2012 MLB Season Review

2012 MLB Regular Season Review

That sound you hear is me giving Bud Selig a standing ovation for adding that second wild card to the playoff picture this year. That rule change led to an incredibly exciting finish to the season. There wasn’t the craze of Game 162 from 2011, but the entire month of September had a similar feel, with every game feeling like a must-win and division races coming down to the absolute last day. 2012 was filled with spectacular stories, from surprising teams making huge leaps, to individuals making history, to some massive disappointments and lost seasons (Red Sox fans nodding sadly). With all the hoopla from football and the Summer Olympics, it seems as a lot of these baseball stories haven’t been appreciated; this tends to happen when ESPN lives up the Jets’ ass, right next door to Skip Bayless’s apartment on Tebow Avenue. Whether you are a casual fan or a hardcore aficionado, everybody has to be aware of the greatness that we witnessed in 2012. Baseball may be rapidly dropping down to the third most popular sport behind football and basketball, but this season had everything that we could have hoped for, and hopefully the playoffs will have more in store for us.

The 2012 season brought more shocks in terms of surprising team success than any year in recent memory. Raise your hand if you had Baltimore, Oakland, and Washington all making the playoffs. That sentence might as well have read, “raise your hand if you’re a liar”, because there’s no way anyone predicted that one. The National League was pretty simple to navigate all year, because there wasn’t really a race that was in jeopardy down the stretch, but there will still some pleasant surprises. I thought the Washington Nationals were one year away from success but they proved me wrong. Not only did the Nats take the next step forward as a team, but they took the MLB by storm and finished the season with the best record in all of baseball, even with Steven Strasburg being shut down for the last month of the year. They had a 21-game winner in breakout star Gio Gonzalez and had a potent offense led by Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse, and Ian Desmond. This team is young, and ready to win right now, but we’ll see if the decision to shut down Strasburg will backfire or not. Either way, they ride into their first postseason in forever with home field advantage throughout the playoffs and in the World Series as well, if they make it there. Washington will play the winner of the playoff game between wild cards Atlanta and St. Louis, and we’ll see how they perform. 

Now to the American League surprise teams, and I’ll start with a question: How do you decide who wins AL Coach of the Year between Bob Melvin and Buck Showalter? They both coached their asses off and led projected last-place teams into the playoffs on magical runs that never struck midnight. The Orioles play in the gauntlet that is the AL East, with perennial contenders in New York, Tampa Bay, and Boston. If either of the other two teams were going to take a leap forward, I thought it would be Toronto. Either way, the Orioles were supposed to finish in last place, but they defied the odds. Baltimore finished with 93 wins, taking the chase for the AL East crown down to the final game of the season with the Yankees. The Rays, winners of 90 games, didn’t even get one of the two wild cards. The O’s still don’t even have that great of starting pitching, but they had a horse closing out games in Jim Johnson, who finished with 51 saves in 54 opportunities. Baltimore was able to win so many games because of their offense, led by Adam Jones. They had an incredible amount of luck as well, winning 16 straight extra-inning games (what?!) which shows that while being very fortunate, they absolutely have the clutch gene as a team that you need to win in October. The Orioles will play in the wild card play-in game against the Texas Rangers on the road, which is no small task, but if any team can pull off a miracle this year, why not the O’s?

