Baseball thread

so the baseball season is coming to an end.. discuss any and everything, from your favorite moment of the season, picks for the playoffs, watching your favorite team sink faster than the titanic, etc etc.

just to start things off, have some quality doyers baseball (even though they're probably gonna win the ws):
http://m.mlb.com/video/v36078567/sdlad-multiple-errors-allow-two-runs-to-score

i dont watch much baseball anymore, but clayton kershaw is the GOAT.

thoughts on MVPs?

Kershaw, Stanton

This year is the surge of LAA and the collapse of the A's.

What impressed me personally though was Chris Carter and all of his monster homeruns.

Notable disappointments would probably be Verlander, the yankees with the tanaka injury, and oakland trading cespedes

On September 09 2014 09:07 traxamillion wrote: Kershaw, Stanton

i was shocked when i saw kershaw is leading the MLB in WAR. so unreal.

feels weird to have your MVP play <18% of games, but i guess i would go trout/kershaw as MVPs.

but i dont really know, maybe abreu will get more votes cause of glamour stats? maybe stanton wins?

I think much like in hockey they hate to give the MVP to a goalie, baseball hates to give the MVP to pitchers. Verlander was the first pitcher to win in like, 15-20 years? I mean Pedro never won a MVP... Having said that though I think his year definitely warrants winning the MVP. What he has done despite missing something like 2 months of the season, is just unreal.
AL Cy young I like Felix (obv NL is Kershaw)
AL MVP I'd like to see Trout get awarded. He was robbed twice by popularity & eastern media bias imo...

verlander didnt deserve MVP that year. jacoby ellsbury had a great year: over 700 plate appearances, .376 OBP, 119 runs, 39 steals, 32 HR. robbery

kershaw is having a much better year than verlander did. historically i think its the 2nd best pitching season of all time next to pedro in 2000, and by a longshot, pedro's was much better than kershaw's is now. if he cant win MVP this year, no pitcher ever deserves to.

Plate appearance doesnt mean a whole lot besides he was healthy all year imo, but from 2011 just a quick look, Bautista had a good year too. Led the league in ops, a fraction of a % off the AL lead in obp, highest offensive WAR in AL, led in HR and BB, solid year.

Dont disagree with anything you said Daut, Pedro was a beast. Kershaw is prob only pitcher to have a chance to replicate or exceed what Pedro has done.

Who in my opinion deserves MVP: Kershaw, Trout

Who I think will get MVP: Stanton, Trout


Kershaw is having an amazing pitching season, probably one of the best all time. But when talking about greatest pitching years, it gets tough to compare between different baseball eras. For example, you guys mentioned that Pedro's 2000 season being better than Kershaw's this year; I think that's obvious. I think you could make the argument that his 1999 season was better also. It's tough to compare when overall offense was so different. We are in the middle of a pitching boom, offenses have dramatically decreased over the last 5 years with the crackdown of steroids and probably other factors as well. When comparing these baseball seasons, you have to consider what the pitcher is doing when compared to league averages as well. Pedro's 2000 season was so amazing because he was dominating against roided teams with stacked lineups in probably one of the toughest divisions in baseball. In this same way you could argue Maddux's 1995 season was as good as Kershaw's this year. And I'm sure there are several more examples of great individual seasons. Regardless, Kershaw is an amazing pitcher and to be comparing this season with some all time greats is pretty awesome.