COAS Hands Out 2018 MLB Awards

I started doing my research and writing this in the wake of the Cubs falling in Game 163. So I'm bummed. But tradition must hold, and as such, it's time to take a look at the 2018 regular season that was and make my picks for MLB awards.

As I've done in years past, I will look at the candidates for the four major awards in each league, and make my case for each below.

COAS Hands Out 2017 MLB Awards

We interrupt the mostly football-related postings on Confessions of a Sportscaster to bring you another annual feature that I like to do, because running through stats is fun, especially when you don't have to do all the compiling.

It was a pretty busy summer for baseball here on COAS, as I spent the spring and summer working on a much more massive Tournament of Champions than I'd attempted in years prior, but it all worked out in the end when after 1,422 games the 2016 Chicago Cubs took home the Championship of Champions. I'm also hoping that the 2017 Cubs can pull off a repeat and give me a bonus title on top of the one from last year.

But before they can do that, and before any playoff games taint the sample, I want to go through the 2017 Major League Baseball season and, as I have done in years past, make my votes for the four most major awards in each league.

COAS Hands Out 2016 MLB Awards

I'm following up on an annual feature here on Confessions of a Sportscaster. I debated about pushing this back until Wednesday to keep each day with one post, but I decided to push the timetable up to today since the season is concluded. This way no playoff results cloud my judgment.

For the most part, I've decided on a lot of these votes for awards already and it was just a matter of waiting for the final numbers. With those in the books, I am going to make my picks for Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Award, and Most Valuable Player for each league.

COAS Hands Out 2015 MLB Awards

The 2015 Major League Baseball regular season has come to a close, and in a way, I'm kind of sad about it. After a few years of shoddy baseball on the North Side of Chicago, the Cubs finally put together a team worth watching, and they're playing in October. I don't want it to end.

With the playoffs beginning tomorrow and no tiebreaker games on the books this week, it's time for me to continue my annual tradition of handing out awards. As I'm not a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, I can get away with this.

I've been pretty on the money the last few years in terms of picking the award winners. Let's give it another go.

COAS Hands Out 2014 NFL Awards

256 games are in the books. 32 teams have been narrowed down to 12. In about a month, only one team will remain to stake the claim as best in the NFL. But before we can do any of that, we need to hand out some hardware.

I've had some reasonable success in handing out awards compared to the official results in prior years, though defense is always tough. You can view my picks from 2013 and 2012 at the links provided.

In my work for UKEndzone, I've also been handing out awards at each of the quarter polls in 2014. The first, second, and third quarter awards have only applied to players in the NFC North, as that has been my assigned division, but some of those players will receive votes in these awards as well. Those posts also have some "anti-awards", as it were, primarily to pick on the dumpster fire that is the Chicago Bears franchise. When the awards for the year in the division go live, I will link to it here.

For now, here are my league-wide picks for the major NFL awards.

2014 MLB Awards

What a summer it's been. There was a fair amount of parity in Major League Baseball, and it's nice to not have a New York or Boston team in the playoffs (so the East Coast bias can go away for one October). As a Cubs fan, I expected nothing this season. But they overachieved in the first year under Rick Renteria, and we got to see glimpses of the future. I look forward to next April/May when Kris Bryant gets his call.

But for 2014, no teams lost 100 games, and nobody won 100 games; it's the first time since 2007 that this has happened. It took until September 15th for the first playoff spot to be claimed, as the Angels rode a hot second half to a berth. The next day, the first divisions were claimed as Baltimore and Washington got to crack open some champagne. By the start of the final week, only half the spots were claimed. It made for a fun final week.

This season, I only got to one big league game, as my wife kidnapped me to go to Wrigley. This marks the only the second year (the other was 2008) that the Cubs had a sub-.500 record at games I attended, and the first time they went winless. I also didn't get to see Javy Baez in person. Next year, baby.

So with 2014's regular season in the books, it's time for me to hand out awards. For the most part, my votes have concurred with the official results in years past. I'd be willing to bet they'd do so again this year. Let's take a look.

COAS Hands Out 2013 NFL Awards

Photo from fanpop.com.

It is said that all good things must come to an end. That means that the 2013 NFL regular season had to. There was a lot of drama all the way through and plenty of games that decided playoff fates of nearly every team in the NFL. I got to see a thrilling game send my Packers to the playoffs when Aaron Rodgers escaped a sack and found a wide open Randall Cobb for the game winner. A lot of Bears fans (including a couple at work) have been extremely classy today. And then there's the idiots that you find on the Internet who are blaming the refs for what came down to Green Bay executing when it mattered most.

