MVPs: Balanced At Last

 
I think we knew this was gonna be the drill in, like, August. Throughout the year there were moments of greatness from competitors, like Mookie Betts' start, Elly de la Cruz's May, Jose Ramirez's second half and Francisco Lindor's September, but it was always going to be about Judge and Ohtani. Nobody could do what they did this year [like going 50-50 and hitting 50+ homers on a bigger OPS than 2022] and not be rewarded for it.

I think Aaron Judge's MVP may be overshadowed by his postseason play, though. A lot of people have been poking fun at Judge's weak World Series showing and Game 5 errors, but nobody can deny how powerful he is when he's in his element. And from April til August of this year, Judge was in his element. Yes, he went cold in September, but he's not very used to A.) being healthy all 162 games and B.) making it to the World Series. He's new at this. Not everybody can be Yoshinobu Yamamoto and be playing in a World Series, and well, immediately. Clayton Kershaw won a ring after several years of 'Kershaw sucks in the playoffs' talk. The narrative can turn around, and I believe there's an opportunity for Judge's to. 

I think because Judge is the best, and because he plays for a team it's cool to root against, he opens himself up to more criticism. If Dak Prescott were to lead a team to a Super Bowl, it'd be similar--nothing about a grade A athlete building on great seasons and capitalizing the moment after all this time, there'd just be something new to make fun of the second he makes a mistake. Nobody can deny Judge's ability, but it's much easier to enjoy a Yankee failure for a lot of people. 

And further, you don't see a lot of people that don't like Shohei Ohtani? How could you dislike such a rare talent?? The Dodgers have a lot of guys like that--Betts, Freeman, Kershaw, guys who are so good, and so fun to watch, that you can't really dislike them. Betts played for the Red Sox for 6 years, I couldn't bring myself to hate the guy. And you can't Ohtani, all you can do is hope you never have to face him. That Ohtani hit 50 homers and stole 50 bases, which nobody had ever done, while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery is one of the most incredible achievements of any MLB player in years. How many other people can do something like that? 

Like last year, these two guys won MVPs because they're the most crucial MLB players of the current moment. You cannot tell the stories of these two teams without them. Even if you don't like repeat offenders in awards week, it really couldn't have been anyone else for either league. 

Cy Youngs: Immediate & Delayed

 

I'm gonna be honest, I had a Tiger and a Brave in the finals for the Cy Young at the beginning of the year, but it wasn't these two. I was thinking Spencer Strider was gonna win it for the Braves, and I was fully convinced that this would be the Casey Mize comeback season of the Gods. Seriously.

Which is to say that these two outweighing the odds and winning is a great outcome. Not predictable. Like if I'd have picked these in April, I'd have said like...Corbin Burnes and Tyler Glasnow. Much more exciting, honestly. 

What also makes this a cool Cy Young outcome is that these two were both kind of uneasy rolls of the dice going into the year. Skubal was always gonna be a rotation option, but it was gonna be a matter of how healthy he'd be, or if he'd need more IL time [like Mize and Manning did]. And then he went on an incredible run and kept it going throughout the season, and into the postseason. I think in terms of sheer dominance, Skubal was pretty unrivaled this year, as even his competitors [Burnes, Crochet, Lugo] had more human moments throughout the year. 

Meanwhile, Sale was an absolute flyer for the Braves, dealt by the Sox after several down years and some lost goodwill. The Braves gave up Vaughn Grissom just to see if Sale had anything left, and would play him from a low rotation rung for less damage. Then Strider got hurt, Fried got hurt, Elder struggled, and the savior, ultimately, was Chris frigging Sale. And with this opportunity, Sale did the one thing he never could do with Chicago or Boston...he outlasted the competition and was the best pitcher in the league.

Maybe it was just getting out of the AL, I dunno.

