Not a good showing for MillersTime Baseball contestants in the 10 True/False questions.
Seventy-five per cent of you had six or less correct, and no one got all ten right.
Contest #3: True or False:
A. The Chicago Cubs will follow Joe Maddon’s advice again to “Be a good Cubbie and try not to suck” and will at least go to the World Series in 2017, as they did in 2016. False, largely because they lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS 4 games to 1.
B. The Washington Nationals will NOT lead the NL East Division as they did in 2016. False. They won their division by 20 games (97-65) over the Marlins. In 2016 they won their division by 8 games (95-67) over the Mets.
C. One pitcher will throw two no hitters in 2017. False. There was only one (1) no hitter thrown in all of 2017 (Edinson Volquez for Miami against Arizona, 6/30/17).
D. Bryce Harper will rebound from his 2016 season – BA -.243, HRs – 24, RBIs – 86 and finish in the top five of the MVP voting. Mostly True. In 2017 his line was BA – .319, HRs – 29, RBIs – 87. The Baseball Writers Association of America came out last night with the finalists for various awards, including MVP, but they only listed the top three. Harper didn’t make it into that group but at least one list of the top ten I saw had him number five.
E. A contract at over $400 million will be offered before the end of the 2017 season. False. But maybe in 2018.
F. There will be five or or more Triple Plays in the MLB this year (yearly average has been 4.1). True. The Orioles did it twice.
G. There will be more than three 20 game winners in 2017. False. There were none. (Last year there were three).
H. No pitcher will have an ERA under 2.0 in 2017. True. Kluber best with 2.25. In 2016 Hendricks at 2.13.)
I. At least one MLB batter will strike out 219 times or more in 2017 regular season play. False. The only batter with more than 200 was Aaron Judge (208). Last year Chris Davis struck out 219 times.)
J. One of Grandpapa’s grandchildren will witness in person either a grand slam, a triple play, a no hitter, or Teddy win the President’s race at the Nats’ stadium. False. (Last year I believe Eli saw a no hitter and a grand slam.)
Five of you got eight out of ten: Rob Higdon, Monica McHugh, Brent Schultz, Meg Gage, and Sam Poland, but one person did even better.
The winner is Chris Boutourline who got nine out of ten and wins his choice of one of these books: The 20 Best Books Ever Written About Baseball. Chris also wins a MillersTime Winner T-shirt, tho I think he may have won a contest in the past.
In the inter-generational category (parent-child, grandparent-child, grandparent-grandchild, etc. Brandt Tilis and daughter Samantha (age one at the time of her/their contest submission) are also winners, correctly identifying 8 out of 10 questions. If anyone knows of a good book on baseball for toddlers, please let me know. Of course they will each get the very valuable t-shirts (please send sizes).
