COAS Picks the MLB All Stars

Truth be told: I haven't paid an overwhelming amount of attention to baseball this year. I've kept up with some in watching the Cubs flounder to another 100-loss season and kind of watching the standings to see where everything is. (It didn't help that I, like pretty much everyone else around Chicago, was caught up in Blackhawks fever, but sometimes a team captures your heart and to quote Duncan Keith, "...you win the Cup. That's the way it goes.")

Anyway, back in November I went on a little spiel about things I wanted to fix in Major League Baseball. Looking back, I realize I left a few things off the list, one of the most important being the All Star Game. Look, I enjoy the Midsummer Classic. It's probably the best All Star Game in the 4 major North American sports. But one of two things need to change: either fan voting needs to go, or the fact that the game decides home field advantage does. Given a choice, I'd prefer to get rid of the home field advantage factor. This allows the possibility of a player from a bad team swinging the outcome of the World Series (granted, this is not too likely to occur, but the possibility is there). As such, it really should go back to an exhibition game.

I do like the ability for fans to vote for who they want to play (at least for starters), so with the deadline for voting coming up late Thursday night, I'm getting my votes in now (all 25 of them, maybe more since I do have multiple emails.)

Without further ado, my starters for the 2013 All Star Game (all stats retrieved June 30 before the start of all games):

Game Notes: Beloit Snappers @ Kane County Cougars (6/27/13)

Final Score

Cougars 8, Snappers 7 (10 innings)

Game Summary

Starter Tayler Scott of the Cougars in the 1st.

For Father's Day, in addition to a card I got my dad tickets to head down Kirk Road to catch the Cubs' Class-A affiliate in action. The Cougars (31-42) started off very sloppy in allowing four stolen bases and also committing two errors, a passed ball, and three wild pitches all before the end of the 4th inning as the Snappers (48-29) built a 6-0 lead on all those mistakes. Slowly the Cougars came back from that defecit, posting a four-run 7th to get back to within a single run, then tied it in the 8th. Neither team scored in the 9th, and the Cougars won in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 10th (see below).

Pitchers of Record

Albert Almora batting in the 1st.

W: Jeffry Antigua (3-1): 3 IP, H, BB, 3 K. Really, the bullpen did a great job for Kane County tonight. After a tough outing for starter Tayler Scott (4+ IP, chared with all 7 Beloit runs, 4 of them earned, 7 strikeouts), Antigua followed 3 scoreless innings from Sheldon McDonald with 3 of his own. He faced a little trouble in the 10th but got out of the jam and was able to pick up a nice win.
L: Chris Lamb (1-2): 2+ IP, 2 R (1 ER), 5 H, 2 K. Pitched well other than in the 8th when he blew the save on a clutch 2-out hit. He went scoreless in the 9th, then faced all of two batters in the 10th when the Cougars walked off.

Key Stats

Rock Shoulders celebrates his homer.

• Albert Almora (KC): 3-5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI. The Cubs' 2012 first round pick definitely lived up to the hype tonight and improved his average this year to .366. After starting the game 0-2, he doubled to center in the 5th and came around to score thanks to an error and a sacrifice fly. In the 7th he singled home a run to make it 7-3 and would later score. He then tied the game in the 8th with a grounder to short that wasn't handled cleanly. Obviously it's still early in his career, but he showed flashes of what could make for exciting baseball at Clark and Addison in a few years.
• Rock Shoulders (KC): 1-4, HR (15), R, 3 RBI. I don't really remember a lot of power hitters coming through Kane County (not to say there haven't been), but this man definitely has some. He struck out his first couple times out before walking in the 6th. Then with two on and two out in the 7th he absolutely crushed one to the decks out in right field to pull the Cougars within a run. And that name... one of the best in all of sports.
• Oliver Zapata (KC) 3-4, 3B, 3 R. Zapata was the catalyst for this team out of the 9-spot in the order. He tripled leading off the 7th and scored on Almora's single. He hit a 1-out single in the 8th, stole second, advanced to third on a Bijan Rademacher groundout, then scored on Almora'a second straight single to tie the game. And boy, did he ever take advantage of mistakes in extras. He led off the bottom of the 10th for Kane County with a bunt right in front of home plate. He went fast enough to beat the throw to first for a single... only the throw from the catcher was off target. Zapata advanced to second and rounded towards third... and the right fielder's throw was off, allowing Zapata to advance to third with nobody out on a pair of errors. Rademacher didn't need to bat, as Lamb uncorked a wild pitch and Zapata raced home with the winning run. It was incredible.

The Cougars mob Oliver Zapata.

Final Thoughts

This was my first time getting back to Fifth Third Bank Ballpark in at least a couple years after spending a number of summer nights here growing up. When you live a mere 15-20 minutes away from the ballpark, it's a great alternative to driving in towards the city. We often sat in the lawn seats out in left field, but I got a couple box seats 4 rows back from the Cougars dugout for my dad for Father's Day, and I think he enjoyed getting out of the house for a few hours this evening. It's been a rough season for Kane County, but there are some talented young players on this squad that could be making an impact on the North Side down the line. And ultimately, despite 8 errors between the two teams, this was an incredibly entertaining game. You can't ask for more than that.