The one thing about the Sale win, at long last, was that it came at the expense of Zack Wheeler, another 'always a bridesmaid never a bride' Cy Young candidate. Once again, he was extremely good, and made it to 2nd in the voting, but...as always, there was just someone better. And to be honest, Chris Sale's peak years have been better than Zack Wheeler's. Sale, with this season, may have punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame, and I don't think Wheeler has the pre-28 numbers for that. So this was more fitting than anything, the one guy who beats Wheeler this time is the guy who got beaten, unceremoniously, too many times in the 2010s. 

Look, my own personal home-team gripes aside, these were the two best pitchers in baseball this year, and they deserve the gold. What's weird is that, as inevitable as these two were, compared to the MVPs they're unexpected wins. 

Rookies of the Year: We've Been Over This Before

 
I'm frankly getting tired of the asterisk ruining the Rookie of the Year award year after year. We just went over this with Randy Arozarena in 2021. For my money, if a player A.) gets rookie cards for playing in a given year, or B.) contributes positively to the league within his first season, that means his rookie service is over. But because team organizations don't sleep at night unless they've screwed over the worker, a rookie year doesn't count unless it's breached a certain bar of games played. It's why Arozarena was still a rookie in 2021 despite playing in many games in 2020, and being a key postseason figure for the Rays that year. Because of the season only being sixty games, he didn't reach that threshold, so his sophomore season outweighed many actual rookie seasons.

And that's how I feel about Luis Gil. Gil already made waves as a rookie in 2021, with his first three starts allowing 0 runs. Though he would only make six starts that season, Gil received rookie cards for the 2022 calendar year. I have several, because card companies made many of them. Gil, however, missed the next two seasons due to injury recovery, and was only a last minute choice to start in 2024 [and we know how well that went]. 

Gil's 2024 season was seen by many as a comeback season. He started strong, got hurt, missed time, came back and was outstanding. That doesn't sound like a rookie season. But in the rules of the MLB, because it broke the service time threshold despite his actual rookie year being three damned years ago, he was still a rookie this year. And as such, he won Rookie of the Year because he had the better season than the other actual rookies he was up against. You're putting a doberman in a dog show and you're confused that the doberman's eating the other dogs.

Now, the other two candidates for the AL Rookie of the Year, Austin Wells and Colton Cowser, did make MLB appearances last year. Neither made much of an impact in 2023. Gil, meanwhile, had a 0.8 WAR in 2021. That's not nothing. That's more than Jackson Holliday mustered in 60 games, it's more than Spencer Arrighetti amassed in 29 starts, and it's more than Spencer Torkelson has gathered in his entire career. IT IS A ROOKIE SEASON. But, of course, the rules remain set in stone, because god forbid they treat a young player like he's worth for spending three years on the 40-man of the richest team in the majors. 

And the thing about the 'comeback' tract now is that, because pitchers get injured more frequently, and sooner into their careers, than ever before, you're seeing 'comeback seasons' for people in their early 20s. What would ordinarily be seen as a breakout is now a comeback because it involves missing two years due to an injury that would come ten years later if everyone wasn't throwing so damned hard. This is what's frustrating me about Andrew Painter, who hasn't even played an MLB game yet. Painter's 2025 season is being billed as a 'comeback campaign'. The man hasn't even been HERE. He's not allowed to COME BACK yet, he's got to GET THERE FIRST. Let Andrew Painter have some MLB seasons for the Phils first, then we can talk about a comeback. 

Gil, meanwhile, is a comeback story. And I judged his 2024 season as such. If billing him as a rookie gets him more accolades, fine, but I don't think it's a wise conflation. Validating that will make it more understandable for organizations to keep futzing with service time and thinking of more ways to undervalue players, and we don't want that.