Maybe even MORE surprising than the O’s, if that’s possible, is the A’s, the other vowel of the MLB. The Oakland Athletics had no business competing in the AL West this year, in a division with the two-time defending AL champ Texas Rangers, and the completely reloaded Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (still the worst name in sports besides anything named “Cleveland”). I picked Oakland to finish in last place in that division and expected nothing from them. Their two best offensive players were Yoenis Cespedes, an unproven free agent from Cuba and Josh Reddick, a first-time starting outfielder acquired from Boston in a trade. Their starting pitching was mediocre at best to begin the year, and by the end of the year they had a rotation made up of five rookies. Five rookies??? Somehow they made things work, and after being 13 games back on June 30th, Oakland went 68-33 to end the season and steal the division from the mighty Rangers on the final day of the season. They finished the year 94-68, the second best record in the American League, and clinched their first playoff berth since 2006. My first thought when Cespedes signed with the A’s was: why would he CHOOSE to play with Oakland and never win anything in his life? It turns out that he became the leader of the team, hitting .292 with 23 home runs and also had 16 stolen bases while playing a great center field, all in only 129 games. This team also got several other unforeseen contributions, such as 32 homers from Reddick and 21 more from Brandon Moss along with a .291 average in only 84 games. Coco Crisp had 39 steals, and although only two players hit over .270 during the whole season, five players hit at least .280 in the second half. Those rookie pitchers I mentioned were fantastic, all of whom posted ERAs under 4.00 and showed composure beyond their years. They ended the season 8-1 while Texas finished 2-7, wiping out a 5-game deficit in the final week and a half. This 2012 Oakland club will always be remembered in the bay area for the heart that they displayed. They will face the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS, and if they can somehow beat Verlander in Game 1, then the Athletics could find themselves in the ALCS. These three organizations shocked the world in 2012 and hopefully their stories will continue. After all, legends are born in October. (Note: The White Sox and the Pirates would have been on this list as well if they didn’t self-destruct in the second half).

Lost in the wildness of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season were some spectacular individual seasons put up by some surprising players. I think 2012 might have been the year of the closer, because there were some amazing performances. Jim Johnson was a bulldog for Baltimore with 51 saves, and he was probably only the 4th best closer in the league. Third best was Aroldis Chapman of the Reds, who started maximizing on his talent this year. The flamethrower had 38 saves with a minuscule 1.51 ERA, and 71.2 innings, had a whopping 122 strikeouts. In my opinion, the second best finisher was Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel, who almost put up what could have been the best season ever for a closer. Kimbrel saved 42 games in 45 opportunities, and had only 14 walks to an amazing 116 strikeouts, while putting up only a 1.01 ERA. He faced a total of 233 batters this year, which means that he struck out half of the hitters he faced this season, and had a record 0.65 WHIP. He could very well win the NL Cy Young this year, and his performance out of the bullpen could only be topped by the heroics of Fernando Rodney down in Tampa Bay. Rodney set an all-time record with a sparkling ERA of 0.60. In 75 innings of work he only allowed 5 earned runs and converted 48 out of his 50 save opportunities. He was simply automatic, and it’s a shame he couldn’t continue his run through the postseason as well. 

As for the non-closers...how about Edwin Encarnacion for the lowly Blue Jays? Even though he had a weak finish to the season, he had to carry this team with the absence of Jose Bautista, and he delivered with 42 home runs, 110 RBIs, and finished with a solid .280 batting average. Meanwhile, we have a Padres sighting! Chase Headley led the entire NL in RBI this year with 115. He also had 31 HR, 17 SB, and a .286 batting average. Headley was absolutely a top 5 National League hitter. As for breakout pitchers, I picked Jered Weaver to win the AL Cy Young this year, and while he probably won’t, he did finish 20-5 to prove that he does belong among the game’s elite. Kris Medlen for the Braves was 10-1 with a 1.57 ERA. Atlanta has won a record 23 consecutive games started by Medlen, so this wild card game seems to be a lock, right? I also have to bring up RA Dickey, the soon-to-be 38-year-old knuckleballer put together a season for the ages, and I honestly hope that it ends in a Cy Young award. He finished the season 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA, three shutouts, a 1.05 WHIP, and a National-League-leading 230 strikeouts. He showed the world that a knuckleball can get the job done, and he had a season for the ages.

Now, for the three big splashes of the 2012 season, beginning with Bryce Harper. The 19-year-old phenom had his struggles in his first season but for the most part looked like a star-in-making. His stats for this season were respectable; in 139 games, he hit .270, 22 HR, 59 RBI, and 18 SB, while displaying one of the strongest arms in the league. There are reasons to love and hate Harper, besides his talent. He is already infamous for being a hothead, and proved it, yelling at umps and throwing helmets down, etc. One thing he should be commended for, however, is hustling on every play, giving 110% of his heart on the field. He’s kind of like the extremes of Robinson Cano, who rarely shows bad emotions but also doesn’t know how to bust his ass down the first base line, either. Harper has a bright future, and is the offensive face of the franchise to go along with Strasburg’s pitching. 