Hopefully I won't be as much of an idiot on the Web. Looking back at predictions, I feel dumb about a few things (picking the Vikings at 9-7, underrating Kansas City, San Diego and Arizona), but I nailed a few teams right on the money, so there's that. Ultimately, I think I only got about half of the playoff teams correct though.

Anyway, like I did last year, I'm going to give my (unofficial) votes for the major NFL awards. It's been pretty accurate so far, but I'm certainly open to other guys winning that I don't give my vote to. Let's get to the results.

2013 MLB Awards

Being in Chicago, baseball season wasn't overly exciting. Yet I continued tradition and made it to Wrigley, having done so at least once every year since 1998, though the first trip involved my being kidnapped to go (but what can I say, I enjoyed being kidnapped). I also got to make it to see the Stanley Cup, which was awesome, even if Coach Q didn't do a victory lap around the warning track. A trip to Milwaukee also appeared on the docket this year and we got to introduce Kristen to Miller Park's fare. I think she enjoyed the trip just based on that.

For the first time I also actively participated in a fantasy baseball league with a bunch of people on Twitter from various different places. (I played in a couple leagues in years past that I didn't pay attention to; won the first year, and ended up in last place the following year.) By the start of May, I led the Perfect Strangers league after a couple dominant weeks, then was never knocked off that perch despite the best efforts of another owner who gave me a hell of a fight in the title matchup this week, so much so that I needed the tiebreaker of winning our regular season matchups to pull victory out of my behind. Really though, I have to tip my hat to a great group of people that made this a fun league to play in and for making it competitive to the end. (And yes, I took a potshot at Jeff Loria with my team name. I stand by my decision.)

So with playing fantasy, I had to pay attention to what was going on over the course of the whole season. As such, hopefully I have some level of qualifications to pick out award winners for the 2013 campaign that just broke a tie for a wild card spot and we still have a great, open playoff left to go. But with the regular season done, it's time to look back and hand out awards for the season.

Handing Out 2012 NFL Awards

Ah, what a fun season it's been so far. A Reddit user came up with the graphic on your left showing the amazing amount of parity that has been involved this year... yes, even you, Kansas City (and this was posted in Business Insider in November!) But as this NFL season winds down, we have to pick out the best of the best and like last year decide on the winners of the major awards for the league. Some of these will be a lot easier than others, but the debate is part of what makes this so much fun. My picks for last year's award winners (not all of which were accurate, but a lot were) can be found here.


Offensive Rookie of the Year

Robert Griffin III, Redskins
258-393, 3200 yds, 20 TD, 5 INT; 120 car, 815 yds, 7 TD, 12 FUM (2 lost)

This was one of the tougher calls to make obviously, given that this is probably the best quarterback draft class in decades and the brilliance that Griffin, Andrew Luck and more surprisingly Russell Wilson have displayed this season. As awesome as Luck has been in being a key part of getting Indianapolis back to the playoffs far sooner than anyone expected, he's been asked to do a lot for that team. You hate punishing him for it, but his 18 picks is the most among rookie quarterbacks. That leaves two similar guys in RGIII and Wilson. Griffin's biggest issue are his fumbles, but he has taken care of the ball the best and has been more efficient than Wilson has, despite Wilson's lead in touchdowns. Really, if you have any of these 3 guys, your team is in good shape, but we have to pick one, and I have to go with RGIII. And honestly, if Luck or Wilson end up winning the award, I can't complain.

 
Defensive Rookie of the Year

Casey Heyward, Packers
53 tackles, 6 INT, 21 PD, 1 FF

The amazing part of this one is that Heyward hasn't been an every-down player (granted, those are getting rarer these days) but when he's been out there, he's made the most of his opportunities. He's tops among rookies with 6 interceptions and 26 pass deflections (numbers which are tied for 5th and alone in 3rd, respectively, among all players). He's been a big reason why Green Bay's defense has been better than it was last year.

Offensive Player of the Year

Peyton Manning, Broncos
400-583, 4659 yds, 37 TD, 11 INT

Peyton has to be included on here somewhere. It was a tough decision between him and Tom Brady (surprise surprise), but Manning was more efficient (Brady threw 50 more passes for a little less than 200 more yards) in terms of yards per attempt. Manning's QBR (105.8, behind only Aaron Rodgers) and Total QBR (84.1, best in the league) were higher than Brady's (98.7 and 77.1, respectively).

