No baseball or wedding stuff, hopefully you'll still read this...

This was our final assignment for my M Com class and just a fun way for me to get a few of my thoughts on paper. Nothing MLB or wedding-related here, but I hope you enjoy:

When I signed up for M Com 320, I did so as more of an elective class as opposed to a GE. As a political science major, I will have achieved my advanced writing GE requirement through classes in the major (including the grueling PoliSci 200 which I took a year ago…) and thus didn’t need M Com to earn that merit badge. However, despite M Com not even being part of the business minor which I have completed when it definitely should be, I took the class hoping for knowledge and feedback on how I can hopefully get a job one day. Once the class began to get going, I quickly realized that the skills and knowledge that I was gaining in the class were going to do much more for me than simply help get a job. The ways that I write, present, and approach job-hunting have all been affected by this class and I know will help in my career pursuits.

Aside from technical and grammar improvements, this class has affected my writing by encouraging me to write concisely but creatively. No one wants to read the same boring stuff again and again. Shayne’s approach to writing (and life) is to never be boring, and I can tell that his careers have been amplified by that creativity. Just like how you can still be yourself and be a successful missionary, I believe that you can still be yourself and be successful in the business world. I want my writing to reflect my attitude and my enthusiasm for whatever it is that I am writing about, not sounding like a droning robot. One of the textbook principles that affected me the most was that of OABC, which I believe would improve the organization of millions of written messages (and countless missionary emails) if people understood it and took it seriously.

Writing skills will be important to nearly any business career I may choose, but presentation skills are right up there as well. I have always been pretty laid back and never got nervous about presentations, but various simple advices on presenting and PowerPoint presentations helped me to improve. I want to be exciting and entertaining but I also need whoever my audience may be to understand and be impacted by my presentations, and need to take the lessons we read about and practiced in this class seriously.   

I have loved the things that we have learned from class discussions, quizzes, and the textbook on writing and presenting, but none of those things will mean much if I never get a job. I could be finished with school here in just two semesters, but I have no idea what I want to do. After returning home from my mission in Africa, I was very interested in politics, government, international relations, and basically just how countries around the world work. I have a special interest in Africa and have studied development and aid in Africa as well. I chose political science because I enjoyed the international politics and international relations classes, and while I loved what I learned, studied, and wrote about in those classes, I do not see myself in a career in anything politics-related. I feel that business is the best route for me and am strongly considering an MBA. However, what kind of field I would like to go in to in business is completely undetermined.

M Com has helped me to learn resume, cover letter, and interviewing skills, but I need to start figuring out what I enjoy and what I want to do. If nothing else, Shayne’s life story and job history has encouraged me to think creatively and find something that I’m passionate about. I’ll be getting married in ten days, and need to start working harder and more seriously about deciding what my career path will be. Some people know they want to be a doctor or a lawyer or a musician from the day they’re born, but I’ve never had any such direction or any clue at all as to what I want to be when I grow up. Working hard in my last few semesters in school and pursuing internships will hopefully help me to just pick something and start there. My only desire is to be able to provide for a family one day, and I am grateful for what I have learned in this class that will hopefully help me to achieve that.

Writing and communicating in business (and in life) honestly does mean much more to me than it did when I entered the class. I want to be sharp in my writing and communicating skills (especially to make up for my mediocre college GPA!), and to be able to impress employers. Despite my current lack of direction, I know that I will find a field that I enjoy and that I will succeed in. I know that learning basic business communication principles like I did in this class will absolutely help me to achieve more, no matter what that field may be.

Finally I just want to give a short thank you note to Shayne Clarke. I always enjoyed coming to class (even on the grammar days) because you made it so enjoyable. Any class means more to a student when you can really tell that the teacher both cares about what he/she is teaching and is an example of someone who has succeeded in whatever they are teaching about. I know that the principles of M Com have helped you in the business world and that you just want to share that success and those experiences with us. Thanks for being such a fun teacher, it really was one of my favorite classes at BYU – right up there with a Human Rights (PoliSci 473) class that I took this semester. Somehow though, I think that what I learned in M Com will be of greater help to me over the next few years. Thanks again, for everything.

