(Predictions In Parenthesis)
AL East
Toronto Blue Jays 93-69 (89-73, 1st)
New York Yankees 87-75 (79-83, 4th)
Baltimore Orioles 81-81 (86-76, 2nd)
Tampa Bay Rays 80-82 (71-91, 5th)
Boston Red Sox 78-84 (85-77, 3rd)
For the second year in a row, I nailed the semi-surprising AL East winner while everyone else was focused on Boston and the Yankees. If I was within ten wins or two divisional standing positions, I'd say that the call wasn't right, but was not woefully incorrect either. The only team I was far off in my perception of them was Tampa, who overcame a ton of changes and new manager Kevin Cash really impressed with his pitching management and success despite relying on Grady Sizemore, Tim Beckham and Erasmo Ramirez for much of the season. Toronto was my greatest call of the preseason and I only wish I had had the guts to take them the distance in March. The A-Rod & Mark Teixeira resurrections were surprising and the only reason New York is back in the postseason. Other than those two, the Yankees team performed at preseason expectations.
Fake Andy Todd Awards
Division MVP: Toronto Third Baseman Josh Donaldson. Donaldson had one hell of a competition between himself and two teammates (Jose Bautista & Edwin Encarnacion) for this award (can't forget to mention Manny Machado and Chris Davis either!). The former Athletic acquired for Brett Lawrie raked at a very consistent rate with many weeks where he looked like the best player in baseball not named Clayton Kershaw. Outside of player-centered stats, the most impressive stat in Donaldson's record book from 2015 is that Toronto improved from 83 wins and no playoffs to 89 wins and the #2 seed in the American League largely due to him. I saw him breaking out of his shell and winning this award in the preseason and the man delivered more than anyone else in 2015.
Division Rookie of the Year: Devon Travis, Toronto's Second Baseman, was on a clear path to winning this award until he suffered an injury in May, came back mid-summer, triggered the injury and was never heard from again. My preseason pick, Aaron Sanchez, lost his spot in the rotation and is clearly a much better reliever. Roberto Osuna surprised everyone by making the opening day roster despite never pitching above Single-A. He showed an impressive strikeout rate and kept it going in the majors (75 K's in 69.2 IP) along with an impressive enough ERA (2.58) to make him Toronto's closer headed into the postseason.
Division Cy Young Winner: Despite spending the first half of the season in the AL Central, David Price is the only reliable starting pitcher Toronto has going into October and his addition at the trade deadline was what ended up putting the Blue Jays over the Yankees at the end of the year.
The Sudden Collapse Award: With the exact opposite result of Toronto (falling out of first instead of leap-frogging into first), Baltimore's mediocre season was the result of a disappointing rotation coming off of a nice 2014. Chris Tillman "wins" this award thanks to a regression in his performance similar to his early days in Major League Baseball. Masahiro Tanaka (my preseason choice) ended up with basically the same numbers as his rookie season.
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| Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports The 20-year old has gone from Single-A to playoff closer in a calendar year. |
AL Central
Kansas City Royals 95-67 (82-80, 3rd)
Minnesota Twins 83-79 (72-90, 5th)
Cleveland Indians 81-80 (92-70, 1st)
Chicago White Sox 76-86 (75-87, 4th)
Detroit Tigers 74-87 (85-77, 2nd)
Kansas City is still really good, woops. Minnesota surprised many by becoming wildcard contenders despite Byron Buxton's shaky debut season. Cleveland disappointed many and lucked out by missing a game to finish above .500. Detroit realized how important pitching can be and ended up selling at the deadline while racking up 87 losses. The White Sox were the only team to perform to everyone's expectations which were slightly better, yet ultimately insignificant.
