BBA General Chapter Official Ballot - Finis

Last week, the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance compiled its official ballot for the Willie Mays Award and Connie Mack Award that goes respectively to the best rookies in each league and the best managers. Today, the chapter finishes the job and selects a ballot for the Goose Gossage Award, the Walter Johnson Award and the Stan Musial Award that goes to the best relievers, best pitchers and the most valuable players respectively in each league. The ballot will then be added to others from around the alliance to come up with the winners of the BBA awards.

This is my third or fourth year compiling these as president of the General Chapter. Our chapter is thus named because our chapter writers cover the sport generally and not just one team or one area of expertise. It's a great group of writers and it has been my honor to read and feature these writers. This ballot will be my last official act as chapter president as I have stepped down. It is time for someone else with fresher ideas and more energy to take over.

All three of these award votes were interesting. Well, they were for the most part. The Stan Musial Award in the American League and the Walter Johnson Award in the National League were duh votes and there was no doubt of the outcome. The rest were like the Wild West with votes all over the place and some real close races.

So let's get to the ballot! The Goose Gossage Award portion of the ballot requires the top three places. The Walter Johnson Award requires five places and the Stan Musial requires ten. Let's start with the Goose Gossage Award:

American League:

1. Wade Davis - 30 pts
2. Dellin Betances - 29 pts
3. Greg Holland - 19 pts

Others in order: Zach Britton (11), Sean Doolittle (8), Jake McGee (5), Andrew Miller (4), Fernando Rodney (3), Huston Street (2)

That was a very close race! Betances had one more first place vote but Davis was on more ballots.

National League:

1. Craig Kimbrel  - 36 pts.
2. Aroldis Chapman - 31 pts
3. Kenley Jansen - 9 pts

Others in order: Tony Watson (8), Jonathan Papelbon (6), Mark Melancon (5), Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard (3), Trevor Rosenthal and Steve Cishek (2) and Hector Rondon (1).

The Walter Johnson Award

National League:

1. Clayton Kershaw - 83 pts.
2. Adam Wainwright - 53 pts.
3. Johnny Cueto - 46 pts.
4. Jordan Zimmermann - 24 pts.
5. Stephen Strasburg - 12 pts.

Others in order: Madison Bumgarner (11), Cole Hamels (8), Jake Arrieta (7), Doug Fister (5), Zack Greinke (3).

Clayton Kershaw got a first place vote from every writer except one who voted him third.

American League

1. Felix Hernandez - 81 pts
2. Corey Kluber - 79 pts.
3. Chris Sale - 42 pts
4. Jon Lester - 21 pts.
5. David Price - 14 pts.

Others in order: Phil Hughes (12), Max Scherzer (8), Dallas Keuchel (5), Garrett Richards (2), Sonny Gray (1).

Both King Felix and Kluber were on every ballot. Hernandez received more first place votes.

The Stan Musial Award

American League

1. Mike Trout - 150 pts   Received every first place vote!
2. Michael Brantley - 91 pts
3. Jose Bautista - 90 pts
4. Jose Abreu - 67 pts
5. Victor Martinez - 66 pts
6. Jose Altuve - 57 pts
7. Robinson Cano - 38 pts
8. Alex Gordon - 33 pts
9. Miguel Cabrera - 29 pts
10. Felix Hernandez - 23 pts

The rest in order of finish: Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Corey Kluber, Ian Kinsler, Jose Reyes, Adam Jones, Chris Sale, Edwin Encarnacion, Kyle Seager, David Price, Garrett Richards, Max Scherzer.

National League

1. Andrew McCutchen - 156 pts
2. Giancarlo Stanton - 132 pts
3. Clayton Kershaw - 109 pts
4. Jonathan Lucroy - 87 pts
5. Anthony Rendon - 71 pts
6. Buster Posey - 68 pts
7. Yasiel Puig - 34 pts
8. Anthony Rizzo, 29 pts
9. Carlos Gomez - 29 pts
10. Josh Harrison - 28 pts

Others with votes: Johnny Cueto, Jayson Werth, Jhonny Peralta, Jordan Zimmermann, Madison Bumgarner, Jason Heyward, Russell Martin, Stephen Strasburg, Justin Morneau, Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Carpenter, Adrian Gonzalez, Devon Mesoraco, Paul Goldschmidt, Denard Span and Craig Kimbrel.