The inverse of this, of course, is that because Paul Skenes came up in May and won the NL's Rookie of the Year, that means he's automatically passed the rookie threshold. I assumed he did anyway, as his 2024 season is, by many respects, a rookie season. He pitched a very full campaign, an EXCELLENT campaign, and it was his first one in the major leagues. That is a rookie season, and now that it has ended...he is no longer a rookie. I shouldn't have to make it this plain. I was worried he wouldn't make the Topps cutoff and his rookie cards would be pushed to 2025, but thankfully cooler heads prevailed.

Skenes getting the ROY I 100% agree with, though honestly I would have agreed with Jackson Merrill getting it as well, or possibly even Jackson Chourio. You had so many really great rookie competitors in the NL this year, and Skenes was the flashier choice, so naturally he's a great pick for the gold. I'd have been worried if he wasn't considered. Skenes is also up for the Cy Young which...he isn't going to get, though I'm expecting him to edge Wheeler out of 2nd place just to ensure the voting committee can completely waste Wheeler's peak years. 

Anyway, these are two solid picks, but...the whole 'rookie service time' thing is never not gonna piss me off. Luis Gil wasn't a rookie this year. But hey, whatever sells more tickets I guess. 

This Trade Makes No Sense: Well THAT Was Quick Edition

 

The ink is barely even dry on the 2024 season and already the trades are firing. At least let us catch our breaths!

Alright, let's see here, y'know how the theme of the 23-24 offseason was the Braves offloading contracts to save cap space [only to...take on more contracts anyway?]. I think we're here again. Because Jorge Soler still has two more years on his contract he signed with the Giants, and the Braves don't especially feel like paying that for a power hitter past his prime. So, here we are.

Jorge Soler was decent enough in a stretch run with the Braves this past season, he hit 9 homers and 24 RBIs in 49 games, as well as 2 hits in 8 postseason plate appearance, one of which left the park. But...the days of Jorge Soler hitting 40 homers and being valuable to an organization might be over. At this point he's kind of a passable power bat, he's good for you in some situations but useless in others. So I get why the Braves would want to get rid of him, there's really no need for a one-dimensional power bat going forward. 

But...trading him to the Angels...for Griffin Canning. That's not a guarantee of a fair return.

First of all, Soler in Anaheim...*could* work. Maybe he has a comeback season as a hard hitting DH/OF type, maybe he's just what that lineup needs. The Angels are rebuilding, there are some pieces that could go somewhere in 2025, Soler could be a sturdy backbone. But...if this is a rebuilding, young team with several promising young starters, Soler sticks out like a sore thumb. You want a team on the same page if you're establishing yourself, and Soler could clash with what the rest of the Angels want. I'm not saying he will, but he could.

Then Canning in Atlanta. Which means, for the second year running, the Braves have traded for an injury-prone hurler in the hopes that everything finally clicks. And to their credit, it worked with Chris Sale. It repeatedly looked like it wouldn't, but Sale was a risk that truly paid off. Canning, though...I'm not as sure of. Until 2024, Canning had never pitched a full season, thanks to injuries or some other factor. At his breakout, Canning was really strong, and had his most impressive showing...in 2020, a strike-shortened season, even winning a gold glove. Then in 2021 he gets hurt, 2022 he misses all of, 2023 he's hurt for some stretches of and this season it was clear that the injuries were still hanging over him. Despite a fuller season, Canning had a 6-13 record and a 5.19 ERA, a comedown from a relatively impressive 2023.

And the Braves said 'we'd like this'.

I mean, at worst Canning misses more time and makes them regret the deal, but what's the ceiling at this point? They're expecting Canning to be a serviceable 4th or 5th rotation guy who can at least hold offenses down? Can Canning even be that level of innings-eater anymore? And to the Braves' credit, Morton and Fried will likely be gone, they gave away Kyle Wright and Mike Soroka last year, they're down to two rehabbing starters in Strider and Ynoa, two great 2024 stories whose future value is uncertain in Sale and Lopez, and future pieces like Schwellenbach and Waldrep who, I'm guessing, will have to pick up a lot of slack next year. And now you have Canning, who...I guess represents some level of consistency in all that? Like we know he can go 32 games now, but will it cost him the majority of 2025?? This feels like it needlessly complicates things further.