Roy Copans

Blog lives on

So after the post that I submitted just in the nick of time on Sunday night, I decided to do just one more good deed for my beautiful fiancee Alyssa who has been struggling under the pressure of the wedding. That night was particularly bad despite our wonderful evening at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert the night before. She fell asleep around midnight and was set to wake up at 5:20 A.M. the next day, just like she always does when she works. I left her house at midnight and went home, then proceeded to stay up for the next few hours talking to my roommates and working on homework. As the clock passed 3:00 A.M. I got the idea to just stay up another few hours and then to go and pick up breakfast at Einstein Bagels and surprise her with it. Despite scaring her a little bit, she was overjoyed when I burst into her room as she was putting her makeup on at about 5:35. After giving her the breakfast, I went outside and backed her car out and warmed it up for her to come out and drive to work ten minutes later. Besides the fact that it totally threw off my sleeping schedule and my day, I was glad for another opportunity to serve my future wife.

So today was our final exam in MCOM 320, the class that I've been writing this blog for, but I've just enjoyed doing it so much that I think I'll continue to! Especially in tracking and following the MLB and any other sports. Speaking of that, there have been a few more big moves in the offseason lately but definitely a handful of unanswered questions, especially those revolving around players such as David Price, Shin-soo Choo, and Nelson Cruz. The next few weeks will hopefully give us some answers as teams inch closer towards finalizing their spring training rosters. 3 1/2 months until baseball starts again... I can not wait.

Until that time, this blog lives on! Keep enjoying it.

Roy Copans

So this weekend my MCOM professor (the strikingly handsome, "Provo 100" falconer himself, Shayne Clarke) challenged us to find someone who was having a hard or stressed out time and do something nice for them. This may be an "easy way out" unfortunately but the person that I chose to do something nice for was my fiancee Alyssa.

Alyssa Carroll and I are getting married in 19 days and I love her so so much. We are getting married in the Newport Beach temple and I can't believe how lucky I am to be marrying such an incredible girl. Unfortunately the stress of wedding planning has been overwhelming her, in addition to her full-time job as a Registered Nurse at the Utah Valley Intermountain Health Care hospital. Her job is requiring her to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year before going to her family in California and having one week to prepare for the wedding at home. I am leaving Provo on December 20, so she will be alone for 6 days before being able to fly home on December 26.

The combination of not being home for Christmas, wedding planning stress, and nursing stress has really added up for Alyssa these past few weeks. One thing that she had said she wanted for Christmas more than anything else was to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir special Christmas concert, which ran from December 12-14. Unfortunately I was not able to get tickets in the lottery for the concert, so I had to settle with trying to get lucky the day of. She was working her usual 6 AM-6 PM shift yesterday (December 14) when I took off to Salt Lake City on the Frontrunner train mid-afternoon. I talked to people on the train and got lucky enough to receive one ticket from someone that had an extra. Once I got to Salt Lake I waited for four hours in the "stand-by" line to receive a stand-by ticket, and was able to after waiting because I had gotten there so early. Because of my hours of persistence, I was able to get two tickets and surprise Alyssa by calling her and telling her to hit the road for Salt Lake because we had a concert to attend. It was a magical evening. I was so happy and grateful that everything worked out and I know that it meant a lot to her as well.

In addition to doing something nice for Alyssa though, I would like to find someone to serve this holiday season. The other day someone in front of me in the drive-through line at Taco Bell paid for my taco, which was awesome. Maybe they were doing it for this class, who knows. I'd like to do some random acts of kindness like that though to help people out this holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

19 days until the wedding!! :)

So why are we still having Winter Meetings?

Well there. That's what I get for my last blog post about how uneventful the offseason has been so far. After a seemingly boring week last week, this week presented us with possibly the most exciting week of baseball without any games played that I can remember. Now with the Winter Meetings starting today, I'll review the major acquisitions of this past week and share my opinion on just a few of them, one of which will undoubtedly be the Mariners signing of Robinson Cano...