Kershaw received six first place votes but was left off of five ballots.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance will announce the winners of the Goose Gossage Award on October 20, the Walter Johnson Awards on October 22 and the Stan Musial Awards on October 24.

Much thanks to all of our writers who participated.

Jose Abreu and Jacob deGrom win BBA Willie Mays Awards

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance recently announced the winners of their Willie Mays Awards for 2014. After votes were compiled by alliance members, Jose Abreu was the runaway winner in the American League and Jacob deGrom was the winner in the National League. For full details and the press release, go here.

MLB Game Picks - Wednesday: October 15, 2014

I obviously have no clue this post season. The Royals have me dumbstruck. And it just goes to show you how much of a crap shoot the playoffs are. It just takes a team getting hot at the right time and riding a wave of invincible feelings all the way through. My friend, JD Mathewson has written a series of posts giving day to day odds based on results. And it's great stuff and highly entertaining and useful. The problem is that with a short series, you can throw computer models in the hamper. A hot team is going to do what they are going to do.

So, yeah, the Royals have me dumbstruck. I just finished watching the Orioles bludgeon their way through the American League all season. Nobody could beat them. They won 96 games and were 47-30 against the American League East. But they look like the Royals' chew toy.

At the same time, I am 1-2 picking the NLCS. Wasn't there some point in the season where the SF bullpen was a mess? How does that suddenly fix itself and become this tower of strength? The Giants cannot hit themselves out of a powder egg and have yet won two of three. It's weird. This post season is weird.

Two more games today. Two more attempts to look somewhat less than totally incompetent. The picks:

• The Royals over the Orioles: Okay, I capitulate. I cannot fight the Royal tide. Finish them off, Royals. Confound me further. There is something fundamentally wrong for me when a wild card team gets to the World Series. It doesn't sit right. But all my silly ideas aside, the Royals are going to the World Series. Jason Vargas over Miguel Gonzalez.

• The Giants over the Cardinals: I just don't like the Cardinals without Yadier Molina. And I hate saying that out loud because the catcher is one of my least favorite players in baseball. The Cardinals' decision to use A.J. Pierzynski was a joke and a poor one. The guy is well past his prime and still as much of a putz as always. Pitchers lose the most in these situations. Who would you rather have your young pitchers pitch to: Molina or AJP? Exactly. The bottom line here is that Shelby Miller has never won a post season game at 24 years of age and Ryan Vogelsong, aged 37, has never lost one. Saying all that, AJP will probably hit a grand slam or something.

Yesterday: 0-2, Post season: 8-14, Season: 1373-1104

Chip Hale to manage Arizona Diamondbacks

My first reaction upon hearing that Tony La Russa and the Arizona Diamondbacks had hired Chip Hale to manage the team was, "Who?" And yeah, Walter William "Chip" Hale is not a household name. He played parts of seven seasons as a utility guy, Mostly for the Twins and finished up his minor league career with Memphis, the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate. As such, La Russa would know him and the choice makes more sense.

The hiring of Hale does fly in the face of what has been going on in managerial hires of the past seasons. New managers have either been former players getting their first managerial starts without much experience (Ausmus, Mattingly and even Kirk Gibson) or former catchers as that field position seems to be favored.

Chip Hale is not a guy without experience and he is not a former catcher. He played just about every infield and outfield position, but was never a catcher. And you can certainly tell he paid his dues managing in the minors.

Two years after his playing career ended in 1998, Hale was hired by the Diamondbacks to manage their rookie league team. He moved up to Double-A in 2002 and to the Triple-A Tuscon Sidewinders in 2003. He spent three years there and his 2006 team won 91 games.

Since then, he has coached in the big leagues, a year with the Diamondbacks and then the Mets. When he lost out on the managerial job there to Terry Collins, he moved on to the Oakland A's where he has been the bench coach since.

It is sort of refreshing to see a baseball lifer kind of guy get the chance. There is no telling if this is a good move for the Diamondbacks or not. We can see with the selection that Tony La Russa is going against the current grain here and that makes the hire interesting by itself. After a miserable 2014, any change in Phoenix has to be a good one. Since hearty didn't work, it might as well be Hale.

MLB Game Picks - Tuesday: October 14, 2014

Yesterday was a washout for Major League Baseball as the one playoff game had to be cancelled due to weather. That means we get two games today. The NLCS will start at four o'clock and the ALCS at eight. Despite being rained out, the Royals and Orioles will still feature the same pitching match-up as scheduled yesterday. While in the NLCS, the Cardinals must make do without their fiery leader, Yadier Molina. Come on down, A.J. Pierzynski.