Bring Me My Cup

I watched a vast majority of last night's Game 6 from my fiancée Kristen's house in Naperville last night and was facing the difficult decision: when do I head for home? Ultimately there was a stoppage in play about halfway through the third period when I decided I needed to head home, what with having to work this morning.

Of course, I found a way to regret that decision. It's a 20 minute drive from her house to mine which I hoped would be enough, given media timeouts and what have you, and boy, that 20 minute drive was a roller coaster ride. Disappointment hit me when Lucic scored that go ahead goal, and I was mentally going so far as to try and figure out Wednesday plans for watching the game.

Of course, I was still driving when everything turned. I was a couple minutes away from home, about to turn into my neighborhood when Bryan Bickell saved the day. Yelling and fist pumping ensued as I drove on. I was down the street from my house when Dave Bolland put home the winning tally as I felt pure elation. More fist pumps, more happy yelling ensued. Needless to say, I made sure I was going to get in my house for the final minute. I wasn't going to miss that.

Photo by Greg Cooper, USA Today Sports

Chicagoans undoubtedly know by now the history of this storied franchise and the dark era the team went through for much of my formative years under Dollar Bill Wirtz and the subsequent resurgence since his passing and the takeover by his son. Changes were promptly made and suddenly the Blackhawks were a draw again. Long lost fans made their way back to join the die-hards and brought a new generation of fans with them, and it all culminated in that 2010 Cup win.

For me though, this Cup win is different. I was a late bloomer on the Blackhawks, joining the ranks of the fanbase during the rebirth, and I was thrilled about that first Cup win, but that one might have been more about exorcising old demons than anything else. But it also brought passion and joy to a title-starved city, and hooked a lot of us who were newer fans to the sport and the team.

After that Cup win, we really cared. We followed the team through a fire sale of key pieces they could no longer afford then watching them squeak into the playoffs and nearly make a glorious comeback to end all glorious comebacks against Vancouver with nowhere near as good a team as was constructed the year before. We suffered through Mike Smith being a scumbag and Raffi Torres forever sealing his fate as one of the most hated athletes in Chicago history. We suffered through that lockout, not knowing if we'd even see any hockey this year while I offered my fiancée's cousin Gary Bettman's head on a silver platter.

This year's Hawks team made everyone seemingly forget about all of that. They tore through the first half of the season while I made jokes about not knowing what a regulation loss was. Kristen and I finally got to experience the best draw in the city in person, joining her cousin for a late regular season game at the Madhouse. Suddenly Kristen, who was never much of a sports fan, cared. She caught onto the rules and flow of hockey and was hooked. I was happy to be hooked back in with her.

Obligatory billboard shot on my way into work

All the emotions we went through on this run made winning the Stanley Cup this year more meaningful for me. Watching Bryan Bickell backhand home the overtime winner against Minnesota to start the run. The dark, somber mood at Kristen's cousin's house as Detroit took a commanding lead giving way to me cutting off a conversation on the phone with my brother with screams of joy as Brent Seabrook banished Detroit to the East days later. Resisting the urge to trash talk to KTLA's traffic reporter as the Hawks made Jonathan Quick look human and Hatrick Kane sent the team back to the Finals. Staying up late into the night to see why Andrew Shaw loves shin pads. And last night: enjoying the rewards of sticking with this team as they hoist the best trophy in all of sports.

I'm wearing a Hawks shirt to work today. Given the party that this city is probably still going through, I think it's fitting. My Hawks are Cup champions. Fellow Hawks fans, let's enjoy this one.

NBA Tournament of Champions Preview

With the 2013 NBA season behind us and another champion crowned, the idea of legacy comes to mind. "Where does this Miami Heat team fit into the picture of the greatest teams of all time?" It's a question I've been pondering for much of the season, and with this season done, I can try to answer it.

Naturally, the best way to solve this would be to put these teams on a basketball court and have them duke it out, but time travel doesn't exist, so we have to go with the next-closest thing: simulating games.

Historically, the league known as the National Basketball Association has been around since the mid 1940's, but wasn't officially known as the NBA until the 1949-1950 season. When you add up the numbers, with the Heat winning the 2013 title, we now have 64 "NBA" champions. Convenient. Thus, I present the NBA Tournament of Champions.

Unlike the Death to the BCS Playoffs, this tournament is entirely objective in terms of how teams get in and also in terms of seeding. I had to think long and hard about how to arrange the bracket. Going by every 16 or even every 8 years as a divider didn't really work from a historical sense, so I debated about using geography as the barrier. However, more champions have come from the Eastern Conference than have from the West, so I tried to come up with numerous ways to balance out the numbers, and none of them really clicked with me. Ultimately, I just decided to "seed" everyone the fairest way I could: random number generators.

