Back in late March, 79 of us predicted the World Series champs, pennant winners, division winners, award recipients, and every team's place in the standings. With the season half-gone, it's time to see who's wearing the wizard's cap and who's wearing the fool's cap.
Obviously, no contestant can gain any points for the pennant winners and World Series champs right now, and nobody's won any postseason awards in July. To add to the fun, I've chosen the midseason award winners. My choices are based on who I think the voters would pick, not necessarily who I think deserves to win. Batting average and wins hold great importance. OPS+ and Support Neutral Wins, not so much. On the chance you disagree with my choices, I have provided the current standings with and without points given to my fictional award winners. My choices:
AL MVP: Vlad Guerrero - .347, 69 runs, 20 homers, 71 RBI, 7 steals. Arguably, Manny Ramirez has had a slightly better offensive season but has too much baggage.
NL MVP: Barry Bonds - .352, 64 runs, 22 homers, 46 RBI, 3 steals, 121 walks(!). Scott Rolen has a shot with his line of .346/18/80.
AL Cy Young: Curt Schilling - 11 wins, 3.08 ERA, 110 strikeouts. Virtually identical to Mark Mulder but more famous.
NL Cy Young: Jason Schmidt - 10 wins, 2.61 ERA, 112 strikeouts. Very tough call, about seven worthy candidates. Glavine had the best ERA but only 7 wins, Clemens has 10 wins and is a great story but is on an underachieving squad, Zambrano is overshadowed by his teammates, Sheets plays for Milwaukee.
AL Rookie: Bobby Crosby - .273, 36 runs, 11 homers, 34 RBI, 4 steals. No one really stands out. No rookie is on pace to qualify for the ERA title. Cabrera, Bedard, Frasor, and Takatsu could join the picture in the second half. Lew Ford is ineligible (too much service time in 2003).
NL Rookie: Jason Bay - .301, 22 runs, 10 homers, 35 RBI, 2 steals. Stats match up with other rookies despite playing in just 45 games thanks to injuries and Lloyd McClendon's amusing lineup construction (more Randall Simon-flavored Kool Aid, Jim!). Matt Holliday and Aaron Miles have a shot. No NL rookie has more than 49 innings. Capuano joins the race with more health, Chad Cordero with more saves.
AL Manager: Buck Showalter - Texas is the present-day Wild Card. Enough said. Kudos to Alan Trammell, Lou Pinella, and, yes, Ozzie Guillen.
NL Manager: Tony LaRussa - Best record in the NL. Kudos to Felipe Alou, Bruce Bochy, and, yes, Dusty Baker. Triple Negative Kudos to Jimy Williams.
CONTEST STANDINGS (through games finished on 4 July):
| Standings with "Postseason" Awards (maximum 84 points) | Standings without "Postseason" Awards (maximum 48 points) |
| 37 - Bill Liming 35 - Sky 34 - Jonny German 34 - Pistol 33 - Elijah 31 - Harley 31 - Gerry 31 - Harley Winfrey 29 - Jes Golbez 29 - Paul D 29 - Ben 29 - T Nichols 28 - benum 27 - Brian Stewart 27 - Alex O 26 - Cristian 26 - Rob C 26 - Sophoric 25 - Jeff 25 - Brian W 25 - Dave Till 25 - Nick Frame 24 - Scott Lucas 24 - Chris B 24 - Oggman 24 - Phil Pilmar 24 - CONSENSUS 23 - baseballnut 23 - Donkit RK 23 - David Armitage 23 - Simon 22 - Rob 22 - alsiem 22 - Tassle 22 - John Gizzi 22 - Eric 22 - endos 21 - Mike D 21 - Dr. Zorco 21 - Leigh 21 - Harry Heatherington 21 - Andrew Edwards 20 - Ken Kosowan 19 - WillRain 19 - superdevin 19 - Coach 19 - Cornwall Lou 19 - ghol 18 - Gwyn Price 18 - Tom 18 - Jack Cooney 18 - David Goodwin 17 - Mike Green 17 - Mike Moffatt 17 - Asher 17 - Dylan B 16 - EddieZosky 16 - Nolan 16 - Joe Blow 15 - Dgriebeling 15 - Mick Doherty 15 - Kristian 15 - NDG 15 - Randy Winter 15 - Peteski 14 - Steve Birnie 14 - young 14 - braden 14 - Johnathan 13 - Craig Burley 13 - Best Mate 12 - A 12 - Boris 12 - Skywalker 12 - Argonaut 11 - whizland2000 11 - 3RunHomer 10 - Grand Funk Railroad 9 - sweat 8 - Geoff | 27 - Bill Liming 24 - Jonny German 24 - Pistol 23 - benum 23 - Elijah 22 - John Gizzi 22 - endos 22 - Alex O 21 - Mike D 21 - Dr. Zorco 21 - Rob C 21 - Harley 21 - Gerry 21 - Harley Winfrey 20 - Jeff 20 - Dave Till 20 - Nick Frame 19 - Scott Lucas 19 - Ben 19 - Chris B 19 - Oggman 19 - Phil Pilmar 19 - CONSENSUS 18 - Gwyn Price 18 - David Armitage 17 - Rob 17 - alsiem 17 - Tassle 17 - Asher 17 - Brian Stewart 17 - Sky 17 - Eric 16 - Cristian 16 - Leigh 16 - Nolan 16 - Harry Heatherington 16 - Andrew Edwards 16 - Sophoric 15 - Dgriebeling 15 - Mick Doherty 15 - Ken Kosowan 15 - Kristian 14 - WillRain 14 - superdevin 14 - Jes Golbez 14 - Paul D 14 - Coach 14 - Cornwall Lou 14 - ghol 14 - Johnathan 14 - T Nichols 13 - baseballnut 13 - Tom 13 - Jack Cooney 13 - Donkit RK 13 - David Goodwin 13 - Best Mate 13 - Simon 12 - Mike Green 12 - A 12 - Boris 12 - Skywalker 12 - Argonaut 12 - Dylan B 11 - whizland2000 11 - EddieZosky 11 - 3RunHomer 11 - Joe Blow 10 - Grand Funk Railroad 10 - Brian W 10 - NDG 10 - Randy Winter 10 - Peteski 9 - Steve Birnie 9 - young 9 - sweat 9 - braden 8 - Craig Burley 8 - Geoff 7 - Mike Moffatt |
This is Bill Liming's world. The rest of us are his tenants.
