How Great Was The 2012 MLB Regular Season?

While ESPN rambles on about Tebow, Dwight Howard, and other things…. They are overlooking the MLB season; which has been one of the greatest seasons in recent memory. We saw so many incredible feats that have not gone unnoticed, but have not been combined together to show why this is the greatest season I have seen since I began following baseball closely.

Here’s a list of the things we saw that made 2012 the best season in memory.

-We saw small market teams, Orioles and A’s, make the playoffs over big budget teams such as the Angels and Red Sox.

-We saw that a one game wild card adds quite a bit of drama to the season.

Offensively:

-We saw Miguel Cabrera won the first triple crown since Yaz in ’76.

-We saw a 19 year old in Bryce Harper hit over 20 homeruns despite getting called up part way through the season.

-We saw Mike Trout go from top prospect to top player after his incredible 30/45 (HR/SB) season, which had never before been accomplished by a rookie.

-We saw the end of two sure fire Hall of Fame careers: The first being Chipper Jones. He’s going down as one of the switch hitters in history and it is a shame his career had to end the way it did (Flygate as I’m going to call it).

-The other HOF career is Omar Vizquel. Over 2,800 hits and a whole bookcase full on Gold Glove awards. One of my favorite players growing up and a HOF worthy player.

-We saw the rise of the next group of superstars in Harper, Trout, Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar, Andrelton Simmons, and Starling Marte get called up from the minors to have impacts on their teams.

-We are going to see two great MVP races between Cabrera and Trout in the AL and then betweem Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, and Ryan Braun (I think David Wright could steal a vote or two as well) in the NL.

-Speaking of Posey, I was extremely happy to see him come back fully healthy after the horrendous injury from last year. That’s not because I had him on a bunch of fantasy teams either, it’s cause I like Posey and he’s emerged as one of the top if not the top catcher in the game.

With all the offensive feats, this year could easily still be called the year of the pitcher:

- We saw Fernando Rodney and Craig Kimbrel turned in two of the most dominant seasons by closers in history; and the best years since Eric Gagne won the Cy Young going 55 for 55 in saves.

-We saw one of the most dominant seasons ever by a knuckleball pitcher with R.A. Dickey leading the NL in wins and strikeouts.

-Both Cy Young races will be close: Rodney, Jered Weaver, Justin Verlander, and David Price in the AL while Dickey, Johnny Cueto, Clayton Kershaw, Gio Gonzalez, and Kimbrel fight it out in the NL.

-Rookie sensastion Yu Darvish had a rookie of the year type season if it wasn’t for Mike Trout. 15+ wins and 200 k’s in a first year is great. If he cuts down on the walks he will approach superstar status.

-Kris Medlen turned in one of the most dominant streaks of pitching the league has ever seen over July-September.

-There were also an incredible 3 no-hitters, 3 perfect games, and 1 combined no-hitter.  Absolutely insane.

All this and even more I have not mentioned makes this year the best baseball season I’ve seen in my life.

I look forward to a just as exciting playoff season of the greatest game on the planet.

NFL Quick Hits Week #2

Quick thoughts on week 2 of the NFL season:

-First off with the most recent game, Atlanta’s defense surprised me in the absence of Grimes. The secondary played extremely well and made Peyton look human

- How did New England lose? It was the Cardinals…. The Kevin Kolb led Cardinals…. Losing Hernandez is going to hurt and it’ll be interesting to see how they rebound next week in the rematch of the AFC Championship Game.

-Flashback a year ago: Lee Evans should have caught that ball.

-Back to now- Great week for rookie quarterbacks. RGIII kept up his great start while Luck, Weeden, Tannehill, and Wilson all produced solid games.

- We can all rest easy about the connection between Mark Sanchez playing well and 2012, rest easy friends: he’s still the good ol Sanchez we have always known. See you all in 2013.

- The Steelers had a good bounce back win this week against the Jets. Even without Harrison and Polamalu the defense played really well.

- I know the Eagles are 2-0, but I can’t see the success continuing too much longer if Michael Vick keeps turning the ball over as much as he has been.

- San Francisco is my pick for the best team in the league. I’ve said it since last year, they are built to win in January. Strong running game, no turnovers, and a top defense: recipe for Super Bowls.

- Chris Johnson sadly may be done as even a decent running back. Calling out your teammates to pick it up when you have around 25 yards (at most) through 2 games? Nominee for one of the worst contracts in recent memory.

- Oakland is terrible.

