Thankful

I am thankful for many things this year. I’m going to keep this short and sweet, though, because if you’re reading this before turkey, you’re impatiently waiting for turkey, and if you’re reading this after turkey, you’ll fall sleep before you’re done reading anyway. And if you’re not in the US, you should be working, so get back to work!

I’m thankful for another exciting Game 163 this year. Two years in a row, the Twins have been to the tie-breaker Game 163 (and both years, Adam Everett was on the losing team). Both years the games were phenomenal, which you expect when two teams come through 162 games with the same record–they must be fairly equal, which makes for exciting, competitive games.

But I’m mostly thankful for the Baseball Writers Association of America, who happened to get both AL awards correct: Zack Greinke, despite NOT pitching on a winning team, and not winning 20 games, was the Cy Young winner–the most dominate pitcher. Joe Mauer, helped by being on the winning team, was the MVP. He may not have led in home runs, or RBIs, or Runs, but he was up there–and had enough other stats that made it clear that the stats he had no control over (RBI and runs) were simply that: stats he had no control over. I’m impressed (although the fact that the MVP was voted on before the playoffs made him a clear-cut case).

And I’m thankful for I’m not a member of the Timberwolves. At what point do they get too depressed to get out of bed?

Timberwolves update: They’re now at 1-14, or a 7.1% winning percentage. The have the worst record in the West, but New Jersey has an 0-15 record.

Wild Update: The Wild have improved marginally with a 8-12-3 record, for a 34.8% winning percentage.