It is my understanding that Simon will celebrate his victory by adding chocolate to milk.

The consensus picks tallied only 22 points but did correctly predict Boston's first World Series championship since 1918. The consensus earned additional points for Boston's pennant, Minnesota's division win, Florida's third-place finish, Cincinnati's fourth-place finish, and Vlad Guerrero's MVP award.

On to the highlights and lowlights of this year's voting:

Cheers!

Sky and Grand Funk Railroad were the only contestants to put St Louis in the World Series. Alas, they also predicted a Cardinals victory. Of 79 contestants, only Sky predicted a Boston - St. Louis World Series. Sky finished third in the overall voting. Jeff and Leigh joined Sky and Funk in picking the Cards to win the division.

Only 3 Run Homer and Ken Kosowan devined the quickness of the Seattle Mariners' collapse by predicting their fourth-place finish.

Ken Kosowan (again) and Kristian alone foresaw that Arizona could be worse than Colorado.

While no one correctly picked the Jays to bring up the rear of the AL East, three voters - T Nichols, Phil Pilmar, and our own lovable roster member John Gizzi - picked Baltimore third and Toronto fourth. A sharp prediction, if not one that earns much love amongst the readership.

Shame!

Nobody predicted that Toronto or Kansas City would finish last in their divisions; in fact, 21 voters put Toronto in the playoffs, and a full 28 picked KC to win the AL Central.

No one predicted Kansas City or Arizona would end up with the worst records in their leagues, though as noted above, two did pick Arizona to finish last in the NL West. To my mortal embarrassment, I picked the Royals and Snakes as division winners. The consensus picks for worst records were Detroit and Pittsburgh.

62 of us picked Philadelphia to win the AL East. (Mick Doherty correctly wondered what the fuss was about and picked Atlanta, as did nine others.)

55 of us picked the Cubs to win the division or the wild card. Actually, it's not a shame on us but on the Cubs, who collapsed down the stretch.

66 of us picked the Devil Rays to anchor the AL East, though only five had them with the worst record in the league.

Nine voters did not put the Red Sox in the playoffs. Two picked Seattle to win the AL West.

Starkian Tidbits

The White Sox, Tribe, Mariners, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Dodgers received at least one vote for every place in their respective divisions.

Texas was as close to a unanimous pick as could be found. 77 of 79 voters placed them last. 72 ultimately incorrect voters had Detroit at the bottom of the AL Central, and 74 picked the Rockies as the rump of the NL West.

Arizona troubled voters the most: they received 15 votes for first, 15 for second, 20 for third, 27 for fourth, and two for last. Their on-field performance was troubling indeed.

Awards

14 contestants correctly chose Barry Bonds as the NL MVP. The consensus pick was third-placer Albert Pujols (37). No one picked MVP bridesmaid Adrian Beltre. The consensus correctly chose AL MVP Vlad Guerrero.

Not a solitary person chose the Cy Young winner of either league. Johan Santana's spectacular second-half wrested the award from runner-up Curt Schilling, whom 17 contestants predicted would win. The consensus pick was Roy Halladay with 25 votes. Roy Oswalt, teammate of NL Cy Young winner Roger Clemens, gained the most preseason votes with 18 and finished third in the real voting. Mark Prior and Randy Johnson also received serious consideration.

Joe Mauer received a solid majority of votes (46) for AL Rookie of the Year from the Batters Box, but injuries precluded him from receiving a single vote from the writers. Bobby Crosby, with 22 votes from Bauxites, won the award. Five exceptionally wise voters chose real-life NL Rookie of the Year Jason Bay. The consensus pick was Kaz Matsui with 35 votes, and another 16 chose runner-up Khalil Greene.

Considering that only two contestants picked the Rangers to finish out of last place (even I, lifelong Ranger fan, wasn't one of them), you wouldn't have expected anyone to choose Buck Showalter as AL Manager of the Year. You'd be right. The consensus pick was Terry Francona with 19 votes, while Carlos Tosca earned 15 votes but would finish the season unemployed. Seven intrepid souls selected NL winner Bobby Cox. Bruce Bochy gained a tiny plurality among Bauxites, and Dusty Baker and now-deposed Jimy Williams received at least ten votes.

Contestant Paul D correctly picked four of the eight award recipients and earned a contest-high 18 points out of 36 possible for awards. 29 of the 79 contestants didn't pick anyone correctly.