- So are the Chiefs.

- And lastly Jacksonville.

- After the Bears looked good in week 1 they lay down and died this week against Green Bay. They actually have a worse offensive line than my Steelers.

- I thought the Saints would be alright without having Payton but so far I’m wrong. Let’s see what happens next week though because I’ve thought since this offseason Carolina would be #2 in the division.

- I’m very interested to see which Cowboys team shows up next week. The one that outplayed the Super Bowl champs? Or the one that got thrashed by Seattle?

- San Diego is going to be very good once Matthews comes back, until he inevitably gets hurt again.

- CJ Spiller does it again, how much longer is it until he takes over as the number 1 back even when Jackson is healthy and playing? Not much longer would be my guess.

New to this week I am going to have my Player of the Week (POTW) and my GOAT of the Week (GOAT).

Week 2 POTW:

Reggie Bush: Over 200 all-purpose yards and 2 rushing scores for Reggie in the game. He’s finally living up to the billing as that #2 overall pick so many years ago.

Week 2 GOAT:

Josh Morgan: Replacement officials would win every week so I’m not picking them, but give me Josh Morgan. Come on man, you can’t let Finnegan get under your skin that much. It’s what he does, he runs his mouth until someone *cough* Andre Johnson *cough* shuts him up. Took your team out of game winning field goal range gets you the 1^st Weekly GOAT of the Week Award. 

NFL Quick Hits: Week 1

So far through Week 1, here are my thoughts/observations:

-Julio Jones is going to be a monster. Although Flowers didn’t play, no one could really slow him up in the secondary. He’ll get his first real test next week against Champ Bailey and Tracy Porter.

- Speaking of the Broncos, Peyton Manning is back. As Stu says in the Hangover, “He’s still got it.” Broncos are going to be a very good team, their defense is nasty.

- To all those who think that the Colts should regret not drafting RGIII and getting Luck instead: Please shut your mouth. It’s one game; you can’t compare people with such an enormously small sample size. We can have that discussion in a few years, not now.

-That being said, RGIII looked great and Luck struggled. Luck got thrown up against a tough defense in his first game, we’ll see how he rebounds next week.

- Dear Coach Shanahan, Let RGIII throw the ball deep every once and a while. He was kind of good at it at Baylor. Just saying.

-Brandon Weeden…….. Ouch. Better luck next week.

-Same goes to you Tannehill.

-Also Vick, Stafford, Brees: Not typical outings from these guys. All but Brees got the win though…. so I can’t knock them there.

- The 49ers are going to make a run at the Super Bowl this year. They made a strong Packers offense look relatively weak for most the game before giving up some points at the end.

-Hopefully Crabtree (Personal Favorite) is finally putting it all together. Looked good today, finally working hard to help him get better.

-Adrian Peterson is not from this planet. Who comes back that quick from an ACL tear?

- The Cowboys could be a sleeper team in the NFC this year. Romo played well and the defense played much better than last year.

- The Steelers need help on the O-line. Not having Ryan Clark hurts too, but that wasn’t the only issue tonight.

-Poor Fred Jackson, first game back from a broken leg and then sprains his knee.

-Lucky Buffalo Bills, Spiller is a beast.

- Houston is going to be a major threat, if Schaub and Johnson stay healthy (unlike last year) the Super Bowl isn’t out of the question.

- The Jets found an offense between last week and this one. Let’s see if they can repeat the success against a formidable Steelers D next week.

- Kevin Kolb- QB or illusion? I vote illusion.

- Josh Freeman has returned, has a good wide out in Vincent Jackson and a decent running game now. Tampa will be much improved.

-Do the Patriots finally have a defense to go along with their offense? Jones and Hightower both make impacts in their debut and Tavon Wilson also had a pick. If they do,they won't lose much this year. 

That’s it so far, updates will come after the games tomorrow night.

Looking to see who comes out on top in the Baltimore vs Cincy game.  Yearly division title contender vs the up-and-coming Bengals. I’m thinking the Ravens pull it off.

And I think the Raiders beat the Chargers. Though, I also think Phillip Rivers hangs on to the ball this year and doesn’t hand it over to the other team so much. Run DMC should have his way and I think Palmer will do well with all that speed at WR.

At least I hope Carson does, he’s my fantasy football qb…..

