2014 Season Predictions For The MLB

Standings:
NL West Standings:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 2. San Francisco Giants, 3. Arizona Diamondbacks, 4. San Diego Padres, 5. Colorado Rockies...As long as health can hold up, the Dodgers will be the favorite. With Kershaw helming the pitching staff, they are favored over the Giants and the Diamondbacks who were dealt a blow when Patrick Corbin went down. Arizona has enough offense to win the division, but with a staff anchored by Wade Miley, it won't be enough.

NL Central Standings:
1. St. Louis Cardinals, 2. Pittsburgh Pirates, 3. Cincinnati Reds, 4. Milwaukee Brewers, 5. Chicago Cubs...The Cardinals hold on to the division this year with the Pirates and Reds right behind them. Despite the loss of power (Beltran and Freese), the Cardinals will hold off the Pirates who are only a strong ace from taking the division. The Reds are right behind and only a couple of injuries away from taking the division themselves.

NL East Standings:
1. Washington Nationals, 2. Atlanta Braves, 3. Philadelphia Phillies, 4. New York Mets, 5. Miami Marlins...The Nationals will not disappoint this season. A strong pitching staff that only got stronger and an offense that is the strongest in the east, will let them coast to an easy divisional win. The Braves have the offense to have a strong season, but with injuries to key pitchers, they drop into the second place slot. The aging Phillies will try to make one last hurrah as veterans Utley, Rollins, and Howard will try to stay healthy through the season.

NL Wild Cards: Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates
NL Champions: Washington Nationals

AL West Standings:
1. Oakland A's, 2. Texas Rangers, 3. Seattle Mariners, 4. ANAHEIM Angels, 5. Houston Astros...The A's are a season older and are ready to take the west. A strong pitching staff followed by the comeback of Reddick should hold off the Rangers, but barely. The Rangers lost power in Cruz, but gained Choo, a better fit with the current roster. They also bolstered their power with Fielder and found a spot for Profar, which will make them the favorite for the division if the A's starting pitching runs into injuries. Despite the fact that they will end up in last place, the Astros core has actually improved and will be a factor around 2016.

AL Central Standings:
1. Detroit Tigers, 2. Kansas City Royals, 3. Cleveland Indians, 4. Chicago White Sox, 5. Minnesota Twins...The Tigers will take division again as Verlander will regain form and the defense improves with Cabrera moving back to first base. The Royals will be behind them by a few games with the offense coming together and their pitching staff producing top three results in the American League. The Indians will fall just short and will need to add more talent to their bullpen to ever climb higher in the central.

AL East Standings:
1. New York Yankees, 2. Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays, 3. Boston Red Sox, 4. Baltimore Orioles, 5. Toronto Blue Jays...The Yankees will take the top spot once again with improvements to their pitching staff. CC Sabathia leads this staff, but Japanese stars Kiroda and Tanaka and the emergence of Nova and comeback of top prospect Michael Pineda will lead one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. The Rays weren't able to move Price, so in the short term, combined with Alex Cobb, they have a potent one-two punch. The Red Sox will drop off as holes opened up in their roster, but they weren't able to sufficiently plug them.

AL Wildcards: Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals
American League Champions: New York Yankees

World Series Champions: Washington Nationals

Seasonal Award Winners:
NL Awards Winners:
MVP-Bryce Harper, Cy Young Award-Jose Fernandez, Rookie of The Year-Archie Bradley, Comeback Player of The Year-Curtis Granderson, Manager of The Year-Matt Williams
Silver Sluggers- Catcher Yadier Molina, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 2B Aaron Hill, 3B Ryan Zimmerman, SS Troy Tulowitzki, OF Andrew McCutcheon, Bryce Harper, Carlos Gomez

AL Awards Winners:
MVP-Miguel Cabrera, Cy Young Award-Felix Hernandez, Rookie of The Year-Masahiro Tanaka, Comeback Player of The Year-Grady Sizemore, Manager of The Year-Ned Yost
Silver Sluggers- Catcher Brian McCann, 1B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Robinson Cano, 3B Evan Longoria, SS Elvis Andrus, OF Mike Trout, Shin-Soo Choo, Adam Jones

When Greed Conquers The Fans

Every year since the mass production of television, Americans have been able to watch the Opening Day in the MLB. In recent years, it possible required having cable television to do so, but still accessible to one hundred percent of people. Unfortunately, this year, things have changed.

