End of Season MLB Review

With less than ten regular season games remaining in Major League Baseball, I figured that I would do an end of season MLB review to recap what happened in baseball in the 2012 season. Before the season started, I had many teams in the playoff picture who are not even close to being contenders. That's baseball for you. You can't predict which teams will go on magic carpet rides and which high payroll teams will miss the postseason completely. I did not have the Orioles and the Athletics making the postseason. In my MLB preview in March, I had the Orioles in last place and the Oakland A's in third place in the AL West with the Angels making the playoffs via the wild card. I also predicted that Matt Moore would have a breakout rookie season after a promising start to his career in late 2011. Robinson Cano was my choice for American League Most Valuable Player and he has not lived up to expectations to say the least. Cano's season has been pedestrian in his standards. He won't even get to 90 RBI at the rate he is going because he's struggled so mightily with runners in scoring position. My AL Cy Young Award winner was Jered Weaver. He's had a great season including pitching a no-hitter, but I don't see him winning the award anymore based on how his team has underperformed and his less stellar pitching of late.

These are now my picks for American League award winners:

AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout

AL Cy Young: David Price

AL Most Valuable Player: Miguel Cabrera

AL Manager of the Year: Buck Showalter (Baltimore Orioles)

The National League betrayed me this season with my picks. None of the players that I picked before the season started are even getting considered for awards. My Rookie of the Year was the Padres' Yonder Alonso, and while he has been playing better in the second half, Alonso isn't really in the conversation. Roy Halladay was my choice for NL Cy Young but his season has been plagued by injury and he has not been the same picher all year on a struggling Phillies team. The Phillies overall disappointed me, as I had them winning 91 games to clinch the NL East but the Nationals have been a powerhouse this season and they have run away with the division. For my NL Most Valuable Player prediction, I had Matt Kemp coming out on top after just missing out last year. However, injuries have kept him off the field and he has not been the same dynamic, five tool guy this season. Ryan Braun is having a fantastic season but I wouldn't pick him after his mess in the offseason. The bottom line with Braun is that he did steroids and he found a loophole in the system that allowed him to get off scott-free. However, that is a completely different story.

These are now my picks for National League award winners:

NL Rookie of the Year: Todd Frazier

NL Cy Young: RA Dickey

NL Most Valuable Player: Buster Posey

NL Manager of the Year: Davey Johnson (Washington Nationals)