While this may not give us the "top 2 teams" in the championship round, the two teams that win 5 best-of-seven series will have more than proven themselves worthy, given the level of competition they're facing. There really aren't any "easy" matchups here with all the talent in the world. Organization-wise, I'm breaking this 64-team field into 8 "brackets" of 8 teams apiece that will feed into the Quarterfinal of Champions, and ultimately onto the semis and the Championship of Champions. Each bracket has been named for a prominent player in each bracket who (except for 1 bracket) has at least 2 of his title teams present. Students of NBA history will probably not be surprised then to see that half of the brackets are named for legendary Celtics (considering the sheer number of Celtic titles), but a lot of other greats are present. Below is a breakdown of each bracket.

NBA Finals Preview

I haven't been the most accurate prognosticator when it comes to the NBA this postseason, though I did pick the Heat to come out of the East, and they get a great matchup with the Spurs coming out of the West. I was way off on my Grizzlies prediction there, but that's just a credit to this Spurs team. They should give the Heat a run for their money.

I heard a fun stat earlier this week saying that since Jordan retired the second time, every Finals series has involved either the Spurs, Lakers, or Heat (the lesson, as always: Stern doesn't believe in parity).

By and large, experience here is a wash, since the Spurs have won 4 titles since 1999 with Tim Duncan leading the way and a great supporting cast beside him. This is probably the most complete team in the league, and definitely more so than the Heat, who counter this with the best player in the league right now.

The old adage remains though that you need 8 or 9 guys to win a title. Both these teams certainly have those qualifying supporting casts, it's just a question of which one steps up more. For the Spurs, my eye is on Kawhi Leonard, since he'll probably be guarding LeBron most of the time. Obviously LeBron will get his, but if Leonard can make him work for it while still contributing, say, 10-15 points offensively, he should be good. For the Heat, I wonder who's guarding Duncan, since even at his age he's putting up really good numbers, but the other question is will Chalmers/Cole be able to contain Tony Parker? Parker won the Finals MVP in 2007 after scoring in bunches (granted, Delonte West was guarding him), so if he's effective like that again, the Heat will have some issues.

Ultimately though I think it comes down to the other members or Miami's Big Three. How hurt is Dwyane Wade? If he can put together a decent enough series with a bum knee, that takes a lot of pressure off LeBron. Chris Bosh is probably just as, if not more important though. He needs to crash the boards and hit his open shots. Individuals can only carry a team so far, you need everyone to step up at this stage.

I do still think the Spurs are the better team, but I'm not sold that they can overcome the best player in the league. Begrudgingly, I'm going with the favorites. Heat in seven.

Whoever wins gets to take part in my next big idea that, in two weeks, is going to rock your world.

The Dark Cloud Over Baseball

For baseball fans, yesterday's Outside the Lines report brings to light a complex issue, especially for fans around my age who grew up in an era now tainted by performance enhancing drugs. I didn't really follow baseball that much until 1998 when I made my first trip to Wrigley amidst the Cubs gunning for the playoffs and Sammy Sosa launching baseballs all over the place. As a 9-year-old, I didn't know anything about PED's, nor did I really care. It wasn't until later when the league started to mandate testing (despite steroids being banned in 1991) and Sosa's name really started to become linked to drug use that I started to care.

With all the allegations that have been thrown around in the past few years, not to mention the degree of accuracy seen with these allegations, I tend to take these rumors pretty seriously. So when I read the news about Tony Bosch of Biogenesis of America finally agreeing to cooperate with Major League Baseball and the hammer that is about to fall, I find myself fascinated by what's to come: who all will be caught in the firestorm? How hard is the hammer going to fall? Will this serve as a warning to players present and future to stay clean? Hard to say on all accounts.

Of the guys mentioned, I'm especially not surprised about either Alex Rodriguez or Ryan Braun showing up. A-Rod has already admitted to past use, so to hear about use since then isn't too surprising, and Braun already failed a test but blamed a middleman for his mistake got off on a technicality. If the allegations are true and Bosch has documentation to prove that these guys did in fact acquire illegal substances from him, they should face those steep 100 game suspensions. As for these other names that haven't been released, they also should face their 50 game punishments, again, assuming the allegations have documentation to prove it.

While watching the KTLA Morning News at work this morning, at least one fan said he thought the steroid allegations were all over and done with. I wish it were the case. I think we're going to see steroid and other PED use for a long time going forward, even if the hammer comes down incredibly hard on these guys, which it should. But hopefully these guys will serve as an example.

In 2011 I argued that Braun deserved his MVP award, something I wrote before the positive test news broke. Especially now, I think his award is nullified, and a lot of these MVP's from the last 20 years are no longer legitimate (A-Rod's 2003 MVP is one that deserves a lot of scrutiny, not to mention the odds that all of Barry Bonds' MVP's are tainted too). If guys test positive for performance enhancers in this day and age and would make the Hall of Fame if their numbers were legitimate, they should not be allowed in. The people before are another story. They don't deserve a place alongside guys like Ruth and Aaron, but they should have a wing for guys who "disgraced the sport", since they're still an important part of baseball history. While we're at it, let's let Pete Rose into that wing as well. We can't just ignore 20 years of baseball history here.

All in all, this is a sad story that puts a lot of baseball's biggest names in a dark light, but at least here the league wants to do something to clean up the game. Hopefully it's a step in the right direction.