Sunday, April 14, 2013
Looking Back on 2013
Now that the 2013 baseball season is behind us, we can reflect on what a tremendous year it was. The Mets surpised everyone, boasting both league MVP John Buck (.317, 6 HR, 19 RBI) and Cy Young winner Matt Harvey (3-0, 0.86), earning them a tie-breaker playoff with the Nationals to see who will face off against the Giants in the Wild Card play-in game.
The Braves cruised to the division title, joining St. Louis in the Central and the surprising Diamondbacks in the West.
Over in the American League, the Red Sox (6-4) rebounded from a hideous 2012 to capture the American League East - all the more remarkable as they were without David Ortiz for the entire season.
The Tigers and Royals will meet in a 1-game playoff to decide the Central, just holding off the resurgent Indians and Cy Young winner Justin Masterson (3-0, 0.41). Meanwhile, Texas and Baltimore, led by MVP Chris Davis (.405, 6 HR, 19 RBI) meet in a rematch of last year's Wild Card play-in. Davis narrowly missed out on the triple crown, dropping the batting title to teammate Adam Jones.
All of these teams will be hard pressed to challenge the A's (9-3) and their .750 winning percentage.
Pundits were spot-on about the Yankees, who proved too old and broken down to make playoffs, while the revamped Blue Jays were a terrible disappointment, but not nearly as awful as the LA Angels, who played just .200 baseball and immediately fired everyone in their front office (out of a cannon). Rookie phenom Mike Trout struggled terribly his second time around the league, hitting a paltry .227.
Thankfully, the baseball season isn't just 10 games long. So everyone should take a step back from the ledge, turn off the bath water, unplug the toaster and just take a breath.
And yes, the Reyes injury sucks. A lot.
The Braves cruised to the division title, joining St. Louis in the Central and the surprising Diamondbacks in the West.
Over in the American League, the Red Sox (6-4) rebounded from a hideous 2012 to capture the American League East - all the more remarkable as they were without David Ortiz for the entire season.
The Tigers and Royals will meet in a 1-game playoff to decide the Central, just holding off the resurgent Indians and Cy Young winner Justin Masterson (3-0, 0.41). Meanwhile, Texas and Baltimore, led by MVP Chris Davis (.405, 6 HR, 19 RBI) meet in a rematch of last year's Wild Card play-in. Davis narrowly missed out on the triple crown, dropping the batting title to teammate Adam Jones.
All of these teams will be hard pressed to challenge the A's (9-3) and their .750 winning percentage.
Pundits were spot-on about the Yankees, who proved too old and broken down to make playoffs, while the revamped Blue Jays were a terrible disappointment, but not nearly as awful as the LA Angels, who played just .200 baseball and immediately fired everyone in their front office (out of a cannon). Rookie phenom Mike Trout struggled terribly his second time around the league, hitting a paltry .227.
Thankfully, the baseball season isn't just 10 games long. So everyone should take a step back from the ledge, turn off the bath water, unplug the toaster and just take a breath.
And yes, the Reyes injury sucks. A lot.
Labels: Blue Jays; 2013; Jose Reyes
¶ posted by Jim Turner at 12:25 AM