The Guggenheim Partners whom are the owners of the Dodgers, signed an exclusive contract with Time Warner Cable. Unfortunately over seventy percent of the Southern California market that would be considered the Dodgers regional area, don't have Time Warner Cable. What is worse, is that is many of these cases, the Dodgers fan doesn't have a choice to even switch over to Time Warner cable.

As many people know, cable television distributors sign exclusive contracts with cities in particular, which means you only have one choice to receive your tradition cable in your city. Your only other options would be if you live in an area that can be served by Verizon Fios or AT&T U-Verse (which aren't that many) or if you sign up for satellite cable such as DirecTv or The Dish. Problem is all those other options are also not Time Warner, which means no Dodgers baseball for you.

In signing this contract, a city such as Long Beach, which is the second largest city within Los Angeles County's own limits, doesn't have the ability to even watch the Dodgers baseball. That's approximately 478,000 Los Angeles County residents within one city, who cannot watch Dodgers baseball unless the leave the city and go to a sports bar in a city that does have Time Warner Cable. How ridiculous is that?

This year's Opening Day for baseball was even more special because it was in Sydney, Australia. The MLB Network itself had a countdown clock on the bottom right of their screen and even though it was at 1am Pacific time (Dodgers' time), many fans were willing to stay up late and watch the Dodgers face division rival Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, even though the MLB Network is a subsidiary of Major League Baseball, even they weren't allowed to broadcast the game to non-Time Warner Cable subscribers and instead fans got to watch Intentional Talk with Dan Plesac and Chris Rose, talking about how great Opening Day will be.

When your average fan is denied the chance to watch Opening Day baseball, which even has a petition going around to declare this a holiday, you irreparably hurt your fan base. You can't expect local Southern California kids to grow up and become Dodgers fans if they can't even watch them on television. Best case scenario, these kids will become Angels fans, whom broadcast to the same television market. Worst case scenario, you lose your fans completely, hurting the growth of baseball within the most populated region in the country.

Unfortunately, for the next twenty-five years, this will be the new way of Southern California baseball. Seventy percent of fans won't get the chance to hear Vin Scully's voice announce a game. In a case of irony, even Vin Scully couldn't watch a Dodgers game now. Scully is a resident of Malibu, California, which is covered by Charter Cable. It would appear that if Vin wants to watch Dodgers baseball, he'll have to keep announcing for them no matter what.

Time For Fantasy...Baseball

It's that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, the rain is going away, and the grass seems a little greener. You guessed it...fantasy baseball is about to start. Unlike Major League Baseball, fantasy baseball starts as early as March.

Actually, if you're in a keeper or dynasty league, it's probably started years before. This is the time of the year where your average baseball fan becomes a general manager of his own team of players he wished he could manage in real life. It lets every Joe Schmo out there get to act out his dreams, even if only in a simulation world, by starting and benching players, trading a player to upgrade their team, and dropping aging veterans for recently called up rookies on a hot streak.

There are various ways a fantasy team could be created. Snake drafts tend to be the easiest to understand, especially for newcomers. That's where players pick in a predetermined order and then the person with the last pick in a particular round becomes the first pick in the next with others following in the reverse order of the previous round.

I particularly prefer live auction drafts. This is where you start with a budget and have to fill a roster within that budget by bidding on players called out during the auction. Without proper planning, a fantasy player could make or break his team before the season even starts. This is almost a game within a game, getting the players you want to build a team to your liking.

Unlike snake auction drafts where your only real strategy is having a back up if a player you wanted is drafted before you can get to them, a live auction draft has multiple strategies that players use. Some up bid on players they don't want, so their opponents have to spend more money on players they wanted. Some players sneak bids in at the last second to steal players they were hoping for. Other strategies exist, but every player has their own method.

