With the end of the regular 2014 MLB season and the beginning of the playoffs (wasn’t that a terrific game at KC last night?), I can announce three winners of this year’s MillersTime Baseball Contests. The remaining three contest winners, #1, 3, & 6, will not be chosen until the end of the playoffs.
Contest # 2: Pick any MLB team and predict what their regular season record will be in 2014. Also, will they make the playoffs, and how far will they go if they do?
Two contestants were exactly correct in their predictions: Sam Poland said the Yankees would have a record of 84-78 (they did) and wouldn’t go to the playoffs (they didn’t). Tim Malieckal (a former MillersTime winner) predicted the Mets would be 79-83 (correct) and wouldn’t make the playoffs either (also correct). A third contestant and also a former winner, Tiffany Lopez, got the Royals’ record correct (89-73) but said they wouldn’t make the playoffs. Todd Endo, another previous winner, and Steve Begleiter (did you win one year?) missed (overrated) the Yankees record by one game (85-77), tho they both said the Yankees wouldn’t make the playoffs.
Because Sam Poland’s prediction was made on 3/3/14 and Tim Malieckal’s didn’t come in until 3/31/14, Sam Poland wins and gets two tickets to a 2015 regular MLB season game. Tim wins a consolation prize (because he was not able to collect his 2013 prize of attending the All Star game — some lame excuse about his wife having a baby) and will get a copy of one of my favorite baseball books, A. Barlett Giamatti’s A Great and Glorious Game. Tiffany gets a pat on the back and a scolding for not having more faith in the Royals.
Contest #4: Will the Red Sox or Yankees have a better won-loss regular season record this year? Will either or both make the playoffs? Tie-Breaker: What will the split be in the 19 games they play against each other?
Ten of you correctly predicted the Yankees would have a better record, but only one was smart enough to know that they wouldn’t make the playoffs. While three of you predicted the correct 19 game split (11-8, in the Yankees favor), that was only a tie-breaker question.
Thus, Peter Shimm, (another former winner or runner-up?) is the winner and gets two tickets to a Sox-Yankee in 2015.
Contest # 5: Pick a player whose batting average (sans decimal) and RBIs combined will add up closest to 406. Tie-Breaker: How many Home Runs will the player of your choice hit?
Five contestants got the first part of this questions exactly right. Mike Blumberg, Dan Fischer, Ed Scholl, Peter Shimm (see above), Larry Longenecker, and Jimmy Routh all predicted Mike Trout’s total BA & RBIs would match Ted Williams’ 1941 batting average of .406 (no player has hit over .400 since). Trout’s BA was .305, and he had 101 RBIs.
Dan Fischer was the closest contestant in the tie-breaker, predicting Trout would hit 36 home runs (he hit 37). Thus, Dan Fischer is the winner and gets to choose one of these 20 Best Baseball Books as his prize. Also, because he came up with this meshuganeh idea for a contest, Chris Bourtourline also gets to choose one of the 20 books. (Incentive. Incentive. Incentive. Come up with a question for next year’s contest.)
NOTE: If you suspect an error of any sort in the decisions above, please feel free to immediately call me out on it in the Comment section of this post or in an email to me (Samesty84@gmail.com).
**** **** **** **** **** **** ****
NATS’ PLAY OFF TICKETS: An Opportunity for MillersTime/GoSox Readers:
For reasons ‘too complicated’ to explain here, I have two tickets to this Friday, Oct. 3rd Opening Home Game of the NLDS — Nats vs the National League Wild Card Winner.
If you want to attend that game in terrific seats, Section 117, Row G, Seats 3/4 (four rows behind the Visitor’s dugout, I will sell you the two tickets at the face cost of $150 each (currently tickets in this Section are being offered on Stub Hub between $303-$443 a piece) with the understanding that these are for your personal use and not for reselling.
This offer is only good until tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 2) morning at 8 am, when, if no MillersTime reader is interested, I will seek to sell them on the ‘open market’ at a more remunerative price.
Contact me by email: Samesty84@gmail.com
Finally, keep your eyes on further MillersTime/GoSox postings throughout the 2014 Playoffs as I might have other available tickets.
tiffany said:
Hahaha, 29yrs in the making… I’ll take that pat on the back!
Chris said:
I’m glad the Mike Trout pickers had something to cheer about in the “406” contest (Paul Goldschmidt didn’t even give me a chance). For the 2nd year in a row Adrian Beltre was the closest to “406” with a “401” in 2014 (“407” in 2013) but I assume nobody picked him or the Astro’s Jose Altuve who would also have beaten Trout. Richard,thank you for the unexpected book prize for submitting a contest idea, I wish the challenge had been easier to follow. Next year maybe pick two teams, one from each league, whose combined records come closest to .500?