2011 was stuffed full of stories and made for quite the first year in Off The Bench’s blogging experience. We had more to write about than a capacity to cover (anyone wanting to write, shoot us your thoughts on something baseball related and if it’s good, we’ll put it up). The 2011 baseball season was one of the best in recent memory and without further ado; lets recap the 10 Biggest Baseball Stories in 2011.
The greatest night in the history of baseball: There’s no way to properly sum up the night. A moment by moment account of the four simultaneous games loses all of the night’s magic. We didn’t know what to write about the night and figured we may do it an injustice so Max posted this: “WOW. This is why baseball is the greatest sport on earth. That was the most amazing night of baseball imaginable. I love this game.” That’s about the best thing that could be said about the night, but to borrow from Sports Illustrated, there’s a never ending argument about the best game ever played, or the best team ever assembled, best pitcher, best hitter, best defender, best anything. Except Night. September 28, 2011 was the best night in the history of baseball and no one (no one!!!) disagrees. How rare is that in baseball? Let’s just say 7 people did not vote for Babe Ruth for the Hall of Fame.
Clayton Kershaw’s coming out Party: Before the season, I predicted that “Clayton Kershaw will be the NL All-Star game starter with an ERA under 1.78.” I was almost right. After a quality first half, Kershaw went 12-1 with a 1.31 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 5-to-1 after the All-Star Break. He didn’t lose after Aug. 7, winning his final eight decisions and eight of his final nine starts, and allowing no more than one run in seven of those starts. He won the NL Cy Young and deserved it over Halladay this year, but the best part? He’s 23 and ready to dominate the NL West for years to come.
Justin Verlander is actually that good: I’ve written about Verlander at length on the site and it’s because he very well could be the on field story of 2011. His dominance was silly. Every start was a no hitter until proven otherwise. If he had started the last game of the regular season (which would have been his scheduled day to pitch) rather than prepare for the Postseason, Verlander had a chance to be the first pitcher to win 25 and strike out 250 since Steve Carlton in 1972. He won the AL MVP and Cy Young. He’s awesome.
The Ryan Braun failed drug test: I hate to mention this dark spot on the game especially before Braun’s appeal is heard by MLB. Braun just won the MVP and was at the top of his game. Since Barry Bonds retired was forced out, no player has been successful while the public knows they’re on PEDs. Sure, the Manny Ramirez thing was a big deal, but he was seen as rouge, and a bit of a loose cannon. Braun? The poster boy for not using steroids. Now, steroid is back in the baseball lexicon and it’s something Bud Selig and the MLBPA cannot be happy about following the great 2011 baseball year.
Pujols goes to Los Angeles: Prince Albert signed a 10 year, $254 million contract to go play for the Angels. He immediately shifted the baseball focus out West and left the Cardinals, coming off of a World Series victory, significantly weaker. This is a big story because of what it could mean for the coming decade.
The World Series Doesn’t Disappoint: It would have been nearly impossible for the playoffs to top the end of the regular season but they came pretty damn close. Games 6 and 7 of the World Series were two of the best postseason games ever. In game 6, the Cards came back from two-run deficits in both the 9th and 10th before winning in the 11th. Something we’d never seen before.
Boston’s Collapse: The Red Sox watched a 9 game lead slip away this September, the biggest in MLB history. The on field disaster then led to an off-field catastrophe that featured revelations of beer and fried chicken in the clubhouse during games and players not trying their hardest and giving up on the team. This whole episode played out in the media spotlight and caused the ouster of Terry Francona, possibly the most successful manager in the history of the Sox.
Derek Jeter’ 3000th HIt: Jeet did it in style. His 3000th was a home run off of David Price as part of a 5-5 day. That after weeks of anticipation and even a DL stint before Derek could get the deed done.
The AL MVP Debate: I know Justin Verlander has already made this list but this is different. The whole AL MVP debate was a major story in baseball this year. For weeks we discussed the merits of voting for a pitcher for the MVP and wether or not anyone would actually do it. We talked endlessly about wether Verlander was more or less deserving of the award than Curtis Granderson, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jose Bautista. In the end JV did prevail, deservedly so in the eyes of most.
Off The Bench Debuts: Ok, so maybe this wasn’t a huge story league wide but we’ve been up since February and we’re doing quite well. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers for making our first 11 months so much fun and teaching us so much about baseball blogging. We’re going to do our best to continue to improve and continue to churn out informative, interesting, and insightful baseball (or at least mostly baseball) articles and posts.
-Sean Morash and Max Frankel
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