Keeper and dynasty leagues give a real sense of ownership. Owners get to keep a predetermined amount of players for multiple seasons. Hit it right with a rookie and you could be set at a particular position for years.

Fantasy baseball may seem silly to some, but for others, especially the hardcore types, it's a way to stake a form of ownership on your favorite players and feel like you're a part of the game itself. Bonus for those who earn money at the end of the season in rewards for placing in their league.

2014 Winter Olympics Follies

Now that the 2014 Winter Olympics has come to a close, it's as good as anytime to review the triumphs and the many travesties. Before the Olympics even started, problems were piling up while Russia made it's preparations. Stray dogs, poisonous water coming out of the hotel pipes, and bathroom stalls that had two toilets per stall.

In July off 2007, Sochi won the bid to host over Pyeongchang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. The six and a half years to prepare apparently weren't enough. Spending $51 billion dollars into updating Sochi and getting it up to Olympic levels. Nearly five times the amount it took to get the 2010 Winter Olympics hosted by Vancouver. Rumors spread that organizations syphoned and/or extorted money in the preparation.

By the time the Olympics were about to open, only six of the nine hotels built to host journalists and tourist were ready to be open. Out of those six, many individual rooms weren't ready for people to occupy them. Shower curtains, window curtains, door locks, and even pillows were missing from rooms. Some people were even asked to donate their pillows to the athletes because not enough pillows were ordered to cover the athletes in their dorms.

Many news organizations were forced to bunk up because not all their rooms were ready. The rooms that were ready, had water that came out of the tap, that more resembled whiskey more than H2O.

Once the games got under way, the opening ceremonies had it's own flaw. Five large lights in the shape of snowflakes were to blossom into the five Olympics rings. The top right ring decided to cooperate and remained a snowflake. On Russian television, viewers were never shown the mistake and instead they were shown taped footage from the rehearsals earlier that day, before cutting back to the live broadcast after the rings were shown. In the BBC and America broadcasts, viewers were treated to the genuine broadcast.

From there, after the ceremonies, various athletes had problems of their own, in their dorms. American Bobsledder Johnny Quinn found himself locked in his bathroom and without a cell phone or anyone within hearing distance. He used his athletic ability to break through the door and then Tweet about it afterwards. Ironically, later on he found himself stuck on an elevator and once again had a photo opportunity of him trying to open the elevator doors.

The snowboarders had problems of their own. The half pipe had large lumps at the end of the pipe and the surface of the pipe itself wasn't smooth at all. This type of condition hurts the big air style of snowboarders the most since they need the smooth surface to obtain the most speed, to gain the most air. The American snowboarders, who were the favorites, were all big air style snowboarders. Snowboarder rock star, Shaun White ended up in forth because of a fall.

As usual, hockey had it's controversial calls, but that seems to be the norm for every Olympics. The men's USA team lost it's final two games to end up forth overall, despite being a favorite themselves for a medal.

By the time the Olympics came to a close, the Russians had a sense of humor about it. During the closing ceremonies, to poke a jab at the ring that refused to open up during the opening ceremonies, the performers played the parts of the snowflakes that opened up to become the rings...except the performers that would make the top right ring. They stayed balled up for an extra count as a joke before joining the others in the iconic logo.

For a country with so much pride, especially in Winter sports, it was a surprise to see all the various ways it was bungled. The athletes themselves performed remarkably well and were one of the bright lights of the past two weeks, but Russia failed to play a part in that. It would be interesting to see whose heads will role...literally...when Russian leadership decides to place blame in review.

Spring Training

When February roles around, there is excitement in the air. Valentine's Day? Well for some. President's Day? Maybe if you're a banker. Well what is it?

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training for the up and coming new season. When many people are still freezing their butts off, many of the world's best baseball players are flying to Florida or Arizona to get ready for the new season.

