If you had Andrew Bailey and Chris Coghlan in your office's baseball awards pool, congratulations: You are wiser than Nostradamus and the Mayans combined.
On Monday, the American and National Leagues announced their respective winners for Rookie of the Year, and few could have predicted the results.
Tight to the last, each race was considered a neck-and-neck battle, but most pundits backed vastly different contenders.
Throughout the regular and offseasons, names like Elvis Andrus and Rick Porcello were used in place of Rookie of the Year the same way people say Kleenex instead of facial tissue.
Just by listening to MLB Network and ESPN, it was clear the award would go to a Texas Ranger or Detroit Tiger.
Meanwhile, Bailey stepped comfortably into the closer's role for the Oakland A's after the team traded Huston Street and then watched Brad Ziegler go down with injury.
All he did was make the All-Star team and rack up a 1.84 ERA along the way.
Over in the NL, Tommy Hanson and J.A. Happ seemed to be alone in the RoY contest, with Happ as the frontrunner.
But it was Coghlan who was given the honor, and almost entirely due to his spectacular second half.
Coghlan hit .371 over the final 71 games of the season, bringing his rookie average to a stunning .321, and his 113 hits after the All-Star break were the most in all of baseball.
Derek Jeter's got nothing on this guy.
So, with two relative surprises in the bag, it got me to thinking: What can we expect from this week's four remaining categories?
Are the voters brave enough to continue shocking fans, or will they rely on old standbys to occupy familiar roles?
Take a look at who should win the next four awards versus who will.
Rest assured, MVP predictions will be on their way soon.
- Login to post comments