The picks:

• The Cardinals over the Giants: Despite the absence of Molina, I still think the Cardinals win this game IF John Lackey comes up big. Tim Hudson goes for the Giants and he was brilliant in his one 2014 post season start thus far. But that comes after a sub par season and it is hard to know which one will show up tonight. The same could be said for Lackey. When Lackey is on, he is wicked. If he is not, balls fly all over the ballpark. It will be interesting.

• The Orioles over the Royals: I'm still going with the same picks as yesterday since the pitching line is supposed to remain the same. I understand why the Royals would pitch Jeremy Guthrie as he deserves the start. He has been with the Royals for two and a half years and always battles hard for them. But on the other hand, the Orioles know him as he pitched for them not long ago and Guthrie is a homer waiting to happen. Wei-Yin Chen is the wild card in all this. Left-handed pitching does not bother the Royals very much. A key match-up for Chen will be Billy Butler who absolutely rakes lefty pitching.

Post Season: 8-12, Season: 1373-1102

Hurdle Wins Second Consecutive Connie Mack Award

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance announced today that Clint Hurdle and Buck Showalter have won the alliance's Connie Mack Awards for their respective leagues.

The final results for the entire BBA membership matches the ballot presented by the General Chapter three days ago. As the heading indicates, the award is Hurdle's second consecutive nod.

The full press release with all the results can be found at the alliance's home site linked above.

MLB Game Picks - Monday: October 13, 2014

Happy Columbus Day to all of you fortunate enough to get the federal holiday off. It would have been nice during the holiday to have a day game to watch in the playoffs. But, heavens, that would be sacrilege.  And so we will wait all the way to eight o'clock tonight to watch the Orioles and Royals resume their series, this time in Kansas City.

The Cardinals evened their series against the Giants with a Kolten Wong walk off laser. It was the fourth homer the Cards hit in the game. Isn't it weird how these teams like the Cards and Royals who hardly hit any homers in the season have hit so many in the post season? Anyway, the homer is the problem you face with Jake Peavy pitching and I kind of called that one yesterday.

The Orioles, of course, are in trouble now having to play in Kansas City down two games to none. They have effectively squandered their home field advantage and the Royals just have to win two of five to head to the World Series. So can the Orioles fight back? Or will they melt away in four? Let's take a look.

The pick:

• The Orioles over the Royals: The pitching line here seems to favor the Orioles. Wei-Yin Chen, if he is on, is very effective and his winning percentage this year showed how good he can be. Jeremy Guthrie is a smoke and mirrors guy who relies on a good BABIP to win. That means that Guthrie will either be head-scratchingly good or pound-into-submission bad. Even if it is somewhere in between, I think the Orioles win it. You can be sure that the Royals fans will be going crazy some it would be helpful to the Orioles to score early (and often). Let me put it this way: If the Orioles cannot beat Guthrie, then they will be playing golf really soon.

Yesterday: 1-0, Post Season: 8-12, Season: 1373-1102

MLB Game Picks - Sunday: October 12, 2014

How about those Kansas City Royals? They have blindsided the Orioles, the prognosticators and whatever it is you call what I do. It really is an amazing story and speaks of what can happen when a team gets hot at the right time. Frankly, I did not see this coming and my picks have been based on that. I did not think any team was going to beat the Orioles, but the Royals have beaten the O's in every facet of the game.

I did, however, pick the NLCS game correctly with a great Madison Bumgarner game against the Cardinals. The big lefty showed why he is one of the best pitchers in the game and completely shut down the suspect Cardinal offense. This might be one interesting series for one that most fans outside of those two cities did not want to see happen.

Only the NLCS is in action today. The ALCS is in a travel day to Kansas City.

