The Spotlight On The 2015 MLB Awards

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With tonight’s announcement of baseball’s National League and American League MVP Award Recipients, we can officially put a bow on the 2015 season that was. While there were not many surprises with this years award winners, most would not have predicted these outcomes before the season began. So without further ado, let’s jump right in.

The award season kicked off with the announcement of the Relievers of the Year. Personally, I miss the Rolaids sponsorship as nothing could be more fitting when it comes to a late game situation, but times have changed and so has the dynamics of a bullpen. That being said, it was little surprise to see Andrew Miller of the New York Yankees take home the award for the American League, now named for Mariano Rivera, while Mark Melancon won in the National League, now named for Trevor Hoffman.

While neither winner have been household names in the past, they took on their roles and completely dominated opponents this season. Miller finished with 100 strikeouts over 61.2 innings and had a minuscule 0.86 WHIP to go along with just 2 blown saves. Melancon was the major league leader in saves with 51 over 78 games for the National League’s best bullpen in Pittsburgh.

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The next award, that came with little debate, were the Comeback Player Awards. While the NL winner, Matt Harvey, took his team into the 9th inning in the decisive game 5 of the World Series, the AL winner, Prince Fielder, came back from a serious neck injury to lead Texas into a surprising AL West Title.

Prince Fielder, coming off of major surgery last season, played in all but 4 regular season games while posting a .305 average with 23 homers and 98 batted in. That was quite an impressive feat for the 31 year old robust first baseman. Matt Harvey, in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, pitched 189.1 regular season innings while posting a more than impressive 2.71 ERA and a not-too-shabby 26.2 innings in the postseason. Both were the right call for this award, but I will admit, I thought Alex Rodriguez would have given Fielder a run for his money, and deservedly so, as he carried the Yankees at times during the regular season.

Now onto the kids, although as I get older, all of these major leaguers start seeming like kids to me. Again, with little debate or surprise, Carlos Correa took home the American League Rookie of the Year, and Kris Bryant took home the hardware for the National League.

Carlos Correa played in just 99 games as a 20 year old, but 99 games was all that was needed to show the world he is the real deal. In his limited stint with the Astros, he hit 22 long balls, 22 doubles, stole 14 bases and played gold glove caliber defense. Shades of a young Alex Rodriguez (hopefully without the juice). Kris Bryant, despite all the typical hoopla surrounding a Scott Boras client, did not disappoint in his own right. He was tagged as the savior and face of the Cubs and with good reason. He stepped into Wrigley and mashed homers to the fans delight. He finished with 26 home runs, 99 RBI and most impressively received all 30 first place votes finishing clearly ahead of Matt Duffy.

Pulling into the final turn before the big two, the next awards issued were for Managers of the Year. While the National League really was a tossup between 3 unique candidates, with Joe Maddon beating out Terry Collins and Mike Matheny, the American League is the first award I felt was incorrectly awarded. Jeff Banister took home the hardware, with should-have-been- winner A.J. Hinch finishing 30 points back and Paul Molitor rounding out the top 3.

There can be an argument made for all 3 NL managers, but considering how quickly the Cubs arose from the dead, Maddon was more than deserving. Having to manage so much inexperience and youth is quite the challenge and Maddon was the perfect man for the job. Matheny finishing second is more due to his team’s annual appearance in the postseason and the numbing of how good of a manager he actually is with the ever changing pieces on his roster. Jeff Banister, who I honestly couldn’t have told you was the Rangers manager two weeks ago if you asked me, won the award by a substantial margin, but the team is filled with talent, as they are most years. A.J. Hinch, however, took the lowly Astros on a division leading run into and through the playoffs with a number of young unprovens such as Dallas Keuchel and Carlos Correa. I don’t deny that Banister was deserving, but Hinch was a bit more deserving.

Now down to the stretch run. Here come the horses… on the mound that is. While in my opinion the American League Cy Young was a pretty obvious choice in Dallas Keuchel, besting Price and Gray by a substantial margin, the National League was a pick ‘em. Greinke and Kershaw could be written into the top 3 every season, and this year were joined by newcomer Jake Arrieta. There aren’t many words to describe the second half that Arrieta had which led to his first Cy Young Award, but the voting was as close as expected.