Week in Review (major moves):
Seattle Mariners - Signed Robinson Cano to 10 year/$240 million deal.
New York Yankees - Signed Jacoby Ellsbury to 7 year/$153 million deal and Carlos Beltran to 3 year/$45 million deal. Re-signed SP Hiroki Kuroda.
New York Mets - Signed Curtis Granderson to 4 year/$60 million deal.
Miami Marlins - Signed Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Rafael Furcal.
Detroit Tigers - Signed Joe Nathan.
Washington Nationals - Signed Nate McLouth, traded for Doug Fister.
Oakland Athletics - Signed Scott Kazmir, traded for Craig Gentry, Luke Gregerson, and Jim Johnson.
Boston Red Sox - Signed A.J. Pierzynski and Edward Mujica, re-signed Mike Napoli.
Colorado Rockies - Signed Justin Morneau.
Kansas City Royals - Traded for Norichika Aoki.
Tampa Bay Rays - Signed Ryan Hanigan and Heath Bell.
Houston Astros - Signed Scott Feldman and traded for Dexter Fowler.
(source - MLB Trade Rumors)

Wow. Of course the Mariners signing of Cano is the biggest news of the week but there is plenty to digest here. I'll start with a few of the week's biggest winners and losers:

Winners: Robinson Cano, Jay-Z, Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox

As far as the winners go, I applaud Robinson Cano and his new agent, Jay-Z, for accepting the deal with the Seattle Mariners. Jay-Z said he would get Cano ten years and delivered on that promise with his first MLB player's contract. While the idea of Cano playing for the Mariners takes a little while to get used to, the bottom line is that the Yankees were not offering anywhere near what Cano and Jay-Z were demanding, so I give them a lot of credit for making an unconventional decision and going elsewhere in favor of more money, even if it meant leaving New York.

The Athletics made some great minor moves, filling in a lot of their holes at a low price and gearing up for another AL West pennant chase. The Red Sox were happy to get Mike Napoli back after he helped to fuel a World Series championship run and were also able to add bullpen depth with Mujica and replace the departed Saltalamacchia with A.J. Pierzynski. Not too shabby. And the Nationals swung what may end up being the steal of the offseason, sending Steve Lombardozzi, Ian Krol, and minor-leaguer Robbie Ray to Detroit for Doug Fister, who has quietly become one of the best pitchers in baseball. That coupled with the addition of speedster Nate McLouth has definitely bolstered the Nats roster for this coming season.

Losers: Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Tigers in the Doug Fister trade, Royals (with Carlos Beltran signing with the Yankees)

With the flurry of free agent signings and trades, Orioles GM Dan Duquette has repeated over and over again that they are "about to make a move" but yet the Orioles continue to miss on every big free agent. Duquette dealt closer Jim Johnson, he of 101 saves over the past two seasons, for virtually nothing in a panic trade in the middle of the week. Now with most of the top free agents signed, the Orioles still have gaping holes in their rotation, outfield, and now at the back end of their bullpen. We'll see if Duquette can deliver anything to help the Orioles have a chance of competing in the AL East this coming season.

The Tigers have had a solid offseason so far but the Doug Fister trade just doesn't make sense on so many levels. Luckily they signed Joe Nathan to address their biggest need, that of a closer, so things aren't all bad. Still, if I were a Tigers fan I'd be upset at the return that they got on Fister. The Mets also panicked and felt the need to sign a big free agent, also grossly overpaid Curtis Granderson to do so. Finally, Royals fans had to be excited at the idea of seeing Carlos Beltran return but alas, as so many players do, he took a bigger contract with the Yankees.

Well I'll wrap it up here but I'm sure these upcoming Winter Meetings will give me plenty to write about next week!

All Quiet on the Hot Stove

Another week has passed, this one far less eventful in the MLB offseason than the last one was. This week, however, did feature some incredible sporting events across the NCAA, NFL, NBA, and NHL, perhaps none greater than the instant-classic Auburn vs. Alabama game last night. Usually I am not much of a college football fan but that game plus the dramatic finish to the Ohio State vs. Michigan game have me very tempted to stray and to talk college football for just one week... but alas, I wouldn't want to disappoint all [zero] of my faithful followers! So we press on...

