Continuing the tradition started two years ago and continued last year, here are my picks for the baseball season that is just getting underway.
East: Rays
Central: Tigers
West: Angels
Wild Cards: Blue Jays, A’s
AL Champion: Angels
Cy Young: David Price
MVP: Mike Trout
East: Braves
Central: Brewers
West: Dodgers
Wild Cards: Giants, Cardinals
NL Champion: Braves
Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw
MVP: Matt Kemp
As we head into the 2013 season, here all the all-time team records in games that I have attended.
All-Time Team Records
| Team | Won | Lost | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Angels | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 12 | 2 | 0.857 |
| Florida Marlins | 15 | 8 | 0.652 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 10 | 6 | 0.625 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 9 | 6 | 0.600 |
| Chicago White Sox | 209 | 171 | 0.550 |
| Colorado Rockies | 7 | 6 | 0.538 |
| Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | 14 | 12 | 0.538 |
| New York Yankees | 9 | 8 | 0.529 |
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A.J. Pierzynski’s White Sox career officially came to an end Thursday when the free agent catcher signed a contract with the Texas Rangers, leaving Paul Konerko as the last remaining member of the 2005 World Series champions to play for the South Siders and the White Sox without their most popular backstop since Carlton Fisk.
Pierzynski signed with the White Sox on January 6, 2005 following a year with the Giants that called his professionalism into question. He rewarded the White Sox organization with 8 seasons of stability behind the plate the included 1 All-Star selection, 2 playoff appearances, and, of course, the 2005 World Series championship. Over those 8 seasons, Pierzynski was involved in many key moments that endeared him to the White Sox faithful, including:
The walk-off home run, and resulting bat flip pictured to the left, against the Dodgers in 2005.
The two home runs in a thrashing of the Red Sox in game one of the 2005 ALDS, the first White Sox home postseason victory since 1959.
The controversial dropped third strike that led to a White Sox victory in game two of the 2005 ALCS against the Angels.
The 2006 brawl against the Cubs where Michael Barrett sucker-punched him after Pierzynski enthusiastically scored a run against the crosstown rivals.
Hanging on to the throw from Ken Griffey Jr. to preserve the shutout in the 2008 tie-breaker game that pushed the White Sox into the playoffs over the Twins.
Being behind the plate for Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter in 2007 and Philip Humber’s perfect game in 2012.
In games I have attended, Pierzynski ranks 2nd in games, doubles, at bats, runs, and hits, third in RBIs, sixth in triples, and seventh in home runs.
Pierzynski’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
For the second time in less than 4 months, the Twitterverse has exploded with confirmed reports of a confirmed trade involving the Cubs, only to have it fall apart within hours of being confirmed. The first, back at the trade deadline at the end of July, involved Ryan Dempster being sent to the Braves for one of their top pitching prospects. Word broke on Twitter after someone in the Braves front office leaked the news, but before Dempster had been told of the trade. He got angry and ultimately witheld his approval despite previously agreeing to waive his no-trade rights if a deal was made to the Braves.
The second occurence went down Friday night, when Twitter exploded with reports that Carlos Marmol was being traded to the Angels for Dan Haren. This time, the source was Marmol himself, who had waived his no-trade rights and was giving interviews in his native Dominican Republic about the trade. The only problem was that the trade was not completed and was eventually scrapped, with the Angels ending up not picking up Haren’s option, making him a free agent and leaving Marmol as a member of the Cubs.
In both cases, the Cubs were not to blame for the trade details leaking before the deal was complete, but they did still come out of both situations with a little egg on their face. They eventually ended up trading Dempster to the Rangers, but got a worse return than what they were going to get from the Braves. Time will tell if they will eventually end up moving Marmol this winter and if they can get anything close to Haren.
Exactly six months ago, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the upcoming baseball season. Now that the season has come to an end, and half of my predicted divison winners are headed home instead of the playoffs, let’s take a look back at how things unfolded.
East: Yankees
The Yankees went down to the wire, not with the Red Sox as expected, but with the surprising Orioles.
Central: Tigers
After picking up free agent Prince Fielder, the Tigers were expected to run away with the Central division. Instead, they underachieved much of the season and battled the overachieving White Sox for most of the season. However, a late season collapse by the White Sox offense helped the Tigers take the division.