The pick:

• The Cardinals over the Giants: Both of these teams have far too much experience in the post season to let one win or one loss rattle them too badly. Now that we have the aces out of the way for each team, the key will be how the rest of the rotations stack up against each other. We have an interesting dynamic going with Lance Lynn today. He has struggled in a small sample size against the Giants in his career and is 0-3 against them. But there is also the fact that Lance Lynn is a much better pitcher at home than he is on the road. In his career, Lynn has almost a .700 winning percentage in St. Louis. So which trend will emerge the stronger today? And then there is Jake Peavy. Peavy's turnaround once he joined the Giants has been a great story. And it has been good to see the old Cy Young Award winner back to having some success. He finished the season strong and then was good against the Nationals in the NLDS. But that "good" was somewhat fortunate as he only struck out three and walked three in 5.2 innings. His overall body of work in the post season is not pretty. I think the Cardinals get to him and we have a 6-4 score or somewhere in that vicinity.

Yesterday: 1-1, Post Season: 7-12, Season: 1372-1102

MLB Game Picks - Saturday: October 11, 2014

A very exciting game started off the American League Championship Series and if that game is a harbinger of things to come, it's going to be a great series. Unfortunately for me, the outcome went against my pick. I got the substance of the pick right with the Royals taking the early lead and the O's coming back strong. But the O's merely tied the game instead of going ahead and that allowed the Royals to win the game in extra innings. The Royals' bullpen was superb.

We have two games today as the ALCS continues and the NLCS begins. There is a big match-up in the NLCS and that should be difficult to figure out. With my record in the post season, my confidence at this point is pretty low. But here goes.

The picks:

• The Orioles over the Royals: The Royals have been unbelievable so far this post season. There is no doubt about that. They have not wilted in any sense of the word. That said, I have a little more confidence in Bud Norris at this point than Yordano Ventura. My only reservation with this pick is watching the O's go down easy against the power-pitching Royals' bullpen. Will Ventura similarly outmatch them? We'll see, but I have to go again with the Orioles at home.

• The Giants over the Cardinals: This is a big time pitching match-up of Adam Wainwright and Madison Bumgarner. I looked up both of their career records against their opposing teams and both have only been so-so over the years against the team they are facing. The Cardinals used to be vulnerable to lefties, but not anymore. This pick comes down to which pitcher is best capable of a big shutdown game and that would be Bumgarner. Besides, with one exception, the opening game of every series this post season has been won by the visiting team.

Yesterday: 0-1, Post Season: 6-11, Season: 1371-1101

BBA Connie Mack Awards - General Chapter Ballot

The General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance is one of the largest chapters in the alliance. And most of the chapter took part in the first two of our awards, The Connie Mack Award for the best manager of the year in each of the American and National Leagues and the Willie Mays Award for the best rookies in each league. Each member of the General Chapter voted a top three for each award. Those results were weighted with the most points going for a first place vote and then tabulated for the official chapter ballot which will go toward allowing the BBA as a whole to select this year's recipients. First up is the Connie Mack Award.

As several of our chapter members observed, picking the best manager each season is a slippery slope. Ultimately, it is the players who play and either perform or do not. For example, Bruce Bochy seems to be on the every other year plan of success. Was he all that great when he won World Series titles in 2010 and 2012 and then stunk in 2011 and 2013? Is he back to being great in 2014?

Interestingly, Bochy has not won the baseball writers' version of this award since 1996 when he took the Padres to a first place division win in San Diego. Two years later (even then it was every other year), he won the National League Pennant and took his Padres to the World Series and did not win any awards.

I have written here several times that judging a manager seems impossible. You can't go by results. You cannot go by hearsay. You cannot even go by whether he was fired or not. One of our chapter members obstained because of this difficulty.

But the rest of our writers muddled through and picked a top three in each league.

National League:

1. Clint Hurdle - 330 pts
2. Bruce Bochy - 290 pits
3. Matt Williams - 180 pts

Bochy received more first place vote but Hurdle was listed on more ballots to just overcome Bochy's total. Other managers receiving votes in order of finish: Mike Matheny, Don Mattingly, Terry Collins, Ron Roenicke, Bud Black  and Rick Renteria.

American League:

1. Buck Showalter - 470 pts
2. Mike Scioscia - 300 pts
3. Lloyd McClendon 160 pts

It was not close in the American League. Showalter had the most first place votes and was on the most ballots. Other AL managers getting votes in order of their finish: Ned Yost, Brad Ausmus, Joe Girardi, Terry Francona and Bob Melvin.

Much thanks to all the writers for participating in this process.

BBA Willie Mays Award - General Chapter Ballot

The General Chapter members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance participated in selecting our chapter's ballot for the Willie Mays Award, which goes to the best rookies in the American and National League for 2014. The General Chapter's ballot will then be added to the rest of the chapters to come up with the official Baseball Bloggers Alliance winners for each category. The Willie Mays Award, like the Connie Mack Award will be announced next week.