For many rookies, it may be a chance to show that they deserve a spot on the roster. For some seasoned veterans, it's a last chance to stick around with a club for one more season. Players report to new teams they just signed with and managers/coaches get familiar with the new teams that they just took charge of.

One can look at Spring Training and not care. Many do. If you're a true baseball fan, it's not something to be missed...in person. The games don't mean anything, but they do give a chance to people to get up close with those they cheer for during the regular season. Tickets that would cost a grand in the regular season and sometimes take a deal with a devil to get, can go for as low as ten dollars and you have your choice of which exact seat you want. You want to lay out on the grass on a nice Spring day? For as low as five dollars, you can soak up the sun and enjoy the game from the outfield territory.

Another benefit to showing up for Spring Training? You can catch your favorite all-time greats coach the young guys. George Brett shows up every Spring still to guide the youth of the Royals. Sandy Koufax gives advice at Camelback Ranch to the Dodgers pitching staff. Robin Yount can be seen giving tips to fellow hitters such as Ryan Braun.

Not only can you watch them coach the current generation of players, many of the greats sign autographs and take pictures with fans. If you show up early enough before a game, many of the players are on the side fields taking early hitting practice or doing field drills. These practices are open to the fans and if you have a kid with you, it's almost a guarantee that you not only get an autograph from many of the players, but the occasional players gives a piece of his equipment away to the lucky kid here and there.

One game I attended at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona in 2012 had one of the better moments I personally witnessed in player/fan interactions. After a White Sox game, utility player Brett Lillibridge was signing autographs for some of the fans that stuck around. A kid around the age of eight years old, went up to him without anything for him to sign. He still wanted an autograph to remember his first game, but had nothing to give Lillibridge. Brett pulled out one of his personal bats from his own bag, borrowed one of the other fans Sharpie's, signed the bat, and presented it to the kid. Brett is a good utility player to have on a squad, but will never be an all-star. After witnessing what he did, he will always be an all-star in my mind.

Moments like this can be seen at many of the Spring Training games. Attending a game with the Diamondbacks in Scottsdale, Arizona, my wife, who loves to get autographs on baseballs she brings to every game. At a regular season game, you can get one autograph and feel lucky. At Spring Training, you can get seven or eight autographs and have done well. The Diamondbacks at this particular game got in a single file line in front of the seats on the third base side and spent the next hour gradually going down the line, signing everyone's balls, hats, or anything else fans handed them. We walked away with a ball that had so many autographs, that you couldn't fit anymore on her ball.

At a game in Peoria, Arizona, with the Mariners playing the Brewers, Rickie Weeks had a game face on and was ready to have a good game. On his way out to stretch before the start of the game, an older lady asked him for an autograph and in turn, gave him candy in trade. A twenty-five cent sucker and the lady had a prized possession. He came down the line to sign more autographs and when he came to my wife, he took a picture with her...with the sucker still in his mouth.

If you have never been to a Spring Training game, try to go at least once in your life. The stadiums only sit several thousand people and there are only a couple of concession stands in the whole stadium, but for a big baseball fan, it's almost like going to an amusement park. It's something that every baseball fan should get to enjoy once in their life.

Football Hall Of Fame 2014

If you have read my previous posts on here (specifically about the MLB hall of fame vote), then you are already aware of how mentally challenged I believe a large part of the BBWAA to be when it comes to voting for players for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. The NFL writers aren't much better. In fact they're probably on the same boat, but just on a different deck.

The Board of Selectors, comprising of a forty-six man group, mainly football writers, are those whom select from a potential group of NFL players, coaches, staff, and etc. Just like baseball, a football player has to wait for five years before eligibility. Unfortunately, just like baseball, the board holds grudges against players and believes that players shouldn't be voted in during their first year of eligibility. They also prefer to only select up to one player from each position each year (i.e. one wide receiver per year).

Now ask yourself if this makes sense...you're the sixth all-time rushing running back in NFL history behind players such as Walter Payton and Barry Sanders. You've lead a team to a Super Bowl victory, been an all-pro six times, won NFL Comeback Player of The Year, won NFL Offensive Rookie of The Year, and won the Walter Payton Man of The Year. You're a first year shoe in, right? Wrong.