HOW WE VOTED:
| World Series Champ | AL Pennant | NL Pennant |
| Boston (22) Houston (12) NY Yankees (11) Oakland (10) Philadelphia (9) C. Cubs (8) Toronto (3) St. Louis (2) Anaheim (1) San Diego (1) | Boston (37) New York (18) Oakland (16) Toronto (4) Anaheim (3) Chicago (1) | Chicago (25) Philadelphia (22) Houston (21) Atlanta (5) San Francisco (2) St. Louis (2) Florida (1) San Diego (1) |
| AL East Champ | AL Central Champ | AL West Champ |
| Boston (40) New York (38) Toronto (1) Baltimore (0) Tampa Bay (0) | Minnesota (38) Kansas City (28) Chicago (9) Cleveland (4) Detroit (0) | Oakland (44) Anaheim (33) Seattle (0) Texas (0) |
| NL East Champ | NL Central Champ | NL West Champ |
| Philadelphia (62) Atlanta (10) Florida (7) New York (0) Montreal (0) | Houston (42) Chicago (33) St Louis (4) Pittsburgh (0) Milwaukee (0) Cincinnati (0) | San Francisco (33) San Diego (20) Arizona (15) Los Angeles (11) Colorado (0) |
| AL Wild Card | NL Wild Card |
| Boston (28) New York (22) Toronto (20) Oakland (6) Anaheim (3) | Chicago (32) Houston (23) St Louis (7) Atlanta (6) Florida (4) Philadelphia (4) San Francisco (2) San Diego (1) |
| AL Worst Team | NL Worst Team |
| Detroit (60) Texas (10) Tampa Bay (5) Chicago (2) Baltimore (1) Cleveland (1) | Pittsburgh (34) Milwaukee (17) Cincinnati (11) Colorado (11) Montreal (3) New York (3) |
| AL MVP | AL Cy Young | AL Rookie | AL Manager |
| V Guerrero (20) A Rodriguez (15) C Beltran (11) C Delgado (11) M Ramirez (6) E Chavez (5) V Wells (3) M Ordonez (2) G Anderson (1) J Giambi (1) N Garciaparra (1) D Jeter (1) G Sheffied (1) I Suzuki (1) | R Halladay (25) C Schilling (17) T Hudson (16) P Martinez (8) J Vazquez (6) M Mussina (3) K Brown (1) M Buehrle (1) M Mulder (1) J Washburn (1) | J Mauer (46) B Crosby (22) M Riley (3) A Rios (2) G Gross (2) D McPherson (1) G Balfour (1) R Harden (1) V Martinez (1) | T Francona (19) C Tosca (15) M Scioscia (8) K Macha (7) R Gardenhire (6) T Pena (6) E Wedge (5) O Guillen (5) L Pinella (4) A Trammell (2) J Torre (1) M Hargrove (1) |
| NL MVP | NL Cy Young | NL Rookie | NL Manager |
| A Pujols (37) B Bonds (14) J Thome (10) L Berkman (5) B Giles (4) M Cameron (1) A Dunn (1) T Helton (1) A Jones (1) C Jones (1) D Lee (1) M Lowell (1) R Sexson (1) S Green (1) | R Oswalt (18) M Prior (13) R Johnson (11) K Wood (9) J Beckett (5) J Schmidt (5) B Webb (4) A Pettitte (2) K Millwood (2) M Morris (2) R Wolf (2) A Eaton (1) B Wagner (1) G Maddux (1) J Peavy (1) K Escobar (1) T Ohka (1) | K Matsui (35) K Greene (16) E Jackson (8) A LaRoche (6) J Bay (5) R Wagner (3) J Acevedo (2) C Cordero (1) J Reyes (1) S Mitre (1) T Sledge (1) | B Bochy (16) D Baker (13) J Williams (11) L Bowa (10) F Alou (8) B Cox (7) F Robinson (3) B Brenly (2) J Tracy (2) "after" L Bowa (1) "after" J Tracy (1) C Manuel (1) D Miley (1) J McKeon (1) T Larussa (1) |
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