Let's Take a Look Back at My MLB Preview

MLB playoffs officially start today. Orioles v. Blue Jays for the American League Wild-Card game. Don't like either team, but as a baseball fan I hope the Blue Jays win just for the storyline in a rematch against against the Rangers in the ALDS.

​You gotta go all the way back to April 1st for the 3rd part of my MLB Preview mlb-preview-part-3-contenders-and-playoff-picks.html where I had my official playoff and award picks. Not to s my own d but for a random baseball fan I did pretty good. Let's take a look. 

This comes straight off of that blog: My standings projection

My DOZONLIFE Regular Season Standings Predictions
I'm gonna include how many games I expect the teams to win. It may not add up correctly, idc, I'm blogging for free.

American League:
East:                    Central:                West:                                        Wild Card Teams:
1. Red Sox     90-72  1. Royals          93-69    1. Astros       95-67                           Rangers and Indians
2. Blue Jays  85-77  2. Indians         89-73   2. Rangers    92-70
3. Yankees    79-83  3. Tigers            81-81   3. Mariners  86-76 
4. Rays            78-84  4. White Sox   79-83   4. Angels       70-92
​5. Orioles      71-91  5. Twins             78-84   5. Athletics   67-95
National League:
East:                   Central:              West:                                      Wild Card Teams:
1. Mets           94-68   1. Cubs            96-66   1. Giants                    95-67           Nationals and Diamondbacks
2. Nationals 92-70   2. Cardinals  90-72  2. Diamondbacks  91-71
3. Marlins     78-84   3. Pirates        88-74   3. Dodgers                89-73
4. Braves       67- 95  4. Brewers     72-90   4. Padres                   74-88
5. Phillies      63-99   5. Reds             69-93  5. Rockies                  72-90

Sure I only got two division winners correct in the Red Sox and Cubs, BUT I did predict 7-10 playoff teams correctly. Red Sox, Indians, Rangers, Nationals, Mets, Cubs, and Giants. 70% right. If we're going by batting average I'm hitting .700 which would be the best career batting average of all time. So transitive property I'm the best of all time. Go dozo!

Other than predicting the 69 win Diamondbacks to make the playoffs, I really don't think you can bash these picks too much. Maybe that I had the Orioles as a 5th place team, but I'll still stand by that. They're frauds. Even if they win tonight they have 0.00% chance of winning the World Series. There's a better chance that the World will end by November then there is of the Baltimore Orioles winning the World Series. They stink.


Don't worry you'll be able to bash me very soon Let's take a look at my award picks.

Cy Young Winners:                                                    MVP:
AL: Chris Archer (Tampa Bay Rays)                 AL: Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox)
NL: Noah Syndergaard (New York Mets)     NL: Anthony Rizzo (Chicago Cubs)

Rookie of the Year:                                                   Manager of the Year:
AL: Joey Gallo (Texas Rangers)                         AL: Terry Francona (Cleveland Indians)
NL: Corey Seager (Los Angeles Dodgers)      NL: Chip Hale (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Of the 8 picks I made for the major awards I'm going to rank them 8-1. 8th being the worst. My bottom 3 were TERRIBLE. 

8. AL ROY: Joey Gallo

Joey Gallo played in 17 games for the Texas Rangers this season. That's less than 3 weeks of baseball. In that time he hit .040, yes .040. Worse than most pitchers. A cool 1-25. In my defense that one hit was a Home Run. Way to make your one hit in 2016 count bro.  1-25 with 19 strikeouts. I don't think it's possible to make a worse pick than this, although my next two predictions were very bad as well.  But if I'm Joey Gallo I'm pulling a reverse Tebow and trying to make it in football because this baseball thing just isn't working for him. 1 for fucking 25. 

7. NL Manager of the Year: Chip Hale

I went all in on the Diamondbacks being good this year. It was those stupid uniforms and the pitching they added this off season. I think Shelby Miller would make them a contender HAHHAHAHAHHA. I thought they'd make the playoffs, they ended up being one of the worst teams in the entire league. Some times you just gotta say "I fucked up" which I did by believing in this team. Chip Hale led the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 69-93 record, and has been relieved of his managerial duties. Aka he got fucking fired.  Yikes. That's what you get for trying to be the smartest person in the room. Any other year this is the worst prediction.