The other incredible rookie has a chance to win the AL MVP, the Fish himself, Mr. Mike Trout. Trout has exploded onto the scene in his first year, and is already regarded as the best player in the game at only 21 years old. He put up historic numbers, including a .326 batting average, 30 home runs, 83 RBI, and 49 stolen bases. He had a .399 OBP and scored 129 runs, which is 20 more than any other player in the MLB and he did all this in 139 games. He became the first rookie ever with 30 home runs and 40 stolen bases and almost made that number 30-50. Trout also made an impact defensively, robbing three home runs while scaling the fences like one of those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. For all the saber-metric freaks out there, Trout also led the MLB with a 10.7 WAR this season, the highest by far, ahead of Robinson Cano who finished second with an 8.3 WAR. He is already drawing comparisons to Mickey Mantle, who many consider the greatest all-around baseball player who ever lived. We don’t know where Mike Trout will end up in the future, but he will undoubtedly be the best player in the league sooner rather than later.

Finally, the biggest year of them all, goes to my MVP pick of last year, Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera made history this season being the first player to win the Triple Crown award since 1967. Miggy led the American League with a .330 batting average and led the world with 44 home runs and 139 RBI as well, accomplishing one of the rarest feats in all of sports. He simply put up one of the most prolific offensive seasons ever, and better get the AL MVP award because of that. I know Trout is the new Prom King of the league and can run and play defense, but Cabrera carried the Tigers down the stretch and led them to a division title, while Trout was surrounded by superstars and couldn’t lead his team to even a wild card. Cabrera gets rubbed because of his lack of great defense, but remember, he did sacrifice for the team and moved over to third base with the signing of Prince Fielder, and played pretty decently this year anyway. He was absolutely the best player in the game this year, and we’ll see if he can lead his Detroit Tigers to the promised land this year and get himself a second ring.

Now the sad part of the review, to the disappointments. First, the Boston Red Sox. Their team got ripped apart in every way possible, and they had their worst winning percentage since 1965. Bobby Valentine was a one-year wonder, as in everyone will wonder how this team could have possibly been this bad. They gave Bobby V the boot, finally, and will begin looking for a new manager ASAP. To be fair, though, everyone on this team was hurt. I think they had more people on the DL at least once than not on the DL at all this season. The Red Sox gave up toward the end of the season, and traded away Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, and other pieces to the Dodgers to cut away $250 million in salary. Which brings us to our next disappointment, the LA team who doesn’t have Mike Trout. They made trades for Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, and Adrian Gonzalez to add to Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in that line-up, and from that day on got worse, and completely fell out of the NL West picture as the Giants rode on to victory. They could have won the second wild card, but didn’t play well enough to catch the Cardinals, and missed the playoffs altogether, except now with over $250 million in salary to deal with. What the hell happened to them? They were supposed to be the superpower of the West coast, mirroring the Yankees and Red Sox. The Dodgers were an embarrassment down the stretch, but hopefully they will be able to turn things around next year. The Phillies and the Marlins were projected by many to be the top two teams in the NL East...they weren’t. Then there is the atrocity that is the lower part of the NL Central. This division had not one but TWO teams finish with over 100 losses: the Chicago Cubs (61-101) and the Houston Astros (55-107). The Astros are simply awful. As for Cubs fans...does anyone suffer more then them? The draught is at 104 years and judging by the Cubs’ performance this year, that streak will last quite a bit longer. There were plenty of disappointments this year, but hopefully they will all improve next year to get back on track. Everyone except the Red Sox, anyway.

The 2012 Major League Baseball season was one that contained many wild rides and stories that kept huge fans like me enthralled until the end. From the team success of the Orioles and Athletics to individual history of Trout and Cabrera, 2012 will be remembered for several reasons. As far as I’m concerned, these playoffs should be just as memorable as well. Whoever wins the World Series will be a deserved champion, which is only fitting after such another fantastic season of our national pastime. Playoff preview coming up tomorrow, hope you enjoyed everything!