Vote for the 2012 Best Prediction in the MillersTime Baseball Contest

18 Thursday Oct 2012

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baseball, Best Baseball Predictions of 2012, MillersTime Baseball Contest

Eleven predictions came true (either exactly or close enough to be declared finalists) for Contest #1: Make a Prediction about the 2012 Baseball Season.

Now it’s up to you folks to decide which one should be declared the winner:

A few ‘rules’:

*Deadline to send in your selection is Oct. 31 at midnight.

*You can send your choice to me by email (Samesty84@gmail.com) or simply put it in the Comment section below.

*Consider adding an explanatory sentence or two when you vote, especially if you want others to be influenced by your wisdom, insight, or because you want them to vote with you. (If you send your vote by email, let me know if I can post it in the Comment section).

*You have to be on the MillersTime email list or you must have made a submission to at least one of the MillersTime Baseball Contests over the past three years.

Here are this years finalists. Vote for the one you think is the Best Prediction, however you want to define “Best.” Remember, all of these predictions were made before Opening Day 2012.

Cards Make Playoff
Red Sox rebuilding, Not close to playoffs
Phillies greatest decline in W-L (actually they tied with Red Sox, 21 fewer wins)
Strasburg voted to All-Star game
Astros worst team in the Majors
Cards better offense without Pujois (true in Hits, Runs, RBIs, but three less HRs, .002 in BA)
Nats make playoffs
Rafael Soriano performs for the Yanks
Angels not win their Division
O’s not last in AL East
Papelbon stellar Year. Sox will miss him.

PS – I’ll be interested if the Yankees can make up for their worst choke ever (2004 AL Playoffs when they blew a 3-0 game lead to the mighty Sox and lost 4-3, before the Sox went on to win the WS). Whaddayathink? Just wondering…

Winners and Losers in the MillersTime 2012 Baseball Contests

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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Tags

a poem, baseball, MillersTime Contests, The Last Days of September

Overall, I’d say it was a mixed season for this group of prognosticators:

In Contest # 1 – About one-third of the specific predictions folks made actually came true.

In Contest #2 – Most predicted the Nats would do better, but the closest anyone got to their 97-65 record was 93-69.

In Contest #3 – No one got close to getting all six of the Division leaders at the All Star break. The best anyone could do was only three out of the six.

In Contest #4 – Most thought the Yanks (94-68) would do better than the Sox (69-93), which they did, but no one foresaw the huge slide for the Sox (nor the Phillies, 81-81, for that matter).

In Contest #5 – A majority of you thought the Yanks would beat the Sox in the 12 games they played after the All-Star break, but only two of you called it exactly (8-4).

In Contest # 6 – Most predicted the Angels and Phillies would be in the WS. Not happening. Not even close.

Now for the specifics and the winners for the contests that are final.

Thomas Boswell: “The Season Is a Shark”

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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baseball, The Nats, The Washington Post, Thomas Boswell

In baseball time, the next day quickly swallows the previous night, leaving a few memories, but little residue. The season is a shark, constantly moving forward, devouring the next game.

What a pleasure to open the morning newspaper and be able to read Thomas Boswell.

In his latest, his column this morning, In Nats’ World, No Lucky Charms Needed, he writes about the world the baseball players live in, which, he writes, “is a different realm -the real one. They aren’t a collection of fantasy players or a stack of baseball cards…”

I always learn something from his columns, which I did again today.

We Have a MillersTime Baseball Contest Winner

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

baseball, MillersTime Contests

Now this is embarrassing.

First, there was only one of the six contests that was to be decided by the All-Star break – #3 – Name the teams who will be leading in each division.

Maybe this is the hardest of the six contests because it’s only half of a season, and therefore not totally indicative of how good or bad teams really are.

Several surprises so far:

*The White Sox are leading their division. Only one person predicted that (Rob W.)

*The Nationals are leading their division. Only one of you predicted that (Todd E.).

*The Phillies and the Red Sox are in the bottom of their divisions. That apparently was not expected by many of you.

* No one got all six of the divisions correctly.

* No one got five of the divisions correctly.

* No one got four of the divisions correctly.

If you look at the spread sheet of the Final Predictions, it looks as if 10 of you (Jeff F., Rob W., Kevin C., Elizabeth M., Tiffany L., Jimmy R., Brent S., David P., Jeff K., and Meg G) had three of the six division leaders. But when I investigated further, most of these 10 only, in fact, had two, as the “D” I had put on the spread sheet stood for Diamondbacks and not the Dodgers for many of you.

So what’s the embarrassing part?

Baseball Notes, Thoughts, & Stats After 38 Games

18 Friday May 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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baseball, The Nats, The O's, The Red Sox, The Universal Baseball Association, The Yankees

from Life Magazine

In no particular order of importance, here are some thoughts and some statistics rattling through my alleged brain at the end of the first quarter of the season:

Remaining Nats’ Games: List of Dates Still Available for Free

08 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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baseball, Washington Nationals

Here is a list of the remaining games that are available for you to choose from to join me to watch the Nats in 2012.

One seat for each game is free to you, except you may have to buy me a hot dog and/or a beer and put up with my companionship for the duration of the game.

If you might want two tickets to any of the games listed below, I may be open to selling those to you. Note that the Friday, Sept. 7 Marlins game is definitely for sale.

Angels Will Beat Phillies in the WS

12 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

2012 World Series, Angels, baseball, NYY, Phillies, Red Sox, Washington Nationals

As I prepare to head to the Nationals’ home opener today, I ‘note’ that my beloved Sox are in last place in the AL East with a 1-5 record, an improvement over last years opening of 0-6.

I also note that the Nationals are tied for first in their Senior Circuit Division with a record of 4-2. While the Nats, or any other team, could never replace my Sox infatuation/obsession, it’s nice to consider that my ‘home’ team may be competitive this year.

Anyway, neither the Sox nor the Nats seemed to impress the contestants in this years MillersTime Baseball Contests.

Here, then, the wisdom of those who succumbed to my endless nagging to participate in the six contests:

Orioles on Top? Nats Next to Last?

05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox, The Outer Loop

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Tags

baseball, Money in Baseball & Politics

Finally those data geeks at The Sunlight Foundation (transparency: that’s where my wife works) have done something I can understand.

They’ve taken a look at how much each baseball team is spending in the political arena. And there are some surprises.

The Yanks are not even in the top five. The Nats, who play in the nation’s capital, are next to last in giving.

And who gives the most?

The Orioles.

What’s that about?

To learn more about how the MLB teams are spending their money and to see a list of where your team stands in political money giving (which no doubt comes out of the money you pay for tickets), see Major League Fundraising.