Thanks for reading as always, and follow me on Twitter if you don’t already. @jsperry1991

Top Ten Series: 2012 NFL Running Backs

King Shady: Best of the Backs

Our second stop on the Top Ten Series is at the Running Back position. Running back is one of the hardest positions to gage because running back have are a revolving door in the NFL. For every Adrian Peterson who was a top pick, there are the Arian Fosters of the league that emerge from nowhere. 

This was a really tough list, narrowing it down to only 10 was tough and there were some really good names that were left off. 

Notables Excluded: Darren McFadden, Jamal Charles, Marshawn Lynch, Demarco Murray, Frank Gore

(Injury Status is taken into consideration as this is a best going into this year not based only on career accomplishments) 

But that being said, the list is done, and it begins with….

10. Fred Jackson- Jackson was having a breakout season before being sidelined at the end of last year with a broken fibula. In just 10 games he had 934 rushing and 442 receiving yards. He had already topped his career high for receiving and was on pace to shatter his career high in rushing yards. If he is healthy at the start of the year, which he should be, I have no doubts he will return to his status as a good NFL running back.

9. Michael Turner- Turner the Burner is one of the reasons the Falcons have had the success that they have had in the Post-Vick era. Since being signed, he has been a workhorse for the team playing in all 16 games in all but one year. He has eclipsed the 1,300 yard mark in every year (aside from the injury plagued 2009 season) and has gotten into the endzone 10 times in every year. Most backs decline at the age of 30, but Turner is not the typical back have been LT’s backup in San Diego for 4 years.

8. Steven Jackson- He has been consistently good since he was given the starting job in 2005. He has reached 1,000 yards every year and is a good threat of the out of the backfield catching passes as well. The one downside to Jackson is how bad the rest of the offense is, teams can zero in on him and devote all of their effort to containing him.

7. Matt Forte- Matt is one of the best all-around backs in football and was having a career year before getting injured last year. He had almost reached his previous year total in both rushing and receiving and was showing no signs of slowing down. The Bears finally gave Forte his due by giving him a contract this offseason allowing him to focus on getting ready for the upcoming season.

6. Chris Johnson- He could easily end up higher on this list by the end of the year, and it’s not that Johnson got that much worse, the other guys above him are just that good. The holdout last year really hurt him whether he wants to admit it or not (MJD pay attention). Johnson has ran for 1,000 yards each year since getting drafted first round out of East Carolina and should eclipse that mark once again.

5. Ray Rice- I am a Steelers fan so I have a large dislike of the Ravens, but I love me some Ray Rice. He’s a heck of a football player. He set career highs in rushing yards, receiving yards, rushing touchdowns, and receiving touchdowns. Not a bad season, and he was rewarded with a big contract this offseason. Being only 25, I see Rice staying among the elite at the running back position for a very long time.

4. Adrian Peterson- If he hadn’t torn his ACL he’d be number one, just wanted to mention that. Since he is coming off a late season ACL tear he’d be among the elite from the beginning of the year. But since ACL tears are very serious it will take a few weeks for him to get back to his #1 form. I still envision AP getting to 1,00 yards like always and getting close to 10 touchdowns.

3. Maurice Jones-Drew- After leading the league in rushing last year, MJD is in the midst of a contract dispute with the Jaguars. He is one of the premier all around backs in the league and I will always remember him destroying Shawne Merriman on a block a few years back. The Jaguars need to pay Mighty Mouse because without him they have no hope on offense without him (No offense Gabbert (no pun intended)).  I hope he will get into camp to avoid a Chris Johnson-esqe down year.

2. Arian Foster- From undrafted to one of the elite players in the league, Foster missed 3 games last year and still had an amazing season. He’s one of the best pass catching backs and set a career high in receiving yards last year. A full year of Foster will be great for Houston as I see the Texans being one of the top teams in all of the NFL. To me the only person he is behind is….

1. LeSean McCoy- I’ll admit it right away, I’m biased on this one. I’ve been a huge fan of McCoy ever since his days at Pitt and I’m glad to see him having the success that he has had. But it’s not like my bias is unjustified, he rushed for 1,309 yards and had 17 touchdowns. He also added another 3 touchdowns receiving, giving him 20 on the season which was most among running backs. Although I do see a decline in touchdowns this year, I see McCoy having another great season for the Eagles.

I did not do this with the Quarterback Top Ten list, but at the end I’m going to list some players who were not considered (Including Rookies) who could make the jump to be on the list or be in consideration:

Beanie Wells, Trent Richardson, CJ Spiller, Ryan Matthews, Jahvid Best, Mark Ingram

Top Ten Series: 2012 NFL Quarterbacks

Over the next few weeks leading up to the season I will be going through the league doing Top Ten lists at each position (Excluding O-Line, Punters, Kickers). I’m not including any rookies in these list because I don’t believe a person who has not taken a snap should be considered above average at the position (yet).