Keuchel is the first Cy Young winner on the Astros since Clemens in 2004 and very deserving of the nod. He finished with 20 wins, 216 strikeouts and an unreal home record of 15-0 with a 1.46 era. Don’t forget, he plays in the bandbox that is Minute Maid Park. If it was up to me to create a new MLB Award category, he would also be the Beard of the Year Award winner. Arrieta was the first Cy Young winner on the Cubs since Maddux all the way back in 1992 (no, Maddux wasn’t always a Brave for you casual fans). Arrieta (also bearded but not on Keuchel’s level) led the majors with 22 wins and had the second best ERA behind Greinke, with a 1.77. He struck out 236 opponents, pitched a no-hitter, and had an ERA below 1 in the second half of the season.

Last, but certainly not least, the 2015 MLB Award season gets wrapped up with the announcement of the league MVP’s. While the debate should and will continue as to what really constitutes an MVP, we will focus on this year’s recipients and leave the debate on the true meaning of the award for another time. The MVP of both leagues was essentially wrapped up by the All-Star Break. Yes, there were a few deserving players in each league, but for the bulk of the season 2 players stood far and above the rest and they ultimately are clearing spots on their mantles this evening.

The National League MVP Award winner is 23 year old Bryce Harper. Harper completed his first fully healthy season and finally showed the potential that has been discussed and drooled over since his MLB debut as a 19 year. Harper became the youngest unanimous winner in history as he received all 30 first place votes. He easily beat out Goldschmidt and Votto for his first of likely many MVP awards. Harper finished his MVP season batting .330 with 42 homers, 99 batted in and scored 118 runs to go along with a canon for a left arm.

The American League MVP Award winner is first year Blue Jay, Josh Donaldson. Donaldson’s .297 average, 41 homers, 123 RBI and 122 runs were a big factor in leading the Blue Jays to their first playoff appearance since 1993 and, with a bit more pitching, likely would have led them to their first World Series appearance in that time as well. The trade to acquire Donaldson will likely go down as a steal for the Blue Jays, and that would hold true even if Donaldson retires tomorrow. Donaldson edged out perennial MVP candidate Mike Trout, with Lorenzo Cain rounding out the top 3.

Like I said way back in the beginning of this post, not much to debate with the years winners. All biases aside, the MLB voters did a solid job this year, aside from AL Manager of the Year and now with all award winners named, our sole focus can turn to the hot stove. Thanks to all of you for reading, if you liked my work might I suggest you check out my site over at metsinaround.com and I should also being stopping by over here from time to time.  Take care!

 

The Spotlight On The Survivor Series-Pt. 3- 1997-2001

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A new day (clap clap) and a new batch of Survivor Series past as we continue down our trip down memory lane with our complete WWE Survivor Series Retrospective.  Today we will get into five different Survivor Series events and we’ll start with Survivor Series 1997, live from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Survivor Series 1997- Hmm I can’t think of too much that happened during the Survivor Series 1997.  It wasn’t really a noteworthy show by any means, I mean can you recall any of the matches because I sure can’t.  Ah, it was Kane’s debut match, that was it, that’s why the Survivor Series 1997 is looked back on so much, right?  Ok, I’m obviously kidding.  We are actually nearly 18 years to the day of the Montreal Screwjob which took place during the main event between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.  At the time watching it as an 11 year, I can tell you that I had no idea what was going on during the show other than I thought it was really peculiar that Vince McMahon wasn’t doing commentary for the show.  I remember my father actually breaking the news to me that night that Vince was the owner of WWF and perhaps he had some business to take care of, he was right.  It turned out that Vince McMahon would never rejoin the commentary team and instead he went on to become one of the biggest villains in the history of WWE, as this was the night Vince screwed Bret out of the WWE World Heavyweight Title.  The fallout for this was pretty historic as in many ways, with it being used as the vehicle to start the Mr. McMahon heel persona, really launched WWE into the dominance and helped to launch the Attitude Era.  What I always found odd about this was I remember that it was first reported that Shawn Michaels wasn’t in on it and, being a huge Shawn fan I believed every word he said.  If you watch the match he looked really pissed off about the whole thing.  Of course years later he came clean and admitted that he was in on it.   I actually did a college paper for a media class looking at the Montreal Screwjob comparing all different forms of media and how they presented their thoughts on the screwjob.  I compared Dave Metlzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter to WWE’s old confidential show, which is where it was first revealed  that Shawn Michaels was in on the screwjob, to Bret Hart’s documentary “Wrestling With Shadows.  I aced the class and my paper came out to over 40 pages long, that poor professor.