Fake Andy Todd Awards
Division MVP: I was a big believer in Lorenzo Cain before he was traded from Milwaukee to Kansas City, but after years of being under-utilized, he was pretty much buried as a great defensive player with a nice batting average and not much else. After the 2014 postseason, everybody should have bought stock in Cain as he has become one of the most underrated players in baseball on a contending team and wins the AL Central MVP over a strong candidate in J.D. Martinez and another quietly great season for Jose Abreu.
Division Rookie of the Year: Carlos Rodon's season went pretty much how I said it would (with him finishing the season hot) although I did not expect him to start figuring things out after two months of total inconsistency. Miguel Sano is my favorite player in the league right now and will be an absolute monster next year if he can keep his current rates up (.386 OBP? Yes, please). Even with how solid Rodon was and how awesome and fun Sano was, there was one player who made such a huge difference in this division both offensively and defensively that kept them in the hunt a few weeks longer than they should have been and that was Francisco Lindor. He might end up being the third best of these three players (not a terrible thing) or he could be the next Manny Machado, but for now, Lindor is the AL Central ROTY.
Division Cy Young: Corey Kluber was nice and all, but had a very weird season in which he seemed to pitch a lot better than his 3.49 ERA would suggest. Chris Sale wins this award as the AL Central was without a clear favorite in Cy Young contention after the Tigers dealt Price. Sale also wins the award because he finished first in the AL in strikeouts (271) and because he is Chris Sale and needs to win any award he can before that arm blows out and while Chicago's sock team is still playing like boring garbage.
The Sudden Collapse Award: After a shocking 2014 in which he set the pitching record for least walks among qualifying pitchers, Phil Hughes reverted to his Yankee days and looked like a below-average major league starter again by allowing the most home runs among AL pitchers. Hughes does still have the low walk-rate going for him still so, teams still have to prepare for him.
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| Matt Marton, USA TODAY Sports Ow, ow, ow. I can't even look at Chris Sale's throwing motion, it hurts my left arm. |
AL West
Texas Rangers 88-74 (65-97, 5th)
Houston Astros 86-76 (81-81, 4th)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 85-57 (86-76, 3rd)
Seattle Mariners 76-86 (101-61, 1st)
Oakland Athletics 68-94 (89-73, 2nd)
The Angels were in wildcard contention until they lost game #162 to the Rangers. Other than that, I just really don't want to talk about this division. Oakland was bad (should have seen that coming), Houston was great until they were average (nobody had this one) and Texas was mediocre until they were great (Cole Hamels and some finally healthy bats improved their outlook rapidly down the line).
Fake Andy Todd Awards Division MVP: Angels Outfielder Mike Trout. There are no other answers unless Nelson Cruz's team won some more games.
Division Rookie of the Year: Carlos Correa is going to be A-Rod without the headaches. He was nearly a 20-20 guy in just 99 games played and will win AL Rookie of the Year, this award was obviously going to him about... ten games into his major league stint. Kendall Graveman was good at moments and terrible at other moments, settling somewhere in between ultimately.
Division Cy Young: Outside of the Cubs pitcher to be mentioned later, Dallas Keuchel was an incredible story in 2015 going from average dude with some promise on a bad team to very real Cy Young candidate with a recognizable beard on a playoff team. Felix Hernandez looked like his usual self up until August when he gave up ten runs to Boston and never fully recovered.
The Sudden Collapse Award: Injuries may have derailed his 2015, but Coco Crisp was terrible whenever he was healthy also. His health may have been the final nail in the coffin of Oakland's season.
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| Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle Correa will be an All-Star for many years to come. |
NL East
New York Mets 90-72 (85-77, 3rd)
Washington Nationals 83-79 (92-70, 2nd)
Miami Marlins 71-91 (96-66, 1st)
Atlanta Braves 67-95 (63-99, 4th)
Philadelphia Phillies 63-99 (61-101, 5th)
Giancarlo Stanton went from being the MLB's home run leader to falling victim to another injury. The Marlins never had that "next man up" chemistry that I thought they would and fired Mike Redmond after a 16-22 start. I am ashamed of this prediction, but I don't feel too negative about Miami's future. Washington's collapse has been well-documented and hopefully, a new manager fixes everything that went wrong there. The Braves & Phillies were predictably terrible and the Mets made all the right moves in all the right places at the deadline and rode Yoenis Cespedes and an excellent rotation into the playoffs.