First off, we start with arguably the most important position on the team, Quarterback. The QB list was very easy at the top but numbers 6-10 were where I had to make some decisions as to who deserved to be on the list and who didn’t.

Here are some of the names that just missed being on the list: Tony Romo, Josh Freeman, Joe Flacco, Peyton Manning (Due to coming off surgery, if he had played last year he'd be on it) 

And starting the list at number 10:

10. Phillip Rivers- The people who will disagree with Rivers here are those who had him on their fantasy football teams last year. The only thing that kept him from being elite last year was the career high 20 interceptions that he threw. He has had at least 4,000 yards and 25 TD’s in each of the past 4 years and even without Vincent Jackson, Rivers should put up those same numbers.

9. Michael Vick- The only thing that keeps Vick down this low on the list is the fact he’s almost guaranteed to get hurt once a year. Since coming back from being banned from the league, he’s played at most 13 games in a season. If you could turn injuries off like in Madden, there’s no telling what kind of numbers he could put up.

8. Cam Newton- Cam rewrote the record books when it comes to rookie quarterbacks. He started off the season strong, then faded a small amount towards the end by throwing for over 4,000 yards and had 35 total touchdowns. Since he is so young I kept him lower on the list and I am anxious to see how he does in his second year and if he avoids the dreaded sophomore slump.

7. Matt Ryan- There’s nothing really flashy about Ryan, he’s just a very solid QB. The only knock that is against him is that he has yet to win a playoff game in his career. I think he accomplishes it this year with a Falcons’ team that could be scary good.

6. Ben Roethlisberger- Roethlisberger has always been on the verge of becoming a top QB but has been the victim of a very poor offensive line. His two Super Bowls put him in elite company, but by his regular season numbers he’s just below the upper echelon QB’s. I think he could have a career year this year behind a should be improved offensive line.

5. Eli Manning- Eli proved all the critics wrong once again and won himself a second Super Bowl. He had a career year only missing the 5,000 yard mark by 77 yards. Losing Manningham won’t hurt his numbers because Manningham was really just a key in the Super Bowl victory while Nicks and Cruz were the reasons they got there.  Eli is entering his prime and should be one of the elite QB’s over the next few years.

4. Matthew Stafford- I have always liked Stafford and have said for years if he could stay healthy he would put up monster numbers. Well he did, and he should continue to put up elite numbers as long as he has that Calvin Johnson guy to catch it for him. The lions also got another weapon in Ryan Broyles to control the slot on a Lions team that has a legitimate shot to win the division.

3. Drew Brees- I know Brees just set the passing yards mark this past year, but all of the top three could be argued at either spot. I put Brees here because he will be without his Head Coach Sean Payton for the entire season.  He will still put up his typical Brees numbers but not the same as he did in his record setting ’11 season.

2. Tom Brady- Brady is the model of consistency when it comes to quarterback. They have system in New England that works like a charm and they have become the masters of the 5 yard slant/curl. Brady has a couple more seasons of elite left in him and getting Brandon Lloyd sure won’t hurt the cause.

1. Aaron Rodgers- The MVP of the league but up video game numbers last year. He had 4,600 yards with 45 touchdowns and didn’t even play the final game of the season. The most impressive stat, was his 6 interceptions. He is hands down the best QB in the league and his added mobility puts him up over Brady in my book.

MLB First Half Awards

The first half of the MLB season has come to a close and teams are about to gear up for the 2nd half. 

Here are my choices for the major awards that are given out at the end of the season; if the season were to end today.

*Batting Stats AVG/HR/RBI

AL Comeback Player of the Year: Adam Dunn, Chicago White Sox

Stats: .208/25/61

As a person who had Dunn last year and this year in fantasy baseball, he’s a no doubt pick for this award. His average is still horrific, but he’s already doubled his homerun total and has 20 more rbi’s than last year and has the White Sox holding a first place lead in the central at the break.

Honorable Mentions: Fernando Rodney, Edwin Encarnacion

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Johan Santana, New York Mets

Stats: 6-5, 3.24 ERA, 99 K’s, 1.17 WHIP

Santana has long been one of my favorite pitchers in the game, and I’m extremely happy to see he is back to his Johan-self. He is having an exceptional year and is helping the Mets stay in contention in the East.