Survivor Series 1998:  Survivor Series 1998 was actually the first Survivor Series not to have any traditional Survivor Series matches but I don’t remember minding one bit as this show was all about the Deadly Game tournament.  The first thing that I remember about this show was that it was such a brilliant story that unfolded throughout the show.  This was the era  where everyone was potentially  in cahoots and you would watch with the idea of seeing how Vince McMahon was going to try to screw over Stone Cold Steve Austin.  It appeared that throughout the show Vince McMahon was having poor Mankind do his bidding for him and that the two men Vince did not want to be champion were Steve Austin and The Rock.  I remember Mankind had a first round opponent that was hyped like crazy and my friends were all throwing out different ideas of who it could be. I remember my buddy and I calling the Ultimate (a near by wrestling store) and asking the guy running the store who the mystery opponent was and he thinking it was either Jake Roberts or Mike Tyson, which looking back what was he thinking.  It ended up being setup as it was long time jobber, Duane Gill who later went on to be Gillberg.  Serously though if you go back and watch all of the twists and turns it is storytelling at its finest.  From Shane McMahon (who was my favorite growing up) screwing Austin to the McMahons ultimately joining the Rock and screwing Mankind one year after the infamous Montreal Screwjob. It is the attitude era at its peak.

Survivor Series 1999-  Here was another show that I remember my father being infuriated about and with good reason.  The promoted main event for this show was a triple threat match between The Rock, Triple H and Steve Austin.  Obviously, this is an awesome main event but it never happened.  Instead, in the middle of the show, Austin was laid out in the back and taken away.  He went on to randomly being replaced by the Big Show, who won the title, but we all thought this was very lame and hoped Austin would emerge from the back during the main event, but he never did.  I understand now why they promoted him, but knowing he was hurt the whole time and couldn’t compete, it really was a bit lame looking back.  One match on this show that I do remember being a ton of fun was Chris Jericho vs. Chyna.  The crowd that night was so hot for Jericho and pretty much completely turned on Chyna.

Survivor Series 2000-  This is the one show that for whatever reason I can’t remember too much  about.  The main take away from the show was that it ended with Steve Austin taking a car with Triple H in it and lifting it up high with a forklift, then dropping the car and pretty much killing Triple H as the show went to black.  Of course, Triple H would return three weeks later with a smiple bandaid and they wrote it off to him being able to get out of the car at the very last second.  As a 13 year old who just lost Owen Hart the year before, I was glad to see Hunter was OK. Sidenote: Shoutout to the Undertaker’s awkward pair of pants here.

Survivor Series 2001- The culmination of the invasion storyline which saw a collection of matches in which Team WWE battle against Team Alliance (WCW and ECW).  I remember being really over most of the Alliance guys at this point and I just wanted the WWE back.  The invasion storyline just pretty much died on a vine because most of the big stars from WCW were still under contract to Time Warner so it would still be quite some time before guys like Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Scott Steiner and Sting made their way to WWE, hell even Rey Mysterio wasn’t around.  This made for a good amount of team WCW/ECW consisting of WWE guys like Steve Austin, who was the face of WWE when WCW went out of business. While the Invasion didn’t work, this is actually a pretty kick ass show as a standalone show.  The main event in particular is such a great Traditional Survivor Series match, possibly the best ever.

Well that’s going to do it for me but tomorrow, I’ll be back with a complete spotlight dedicated to the Survivor Series 2002, which I attended live at Madison Square Garden.

The Spotlight On Raw- 11/16/2015

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Last Night WWE Raw emanated live from Greenville, SC and it was quite the newsworthy show to say the least.  Most people will probably remember this Raw for the final segment involving Paige and Charlotte as it was probably the most controversial segment in WWE, I’d say, since CM Punk faked the heart attack to mock Jerry Lawler back in 2013.  We’re going to get into that and a whole lot more in the highlights section below so let’s get right into it.

