National League

West: Arizona

Central: St. Louis

East: Philadelphia

Wild Card: Washington

Wild Card: Miami

NLDS: Phillies def. Nationals in four; D-Backs def. Cardinals in five

NLCS: D-Backs def. Phillies in six

NLCS MVP: Justin Upton

Awards

NL Rookie of the Year (hitter): Devin Mesoraco

NL Dark Horse Rookie of the Year (hitter): Yonder Alonso

NL Rookie of the Year (pitcher): Drew Pomeranz

NL Dark Horse Rookie of the Year (pitcher): Trevor Bauer

NL Reliever of the Year: Brian Wilson

NL Dark Horse Reliever of the Year: Rex Brothers

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Buster Posey

NL Dark Horse Comeback Player of the Year: Adam Wainwright

NL Strikeout King: Clayton Kershaw

NL Dark Horse Strikeout King: Stephen Strasburg

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

NL Dark Horse Cy Young: Zack Greinke

NL Batting Champ: Joey Votto

NL Dark Horse Batting Champ: Carlos Gonzalez

NL HR Champ: Mike Stanton

NL Dark Horse HR Champ: Jay Bruce

NL MVP: Joey Votto

NL Dark Horse MVP: Troy Tulowitzki

American League

West: Los Angeles

Central: Detroit

East: Tampa Bay

Wild Card Winner: Texas

Wild Card Winner: New York

ALDS: Tigers over Rangers in four; Angels over Rays in five

ALCS: Tigers over Angels in seven

ALCS MVP: Brennan Boesch

AL ROY (hitter): Mike Trout

AL Dark Horse ROY (hitter): Jesus Montero

AL ROY (pitcher): Matt Moore

AL Dark Horse ROY (pitcher): Jarrod Parker

AL Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Mauer

AL Dark Horse Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Nathan

AL Reliever of the Year: Jose Valverde

AL Dark Horse Reliever of the Year: Joe Nathan

AL Strikeout King: Felix Hernandez

AL Dark Horse Strikeout King: Yu Darvish

AL Cy Young Winner: Felix Hernandez

AL Dark Horse Cy Young Winner: Max Scherzer

AL Batting Champ: Miguel Cabrera

AL Dark Horse Batting Champ: Dustin Pedroia

AL HR King: Jose Bautista

AL Dark Horse HR King: Adam Dunn

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera

AL Dark Horse MVP: Jacoby Ellsbury

2012 World Series

2012 World Series: Tigers over D-Backs in five

2012 WS MVP: Prince Fielder

National League:

West: Diamondbacks

Central: Cardinals

East: Phillies

Wild Card: Marlins

Wild Card: Giants

NLDS: Phillies def. Marlins in 4; Cardinals def. Diamondbacks in 5

NLCS: Cardinals def. Phillies in 6

NLCS MVP: Lance Berkman

Awards:

NL Rookie of the Year (hitter): Devin Mesoraco

NL Dark Horse Rookie of the Year (hitter): Bryce Harper

NL Rookie of the Year (pitcher): Trevor Bauer

NL Dark Horse Rookie of the Year (pitcher): Shelby Miller

NL Reliever of the Year: Jonathan Axford

NL Dark Horse Reliever of the Year: Jason Motte

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Hanley Ramirez

NL Dark Horse Comeback Player of the Year: Dan Uggla

NL Strikeout King: Clayton Kershaw

NL Dark Horse Strikeout King: Madison Bumgarner

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

NL Dark Horse Cy Young: Josh Johnson

NL Batting Champ: Carlos Gonzalez

NL Dark Horse Batting Champ: Starlin Castro

NL HR Champ: Giancarlo Stanton

NL Dark Horse HR Champ: No one is going to hit more HRs than Stanton

NL MVP: Justin Upton

NL Dark Horse MVP: Giancarlo Stanton

American League

West: Angels

Central: Tigers

East: Rays

Wild Card Winner: Yankees

Wild Card Winner: Rangers

ALDS: Angels def. Yankees in 3; Tigers def. Rays in 4

ALCS: Tigers def. Angels in 7

ALCS MVP: Prince Fielder

AL ROY (hitter): Jesus Montero

AL Dark Horse ROY (hitter): Yoenis Cespedes

AL ROY (pitcher): Matt Moore

AL Dark Horse ROY (pitcher): Yu Darvish

AL Comeback Player of the Year: Ichiro Suzuki

AL Dark Horse Comeback Player of the Year: Vernon Wells/Adam Dunn

AL Strikeout King: Felix Hernandez

AL Dark Horse Strikeout King: Matt Moore

AL Cy Young Winner: Felix Hernandez

AL Dark Horse Cy Young Winner: Ubaldo Jiminez

AL Batting Champ: Adrian Gonzalez

AL Dark Horse Batting Champ: Eric Hosmer

AL HR King: Jose Bautista

AL Dark Horse HR King: Evan Longoria

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera

AL Dark Horse MVP: Albert Pujols

2012 World Series:

2012 World Series: Tigers def. Cardinals in 6

2012 WS MVP: Justin Verlander

National League:

