Baseball Contests: Winners & Losers

11 Friday Nov 2022

Tags

'Homers', 2022 Winners & Losers, Baseball Contests, MillersTime Baseball Contests, Prize Winners, Winners & Losers

There were only two contests this year, and the questions required contestants to answer six questions in the first contest and five in the second. In both contests, it was difficult to declare an outright winner, but here’s what yours truly has decided:

Contest #1: Are you a ‘homer’ or do you really know your team?

If your name is NOT in the following list, consider yourself a ‘homer’:

Ed Scholl, Jesse Maniff, Matt Galati, Larry Longenecker, Brent Schultz, Nicholas Lamanna, Bill Bronwell, Zack Haile, Jim Kilby, Chris Ballard, Dawn Wilson, John Carlson.

Of these 12 who all avoided the ‘homer’ label, it was difficult to choose between the two best submissions.

Matt Galati said the Pirate’s record would be 60-102 (they were 62-100), would be last in their Division (they were), and wouldn’t make the playoffs (they obviously didn’t), and he attributed that to mismanagement, lack of offense, and a weak defense (all true).

Chris Ballard said the Astro’s record would be 97-65 (they were 106-56), said they’d win the AL West (they did), have a first round bye (true), would go to the World Series and win it (true). His eight reasons were detailed and amazingly on target.

And so Matt and Chris share the Winner title for Contest #1, and each will receive a copy of Joe Posnanski’s superb The Baseball 100.

Contest #2: Name the four teams in the LCS, what two teams will make it to the WS, how many games will the WS go, which team will win, and why.

No one shined in this Contest. Brent Schultz did pick the Phillies to make it to the LCS and the WS (where they would lose to the Twins). Pretty good.

Joe Higdon and Chris Ballard (the same guy from Contest #1) had the best overall answers, each getting one of four teams in the LCS, one of two teams in the WS, who would win it all, and pitching being the reason for the victory.

Joe wins as he picked the Astros in six, and his submission was early. Chris loses to Joe as he picked the Astros in seven and, as usual, was late in making his picks.

So Joe gets one ticket to the 2023 World Series.

*** *** ***

See you all again next year when MLB will have instituted some new rules in the hopes of making beisbol more fan friendly.

Plus, look for my upcoming post, Mea Culpa.

How Well Do You Know Baseball?

11 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

'Homers', 2022 MillersTime Baseball Contests, Baseball in 2022, MillersTime Baseball Contests, MLB Baseball, Prizes for winning entries

Now that we will have a full baseball season for 2022, I am announcing a slimmed down MillersTime Baseball Contest.

Since there was virtually no Hot Stove League this year, it is hard to know what team rosters will look like on Opening Day. Still, we have a bit of time to try to get a sense of what we might expect from our favorite teams, from our hated opponents, and for this frustratingly delayed season.

So, only two contests, and everyone has about three and a half weeks to sort out their own teams and the overall outlook for 2022.

The date for your submission is noon on Opening Day (likely to be April 7th.)

I suspect you will all need that time to make ‘informed’ predictions.

Contest #1:

Choose your favorite team or a team you know well enough to prove you are not a ‘homer’ and answer the questions below. (My definition of “a homer” – a sports fan who is (so) loyal to their home team that it may be difficult to be objective about the team’s prospects for the coming year. Other definitions and synonyms: “a simple-minded person; moron; unintelligent person; idiot; someone who has a (too) close devotion to a sports team; not cognizant of the world around them.”

Name the team.
What will their season record be in 2022?
Where will they end up in their Division at the end of the regular season.
Will they make the 12 team playoffs?
If so, how far will they go in those playoffs.
What will be the reasons for how well or poorly they do this year? The more specific you are the better.

Prize: Two tickets to the 2023 All Star Game (Seattle Mariners, T-Mobile Park) or one ticket to the 2023 World Series.

Contest #2:

Who will be the four teams to be playing in the League Championship series in 2022? (Name the two from the AL and the two from the NL).
What two teams will actually make it to the World Series.
How many games will the WS go?
Which team will win the WS?
What are the reasons that team wins?

Prize: Joe Posnanski’s new, fantastic book, The Baseball 10

Additional Details:

There is no advantage this year as to when you send in your predictions. Take as much time as you want to gather whatever info you need, as long as you send in your answers by noon on Opening Day.
You don’t have to enter both Contests.
Send your predictions to me at Samesty84@gmail.com with as much specificity as you can as I suspect that will be important in choosing winners.
MillersTime Winner T-Shirts go along with the prizes mentioned above.
If you get another baseball obsessive to join the Contests and he/she mentions your name and wins, you’ll get a copy of Posnanski’s book too.

How Well Do You Know Your Team? Plus, Winner in Contest #1

08 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

'Homers', 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Baseball Contests

Fenway Green Monster fans react to a Rafael Devers’ homer, but “a homer” has another meaning too. (Photo by Matt Stone)

Contest # 1: Pick your favorite MLB team (or the team you know the most) and answer the following questions to prove whether your just a homer – “someone who shows blind loyalty to a team or organization, typically ignoring any shortcomings or faults they have” – or whether you rally know something about your team and can honestly evaluate its strengths and weaknesses:

a. What will your team’s regular season 162 game record be in 2017?

b. Will they make the playoffs, and if so, how far will they go?

c. What will be the most important factor (hitting, starting pitching, bullpen, an individual’s performance, injuries, etc.) in determining their season?

Conclusion:

There were four teams chosen that had five or more of you predicting their season:

Orioles fans over predicted what their team would accomplish this season. (Once again Chris Eacho, who probably should never be taken seriously, thought the O’s would win over 100 games, would win the WS, and Buck Showalter would win Manager of the Year.)

Red Sox fans also largely over estimated how well they would do, but there were also a number of these wonderfully intelligent and obsessive fans who were very close to exact in their predictions.

Yankee fans largely underestimated how well they would do this year. (David P., however, thought they’d win the WS, which wasn’t as wild a prediction as it seemed at the beginning of the season.)

Nats’ fans were the most accurate in their assessment of their team.

Although the numbers were not significant, fans of the Cubs, Cards, Reds, Giants Braves, Royals, and Mets generally overestimated how their teams would do. Fans of the Pirates, Brewers, and Astros underestimated their teams for 2017. Dodger fans were split between over and under estimating how the Bums would do.

Winner of Contest #1:

There were a number of you who came close, generally faltering on Part B of this question. Included in this category were David Price, Daniel Fishberg, Jesse Maniff, Steve Veltri, Matt Wax-Krell, Ellen Miller, Jeff Friedman, Jon Frank, Nick Nyhart, and Meg Gage.

The two who vied for winning were Monica McHugh and Annie Orgad.

Monica predicted the Nats’ record would be 96-66 (they were 97-65), they would lose in the NLDS (true), and Bryce Harper would be instrumental in their season.

Annie predicted the Red Sox would be 94-68 (they were 93-69), they would lose in the first round of the playoffs (true), and hitting would be a big factor in their season outcome.

Monica McHugh wins this closely ‘fought’ Contest, based on the fact that her submission preceded Annie Orgads’. Monica’s prize is two tickets to a regular season game with her favorite team (details to be negotiated with me).