Highlights:

Divas Get The Spotlight: So I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I was a fan of Reid Flair’s death being brought into the storylines because I’m never a fan of that stuff, it’s pretty tasteless.  What happened to Reid was a real tragedy and I don’t think any one needs to be reminded of something like that while watching an episode of Raw.  That said, I’m sure that WWE got the blessing from both Charlotte and Ric to go ahead with the storyline and I’d think that Ric is old school in the belief that nothing is off limits in wrestling (much like comedy).  The main part of this that I do want to focus on, because we try to bring you the positive, is that WWE made a concerted effort to focus on the Divas last night.  They showed highlights of the Paige and Charlotte feud throughout the night and really made their contract signing at the end of the night feel like a big deal.  As for the contract signing itself, it was great to see the Divas get the final segment on Raw for the first time in over a year (I believe Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella got that segment in August of 2014).  I also liked the fire and intensity of the brawl that the two had around the ring.  If nothing else, you really believed that Charlotte wanted to kill Paige at the end of the show and I’m more excited for their match now then I was prior to Raw.

Tournament Matches Deliver:  Usually I give you that one match to go out of your way to watch but this week I had a hard time doing that because I really enjoyed each one of the tournament matches.  Each one of the matches went over 10 minutes and were split up into two segments.  I liked that it seemed like each superstar in the matches was giving it their all as it made the World Title really feel like “the richest prize in the sport”.  Roman Reigns and Cesaro had an unbelievable match that saw so many reversals and nearfalls and while you figured Roman was probably going to win, they had to have made you feel that at least for a second that Cesaro had him.   Right behind that I thought that Kevin Owens and Neville tore the house down and I’ll tell you this, say what you will about Kevin Owens’ weight but he hung in their with Neville move for move and never looked even a step behind.  I also really enjoyed the Ambrose-Ziggler match and thought it was great to see Ambrose get to cut a promo after the match about what he would do if he won the title (he remains my choice to take the whole thing).  Lastly, while it was never in doubt that Del Rio was going to win, I liked that they gave Kalisto a couple of near falls.  Every tournament needs a fun cinderella underdog to get behind (Crash Holly in 2000!) and Kalisto played that role real well. It was interesting to see that Sin Cara was nowhere to be found tonight and left me wondering if perhaps, they’re going to give Kalisto a shot as single.

The Druids Rise:  I don’t have too much to say about the actual angle between the Wyatts and Brothers of Destruction but I loved the way that Raw kicked off with that classic Undertaker entrance with the druids and both Kane and Undertaker coming to the ring to kick off Raw. It was cool to see Undertaker giving a classic promo and I’m not too sure how many more times we’re going to get to see that entrance, so I’m enjoying it while I can.

Class:  I usually limit this piece to three highlights but I have to give WWE a bit of a kudos for paying respect to the horrible tragedy that happened in Paris this past week.  WWE always handles these things with the utmost class and it was nice to see all of the superstars and divas on entrance ramp to start Raw and paying their respects to the victims of these heinous attacks.

Well that is going to do it for me right now but I will be back a whole lot more wrestling content throughout the week as we continue to countdown to the Survivor Series on Sunday.  I’ll be taking a look at each one of the different Undertaker Specials that are currently on the WWE Network as a part of Undertaker week as well as also continuing to go through my Survivor Series Retrospective, looking at each one of the different Survivor Series events of the past year.  Stay tuned for all of that and be sure to give us a follow over on our twitter @daily_spotlight.

The Spotlight NFL Week 10 Picks Against The Spread- Monday Night Football

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Tonight Week 10 in the NFL concludes when the 3-5 Houston Texans head to Cincinnati to take on the 8-0 Bengals. So far this week we are 6-2 against the spread connecting on 5 out of our 7 picks and then closing out last night with a big win by the Arizona Cardinals. We missed at the very last second with the Cowboys and unfortunately losing our first LOCK OF THE WEEK of the season. Our Lock of the week was the Saints who made Kirk Cousins look like a 1st ballot hall of Famer. I think it’s time to officially write the Saints off this season and I have to wonder if Rob Ryan should get his resume together. 