West: Angels
The Angels just may have been the biggest disappointment in the league this year. After dropping over $330 million in one day on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the Angels were expected to be at the top of the heap this year. Unfortunately, things just did not work out and, even with the addition of rookie of the year shoo-in Mike Trout, the Angels were unable to make a serious run and finished in third place, behind the surging A’s, who swept the Rangers in the last series of the season to take the division title.
Wild Cards: Rays, Rangers
The Orioles and the Rangers will face off in the first wild card play-in game.
Another disappointing season comes to an end today. The White Sox, who spent 126 days in first place, sputtered through September and dropped to second place. The Cubs managed to lose 100 games for the first time since 1966.
| TeamCity | TeamName | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Nationals | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Colorado | Rockies | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Kansas City | Royals | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Boston | Red Sox | 2 | 1 | 0.667 |
| Tampa Bay | Rays | 2 | 1 | 0.667 |
| Chicago | White Sox | 18 | 13 | 0.581 |
| Oakland | A’s | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Houston | Astros | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Toronto | Blue Jays | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
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The Twins sweep the double header from the Tigers, which keeps the White Sox lead at 1 game despite getting swept themselves by the Angels and losing 5 games in a row.
Name: Tim Fortugno
Rank: 369
Position: P
Year With White Sox: 1995
Tim Fortugno joined the White Sox prior to the 1995 season after being claimed off waivers from the Reds. He had a tough time in the bullpen, but did manage to make his way into 37 games before being included in the July 27th trade that sent Jim Abbott back to the Angels for McKay Christensen, Andrew Lorraine, Bill Simas, and John Snyder.
Fortugno’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
With 81 games in the books, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2012 season. The so-called experts at Sports Illustrated made some pre-season predictions that are looking a little off a this point.
| Team | Won | Lost |
Predicted Wins |
PredictedLosses | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL East | |||||
| New York Yankees | 49 | 32 | 95 | 67 |
After a slow-ish start, a long winning streak moved the Yankees back into first place despite an injury-ravaged pitching staff. |
| Baltimore Orioles | 44 | 37 | 63 | 99 | One of the surprises of the first half, theOrioles need only 19 second half wins to match their predicted output. |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 43 | 39 | 92 | 70 | Tampa has continued to keep things togetherwhile once again losing Evan Longoria for an extended period of time. |
| Boston Red Sox | 42 | 40 | 91 | 71 | After their collapse at the end of last season,the Red Sox have struggled to stay above .500 in the first half. |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 42 | 40 | 85 | 77 | The Blue Jays were having a strong half beforelosing nearly their entire starting rotation in one weeks time. |
| AL Central | |||||
| Chicago White Sox | 44 | 37 | 67 | 95 | While most people did not expect the White Soxto be as bad as SI did, nobody thought they would be in first place at the halfway point. |
| Cleveland Indians | 42 | 39 | 80 | 82 | The Indians have been right around where expected, a little over .500 instead of a little under. |
| Detroit Tigers | 40 | 42 | 93 | 69 | The Tigers were expected to run away and hide in this division, but they have been unable to outhit their poor pitching performance to date. |
| Kansas City Royals | 36 | 44 | 82 | 80 | Eric Hosmer’s sophomore slump has held back the developing Royals. |
| Minnesota Twins | 35 | 46 | 72 | 90 | Could this be the end of the Ron Gardenhire era? The Twins are woefully bad for the second straight year. |
| AL West | |||||
| Texas Rangers | 50 | 32 | 94 | 68 | After losing back-to-back World Series, the Rangers look to be stronger than ever. |
| Los Angeles Angels | 45 | 37 | 97 | 65 | The Angels, and new acquisition Albert Pujols, got off to a slow start before putting things together with the arrival of Mike Trout. |
| Oakland A’s | 41 | 42 | 68 | 94 | The A’s have been much better than expected in the first half. |
| Seattle Mariners | 35 | 49 | 64 | 98 | The Mariners have struggled offensively again in the first half. |
Heading into the 2012 season, here all the all-time team records in games that I have attended.
All-Time Team Records
| Team | Won | Lost | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Angels | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 12 | 2 | 0.857 |
| Florida Marlins | 15 | 8 | 0.652 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 10 | 6 | 0.625 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 8 | 5 | 0.615 |
| Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | 13 | 10 | 0.565 |
| Chicago White Sox | 191 | 158 | 0.547 |
| New York Yankees | 9 | 8 | 0.529 |
| Chicago Cubs | 188 | 168 | 0.528 |
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