Quick Recap of last night and MVP award winners!

Well you can't get them all right and last night I went 0-2 with my predictions on the games outcomes. I still look good with my overall predictions that the Yankees and Dodgers will move on to the World Series, so I am not sweating. The Yankees came to play last night and were able to get the best of Dallas Keuchel. The one person I want to point out on the Yankees is Greg Bird. This guy battled injuries all season and struggled when he did play finishing with an average of .190. The Yankees didn't have many options at first so they rolled the dice on Bird this postseason and it has paid off big. He has hit 3 homeruns in the playoffs and his current average is .308. Like I said yesterday the least likely of players come through big for a team trying to make the World Series. The Cubs vs. Dodgers game last night was a lot of fun to watch. Jake Arrieta looked like the old Cy Young award winner last night. His fastball had so much movement hitters were not able to barrel it up. The off speed pitches were filthy and all of them were working for him last night. The only thing I want to say is the Cubs better get more than 3 runs if they expect to beat Kershaw in their next game. Also, this Chris Taylor kid is very entertaining to watch right now in the playoffs. This kid swings so hard every single time he swings the bat. Normally this would mean he is a hit or miss kind of player, but not for Taylor. He works the count and constantly is fouling pitches off. He will need to continue to stay hot in an offense that doesn't have a lot of fire power right now. On to the main discussion.

NL MVP Award

There are three players in the race for the NL MVP award this year. Giancarlo Stanton, Charlie Blackmon, and Nolan Arenado. To the naked eye people would think Giancarlo should win this award hands down, but I am going to tell you why he shouldn't This is a painful thing for me to say because Giancarlo Stanton is my favorite player in baseball to watch. This season he finished with 59 homeruns, 132 RBI's, a .281 average, and was an All Star. The last time we saw a power season like this was 2006 when Ryan Howard finished with 58 homeruns. I think everyone was hoping Stanton would break the (none steroid) record for most homeruns in a season, but he fell 3 short. Now with that said I will tell you who I think should win the award and it's Charlie Blackmon. What Blackmon did out of the lead spot this year has to be one of the greatest lead off seasons, if not the greatest, of all time. Blackmon finished with a league high in runs with 137, league high in hits with 213, and league high in triples with 14. He also finished with 37 homeruns, 104 RBI's, and a .331 average. The first 3 stats I named sounds like it would come from a leadoff hitter. But the homeruns and RBI's sound like a 3 hole hitter. He took a dip in stolen bases this year and finished with 14. This man did more for his team than any other player in baseball. Stanton lead in 2 categories compared to Blackmon's 3 but the big difference is Blackmon finished respectfully close in homeruns and RBI's while Stanton didn't come close to Blackmon in the 3 categories he lead the league in this year. The third man in the race is Nolan Arenado. He finished with 37 homeruns, 130 RBI's, .309 average, and he lead the league in doubles with 43. Those are great offensive numbers to go with the Gold Glove he will undoubtedly win for the 5th year in a row. Great numbers over the course of the year for Nolan, but he is going to hurt Blackmon in the polls. I expect the experts to split the votes up between Blackmon and Nolan. Which means that Giancarlo Stanton will win the MVP award. It is unfortunate when two members of the same team have MVP seasons because they will steal votes from each other and hurt the others chances of winning. But hey that's baseball.

AL MVP Award

This race will be a little closer because there are only 2 stand out players that will win this award in the AL. Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge are the two contenders. Altuve finished the year with 204 hits, 24 homeruns, 81 RBI's, 32 steals, and a league high .346 average. What a fantastic overall season for Altuve. He is the heart and soul behind the Astros team this year. Other than average he didn't stand out in any one category but he did but up good enough numbers in those other categories. When you look at Judge he finished with 52 homeruns, 114 RBI's, league high 127 walks, league high 208 strikeouts, and a .284 average. This was a remarkable rookie season and I don't know if we will ever see one better. Well, maybe if there is an international signing like Ichiro Suzuki. Anyways, both these players are a huge reason why there teams are facing each other in the playoffs right now. I think the award will be given to Jose Altuve. They are two reasons why I pick Altuve. First, Aaron Judge had a league high in strikeouts and went through some slumps during the year. This was not the case for Altuve as he was consistent all year long. Second, I think the panel will pick Altuve because Aaron Judge is a rookie. It might be a dumb reason but I think the experts will say Judge has plenty of years ahead of him to win this award. Not the best of reasoning, but think about it. Altuve is such a great story for the game of baseball. He is the shortest player in the game, but yet plays with the biggest heart. This is the age old story about how it doesn't matter how big you are you can be successful in the game of baseball. Altuve is already an inspiration so a lot of shorter players and I bet all those short players are just happy to make a big league team. Well if Altuve wins the award it gives all those same players the hope that if they work hard enough they can win an MVP award no matter how big you are. That is all I got for today!