The Baseball Writers Association of America announced their awards this week with the final award being handed out was the M.V.P. Since the awards are now formatted for television they narrow the race down to three finalist before they announce the winner. In the National League it was Paul Goldschmidt, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Votto. In the American League the finalist where Jose Altuve, Aaron Judge and Jose Ramirez. This year there was going to be a first time winner in both leagues no matter which player won.
In the National League Stanton was named M.V.P. over Votto by just two points with Goldschmidt finishing a distant 3rd. Stanton ended up with 302 points. He got 10 1st place votes, 10 2nd place votes, 5 3rd place votes, 3 4th place votes, 1 5th place vote and 1 6th place vote. Votto ended up with 300 points as he also got 10 1st place votes. Votto also received 9 2nd place votes, 4 3rd place votes, 5 4th places votes and 2 5th place votes.
Believe it or not this wasn’t the closest M.V.P. voting ever. In 1944 St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion beat Chicago Cubs outfielder Bill Nicholson 190-189. Then in 1947 Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees edged out Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox 202-201. Then in 1979 there was actually a tie for the National League M.V.P. award. Keith Hernandez who was with the Cardinals and Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates each ended up with 216 points.
I’m always interested to see what other players picked up some votes as writers put 10 names on their ballot. Goldschmidt received 4 1st place votes, Charlie Blackmon picked up 3 1st place votes his teammate Nolan Arenado got 2 1st place votes and last years winner Kris Bryant received 1 1st place vote.
Now in the American League Altuve was the run away winner as he received 27 1st place votes and totaled 405 points. Judge got 2 1st place votes and racked up 279 points while Ramirez received the other 1st place vote and totaled 237 points. Interestingly even though he only played in 114 games last season Mike Trout ended up with 197 points and finished 4th in the voting.
This really should’ve been Altuve’s 2nd M.V.P. as he easily was the top player in the American League, but the voters love for Trout took the award away from him. You have to wonder if Trout had played an entire season if they would’ve given him the award again.
Altuve is the 11th second baseman to win the M.V.P. and the first since Dustin Pedroia won it in 2008. Altuve is listed as being 5’6 and this ties him with Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto, the 1950 winner and Athletics pitcher Bobby Shantz, the 1952 winner as the shortest MVPs in history.
I think that the voters got this right, but what do you think? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
Danica Patrick is 35 years old and has made the decision that her full time racing career is over.
NASCAR’s final race of the season is at Homestead-Miami Speedway this Sunday and Patrick used one of their media rooms on Friday afternoon to let everyone know that she was retiring. During her press conference Patrick announced that she’s going to run two races next season. She’ll run in the Daytona 500 to kick off the NASCAR season in 2018 and then she’ll race in the Indianapolis 500 in May 2018 as her final race.
Patrick did have one season left on her contract with Stewart/Haas racing, but they decided to part company when they couldn’t find a sponsor for Patrick for the 2018 season. Aric Almirola will replace her at Stewart/Haas next season.
There where some questions if Patrick would look for another ride for 2018 and then if she wanted to continue to drive would she be able to find a new team. In the end there just wasn’t a seat out there for her.
Patrick finished a disappointing 27th in points this season. Her best finish in the NASCAR series was 24th in points. In 189 NASCAR races Patrick finished in the Top 10 seven times, but she also never found her way to victory lane as a NASCAR driver. Patrick did win in an Indy car back in 2008 at a race in Japan. She also finished third in the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Even though Patrick didn’t have great success as a driver she was always one of the most popular. For quite a while her primary sponsor was GoDaddy. They built and entire advertising campaign around her including Super Bowl ads which where humorous and racy by nature.
In the comments, please let me know how you think Patrick will be remembered as a driver.
With Patrick’s announcement as well as the retirement of Dale Earnhardt Jr plus the fact that Matt Kenseth hasn’t found a ride for 2018 it’s almost difficult to remember that the Monster Energy Series will crown a champion Sunday.
The final four drivers looking for a title are Martin Truex Jr. who’s starting 2nd on Sunday. Kyle Busch who starts right behind Truex in 3rd. Brad Keslowski starts the race in the 5th position and the final championship driver Kevin Harvick starts 9th.
Earnhardt Jr. starts 25th with Patrick right behind him starting 26th while Kenseth is starting 4th for the Ford Eco-Boost 400 on Sunday.
Do you think with a title on the line and three big name drivers leaving the sports that the ratings will go up for the final race of the 2017 season?
I’m sure just about every sports fan heard about the three UCLA basketball players that where arrested in China for shoplifting. As we know the players have returned to the United States and the school announced that the players where suspended indefinitely.
Now I’ve heard lots of sportswriters and others on television talk about how long these suspensions should be. I’ve heard everything from the entire season to just a couple of games. I’ve been trying to come up with a number of games myself and I just can’t seem to come to a conclusion. I’d be very interested to know what you think. Would you like to see them get a long suspension, a short suspension or are you somewhere in the middle? Again please leave your thoughts in the comments for me.
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