The general perception of our generalist writers was that the American League had a strong class of rookies while the National League had a very weak class. Even so, each league produced a clear cut favorite among our voters. Each chapter member voted for his or her top three and the top choice was weighted the highest with the second place votes weighted lower and so forth.

One difficulty facing our voters was that the rookie class included players that played in "major" leagues in other countries before coming to the MLB to play. Such candidates draw concern about their "rookie" status.

And our ballot is:

American League:

1. Jose Abreu - 650 pts
2. Dellin Betances - 140 pts
3. Collin McHugh / Masahiro Tanaka - 130 pts.

Abreu blew away the field after his season as one of the premier offensive stars in the Americna League in 2014. The rest of the field in order of their finish was: Kevin Kiermaier, Matt Shoemaker, Yordano Ventura, Danny Santana, George Springer, Marcus Stroman, Nick Castellanos.

National League:

1. Jacob deGrom - 590 pts
2. Billy Hamilton - 360 pts
3. Joe Panik - 70 pts

deGrom was on nearly every ballot and had the most first place votes by far. Hamilton was on nearly every ballot but only had one first place vote. One other first place vote went to Joe Panik. The rest of the field in order of their finish: Kolten Wong, Ender Inciarte, Kyle Hendricks, Travis d'Arnaud, and David Buchanan.

Much thanks to all the chapter members who voted.

MLB Game Picks - Friday: October 10, 2014

Good job, Bud Selig and you all-powerful television entities, baseball is finally back after four days. Such a hiatus should help ratings giving casual fans just about anything else to wrap their minds around with the attention spans of a four-month-old puppy. You see, if Major League Baseball wasn't a slave to the television contracts, the Championship Series could have been started a day or two after the Division Series ended. But we can't have that and mess up those TV time blocks now could we?

I suppose I should get to the game at hand. Yes, game, singular. We can't even start with two games. We have to space them out for maximum ratings. But all cynicism aside, this is going to be a fun ALCS with two teams we haven't seen come this far in a long while. I even had a dream about this one. Yes, I had a dream...

The pick:

• The Orioles over the Royals: I dreamed I was high on a mountain-top, naked to the world...wait...that's the wrong dream. I dreamed the Royals built a fairly sizable lead early off of Chris Tillman and all my Royals Twitter buds were whooping but were silenced in the end by a big Orioles comeback who catch up to James Shields in the sixth inning and take over the game. There were orange towels being waved all over Camden Yards and I wished I could give @grogg a hug. Hey, that's what I saw. So that's what I'm picking.

Last time we met: 1-1, Post Season: 6-10, Season: 1371-1100

MLB Game Picks - Tuesday: October 7, 2014

Perhaps like the Nationals, these playoff game picks are making a comeback after a 2-0 night last night. The ten-game winning streak rule was certainly a factor just as I predicted against the Giants and John Lackey was every bit as good as I thought he would be against the Dodgers. Who would have ever predicted Matt Carpenter's power display or the winning runs hit over the fence by Kolten Wong.

Both NLDS series go to a fourth game. Will either of them go to a fifth?

The picks:

• The Cardinals over the Dodgers: The Dodgers are throwing caution to the wind and are asking Clayton Kershaw to save their season on early rest. I think the guy is already tired from having so many stressful outings down the stretch. I don't think the strategy is going to work. Shelby Miller had a strange year. He was awful early in the season and then came on strong. So it is hard to understand how good his stuff is since his season numbers are mundane. I think he shuts the Dodgers down. Trevor Rosenthal sure does make the ninth inning scary, doesn't he?

• The Nationals over the Giants: The Nationals' depth in their rotation saves them here as Gio Gonzalez had a better year than people think. If you look at his peripherals, his WHIP, FIP, K/9 and H/IP were all very good and in line with the rest of his career. My only problem is with his first post season appearance two years ago when he could not throw strikes and walked the farm. He cannot do that today. Ryan Vogelsong also had a better season than what I thought he did. His peripherals were also surprising in some ways. If Gio Gonzalez is on, can Vogelsong keep up? I don't think so. This series goes five.

