Play Ball!

Play Ball!
The season officially starts in about 22 minutes, when the A's and the M's square off in Japan. I'm awake right now (2:38am) because I cannot seem to get to sleep, so don't think I'm such an obsessive fan that I would stay up for this.

If I did stay up, however, it would be the sixth time I would have stayed up past 2am to watch a sport in Japan on TV. The last five times, I have been watching the haru-basho, where the yokozuna, Hakuho, beat out sekiwake (and soon-to-be ozeki) Kakuryu to take home his 22nd yusho. He still trails Asashoryu by three for the record for a foregin-born rikishi (they are both Mongolian) but could conceivably catch and surpass the legendary Chiyonofuji and Taiho, who have 31 and 32 yushos, respectively. Baruto was disappointing in his bid for promotion, mustering only a 10-5 record. He was overpowering against many of the rank-and-file sekitori but could not buy a win against a sanyaku rikishi. He has such raw power and is so young that he could still concievably make yokozuna in the future. Kotoshogiku and Harumafuji were disappointing, despite Shogi's usual ephemeral flashes of brilliance. On the other hand, a few of my favorite lower-ranked rikishi did well. My man from Shimane prefecture, Okinoumi, had a strong showing and should climb the banzuke. The Nate Robinson of makuuchi and a personal favorite, Toyonoshima, was fantastic, and shared the technique sansho with Kakuryu. He could even get promoted back to komusubi, but we'll see.

Still don't know what I'm talking about? Look it up!

This is my last chance to make "pre-season" picks so I am slightly revising what I had last time, I'll post my new predictions below.

AL West

1 Texas

2 Los Angeles 

3 Seattle

4 Oakland

AL Central

1 Detroit

2 Minnesota

3 Kansas City

4 Chicago

5 Cleveland

AL East

1 Boston

2 New York

3 Tampa Bay

4 Toronto

5 Baltimore

NL West

1 San Francisco

2 Arizona

3 Los Angeles

4 Colorado

5 San Diego

NL Central

1 St. Louis

2 Milwaukee

3 Cincinnati

4 Pittsburgh

5 Chicago

6 Houston

NL East

1 Miami

2 Philadelphia

3 Atlanta

4 Washington

5 New York 

Young Prince Fielder

There are no words to describe this. Prince fielder circa 1992.

In other notes, the Giants need to sign Matt Cain, for however much money he wants, for however long he wants. He is one of the best pitchers in the league and, I think, a better starter that Tim Lincecum. Besides, without Cain my LinceCain shirt idea would make little sense. The Giants should learn from the Warriors. Letting a star go will just make the fans angry at the ownership and this will cancel out any positive effects on the payroll. Oh, by the way, there is nobody else in the Giants organization to take that spot in the rotation, anyway. 

Picks and Other Stuff

Baseball is right around the corner. The first pitchers and catchers reported on February 11th, Giants pitchers and catchers reported on February 18th, position players reported on February 23, the first spring training game is today, March 2nd, and the Giants' first cactus league game is on March 3rd, tomorrow. But who's counting?

I had written a complete article in which I displayed a statistical model I made (complete with a graph) to judge a particular team's standings. But two things, trouble with the computer program and unexpected results that I do not want to share until Matt Cain gets his well deserved eight year contract, keep me from posting the blog. I'll hopefully be able to post it in a few weeks. I had three ideas for statistics that I want to share before I get started. First, pitches per inning. This would seem like a no-brainer but for whatever reason "they" don't use it. Second, I believe that If you factor in stolen bases and caught stealing into OPS, it would be a much better measurement. I mean, a single and a steal is as good as a double. And if you further add home runs to OPS (which are admittedly already factored in multiple times) it would accentuate the importance of a homer. Here is my last idea: Take a given batter's runs and RBI total and add them together. Divide them by double the team's total runs scored and multiply by 100, and you will get a percentage which tells you how much of a given offense the player is responsible for. I would really like to see that. I would lead to great pie charts.

I recently heard a great stat. Barry Bonds is the all time leader in walks, intentional and total. So how far did he walk in all those 90-foot trips? a total of 43.6 miles. Coming down the road, probably before opening day, I will publish a rubric I designed to help "score" preseason picks. Unfortunately, I can't find my notes so that will have to wait. But today is the big day. I will give my picks for the upcoming season. See below. Due to my work load I do not have time to narrate. Also, please forgive the convoluted nature of this post. Again, I am really busy. 

AL West

1 Texas

2 Los Angeles 

3 Seattle

4 Oakland

AL Central

1 Detroit

2 Minnesota

3 Cleveland

4 Chicago

5 Kansas City

AL East

1 Boston

2 New York

3 Tampa Bay

4 Toronto

5 Baltimore

NL West

1 San Francisco

2 Arizona

3 Los Angeles

4 Colorado

5 San Diego

NL Central

1 St. Louis

2 Milwaukee

3 Cincinnati

4 Pittsburgh

5 Chicago

6 Houston

NL East

1 Philadelphia

2 Miami

3 Atlanta

4 Washington

5 New York