How come fortune cookies never say anything about baseball?
Contest #2: Make a prediction about something that will happen during the 2017 MLB season.
Here are the ten best, in my humble opinion, from MillersTime contestants that either came true or came very close to being true.
1. Greinke comes back, wins 20 games, and leads NL in ERA. Mostly true. He won 17 games and was sixth with a 3.2 ERA.
2. Two of the top four MLB home run leaders will come from the NL (last year the top six were from the AL). True. Giancarlo Stanton was first with 59, and JD Martinez was third with 45.
3. Cubs will struggle to make the playoffs. Mostly true. They lead the Brewers in the NL Central by six games, but they won 11 less games than in 2016 (92 vs.103).
4. Ryan Zimmerman will be the Comeback Player of the Year. Probably True. He just won the Players’ Choice Award for the NL Comeback Player of the Year. (Mike Moustakis won it in the AL category).
5. There will be no perfect games thrown in 2017. True. In fact, there was only one no hitter in all of 2017, thrown by Edison Volquez of the Marlins.
6. Andrew Benintendi will win the Rookie of the Year Award in the AL. Close. He’s one of the three finalists in the BWAA list. Altuve won it according the the Player’s Chocie Awards.
7. Altuve & Correa will combine for a batting average of of over.300. Very Close. Their combined BA was .299 (Altuve -.310 and Correa – .288).
8. Freddie Freeman will hit .300 this year. True. His season BA was .307.
9. The hidden ball trick will be used successfully this season. True. Blue Jays Ryan Goins fooled Yankees Todd Frazier on 2nd. And there may have been others this season.
10. The average time of MLB games will be longer than in 2016. True. It rose by 4 1/2 from 3 hours and 42 seconds in 2016 to 3 hours, five minutres, and 11 seconds in 2017.
The Winner of Contest #2 will be chosen by MillersTime readers who vote for which is the best prediction.
Please vote either in the Comment section of this post or by sending your vote to me in an email (Samesty84@gmail.com).
Deadline: One week – Thursday, Nov. 16 at noon.
Jon said:
Hidden ball trick!
Lynn Schilling said:
I would vote for number 9. The hidden ball trick reminds me of a kids game.
Sam Poland said:
#4!
Jim Cooke said:
#4
Ronnie davis said:
Hidden ball trick it got me a few years ago
Land Wayland said:
Having been on both ends of the hidden ball trick, I consider it to be the epitome of baseball which teaches that the game is always being played until the last out is recorded and the umpires have left the field. There are no “time outs”, just lulls. It emphasizes the role that thinking and legitimate deception plays in all of life. I am so pleased that the question was asked and answered so clearly (2nd Base, no less).
Brian Steinbach said:
I would like to say 4 because Ryan had such a good year despite being in a picture with you and me a few years back, but for even thinking of it I have to go for 9.
Peter said:
Definitely Zimmerman as comeback player of the year
Robert Schilling said:
#9
Larry Longenecker said:
R,
I like the hidden ball trick.
Chris Boutourline said:
#9, Not because it’s a Beatles song which, annoyingly, sometimes crosses my mind but for the reasons presented above by Land Wayland.
Ellen Miller said:
None of these comments concern our grandchildren so I am refusing to cast a vote.
Richard said:
Actually, there was one about one of your grandchildren (“Ryan O, age 4, will stay for an entire game.”), but it didn’t make it to the final 10 because he only made it until the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in the middle of the 7th.
Rob said:
While I am partial to #2, which I think was mine(but who knows), #4 is a better prediction than #9 because it is not just a single fluky event. It predicts that a player that many thought was washed up would not only play well, but play better than any other rebounding player. It would have been easy to say he would hit .270 and 20 HR, but this takes it a step further.
Carol said:
#7, you know why.
Charlie said:
#7