Fake Andy Todd Awards
Division MVP: Despite his team choking and his own getting choked, Bryce Harper was never going to lose this award despite the last two months of Yoenis Cespedes. Giancarlo Stanton would have been in the top three for this had he stayed on the field.
Division Rookie of the Year: Noah Syndergaard (AKA: Thor) got called up from the minors in May and immediately blended into the rotation that already had Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom. Syndergaard is mostly seen as part of a three-headed monster now, but let's not forget the incredible rookie season for this right hurler. Michael Taylor was very respectable much of the year and was used quite a bit more than initially expected. He's the new Mike Cameron (not a bad thing, pretty good in fact) until he gets a bit more patient at the plate.
Division Cy Young: As great as Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard were, Max Scherzer gave us three of the most incredibly pitched games in major league history. He one-hit the Brewers, threw a no-hitter against the Pirates in his next start and to cap it all off, he no-hit the Mets to finish off an incredible season for the free-agent acquisition. Jordan Zimmermann was nearly a candidate for the next award until he fixed his concerns before his season was totally lost.
Sudden Collapse Award: I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why Marcell Ozuna was sent down mid-season and kept in the minors for so long before being re-promoted in August. That was one of the strangest managerial decisions of 2015. Daniel Murphy ended up performing at the same level we've seen him perform at for a few years in a row now and I won't be choosing him for this award again.
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| Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac "We finally got rid of Matt Williams! Come do that incredibly complicated hi-five routine we always do, Wilson" |
NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals 100-62 (88-74, 2nd)
Pittsburgh Pirates 98-64 (89-73, 1st)
Chicago Cubs 97-65 (86-76, 3rd)
Milwaukee Brewers 68-94 (74-88, 5th)
Cincinnati Reds 64-98 (76-86, 4th)
This was the one division I had no idea what to make of in the preseason other than I felt like all the teams were really good and it would come down to injuries or trade additions. In the end, Cincinnati was a lot worse than I thought and the top three were MILES better than most could have possibly imagined. The Cardinals seem to get stronger with each serious injury suffered by one of their players and maintained first despite losing everyone of importance (except Lance Lynn & Trevor Rosenthal) for some portion of the season to the Disabled List. The Pirates rode great seasons from Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte' to home-field advantage in Wednesday's Wildcard game. I knew Chicago knew what they were doing, but I thought it would take longer for the improvement to show than it already has. The Cubs are in great hands for the next decade. Milwaukee's rotation stunk (expected) and Carlos Gomez was a disappointment until they robbed the Astros of minor-league talent for Gomez at the deadline (unexpected).
Fake Andy Todd Awards
Division MVP: Jake Arrieta.
Divison Rookie of the Year: The preseason faux-controversy about Kris Bryant staying in the minors an extra two weeks for an additional year of control for the Cubs ended up being the most overblown baseball story of the season. The third baseman only ended up knocking in 99 runs and made up for any type of minor rookie slumping by running more than expected (13 stolen bases). The Cubs did not miss the playoffs (as some had feared might happen because of Bryant's two weeks in Triple-A) and all is right at Wrigley with a wildcard berth and a promising future. I'm worried about how underwhelming Jorge Soler was this year, but not overly concerned yet as he is still just 23.
Division Cy Young: Here is a list of all the stats Jake Arrieta led the majors in...
