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Tag Archives: All Star Game

Announcing the 2020 Millerstime Baseball Contests

28 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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Tags

"The 25 Best Baseball Books of All Time", "Why Time Begins on Opening Day", All Star Game, Baseball Contests, MillersTime Baseball Contests, MillersTime Winner T-Shirt, Prizes, Thomas Boswell, World Series

UPDATE – March 2020: CANCELLED. New 2020 Contest HERE.

“The crowd and its team had finally understood that in games, as in many things, the ending, the final score, is only part of what matters. The process, the pleasure, the grain of the game count too.”

Thomas Boswell: Why Time Begins on Opening Day

2020 MillersTime Baseball Contests

CONTEST #1:

Pick your favorite MLB team (or the team you know the best) and answer the following questions to prove whether you’re just a homer (“Someone who shows blind loyalty to a team or organization, typically ignoring any shortcomings or faults they have”) or whether you really know something about your team and can honestly evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Please answer all three parts of the question.

a. What will your team’s regular season 162 game record be in 2020?

b. Will they make the playoffs, and if so, how far will they go?

c. What will be the most important SINGLE factor (hitting, starting pitching, bullpen, an individual’s performance, the manager, injuries, etc.) in determining their season?

Prize: Two tickets to a regular season game with your favorite team (details to be negotiated with moi.)

Contest #2:

Please answer all of these questions.

  1. Name the two teams who will play in the World Series in 2020?
  2. Which team will win it all?
  3. Tie-Breaker:

a. What will be the total number of games played in the 2020 World Series – 4, 5, 6, or 7?

b. What will be the most important SINGLE factor in determining the WS winner?

Prize: One ticket to either the 2021 World Series or the All Star Game.

Contest #3: Questions submitted by MillersTime readers

  1. Which of these three ‘replacement managers will have the best won-loss record for 2020: Dusty Baker for AJ Hinch, Ron Roenicke for Alex Cora, or Luis Rojas for Carlos Beltan? (Submitted by Tim Malieckal)
  • Which division in each league will be the closest race by the end of the season? (Submitted by Justin Stoyer. Ron Davis had a somewhat similar question)
  • Which team will improve the most? Which team will deteriorate the most? (Submitted by Ed Scholl)

Prize: Your choice of one of these books: The 25 Best Baseball Books of All Time.

Contest #4: True or False:

  1. Pete Rose will finally be allowed to compete for the Hall of Fame.(Submitted by Mary Lincer)
  2. Either the Dodgers or the Yankees will NOT be in the 2020 World Series.
  3. At least one pitcher in each League will win 20 games. (Didn’t happen in 2019)
  4. At least four teams will win MORE than 100 games in 2020. (Two did in 2018 & four did in 2019)
  5. At least four teams will lose 100 games or more in 2020. (Four did in 2019)
  6. Mookie Betts will sign for over $400 million for 2021 and beyond. (Suggestion, sort of, by Nick Nyhart)
  7. No player will hit MORE than 53 home runs in 2020. (Alonso hit the most in 2019 – 53)
  8. There will be at LEAST six Triple Plays in the MLB this year? (Since 1876 the average has been approximately five per season.)
  9. The Washington Nationals will NOT win their Division in 2020.
  10. At least one of Grand Papa’s (c’est moi) grandchildren or someone who attends a MLB game with me in 2020 will witness a grand slam, a triple play, a no hitter, Teddy winning a President’s race at the Nats’ stadium, will go home with a foul ball, or will be seen on the TV screen at an MLB stadium.

Prize: Bring a friend and join me for a Nats’ game next year, or if you’re not able to make it to DC, perhaps I can make it to where you live, and we’ll see a game together.

Additional Details:

  1. All winners and those whose questions were chosen for this contest get the ‘one-of-a kind,’ specially designed and updated MillersTime Baseball Winner T-Shirt.
  2. Enter as many or as few of the contests as you want.
  3. If you get a friend (or foe) to participate in these contests, and he or she wins and mentions your name in the submission, you’ll get a prize too.
  4. Any two-generation submission that wins will get a special prize.
  5. GET YOUR PREDICTIONS IN EARLY. In case of a tie, the individual who submitted his/her prediction first will be the winner.
  6. Submissions should be sent to me by email: Samesty84@gmail.com

  Deadline for Submissions: Opening Day, noon (EST) March 26

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We Have a Winner

17 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

2019 All Star Game, 2019 MillersTime Baseball Contests, All Star Game, American League, baseball, Baseball Contests, Gleyber Torres, MillersTime Baseball Contests, Mookie Betts, National League, Tim Malieckal

Can’t we just be friends? Gleyber Torres (Yankees) and Mookie Betts (Red Sox), ASG, July 9.
Photo Credit: Ron Schwane

No doubt you’ve been anxiously awaiting the announcement of the first winner of the 2019 MillersTime Baseball Contests.

Contest # 3:

1. Name which League will win the All Star Game. 2. Name one AL team and one NL team who will be leading their Division July 9.

2. Tie-Breaker: Name the first MLB player to hit 25 HRS and the first MLB player to win 12 games.

A dozen of you got the right answer to Part 1 (American League) along with an AL & NL team leading in their Division:

Ed Scholl, Andrew & Noah Cate, Todd Endo, Jeff Friedman, Matt Wax-Krell, Brandt & Samantha Tilis, Chris Eacho, Justin Barasso, Maury Maniff, Jesse Maniff, Jon Frank, Tim Malieckal.

The Tie-Breaker separated the pack. Many of you seemed to choose individuals who were particularly good last year.

No one got both the first to hit 25 home runs (Christian Yellich) and the first to 12 wins (Lance Lynn).

But one of you did identify Yellich who just barely beat out Alonso and Bellinger:

So Tim Malieckal wins.

