2012 MLB Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

KC got Fisted.

[Meacon Keaton]

He's got nothing on Catfish Fucker.

[The Buscher]

Dickey with his 20th win.

Regardless of what he does in his final start on Tuesday, fuck anybody who doesn't vote for him for Cy Young. He's 1st or 2nd in the NL in every category, and has done it all with an unpredictable pitch. Great human interest story too.

[Ananas]

I think you can make compelling cases for Kershaw or Gio. But it's really, really close and Dickey's innings load might be the tiebreaker that makes him the Cy Young to me.

[naiwf]

Dickey might win the Triple Crown on a terrible team, leads the league in IP, CG, SHO, quality starts and his WHIP is only .01 away from best in the league behind Cain and Kershaw. Gonzalez is the best pitcher on the best team, but that rarely means anything and Kershaw winning seems unlikely only because he has 12 wins. I know that wins don't matter but it's hard to believe you'd see a guy win the Cy with 12 victories in a season with two 20 game winners, especially when his peripherals aren't otherworldly in comparison.

[Meacon Keaton]

21 wins and a division title are going to be tough to vote against.

[The Buscher]

What does winning a division title have to do with it? Both guys are going to have appeared in about 20% of their team's games. I don't even like the "you must be on a playoff team" rule that some voters seem to take for the MVP voting, but at least it makes some more sense in that instance.

The only reason anybody would vote Gio over Dickey is because of the wins. Wins used to be the be all, end all (why hello there, Bartolo Colon circa 2005) but I don't think that's the case anymore. A lot of voters have realized that wins and losses are team stats and that it's not really fair to judge a pitcher based solely on that. Felix won the Cy at at 13-12 a couple years ago.

It's possible that Dickey comes out and lays an egg in his final start, the Marlins are probably due to finally figure him out...but if he churns out another great start to end the year he'll still be in the top 2 of pretty much every category. I think he'll be in good shape.

[Meacon Keaton]

No reason to get uppity. Just stating my viewpoint, was all. I'd bet I'm not the only person, including those with votes, that think that way. I know Dickey winning a Cy Young is all you can salvage from this season, but don't be too shocked if he isn't the one that wins it. You seem ready to bet the house, and I don't think it's that much of a sure thing.

Can Dickey win it? Of course. I'm not saying he can't. But to think he's only competing with himself is a bit gullible.

[The Buscher]

Not trying to be uppity - just saying that I don't really see how the division title thing plays into it. It's not Dickey's fault that the team is crap when he doesn't pitch.

I'm not willing to bet the house on him winning either - it's the Mets, whatever can go wrong usually does. So for that reason alone the chance of him churning in a bad final start or just voter biases in general is always on the table. I just think it's clear as day right now that he's been the best pitcher in the NL and has been invaluable to his team. On MLB Network when they were breaking down his start they seemed pretty certain this 20th win had sealed it up for him in the minds of voters.

If he doesn't win, Mets fans and Dickey himself will feel gypped. But it is what it is. He should be in line for a nice extension this off-season anyway. Given that he's a knuckler, his age isn't as much of a concern in terms of years on the deal. Feels nice to have a legitimate, dependable ace after Johan's constant injuries the last few seasons.

[gunnar hendershow]

The division title doesn't always play into it, especially not as much anymore. Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young a few years back despite a low win total and playing on a horrible team, but he was by far the best pitcher in the AL that year. It's not a runaway for Dickey like it was for Hernandez though, but top 2 in almost every statistical category is extremely hard to vote against in a day when a majority of writers look in depth at detailed stats to decide for whom they are voting. And there are writers, especially in the Northeast, who have been completely swept up in the magical story of Dickey and will vote for him based on that alone. I'd be surprised if that last factor doesn't push him over the edge.

[zero]

Homer Bailey. First Reds no-hitter since 1988.

That is all.

[thatshortguy]

Homer Bailey. First Reds no-hitter since 1988.

That is all.

I really hope the Braves can catch the Nats, because I DO NOT want to run into the Reds in the first round.

[The Buscher]

In theory this should be a fun ending to the AL East race, but I'm almost positive the Yankees will be winning it. The Orioles are awesome, but sweeping the Rays is no easy task. Meanwhile the Yankees get 3 games against the Red Sox, who SHOULD be relishing the chance to ruin the Yanks' division title hopes but instead have fully quit on Bobby V and probably couldn't care less.

[gunnar hendershow]

Hell froze over.

[Maxx]

Nah, Pirates still ended up with a losing record. It's just a light frost.

[The Buscher]

Mike Trout is the first player in MLB history with 30 HR, 45 steals, and 125 runs scored.

Cabrera better hope he wins the Triple Crown because it's the only way he'll have a shot at MVP...and even then I don't think it'll be enough. I love Miggy, and he's the best hitter in baseball...but Trout just contributes so much to all phases of the game.

[SeanDMan]

he is also the mvp of the mlb all-name team.

[Panni]

I'm really pulling for Cabrera to win the MVP, but I guess that's because I always associated the MVP with the best hitter in baseball.

[The Buscher]

So a quick tally of the playoff races still up for grabs going into today:

-AL East: A Yankees loss or Orioles win guarantees the race continues into Wednesday.

-AL West: An A's win over the Rangers today ties up the division with one game to play.

-NL Wild Card: Cardinals just need one win or one Dodgers loss to lock up the 2nd Wild Card spot.

You have to figure MLB is praying for at least one of these races to stay alive going into Game 162. I believe seeding will continue to be up for grabs on Wednesday no matter what (namely who will host the AL Wild Card game) but it probably doesn't have the marketability of an actual playoff hunt.

With the weird Division Series schedule this year, I actually think the lower seeds could be favored. They'll get to host the first 2 games before playing 3 on the road.

[thatshortguy]

Nats win the NL East in 'ice is cold' shocker.

Braves will probably get St. Louis, just so Atlanta can do in one day what it took them months to do last year.