Before diving back into baseball for the second half, it's time to dish out some awards. As promised, we also revisit our preseason predictions in this post. And of course, we'll do the same thing at the end of the season. #accountability
Paul's comments are quotes of his from this week's podcast, while mine are words that I'm typing now.
American League (Paul)
MVP: Aaron Judge
Preseason: Mookie Betts
"He's the clear favorite. Absolutely dominating performance so far this year. 30 home runs with a slash of .329/.448/.691."
Runner-up: Jose Altuve
Cy Young: Chris Sale
Preseason: Chris Sale
"First pitcher to get to 170 strikeouts before the All-Star break in baseball history. He's striking everybody out and throwing harder, along with a 0.90 WHIP and 5.3 fWAR, two wins higher than any other AL pitcher."
Runners-up: Corey Kluber, Dallas Keuchel
Rookie of the Year: Aaron Judge
Preseason: Andrew Benintendi
"Would be the first MVP/ROY since Ichiro in 2001."
Runners-up: Benintendi, Trey Mancini
Most Surprising Team: Yankees (45-41)
"Second best run differential in the AL, fourth best in baseball. You could make the argument that they have the brightest future of any team in baseball."
Most Disappointing Team: Orioles (42-46)
"One of the worst teams in baseball. Run differential of -78, second worst in the AL. Manny Machado has had a rough year: .230/.296/.445."
National League (Peter)
MVP: Paul Goldschmidt
Preseason: Trea Turner
Goldschmidt just played in his 5th straight All-Star Game, but is somehow still underrated. He's the leader of the surprisingly very good Diamondbacks; 20 HR, 20 2B, 13 SB, and a .428 OBP.
Runners-up: Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Justin Turner
Cy Young: Max Scherzer
Preseason: Clayton Kershaw
Scherzer has been slightly better than Kershaw. 128 IP, 173 SO, 27 BB, 0.78 WHIP, 2.10 ERA.
Runners-up: Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Kenley Jansen, Zack Greinke
Rookie of the Year: Cody Bellinger
Preseason: Dansby Swanson
That swing. 25 HR in 70 career games. Part of a very fun Dodgers core.
Runners-up: Ian Happ, Josh Bell
Most Surprising Team: Diamondbacks (53-36)
The D-backs are a really well-rounded team.
- ERA: 2nd (of 30)
- WHIP: 4th
- OBP: 8th
- SLG: 6th
Most Disappointing Team: Cubs (43-45)
Who predicted this? Not me. For most of the first half, both the offense and pitching were average. But over the past couple weeks, the offense has really dropped.
- OBP: 17th
- SLG: 18th
- ERA: 8th
- WHIP: 9th
Remember the good times, Cubs fans.
Baseball is here! And more importantly, that means the over/under game is back. It seems as though everyone is an expert this time of year. Somehow we convince ourselves that we are better at predicting baseball outcomes than everyone else. Well, AFITB is putting that to the test for the third year in a row. Think you know more about baseball than us? You probably do. But go ahead and prove it anyway.