Prize: Bring a friend and join me for a Nats’ game in the second half of the 2019 season or a Nats’ game of your choice next year (except for Opening Day). If you can’t make it to DC, maybe I can make it to where you live, and we’ll see a game together there.

Notes: There were a few choices and comments that ‘deserve’ notice:

Jeff Friedman wrote, “Anyone who picks the AL this year is nuts.”

David Price (not the player but an unapologetic Yunkee fan) said the Sox and the Nats would be leading their Divisions at the All Star break. Neither were close.

Elizabeth Tilis:Yes. My own progeny, for whom I had high hopes at one point, picked the NL to win the ASG.

Ed Scholl is the Runner Up for Contest #3 as he submitted his correct winning League and Division leaders first, Feb. 21, almost a month before anyone else. He gets one of the ‘highly prized’ MillersTime T-shirts when he sends me his size.

Results from the other three contests must await the end of the season, but for those of you keeping track, one of grand Papa’s grandchildren (Ryan) has already seen a grand slam and Teddy winning the President’s race


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“At Nationals’ Park, All Star Game Is a Power Packed Thriller”?

18 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Go Sox

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

2018 All Star Game, All Star Game, American League, baseball, Chris Sale, Home Run Derby, Max Scherzer, Mookie Betts, National League, Nationals Park

 “‘Monumental” Night for D.C. Baseball”

I woke to several headlines and numerous articles touting last night’s 10-inning All Star Game as a “Classic,” a “Full-powered Classic”.

That was not the 3:45 minute game (4:45 with all the introductions) that three of us watched at Nats’ Park and that the American League won 8-6 in the 10th inning.

As we left the stadium at the end of the game, I asked my friend Todd what he would lead with if he was writing the next morning’s story about the game. He said he’d probably write that if you want the All Star Game to be truly competitive, it has to mean something (it no longer determines home field advantage for the World Series).

My wife Ellen, who now attends 5-10 games a year, said “there didn’t seem to be much energy out there, neither the players nor the fans were particularly into the game after the first few innings.”

It did start with energy, both in the stands (sellout crowd of 43,843) and on the field. The Nats’ ace Max Scherzer opened the game by striking out the American League’s leading hitter, Boston’s Mookie Betts. The crowd roared. He struck out the second batter also, the American League’s 2017 MVP, Houston’s Jose Altuve, on three pitches. Scherzer and Los Angeles’ Mike Trout, perhaps MLB’s premier player, battled. The fans wanted a third strike out, but Trout  took the count to 3-2, fouled off a few pitches, and earned a walk. The fans sat down, disappointed and quieted further when Boston and MLB’s home run leader, Boston’s J.D. Martinez singled. But Schezer got Jose Ramirez to pop out and got out of the inning. The crowd settled in.

In the bottom half of the first, Boston’s ace Chris Sale gave up a first pitch single to Javier Baez, but then got the next three batters out, two on fly balls and one on a strike out. Sale threw at least one pitch over 100 mph and several at 99 and 98, something he has not done over the last eight years.

Scherzer came back out and immediately the Yankee’s Aaron Judge hit a home run. American League up 1-0. The stadium seemed stunned. So did Scherzer who then got all of the next three batters out quickly, including two by strike outs.

After Matt Kemp started the National League off with a double in the bottom of the second against New York’s best pitcher, Luis Severino, Bryce Harper, winner (and hero to the Nats’ fans) of the Home Run Derby the previous night, had a chance to tie the game or even put the National League ahead. He struck out (he did that again in his second at bat too), and the next two batters were quickly retired. All quiet on South Capitol Street.

Each team scored a run on bases empty home runs in the third, Mike Trout for the American League and then Wilson Contreras for the National League.

And for almost the next two hours, the score remained at 2-1, the American League leading. The fans began to leave when most of the starters and best players on both teams were replaced by less well known names, and neither team seemed to have much spirit. There was a spark of life when the National League tied the game on a home run by Trevor Story in the bottom of the 7th, but then rained threatened.

The fans should probably have stayed, as it turned out, because 11 of the 14 runs were scored (all on home runs but one) after the seventh.

But for some reason both managers seemed to stop managing, or at least seemed to stop trying to win. The best of the relievers remained in the bullpens, even when a barrage of hits and home runs were given up, and the game was still on the line. Then Seattle’s Jean Segura hit a three run homer in the 8th off the NL’s Josh Hader, and there were to be seven more runs scored before the American League was able to win on homers in the 10th. By that time, the stadium was more than half empty and even some of the starting players had left their dugouts.

Maybe Todd is correct. Maybe there needs to be some incentive beyond just being an exhibition game for the best known players. Maybe the Washington fans are more sedate than in other cities. (We were in Minneapolis for the ALG a few years ago, and Ellen remarked that that game was much more lively).

But a “thriller” or “monumental” this game was not. Or at least it did not seem to be so to us nor to many of the 43,843 fans who were no where to be seen well before the game ended.

I am curious what others who watched the game on TV saw and thought.

Please Comment.

Thanx.

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Tigers Will Beat the Nats in the World Series

18 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests, All Star Game, Nats, Sox, Tigers, World Series, Yankees

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According to those who participated in the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests, the Tigers will win it all this year.

logo_det_79x76It’ll probably be the Nats they defeat in the World Series, tho some of you think the Nats will lose out in the NLCS to either the Giants or Dodgers, who then in turn will lose to the Tigers.

Got all that?

Tigers win World Series (Contest #6).

(Note: Last year you thought the Angels would beat the Phillies in the WS, and we know how far off that prediction turned out to be. For those whose memories are a bit challenged, neither the Angels nor the Phillies made the playoffs, and the Giants beat the Tigers in four games to win the WS.)

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