Running backs of lessor caliber (not bad themselves though) get voted in before you. 2011 Marshall Faulk, 2012 Curtis Martin, no one in 2013, and snubbed again this year. Edgerrin James is even being talked about ahead of you for the 2015 ballot. You're name is Jerome "The Bus" Bettis and you're the all-time leading rusher for the Pittsburgh Steelers (even ahead of Franco Harris). The fact that he is not in the Hall after this many votes is ludicrous.

The fact that the "Board of Selectors" prefer to vote only one player per position gets in every year is a joke. Sometimes, legends will retire in the same year. Imagine if this rule worked in baseball. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Mike Mussina all retired the same year. If you chose one of them (i.e Greg Maddux), then the other two would carry over to 2015. Now in 2015, you also have Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. Only one of them with the other two from 2014 carried over get in? It would take five years before they could all get in and that's if no other quality pitchers retire during that time. If you deserve to get in, you deserve to go in whether or not someone playing the same position is also eligible.

Also spited for the same reason this year was Marvin Harrison, because Andre Reed made it this year. One of the top receivers in the past twenty five years, he'll have to wait for while himself with the way things are currently set up.

You say you're a scary defensive player that made quarterback shake in their cleats. You've been all-pro multiple times, more super bowl rings than any other player in history, and over one hundred career sacks. You should get in obviously, right? Wrong. You're Charles Haley and the "Board of Selectors" doesn't like you from a personal standpoint. You weren't the friendliest player to the press and now you're going to pay for it. Grudges will be held and this is wrong.

Not only does the selection process for the MLB need to be reviewed, but so does the NFL's.

The 2014 Hall of Fame Vote (a joke)

The BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) should be ashamed of themselves. As a writer, you are there to judge players fairly and be unbiased with your picks for the Hall of Fame. In the past three years, a large portion of the BBWAA has been childish, petty, playing favorites, vindictive, and even revenge seeking.

A small group of these writers call themselves "The Gatekeepers" and have been voting unfairly and/or based on rumors. The Gatekeepers refuse to vote for ANYONE who played during the "steroid era" because their belief is that everyone is tainted. Anyone from your large power hitters (i.e. Mark McGwire) to the speedy infielders (i.e. Craig Biggio), to even the average shaped pitchers (i.e. Greg Maddux). Whatever happened to innocent 'til proven guilty?

One writer, Dan Le Batard, sold his vote (for money for charity) to the website Deadspin.com and became the only writer to actually be stripped of his vote for abuse of his vote. I agree he should have been stripped, but the irony is that Deadspin let their readers vote their top ten picks for the Hall and the readers actually came up with a good vote (Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Piazza, Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Edgar Martinez, Bagwell). Another writer allowed to keep his vote though, voted for players such as Jacque Jones, JT Snow, and Kenny Rogers over Biggio and Thomas. If you can't take your vote seriously, you should lose it. The BBWAA is a lifetime membership and some of the voters no longer cover sports and writer admittedly said he doesn't even watch baseball anymore. These writers should lose their votes too.

People without votes include Bill James (MLB's official historian), many of the journalist for MLB.com and the MLB Channel, and even people who have seen more baseball than ninety-nine percent of writers such as Vin Scully. The group of people voting for the Hall of Fame should be re-examined. Several current writers have submitted no votes for the past three years. You should be stripped of your vote. There is no excuse not to be able to find one vote in years that had so many deserving players.

In this year's ballot, there were arguably fifteen players or so that have Hall Of Fame credentials. Each writer is unfortunately restricted to ten votes, but a large number of players should end up going. Only three were selected (Maddux, Glavine, Thomas). It was nice to see a pitcher with a rookie season after 1970, finally make it. It's not as if there were no deserving pitchers in that group. Jack Morris, the winningest pitcher of the '80's fits in that deserving group, but only three players total was embarrassing.