And with the Braves, you also have to think about the possibility that they're only getting Canning as bait for a future trade, as they did with Marco Gonzales last year, or Jackson Kowar or whichever. Which...I guess makes sense for a GM but perhaps not for a layperson? 

I dunno, man. To me it seems like Anthopoulous is trying to long-game this but not seeing what's in front of him. If this works out somehow, I'll give him the credit. But this far out it just seems confusing and misguided. 

Either You Want it or You Don't

 

From a storytelling perspective, the right team won. 

There were so many storylines in play. The Dodgers not getting the full glory, and the full credit, in 2020. The Dodgers failing to actually win with all their big stars. The best teams never taking the glory after the playoff expansion. Ohtani finally playing for a competitor. The pitching revealing a skeleton crew. Freeman recovering from both a personal tragedy and an injury. All of this farming in a five year timeline to lead to an incredible win, and a HUGE win at that, is what baseball can be at its best. You want a full-season storyline with definite heroes? There you go. The best team won, and it wasn't an easy win, because in an alternate universe the Padres keep the leverage. The Dodgers had to become a well-oiled machine in October after breaking down throughout the second half, and they refined themselves and became unstoppable.

Watching this team keep fighting throughout this series, with all the Freddie Freeman highlights, all the incredible pitching energy from Yamamoto, Buehler and Vesia, all the quick contact moments late, was incredible. There was so much fight in this team, and they only got more hungry as the series went on. Any other team couldn't have come back from a 5-0 deficit tonight, and they not only did it, but erased any possibility of a Yankee surge. 

All things considered, this was the outcome that made the most sense. The Dodgers earned this. They fulfilled their promise to the fans from 2020, and undid the punchline of dropping early. They should be very proud.

Now...if I can be honest...the Dodgers shouldn't have won that game. I'm sorry, but there was only so much that the Dodgers themselves did that couldn't be chalked up to mistakes the Yankees made. This game had multiple fielding errors, a catcher's interference, a balk, and a pitching missed tag. And 5 runners left in scoring position. The Yankees were constantly put into position to win this game, and they refused. And it honestly sums up this Series for them. They had so many opportunities, so many moments they could have owned, and they just couldn't. 

And for all of this to happen after 4 innings of beautiful baseball, Aaron Judge shushing the haters, Jazz Chisholm and Giancarlo Stanton going yard, Gerrit Cole working on a beaut and Judge robbing a Freeman homer. It felt like this team was flipping the script, at last. And then everything fell apart, and all of the flaws this team had been working to hide just burst open. And despite conscious efforts to keep at it, it just felt like something broke. 

The Yankees could have won, and chose not to. This game, this series. A more bitter person could make a case that it was less the Dodgers winning this series and more the Yankees losing it. I'm not gonna do that. The Dodgers did a lot right, and earned this win. But they were certainly helped by the Yankees blowing every last opportunity that came their way. 

You also have to think of it this way: Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, Clay Holmes, Alex Verdugo, Tommy Kahnle and possibly Anthony Rizzo might all be gone next year. This season was the perfect storm, and a tip of a lot of the Boone regime's quest to make the deeper postseason. And while next year the Yankees will still be competitive, I don't know if they'll have a lot of the pieces that made themselves a World Series team, and they may be in danger of falling off. Even if they keep Soto, which'll prevent subsequent moves probably. 

So that's where we're at. The Dodgers won at the right time, and can build off of this World Series win, while the Yankees lost at the wrong time and have a rockier path to staying at this level. What a happy, joyful end to a really entertaining season. 

World Series Game 4: Wide Awake in New York

 

Fifteen years ago tonight, there was a World Series game in New York, and I was there.

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, I barely stopped to breathe while it was happening. But I saw my team play in a World Series game, and I saw Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixiera hit home runs. And it's wild to me that it was 15 years ago. It's been that long.