Defensive Player of the Year

J.J. Watt, Texans
81 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 4 FF, 2 FR

There's some good competition here with guys like Von Miller, Aldon Smith, or one of Chicago's corners (Peanut Tillman or Tim Jennings), but JJ Watt has been a freak of nature. Not only has he made a habit of getting to the quarterback and knocking the ball loose, he also possesses the great instincts to get his hands up when he can't reach the quarterback, knocking down Lord knows how many passes (NFL.com does not have him down for any). That impact earns him this title.


Coach of the Year

Bruce Arians, Colts
9-3 as interim head coach, AFC Wild Card

Not usual for an interim head coach to be here, but this one was pretty much a no-brainer. While I definitely think #Chuckstrong had a lot to do with it, he took over a 1-2 team at the time, he went 9-3 in place of Chuck Pagano when there was no expectation for him to takeover, and to do so almost seamlessly deserves a lot of credit. Granted, it helps when you have an awesome rookie quarterback and some knowledgeable veterans in your midst, but Arians' impact can't be overstated.

NFL Awards Race

I know I'm a little late to the party, but Week 17 really threw a wrench into the decision for who the Most Valuable Player was in one of the most popular NFL seasons ever. Most of the experts agree that it's down to a 3 man race, and to no surprise it's all quarterbacks. It's almost a shame that you have to be a quarterback or a running back to win MVP, but that just seems to be the reality of it all. There's some other interesting races for major awards as well.

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Cam Newton, Carolina
310-517 (60.0%), 4051 yds, 21 TD, 17 INT; 106 car, 706 yds, 14 TD

A lot of times having the top pick of the draft can be a crapshoot and players don't always pan out (see Russell, JaMarcus). Many people were skeptical of Cam coming into this year, but he has done a great job silencing all the critics. Arguably the best dual threat quarterback since Michael Vick, and this is just as a rookie. He had a respectable 84.5 quarterback rating, and a QBR of 56.6, 16th in the NFL. For a rookie, to be in the middle of the pack is all right, and he seems like he's got a lot of potential as the Panthers develop their talent. You have to give Andy Dalton credit too, but Newton played better I think.

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Ryan Kerrigan, Washington
63 total tackles (41 solo), 7.5 sacks, 1 INT (TD), 4 FF

This one was a bit harder to decide on. Kerrigan was tied for 4th among rookies in sacks, 10th in total tackles, tied for 2nd in forced fumbles, and had the pick-6. You can definitely also make arguments for guys like Von Miller (11.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles,64 tackles) or Aldon Smith (14 sacks, leading all rookies, plus a safety, 2 FF's and a recovery). I'm choosing to go with a guy who could do it all his rookie season. I feel bad that he's stuck on Washington, but the kid has a good future.

Offensive Player of the Year

Drew Brees, New Orleans
468-657 (71.2%), 5476 yds, 46 TD, 14 INT

There was no real standout rusher this year despite 14 players making it to 1000 yards (and without injuries there would have been a few more), and Drew Brees rewrote the book on passing this year. He threw an average of 41 times per game, which is a lot, but he completed on average 28 or 29 of those for a good chunk of yards. He had a really good passer rating (110.6) and QBR (84.0). Plus the fact that he broke Dan Marino's old passing yards record merits the award too. Stay tuned for more on Brees.

Defensive Player of the Year

Cliff Avril, Detroit
36 total tackles (29 solo), 11 sacks, 1 INT (TD), 6 FF, 3 recoveries (1 TD)

Defense is a harder side of the field to pick one outstanding player for because there's so many important things. Arguments could be made for Jared Allen (league-leading 22 sacks), Charles Woodson (tied for league lead with 7 picks), or even Terrell Suggs (league-leading 7 FF's, 70 total tackles), but I think Avril had an underrated overall season. At defensive end, you don't pick up a lot of tackles, but he did a great job getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks (11th in the league), 6 FF's (second only to Suggs), and scored a pair of touchdowns. I would be more than okay with one of the above guys winning (or even another player with a convincing enough case), but I would like to make a case for a guy who might not get a lot of votes.

Coach of the Year

Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco
13-3 (10-2 conference, 5-1 division), +151 points (11th PF, 2nd PA)

Took a team that went 6-10 last year and in his first year improved the team by 7 games. He helped revive Alex Smith's career, and turned the Niners into a great traditional team (pound the rock, play tough defense). That he did so in his first year speaks volumes. I would have said Mike McCarthy of Green Bay had the Pack gone unbeaten, but he deserves at least second place for taking the defending champs with a shortened training camp coming off a title and potential for Disease of More destruction. Credit him for keeping that team grounded and being able to survive so many teams' best shots all season long.