The MLB season is about 1/3rd of the way in and there's already been plenty of surprises on and off the field. There's been a lot of big names on the disabled list and a few resurgences from veterans who seemed over the hill. There's been teams who were picked to down right suck who are thriving early on.
You can put an all star team together with the stars that have been on the DL already this year. David Wright, Evan Longoria, Ryan Zimmerman, Jason Heyward, Victor Martinez, Pedro Sandoval, Jake Peavy, John Lackey, Josh Johnson, Andrew Bailey, Brad Lidge, Jason Bay, Vernon Wells, Josh Hamilton and Zack Grienke just to name a handful. It's just one of those weird things this year but 3rd base has been brutal when it comes to injuries. It's been a tough position to fill in the fantasy baseball world.
A big disappointment has been that 6 players were arrested for DUI with in the first month of the season. Miguel Cabrera, Austin Kearns, Shin-Soo Choo, Adam Kennedy, Coco Crisp and Derek Lowe were the guilty parties. There is no disciplinary action in place by MLB for this.
There's been big disappointments on the field as well. The Red Sox and their enormous payroll started out horrendous but picked it up of late to get to four games over .500. The Chicago White Sox were the favorites to win the AL Central but an anemic bullpen has them struggling early. Then there's the debacle in Los Angeles were MLB had to take over the Dodgers due to the McCourts ugly divorce case.
The biggest surprise has to be the Cleveland Indians. Picked by a lot of experts to be the worst team in baseball but instead they have the best record in the Majors and are 18-5 at home. Florida looks like they'll be in the hunt all year because of their talented pitching staff and young sluggers stepping up. Pittsburg has actually been competitive early as well.
I know it's early but here are my picks for individual awards:
AL; MVP- Curtis Granderson. He is on fire and has been the best Yankee hands down. He will still strike out in bunches but his numbers are off the chart. He's currently at .275/16HRs/35RBIs/37R/6Steals. He is 2nd in HRs, 3rd in slugging %, and 4th in RBIs and OPS in the AL.
Cy Young- Josh Beckett. He's let up 2 runs or less in 8 out of 10 starts, and no more than 4 runs in any one start. He is 4-1 with a .95 WHIP, 1.69 ERA and batters are only hitting .186 off him. Oh, and he has 58Ks to 20BBs in 64 innings pitched.
Rookie of the Year- Michael Pineda- you could argue Pineda as a Cy Young candidate and he probably will be one in the future. He is 6-2 with a .94 WHIP and a 2.16 ERA. He also has a k/9 of 9.41. He gives Seattle hope, especially if they have to move King Felix. In my opinion they should hold onto him. Pitching wins and Seattle now has a nice 1-2 punch.
Comeback player- Russell Martin- in 98 games last year with the Dodgers, Martin batted .248 with 5 HRs and 26 RBIs. He already had 9 HRs 26 RBIs and batting .266 with the Yankees this year. He's also had numerous key hits throughout the season.
NL; MVP- Ryan Braun- Just coming off a 10 game hit streak, Braun's numbers are dominant. He's batting .299/12HRs/37RBIs/34R/10Steals. Braun will challenge for the MVP for many years to come.
Cy Young- Josh Johnson- He's currently on the DL but has been close to un-hittable all year. Only a 3-1 record but has a .98 WHIP, a 1.64 ERA and a .185 batting average against.
Rookie of the Year- Brett Wallace- Although his power numbers aren't huge, he is having a great year. Being stuck in that Astros line up makes it hard to rack up the RBIs. That being said, he is hitting .316/3HRs/15RBIs/21Rs. He has an OBP of .388 as well.
Comeback Player- Hands down it's Lance Berkman. Last year with Houston and New York (AL) combined he hit .248 with 14HRs/48RBIs. This year for St. Louis his numbers are insane! .346/11HRs/35RBIs/32Rs/31BBs and a ridiculous 1.116 OPS.
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