So seeing that it was a 15 year line, to the day, from a W.S. win, and the Yanks had a do or die game tonight, I thought it would be heartbreaking if the light went out here. When things rhyme, they don't do so cruelly. There had to be a reason this all lined up. It had to be for something. And with the Freddie homer early, I got worried. I got worried I'd gotten my hopes up again.

And then...somehow...the Yankees arrived. And played their best game in a week. I'm still in awe, kind of. I did not think this team had anything left. But basically every aspect of this team came into vogue tonight, in the best way. 

It did worry me that a chance at tying the game early was foiled by Anthony Volpe's base running. Even then I thought Volpe was trying not to repeat the mistake Stanton made last night, and despite the immediate outcry, he did what he thought was right. But the rest of the game was defined by Volpe's sheer tenacity. A HUGE grand slam to flip the game [and give the Yanks a lead for the first time in 3 games], followed by an incredible home plate slide that helped the rally in the eighth. Around Volpe, everyone else came in line. Gleyber Torres's incredible late homer, Luis Gil's surprisingly strong work after the homer, Holmes and Weaver shutting the Dodgers down, Judge finally awakening and batting Soto home, Wellsy homering because he could. It was the full team effort I'd wanted from the Yankees all series. Usually it had come down to one guy, and here it was everybody. And when everybody pitches in, this team can score 10+ runs against an enemy once thought impenetrable. 

And yes, the Dodgers still tried to claw back, and had some sneaky little hits midgame, but tonight it wasn't enough. And it's relieving to me that a Freddie Freeman homer isn't gonna be enough to keep the Yankees down at this point in the series. 

I know the other shoe could drop at any moment. I know the Dodgers very well could figure out Cole tomorrow night. But right now I'm happy the Yankees won a game and prevent a sweep. I know the odds are against us, and with things as they are it may not go to 7...but at this point, I'm along for the ride. They defied the odds tonight. Maybe they can keep doing that. 

World Series Game 3: Repeat to Fade

 

There's an old adage that an actor's nightmare is being onstage and forgetting all of your lines. So the sports fan's nightmare must be your team getting to the championship and not doing a damned thing. And that's where we're at.

The first two games at least featured an attempt to parry by the Yankees, but tonight, barring Alex Vertigo's late theatrics, had none. The offense felt lifeless. The pitching didn't seem to have learned from the first two games. Judge is still cold. Soto's now falling off. Stanton did some things to get runners in scoring position but they weren't capitalized upon. And numerous Yankees were given the opportunity to do something great and just couldn't. Over and over again. I tell you, it was exhausting to watch. Hope dying repeatedly, and in different ways. It's different from past playoff losses because at least then we actually fought back.

This is similar to the 2012 ALCS against the Tigers. Where the O's series wore us out so much that we had absolutely nothing left, and the lineup was basically dead. That's where we're at. Even if people actually pitch well, we're too worn out to actually offer anything up. 

This isn't to say what the Dodgers are doing isn't impressive. Walker Buehler's finally put it together months after being activated. The lineup is versatile and can keep getting it done. Freddie Freeman's waltzing towards a W.S. MVP. The bullpen might be the reason why they're getting this done, ultimately. I just really thought if the Yankees could properly prepare for Cleveland, we'd adopt a strategy to undercut LA. But that involves the lineup being able to do anything. And we're just not there right now, no matter what rituals the brass has in mind for the next 24 hours.

It'd be nice if the Yankees could somehow win Game 4 and stop this horrific slide. But I feel like if I get my hopes up for that it'll make a 4-game sweep even less palatable. So I'm just gonna go in with the expectation that this could be the end of the road, and hope that we actually have something to offer tomorrow. Gil on the mound, likely against a bullpen barrage. Who knows, right? 

If it's another effort like tonight's, though, I dunno if I'll be able to watch much of it.