As for tonight’s game, it’s pretty tough as the Bengals are again a huge favorite at -11 1/2. I hate choosing big favorites  in the NFL, even though the Bengals covered their big spread last week and actually are the only team this season perfect against the spread, I’m still rolling with the Texans tonight. A couple of things jump out at me here, for one, the Texans are a bad team coming off a bye and they joined three other under .500 teams coming off byes in week 9, the Lions, the Ravens and the Chiefs. My feeling is that when a bad team goes on a bye, they don’t get to vacation, but instead they spend those two weeks busting ass and preparing for their next opponent for two weeks, so let’s look at it. The Ravens lost to the Jaguars, which is obviously awful, but the Jaguars offense is sneaky good and they lost it at the very last seconds of the game. The Chiefs turned Peyton Manning over four times and destroyed the 7-1 Broncos in their building. Lastly, the Lions went into Lambeau and beat the Packers for the first time since 1991. Do you notice a trend? Next, you have to figure that with Andrew Luck down for 6 weeks, the Texans feel like the division is right there for the taking, so while I still expect them to lose, they should play inspired ball to keep it close. Lastly, Vegas is rarely wrong for all that long and usually adjust to teams that are undefeated against the spread. The 2007 Patriots, for example, went 8-0 against the spread to start their 16-0 regular season but they only finished 2-6 ATS the rest of the way. 

Thus all of that being said, while I’m not flying out to Vegas tonight to drop a huge wager, I like the Houston Texans +11.5 tonight. That will do it for me for now but in just 48 hours I’ll be back to kick off Week number 11! 

The Spotlight On The Week Ahead For WWE: 11/16-11/22

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Before I start the list of what to look forward to in WWE this week, I’d like to send my condolences to the family of WWE Hall of Famer Nick Bockwinkel who passed away over the weekend at the age of 80.  WWE released a couple of breaking news bits on the WWE Network looking at Bockwinkel’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, as well as some of the many great moments in his career. Bockwinkel was unquestionably one of the all time greats. I expect that there will be a tribute to Bockwinkel tomorrow night on Raw, at least in some capacity.  With no great way to transition, let’s get into the week ahead for WWE.

Monday: Later tonight WWE Monday Night Raw emanates live from Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC, returning to the States after a few weeks in the UK.  I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s Raw as the quarter finals in the WWE World Heavyweight Title Tournament takes place.  The tournament is stacked with four matches that could be really great.  They are as follows:  Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto, Kevin Owens vs Neville and Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler.  On top of that this will be the final Raw before the 2015 Survivor Series and the Undertaker is advertised locally as being there live.  It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds tomorrow night.

Undertaker Week: Tomorrow night immediately following Raw, on the WWE Network, Undertaker Week will begin with the first of a two part “Legends” interview with JBL hosting a sit down interview with Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin.  The four legends will discuss their thoughts on their many battles with the Undertaker and this 2 part interview wraps up on Thursday on the Network.  Aside from that, the WWE Network will also feature two additional features on the Undertaker looking at his greatest moments on Tuesday and the most dangerous matches in his career on Wednesday.  I also expect that there will be some sort of on demand section added to Undertaker Week similar to what they did with Black Histroy month.  I say this because WWE has quietly added three episodes of Smackdown from 2007-2009 all prominently featuring the Undertaker.  I’ve enjoyed all of the theme weeks on the Network and I’m sure that this will be no exception.

2015 Survivor Series- This of course all culminates on Sunday night when WWE presents the 29th annual Survivor Series event live on the WWE Network from Atlanta, Georgia.  It appears that the event will feature both the semi finals and the finals of the WWE Heavyweight Title Tournament, a women’s championship match between Charlotte and Paige and a tag team match between The Brothers of Destruction and The Wyatt Family as WWE celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Undeetaker.  Interesting to note that their are not any Traditional Survivor Series Matches announced for Sunday as of this writing.  Things could certainly change this week at TV, however, and I’m sure all of you know that I’ll be rooting for a traditional survivor series match or two to be added.  There is a one hour long pre show being advertised on Sunday so, worst comes to worse, WWE could certainly put one of those matches on the pre show.

Closing Thoughts: 

Obviously with the conclusion of the World Title Tournament, The Survivor Series and Undertaker Week on the Network all coming up this week, it’s going to be a pretty important week for WWE. I should also mention that on November 17th, WWE Studios’ latest film, Santa’s Little Helper, will be released on DVD and Blu Ray starring WWE Studios mainstay, the Miz, and Paige.  This is a release that I plan on checking out here sometime before the holidays, it looks like it’ll be fun.

Ok well that’s going to do it for me but what are you looking forward to most this week in WWE?  What are some of your favorite Undertaker moments?  Let me know in the comments section below or on own brand new official twitter @Daily_Spotlight.