Well now that the 2019 baseball season has come to a (wonderful) conclusion, it’s time to announce the various winners of the MillersTime Baseball Contests for this year.

Contest #1:

Name the two teams who will play in the 2019 World Series, which team will it all, and if a tie-breaker is necessary, what is the total number of games it will take to win it all this year?

The clear winner is Joe Higdon who predicted the Washington Nationals would defeat the Houston Astros.

The runner-up was Jeff Friedman, a past winner, who predicted the Astros would beat the Nats.

They both said the series would go six games. Fortunately, for all, it took seven, but the tie-breaker was not necessary as far as determining the winner of this contest..

Joe wins one ticket to the 2020 World Series, which hopefully will be in Boston or Washington. Or in both places!

Jeff (and guest) can join me in DC for a Nats’ game.

Contest #2:

Pick your favorite MLB team, and prove you’re not a ‘homer’ by predicting your team’s 2019 regular season record, whether they’ll make it to the playoffs, and if so, how far will they go. Also, what will be the determining factor in their season?

This contest was a much more difficult one to choose the winner.

Basically, Yankee fans were good on their team’s record, but not so good on how far they would go in the playoffs. (Fortunately, in my humble opinion, they lost 4-2 in the ALCS.)

Red Sox fans did even worse, overrating their record. Plus, the Sox didn’t even make it into the playoffs. (So sad.)

Orioles’ fans did well predicting their losing record, etc., but that wasn’t too difficult a call. And one Mets’ fan predicted their won-loss record exactly but erroneously said they’d make it into the playoffs.

Two Nats’ fans, Ronnie Davis & Joe Higdon, were close on the won-loss portion of this contest, and both had them winning the World Series.

Ben Senturia, a long suffering Cards’ fan, had St. Louis with the exact won-loss record (91-71) and predicted they’d lose in the NLCS (which they did to you know whom).

By the power granted to me by me, I’m declaring this contest a three-way tie.

Ben Senturia and Bronwen get to join me at Nats’ park for a Cards vs Nats game at a convenient time in the future. Alternatively, Ellen and I could make our way to St. Louis and spring for four tickets there.

Joe and Ronnie each get two seats to a Nats’ game in 2020, and I’ll likely join each of them for those games.

Contest #3:

Choose which League will win the All Star game in 2019, and name one AL and one NL team who will be leading their Division on July 9. Tie-breakers: Name the first MLB player to hit 25 HRs and the first MLB pitcher to win 12 games.

This contest winner was announced on MillersTime previously, but I repeat those results here for full disclosure.

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 Barrasso, 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.

Tim and a friend can join me for a Nats’ game of his choice next year. If he can’t make it to DC, maybe I can make it to see a Mets’ game, and we’ll go together at my expense.

Contest #4.

True or False:

A. The New York Yankees WILL win the AL East in 2019. TRUE.

B. The Washington Nationals WILL win the NL East in 2019. False.

C. There will be at least one 20 game winning pitcher in each League in 2019. False. (None in NL).

D. No pitcher in MLB will have two complete shutout games (from Ben Senturia). False. (Three did – Giolito, Alcantara, & Bieber).

E. At least two teams in 2019 will loose 100 games or more. True. (Four had the dishonor of so doing – O’s, Royals, Tigers, Marlins).

F. A manager will be fired by the All Star game (from Brent Schultz). False.

G. In 2019 the two AL and the two NL Wild Card teams will each come from the same Division in their League. False. (All four were from different Divisions.)

H. Either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper will fail to live up to expectations in 2019. Specifically, one of the two will not perform well, will not have a particularly good year as defined by factors such as BA, HRs, RBIs, OPS, Fielding Average, etc. True. (While Harper didn’t live up to the expectations of the Phillies’ fans, he did perform about as well as he had the past couple of years with the Nats. But Machado more clearly makes this question True as in almost all categories he performed less well than he did in 2018.)

I. At least three teams will win 100 games or more in 2019. True. (Four did: Astros – 107, Dodgers – 106, Yankees – 103, Twins – 101).

J. One of Grand Papa’s (c’est moi) grandchildren will witness in person (at an MLB game at least one of the following: a grand slam, a triple play, a no hitter, Teddy winning the President’s race at the Nats’ stadium, will go home with a foul ball, will have his/her picture taken with an MLB team mascot or will be on the TV screen at an MLB stadium. Very True. (Between the three grandchildren living in the DC area, at least one saw a grand slam, one saw Teddy winning a President’s race, one went home with a foul ball, one had his picture taken with the Nats’ mascot, and one was on the big TV screen at Nats’ stadium.)

Three winners. Matt Galati, Jerome Greene, and Jess Maniff each got nine of the ten True/False questions correct.

Matt, Jerome and Jesse each have their choice of one of these books: The 10 Best Baseball Book Every Fan Should Read or a newer book, Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game by Rob Nyer. (Matt, Jerome and Jesse, please let me know your choice of books and a home address.)

Monica McHugh and Tim Malieckal had eight correct and are entitled to a MillersTime Winner Baseball Contest T-Shirt. (Monica, please send me shirt size and address. Tim has several T-shirts already. Do you want a Nats’ WS T instead?)

Contest #5:

For all five questions, choose the MLB team who in the 2019 season will:

1. Have the most wins (Astros – 107)
2. Have the worst BA (Blue Jays – .236)
3. Have the most errors (Mariners – 132/ .978 FA)
4. Have the highest pitching save percentage (Blue Jays – 76.7%)
5. Have the lowest WHIP (Dodgers – 1.10)

These questions, all suggested by MillersTime contestants (and clearly baseball nerds/obsessives, positive virtues imho) proved to be the most difficult as judged by how many of the five questions were predicted correctly.

Nellie Romero is the winner with two of the five predicted correctly. She has her choice of one of these books: The 10 Best Baseball Book Every Fan Should Read or a newer book, Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game by Rob Nyer.

Thirteen of you got one correct (mostly #1). No prizes.

And that’s the ballgame…for 2019.

Meanwhile, the Hot Stove League is fully underway (what will happen with Strasberg, Rendon, Cole, Betts, etc., etc.?).

And it’s roughly (only?) 100 days ’til pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.