6. AL Cy Young: Chris Archer

Chris Archer wasn't that bad this season. 4.02 ERA isn't what you want out of an ace but it's not horrible. Plus he finished 2nd in the AL in strikeouts that's very good. However Chris Archer pitched on a horrible team and went 9-19. I know in today's baseball a lot of people say Win-Loss record doesn't matter when determining how good a pitcher is. I don't think you can entirely throw it out, but it is a flawed statistic. 19 losses is 19 losses. Regardless, the dude I picked to win the Cy Young award LED THE AMERICAN LEAGUE IN LOSSES. Not ideal. 


Here is where I can pat myself on the back again, because even if I'm 0-5 here they were good picks, all will probably finish top 5ish in their respective award. 

5. NL MVP: Anthony Rizzo

Rizzo was 2nd in the NL with 109 RBI. 8th in HR with 32. Tied for 19th in the NL with a .292 batting average. Plays a gold-glove caliber 1st Base as well. He had a fantastic year for the best team in baseball. I'd say he's easily top 10 in MVP votes, probably top 5. Solid pick by me compared to the last 3. 

4. NL Cy Young: Noah Syndergaard

Missed some time and still was able to go 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA and 218 strikeouts. 3rd in the NL in ERA and tied for 4th in strikeouts. Again another great pick by me, will finish probably somewhere around 5th in CY Young voting.  THOR is the man and pitching the NL Wild Card game against Madison Bumgarner Wednesday, it's going to be a great pitching duel (on-paper).

3. AL MVP: Mookie Betts

Mookie Betts had a fantastic season. As someone who watches him play everyday, let me tell you, he is a star. Elected to All Star team for the first time this season, should win Gold Glove for RF.  Only reason this is my 3rd pick is because there is some doubt as to if Mookie wins MVP, when my next two are basically locks. But let's take a second to appreciate what Mookie did in 2016.

.318 Batting Average. Tied for 2nd in the AL with teammate Dustin Pedroia.
31 Home Runs. Tied for 19th in the AL, but Mookie was hitting lead off for 70% of the season. That's insane production from a lead off guy. 
113 RBI. Good for 4th in the AL, again he batted lead off for most of the season. 
122 runs scored. Tied for 2nd in the AL. 
26 Stolen Bases. 6th in the AL. 
​14 Outfield Assists.

A true 5 tool player. Mookie SHOULD be the AL MVP this year but between saber metrics losers that want Mike Trout to win even though the Angels were horrible, and David Ortiz' fantastic final season, it is likely Mookie will not win AL MVP. 

2. AL MOY: Terry Francona

Won the AL Central despite losing a ton of key pieces to injury throughout the year. In my eyes Tito should be the runaway winner for this award. Would be shocked if someone else won, idk who else you could even say deserves it? 

The Cleveland Indians won 94 games this season. That alone should give Tito the award.

1. NL ROY: Corey Seager

Corey Seager is going to be the NL Rookie of the Year.  

.308 26 HR 72 RBI .877 OPS

Good job Corey, and better job Dozo for calling it.

​

As for the playoffs here is what I had. 

American League:

Wild Card Game: (4) Rangers beat (5) Indians
ALDS: (4) Rangers beat (1) Astros
               (2) Royals beat (3) Red Sox 
ALCS: (4) Rangers beat (2) Royals

National League:

Wild Card Game: (4) Nationals beat (5) Diamondbacks
NLDS: (1) Cubs beat (4) Nationals
                (3) Mets beat (2) Giants
NLCS: (1) Cubs beat (3) Mets

World Series:
National Champion Chicago Cubs beat American League Champion Texas Rangers


​I'm sticking with my World Series pick of Cubs over Rangers. Obviously hope the Sox win the World Series but I still don't believe they have the pitching to get the job done. Again, let's just appreciate how good my predictions were.