Honorable Mentions: Stephen Strasburg,  Buster Posey

AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

Stats:  .341/12/40 with 26 stolen bases.

Trout has improved leaps and bounds over his call up in August of last season. Trout has turned the season around and now has them back in contention. 

Honorable Mentions: Yu Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes, Jarrod Parker, Scott Diamond, Will Middlebrooks

NL Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper,Washington Nationals  

Stats: .282/8/25 with 10 stolen bases.

I wanted to put Andrelton Simmons, but I can’t ignore Harper’s effect on the Nationals. His hustle and effort has helped the Nationals hold 1^st place in the NL East for most of the season.

Honorable Mentions: Andrelton Simmons, Wade Miley, Lance Lynn

AL Cy Young Award: Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox

Stats: 10-2, 2.19 ERA, 98 K’s, 0.95 WHIP

Chris Sale is what the Red Sox and Yankees hoped Daniel Bard and Joba Chamberlain respectively would be. He has taken the move from closer to starter (and then back to closer for about a week before being put back in the rotation) and ran wild with it. He’s been amazing this year and is on way to becoming a premier pitcher in the league.

Honorable Mentions: David Price, Jered Weaver, Justin Verlander

NL Cy Young Award: R.A. Dickey, New York Mets

Stats: 12-1, 2.40 ERA, 123 K’s, 0.93 WHIP

Dickey has been unreal this year, thus making him the Cy Young winner of the first half of the season. Typically “gimmick” pitchers don’t have the consistent success that he has, but he’s doing it in every game that he starts.

Side Note: Anyone who hasn’t read his book, “Wherever I Wind Up”, you need to. I have started it and he is a great writer who knows how to tell a story.

Honorable Mentions: Matt Cain, Stephen Strasburg, Craig Kimbrel, James McDonald

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers

Stats: .308/27/75

Since this is a first half award, I have to give it to Hamilton. However, if Trout keeps up his pace then I will be at the forefront of the Mike Trout for MVP campaign. Anyways, Hamilton is one of the greatest baseball players we have ever seen. It’s a shame that he lost many year to his off the field troubles, because we’d be looking at a Hall of Famer if he had those years back. Hamilton is on place to eclipse his career highs in both homeruns and RBI’s and may have his best season of his career.

Honorable Mentions: Mike Trout, Paul Konerko, David Ortiz, Miguel Cabrera

NL MVP: Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates

Stats: .362/18/60 with 14 stolen bases

This was the toughest choice for me, the NL has many people who deserve to win the award, but there isn’t one player who is a standout choice.  My vote goes for McCutchen. He has given Pittsburgh, a city/team who hasn’t seen the playoffs in close to 20 years, hope as the Pirates hold the lead in the division at the All-Star break. McCutchen is a 5-tool player and is only going to get better.

Honorable Mentions: David Wright, Ryan Braun, Joey Votto, Carlos Beltran, Melkey Cabrera, Michael Borun, Giancarlo Stanton

My Guilty Pleasure Homerun Derby

Since the All Star voting is underway and the Homerun Derby will be chosen soon, I thought I'd share my dream Homerun Derby. My choices have nothing to do with how good the player is, but rather their raw power potential.

1. Giancarlo Stanton: He might be the most powerful player in the majors, he has light tower power and I would love to see him hit soft toss pitches.

2. Paul Goldschmidt: Another guy with light tower power. He isn't one of the best players in the game but he's got power to spare and would be an excellent derby canidate.

3. Justin Upton: I love his homeruns. Everyone is a line drive, no doubt shot that seems to carry for forever.

4. Bryce Harper: May be a surprise, but when he's one of two players to every get an 80 on the power rating scale by Baseball America (The other being Stanton) he has to be considered for any homerun competition.

5. Jason Heyward: I went to spring training this past March and got the luxury of watching Heyward take batting practice. He hits balls further than anyone on the team by 30 feet at some times.

6. Robinson Cano: I went to a Yankees vs Indians game at Progressive Field and saw him take batting practice, my jaw dropped. He showed in the derby last year that his power numbers are not a product of the Yankees new stadium, he can hit it out of anywhere with ease.

7. Nelson Cruz: Same as Justin Upton, never a doubt on his homeruns.

8. Josh Hamilton: See 2011. He's one of the best hitters in the game and also happens to be one of the best Derby contestants in recent years.