- Wins (22)
- Complete Games (4)
- Shutouts (3)
- Hits/9 IP (5.9)
- HRs/9 IP (0.4)
and those aren't even the most impressive results from Arrieta's 2015 season. Check out his numbers after the All-Star break (0.75 ERA, 113 K's in 107.1 IP, 2 HR's allowed, 2 HR's hit by Arrieta) and try and make an argument for anyone else. You cannot come up with anyone else for a reason, Arrieta was THAT great. Meanwhile, my preseason pick (Michael Wacha) was a good idea as he did make the All-Star team and have his best professional season yet in his young career.
Sudden Collapse Award: Well, I sort of called the injury to Adam Wainwright as the statistical decline in late 2014 were apparently indicative of another injury that cost Wainwright his 2015 season, sadly.
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| Jake Arrieta also threw a no-hitter this season. Who didn't? |
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 92-70 (93-69, 1st)
San Francisco Giants 84-78 (73-89, 4th)
Arizona Diamondbacks 79-83 (64-98, 5th)
San Diego Padres 74-88 (89-73, 2nd)
Colorado Rockies 68-94 (75-87, 3rd)
Okay, I went way too far on the Giants hatred (I don't even hate them, I just thought it was an odd year and their pitching staff would implode). The Dodgers got the first part of their list of goals done (Make playoffs? Check. World Series? TBD). Never has the baseball universe jumped off a bandwagon quicker than the Padres last-minute addition of Craig Kimbrel and immediate suckage (not a word) followed this seemingly hopeless franchise. They made zero deals at the deadline to dump salaries and will likely be a very different team in 2016. Arizona's offense was one of the best in the majors thanks to the surprising emergence of A.J. Pollock and their pitching was bad until Patrick Corbin gave them some hope for next year as well. Colorado is one of the worst-run teams in baseball and things are not bright for them despite 40-homer seasons from both Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez.
Fake Andy Todd Awards
Division MVP: I honestly feel the need to mention both guys as they both deserve awards of some kind and I don't want them cancelling each other out, so Zack Greinke gets my Division MVP for his greatest season of his career and Clayton Kershaw wins the NL West Cy Young for his 301 strikeouts, his 1.99 FIP, his 0.88 WHIP and another amazing 7.5 WAR. The dude is a lock for this award every year and it's incredible that Greinke might even win the NL Cy Young over him.
Division Rookie of the Year: The Giants were already well-known for pulling names out of hats, setting those names in their lineup and succeeding beyond expectations, so nobody should have been surprised by Matt Duffy having an incredible rookie season where he came through in the clutch after Casey McGehee played like he should be back in Japan again. Tyler Matzek could not control his walk-rate at all and will need more work in the minors before Colorado trusts him ever again.
Division Cy Young Winner: Clayton Kershaw
Sudden Collapse Award: Justin Morneau did have a rough year on the field, but a lot of that could be attributed to another concussion (very rare for a player to suffer multiple concussions in baseball sliding into bases). A real collapse is whatever happened to Joc Pederson during that second half. In all fairness, he was a rookie so this award is still going to Morneau whether fair or not.
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| Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports Kershaw and Greinke watch an obviously lesser-Pitcher from the dugout. |
Real MLB Award Picks
AL MVP - Josh Donaldson
NL MVP - Bryce Harper
AL Cy Young - Dallas Keuchel
NL Cy Young - Clayton Kershaw
AL Rookie of the Year - Carlos Correa
NL Rookie of the Year - Kris Bryant
AL Manager of the Year - A.J. Hinch
NL Manager of the Year - Joe Maddon
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| Gary Coronado, Houston Chronicle A.J. Hinch is the clear favorite for AL Manager of the Year as he should be. |
Up-to-date Playoff Predictions
Wildcard Games
Astros over Yankees
Cubs over Pirates
1st Rd.
Royals over Astros
Blue Jays over Rangers
Cubs over Cardinals
Dodgers over Mets
2nd Rd.
Blue Jays over Royals
Cubs over Dodgers
World Series
Blue Jays over Cubs in 4.
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| No problem, Getty Images Blue Jays fan. |
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