First off, some players should be considered a no brainer when it comes to the Hall of Fame and with no valid argument against voting the player (i.e. Babe Ruth) and therefore should receive one hundred percent of a vote, which has never happened in history. Greg Maddux should have been one of these players, but a handful of voters actually made a case against him.

What is strange is some of these writers acknowledged that they WILL vote for players such as Manny Ramirez when he becomes eligible. Ramirez tested positive twice after the new rules of suspension came out (i.e. 50/100/150/life). Why would he be okay in their eyes, but not someone like Fred McGriff, who never tested positive, never was accused, and never even changed body shape all that much while he played. Some writers will cite that he didn't hit the benchmark numbers of five hundred homers or three thousand hits. McGriff hit four hundred ninety-three home runs and was a league leader in homeruns during the strike shortened season on 1994. In one hundred thirteen games he had thirty-four homeruns and could have easily hit seven more.

Rafael Palmeiro fell off the ballot this year with less than five percent of the vote and is the first player with over three thousand hits and/or five hundred homeruns to fall of the Hall of Fame ballot. In his case, I believe a case can be made for him not to make because he DID test positive for steroids, but other power hitters such as Jeff Bagwell, Fred McGriff, and even speedsters like Tim Raines never did. The same writers will hold Mark McGwire accountable for doing "Andro" when he played with the Cardinals, but in the late '90's, the medical community classified "Andro" as a supplement and not a steroid, nor was it even banned by Major League Baseball at the time. What he was doing was completely within the rules of baseball during that time period.

Craig Biggio comes up as a player that was gypped out of the honor this year. He was two votes short, the closest any player has come, without being voted in. He is one of the top ten second baseman of all time, amassing over three thousand hits, four gold gloves, five silver sluggers, and holds the record for being beaned the most in the modern day era. He is the only player in MLB history that has over three thousand hits, six hundred doubles, four hundred stolen bases, and two hundred stolen bases. He fell nine homeruns short of being only the second player in history to amass three thousand hits, three hundred homers, and three hundred stolen bases (Willie Mays being the only one). He played three positions to benefit his team, starting off his career as a all-star catcher, switching over to second base to become a gold glover, and moving to centerfield to benefit his team. He is undoubtedly a Hall Of Famer and it is said he will make it next year. The problem lies that for those who vote for him next year, they essentially only have nine votes for Hall of Fame instead of ten because of the travesty of not voting him in this season.

With only three players going this year, the already crowded vote gets even more crowded next year when players such as John Smoltz, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez become eligible. With the already crowded ballot, there's a good chance that several players might fall under the five percent minimum to stay on the ballot the next season, that are better players than ones currently in the Hall.

The biggest snubs are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, neither of which have ever tested positive for steroids. One writer said he would never vote for Bonds because "he is a mean person". This may be true, but former players such as Ty Cobb made it and he was a known racist and even possibly killed a man and he made it. Clemens even tested for international competition and passed when he drug tested for the Olympics. Clemens only negative was that he tested in front of Congress that he never cheated on his wife, a question that had nothing to do with drugs, and he was found later of lying about that. The only thing Barry was ever proven to lie about was paying the correct amount of taxes. Neither should be a reason to keep the all time home run leader and possibly the best pitcher of the last fifty years out of the Hall.

Other players such as Tim Raines (a poor man's Rickey Henderson), Mike Piazza (horrible defense, but best hitting catcher), Mike Mussina (arguably better than Glavine), Jeff Bagwell (best first basemen of the '90's), Sammy Sosa (only proved to have had a corked bat in his final season), and Jack Morris were also gypped from becoming fellow Hall members. Good arguments could also have been made for Edgar Martinez (no defense), Lee Smith (retired as the all time saves leader), Curt Schilling (lack of consistency), Jeff Kent (lack of defense), Alan Trammell (in the shadow of Cal, Ozzie, and Larkin) and Larry Walker (lack of health).

The BBWAA needs to get their act together. With the way the group of writers has acted as a whole, if they continue to vote the way they have for the past few seasons, it will tarnish the validity of the Hall of Fame and players that are well deserving, will never make it. Embarrassing.