West: Arizona

Central: St.Louis

East: Philadelphia

Wild Card:  Atlanta

Wild Card: Cincinnati

NLDS: Arizona def. Atlanta (5 games); St. Louis def. Philadelphia (5 games)

NLCS: Arizona def. St. Louis (6 games)

NLCS MVP: Justin Upton

Awards:

NL Rookie of the Year (hitter): Yonder Alonso

NL Dark Horse Rookie of the Year (hitter): Zack Cozart

NL Rookie of the Year (pitcher): Drew Pomeranz

NL Dark Horse Rookie of the Year (pitcher): Julio Teheran

NL Reliever of the Year: Craig Kimbrel

NL Dark Horse Reliever of the Year: Joel Hanrahan

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Hanley Ramirez

NL Dark Horse Comeback Player of the Year: Buster Posey

NL Strikeout King: Clayton Kershaw

NL Dark Horse Strikeout King: Josh Johnson

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

NL Dark Horse Cy Young: Cole Hamels

NL Batting Champ: Joey Votto

NL Dark Horse Batting Champ: Troy Tulowitzki

NL HR Champ: Ryan Braun

NL Dark Horse HR Champ: Dan Uggla

NL MVP: Joey Votto

NL Dark Horse MVP: Matt Kemp

American League:

West: Texas

Central: Detroit

East: Tampa Bay

Wild Card Winner: New York

Wild Card Winner: Anaheim

ALDS: Detroit def. Texas (5 games); Tampa Bay def. Anaheim 4 games)

ALCS: Detroit def. Tampa Bay (6 games)

ALCS MVP: Austin Jackson

AL ROY (hitter): Jesus Montero

AL Dark Horse ROY (hitter): Yoenis Cespedes

AL ROY (pitcher) Matt Moore

AL Dark Horse ROY (pitcher): Tom Milone

AL Comeback Player of the Year: Carl Crawford

AL Dark Horse Comeback Player of the Year: Adam Dunn

AL Reliever of the Year: Jordan Walden

AL Dark Horse Reliever of the Year: Greg Holland

AL Strikeout King: Justin Verlander

AL Dark Horse Strikeout King: David Price

AL Cy Young Winner: Jered Weaver

AL Dark Horse Cy Young Winner: CJ Wilson

AL Batting Champ: Jacoby Ellsbury

AL Dark Horse Batting Champ: Jhonny Peralta

AL HR King: Jose Bautista

AL Dark Horse HR King: Eric Hosmer

AL MVP: Jacoby Ellsbury

AL Dark Horse MVP: Michael Young

2012 World Series:

2012 World Series: Detroit def. Arizona (7 games)

2012 WS MVP: Miguel Cabrera

The Golden Sombrero presents MLB Look-alikes: Brandon Belt and Chris Kattan

When I first heard the news that MLB was sending two teams to Japan to kick-off the 2012 season I didn’t think much of it.  Now that I am stuck in a classroom full of 6^th graders taking state mandated tests, I have some time on my hands.  Major League Baseball is a monster-sized, multi-national, money making operation.  This is fine.  As a matter of fact, this is great.  I have no problems with this whatsoever.  But hosting Opening Day in a different country…that’s some bull!

You can talk all you want about how Japan is a great consumer of all things MLB.  You can praise them over and over for what they have done for the game.  And don’t get me wrong; they have done positive things for the game of baseball.  But they are still number 2 when it comes to fans.  I know how much it sucks to be an Astros fan right now.  Bud Selig publicly humiliated us.  Try being an A’s fan today, though.  They couldn’t even watch their team play on opening day.  Seriously.  Imagine how it must feel to know that you woke up to catch the 3 AM start time, only to see that the Oakland regional network was not carrying the game, the MLB channel would be playing it on tape delay 3 hours later, and then trying MLB.com to see that the game has been blacked out despite any amount of money you have already paid.  This is where the beef lies with Opening Day held across the world.

Bud Selig and Major League Baseball will try to tell you different.  They will try to explain to you that once every 4 years (Baseball has opened up the season in Japan in the years 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012.) baseball needs to make its way over to Japan to help expand the game.  They will try to tell you that we still have Opening Night this season- April 4- and Opening Day- April 5.  Malarky, I say.  That rhetoric is purely diarrhea of the mouth.

If it is so damned important to make sure games get played in different countries, does it really have to be the first game of the season?  Certainly not.  Bud, you do know it is called America’s Pastime, right?

Give the people what they want.  All we want here is this American sport of baseball to hold its Opening Day in America.  This is hardly asking too much.  Expansion of the game is great.  I really do believe that, and so do most of you readers out there.  Keeping American fans from not being able to go to the park to watch their team’s opening game is horse manure.  Making it so that fans of a team playing their Opening Day game in a different country can’t watch said game is down right blasphemous.  And hosting the very first baseball game of the season in a different country is just the worst idea ever.  Figure it out, Bud Selig.  You’re really starting to wear out the knees in those pants…if you know what I mean.