Yesterday: 2-0, Post Season: 5-9, Season: 1370-1099

MLB Game Picks - Monday: October 6, 2014

At least I was half right yesterday. I did predict the Royals finishing off their unbelievable sweep of the Angels. C.J. Wilson continued his string of post season clunkers and I just knew that he would have nothing to offer yesterday. It's sort of a shame to have a great season like the Angels did only to not win a single playoff game. But that's baseball and huzzahs to the Royals and the team's fans for a great series victory and a chance to face the Orioles in the ALCS.

I did not pick the Orioles to sweep yesterday and I should have. They are a juggernaut right now and will be tough for anybody to beat. Everything they have is working including manager, Buck Showalter. Congrats to the Orioles and that team's fans as well.

Now it is the NLDSs' turn. Will the Nationals go the way of the Angels and the Tigers? Can they win a post season game? And the Cardinals and Dodgers is the only series so far where both teams have won a game. What will happen there?

The picks:

• The Nationals over the Giants: Remember this season how every streak ended at ten? If a team lost ten in a row, that team would win the eleventh. If a team won ten in a row, that team would lose the eleventh. It happened all season. That is why I pick the Nationals. Madison Bumgarner is as good as it gets. But Doug Fister is nearly as good and also has a great post season repertoire. None of the other series have been able to avoid the sweep. But because of the ten game rule, I have to go with the Nationals.

• The Cardinals over the Dodgers: I have looked at this game from every angle. First, Hyun-jin Ryu beat the Cardinals last year in the playoffs with a scoreless outing. Secondly, he has pitched better on the road this year than at home, which surprised me. But he hasn't pitched since September 12 and I have to wonder how healthy he is. And after being out that long, will he pitch for long in this game? And if not, will the bullpen hold up? Then there is John Lackey. If the country's baseball fans already hate the Cardinals, how much will that be ramped up with Lackey on the mound. The guy is not exactly easy to like. But he has a ton of post season experience. Can he be better than he was for the Cardinals after the trade? I don't know. But that's my final call. The Cardinals at home with Lackey against a guy with uncertain health.

Yesterday: 1-1, Post season: 3-9, Season: 1368-1099

MLB Game Picks - Sunday: October 5, 2014

This is getting downright silly. I cannot pick a playoff game to save myself. Two more incorrect calls and one took eighteen innings to put me there. When the post season started, my hope was that I wouldn't get eleven picks wrong total because I did not want my season incorrect total to reach 1,100. How laughable is that now that I have picked eight of ten post season games incorrectly?

I am going to fault Matt Williams for one of them. I mean, who would you rather face with two outs in the ninth inning holding a 1-0 lead with a man on first, Jordan Zimmermann, who got you there, or any relief pitcher? So what if it was Buster Posey? Williams should not have listened to the "book" there just because Zimmermann had just hit 100 pitches and had given up a hit to Posey prior in the game. Have some faith, man!

There is more second guessing to go around. What about the Nats' approach to hitting Tim Hudson? Give Hudson credit, he willed his way to bring back some old magic, but still, hit the ball up the middle and the other way on a soft toss guy. Nope. And why pitch to Brandon Belt in the 18th? Brandon Crawford was next and he hadn't gotten close to a hit all day.

Oh well, perhaps the most talented team in the National League is now nearly toast. And we get the every-other-year magic of the Giants instead. And how do you feel now TBS and MLB after your insistence on putting the game on later in the day and then having to go until after midnight on the East Coast to figure out who was going to win? That will teach you and it serves you right.

I didn't mind so much getting the Dodgers - Cardinals game wrong. Those were two great starters and either one of them could have succeeded.

It's all ALDS today. So here are my (sure to be incorrect) picks:

• The Tigers over the Orioles: I'm afraid to make any pick at the moment. Talk about gun shy. Anyway, if you have to choose between David Price and Bud Norris, wouldn't you always take David Price? Plus, the Tigers are at home which will help them. My reservations? Price only pitched once against the Orioles this year and it did not go well. The Orioles can hit just about anybody.

• The Royals over the Angels: The most improbable of the winners will finish the sweep. I think. C.J. Wilson is 1-5 in his post season career and has not pitched well. His one win did come in an ALDS however. But I don't see it. James Shields worries me though. He'll either be Big Game James, something I have never bought by the way, or he'll give up two or three homers. Mike Trout has been totally absent. Will he wake up today? I can feel another 0-2 today. Ugh.

Yesterday: 0-2, Post Season: 2-8, Season: 1367-1098