regular season has come to an end, it is time revisit those predictions and see what, if anything, I got right.
East: Yankees
The Red Sox set a franchise record in wins and have pretty much held a commanding lead for the entire season, so I was a little off here.
Central: Indians
Getting this right shouldn’t really count, as the Indians are the only team in the Central to finish with a winning record.
West: Astros
The Astros have surpassed 100 wins and are ready to defend their title.
Wild Cards: Red Sox, Angels
Well, if you swap out the Red Sox and the Yankees, this doesn’t look too bad. The Angels, however, did not pan out and instead the A’s took the second Wild Card slot.
AL Champion: Yankees
Well, they are still alive, so I guess it can still be a good pick.
Cy Young: Chris Sale
This seemed like a good pick through much of the season, but a late year injury may hold him back.
MVP: Giancarlo Stanton
Not going to happen. Either Mookie Betts or Mike Trout will take home this award.
As the baseball world turns its sights to Washington for Tuesday night’s All Star Game, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 20 games I attended in the first half of the baseball season, a mish-mash of excitement, followed by disappointment, giving way to uncertainty about what the second half will hold.
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Tigers | 3 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Houston Astros | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Oakland Athletics | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Kansas City Royals | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Colorado Rockies | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Chicago Cubs | 4 | 2 | 0.667 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Minnesota Twins | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Chicago White Sox | 5 | 11 | 0.313 |
| Texas Rangers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| San Francisco Giants | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
The 2018 baseball season gets underway today, with an early start brought about due to the last collective bargaining agreement, which added additional off days for each team throughout the year. To celebrate, it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have identified as having attended dating back to 1984. The Cubs look to avenge last year’s NLCS loss and make it back to the World Series, while the rebuilding White Sox hope to finally start seeing their young talent blossom. The 2018 season should be an exciting one on both sides of town.
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Angels | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 13 | 2 | 0.867 |
| Florida Marlins | 15 | 8 | 0.652 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 10 | 6 | 0.625 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 13 | 9 | 0.591 |
| New York Yankees | 14 | 10 | 0.583 |
| Colorado Rockies | 8 | 6 | 0.571 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 16 | 13 | 0.552 |
| Boston Red Sox | 16 | 13 | 0.552 |
| Kansas City Royals | 27 | 24 | 0.529 |
| Chicago White Sox | 284 | 256 | 0.526 |
| Chicago Cubs | 209 | 189 | 0.525 |
| Continue reading → |
The 2018 baseball season is scheduled to kick off tomorrow, the earliest date in history (not counting special series outside of North America) with a full slate of games featuring all 30 teams. For the eighth consecutive year, I’ve looked into the crystal ball to make my picks for the upcoming season.
East: Yankees
Central: Indians
West: Astros
Wild Cards: Red Sox, Angels
AL Champion: Yankees
Cy Young: Chris Sale
MVP: Giancarlo Stanton
For the third consecutive year, the NL pennant was captured at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, this year it was the Dodgers that will be moving on, winning the NLCS 4 games to 1 against the Cubs and bringing the game-attending portion of the 2017 season came to an end. I made it to 49 games this season, my largest total since 2010. I did manage to add one new stadium this year, along with trips to 3 others that I had been to before. Here are the final standings for those games and the 20 different teams I saw in person, through both the regular season and the playoffs.
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Brewers | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Seattle Mariners | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Oakland Athletics | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Colorado Rockies | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Boston Red Sox | 2 | 1 | 0.667 |
| New York Yankees | 2 | 1 | 0.667 |
| Kansas City Royals | 3 | 2 | 0.600 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 3 | 2 | 0.600 |
| Continue reading → |
Six months ago, as the 2017 baseball season was scheduled to kick off, I made my annual predictions as to who would win what. Now that the regular season has come to an end, it is time revisit those predictions and see what, if anything, I got right.
East: Red Sox
1 for 1 so far, as the Red Sox held off a late surge from the Yankees to clinch on the season’s second to last day.
Central: Indians
The Indians finished with the best record in the American League thanks to a 32-4 run to close out the season.
West: Mariners
Well, I was a little off on this one, as the Mariners finished in third place, a mere 23 games behind the Astros.
Wild Cards: Blue Jays, Tigers
Both teams finished in last place in their respective divisions, with the Tigers finishing with the worst record in baseball.
AL Champion: Red Sox
It’s a good sign that my pick made the playoffs.
Cy Young: Chris Sale
There is a very good possibility of this coming to fruition.
MVP: Francisco Lindor
There is very little possibility of this coming to fruition.