With no new major trades or free agent signings, I will dedicate this post to talking about Major League Baseball's most prized free agent this offseason, New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. Cano is undoubtedly one of the MLB's best talents, and is hitting the market as a free agent for the first time. Nearly every executive in baseball believes he will end up back with New York, but Cano and his agents are currently very far from each other in the negotiating process. Despite my gut telling me that Cano will remain a Yankee for life, most likely, I will propose three teams that are possible suitors for Cano and could greatly use his service.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

The simple and honest fact that the Dodgers have money and are not afraid to spend it qualifies them to be in the running for Cano. With baseball's second-highest payroll (only to the Yankees, of course) the Dodgers have deep pockets and a hole at second base with the departure of everyday second baseman Mark Ellis. Cano would be a great fit for an already talent-packed roster, but many believe the Dodgers are saving to shell out massive extensions and maintain the talent that they already have, primarily Clayton Kershaw, who may receive a historic $300+ million deal. If so, the cash to keep Cano and Kershaw on the same team together for 6-8 years just may not be there.

2. Detroit Tigers

This seems like a less-logical landing spot for Cano with the recent acquisition of Ian Kinsler, but hear me out for a second. Kinsler is versatile and could be moved to either third base or first base, with Miguel Cabrera taking the other. Jhonny Peralta has departed but flashy rookie Jose Iglesias did a fine job in his place at shortstop. With Kinsler, Iglesias, and Cabrera penciled in and Kinsler moving positions, Cano could be the puzzle piece that puts this Tigers team over the top. If they are in a win-now mentality, and many people believe they are, the Tigers could be dark horse in the Cano running. They cleared up a ton of salary by dumping Prince Fielder's contract in the Kinsler trade, but most execs feel that the cap space created will go toward extensions for Cabrera and ace pitcher Max Scherzer. We'll see if Cano emerges on the Tigers radar and just how badly they want to win now...

3. Washington Nationals

This is a biased one, but I am a huge Nationals fan and a huge Cano fan, so this would be a match made in heaven for me. I even had a dream about it a few weeks back. Most Nationals people feel that their infield is in place with promising youngster Anthony Rendon, but I vote to trade Rendon while his stock is high and sing Cano to a 7-9 year deal. Cano would make the Nationals lineup terrifying and, with their already star-studded pitching staff, possibly the best team in baseball (for real this time, not like last year).

Well there are just three random thoughts about possible landing spots for Cano - we'll track the negotiations with the Yankees over the next few weeks and see if there is any chance that Robinson is not wearing pinstripes come 2014!

The Stove is Hot

Well, so far we've had an exciting offseason, already highlighted by unexpected trades and free agent signings. Over the past week we've seen quite a few moves, two trades and one free agent signing of which I'll touch on and share my opinion about and declare who I believe (for now) are the winners and losers of the trade. Starting with the biggest shocker of the offseason so far, meaning:

Trade #1: Prince Fielder and cash to the Rangers for Ian Kinsler.

Winners: Everyone. Tigers, Rangers, Scherzer, Cabrera, Dombrowski, Fielder, Profar.

What a deal. No one expected the Tigers to deal Fielder, but GM Dave Dombrowski had to make a decision as to the future of the team. It's no secret that the Tigers owner wants to win - and now - hoping to see a World Series championship before the end of his life. I suppose Dombrowski decided that the best way to do that was to dump Fielder's massive contract (just signed two years ago) to clear up cap space which he can use to lock up Max Scherzer and Miguel Cabrera in long-term deals. In doing so, he also managed to snag an all-star second basemen, addressing one of the Tigers' biggest needs with Omar Infante departing. In my opinion, the Tigers did an excellent job and are big winners in this deal. The Rangers, on the other hand, will also win - it's no secret that they don't care much about spending money, and putting a 29-year old Fielder hitting his prime in a great hitters park is a great upgrade. Fielder should have great seasons ahead of him in Arlington, and with a few more additions may see them back in the World Series in the near future. The departing of Kinsler also pencils in young phenom Jurickson Profar to a starting spot in the infield. We'll see how he can do with regular playing time, but many project him to be a star.


Trade #2: David Freese and Fernando Salas to the Angels for Peter Bourjos and an OF prospect.

Winner: Cardinals, Bourjos.

The Cardinals do it again, pulling off a trade that looks like it will work out ridiculously well in their favor. Dumping the declining David Freese for the speedy Bourjos fills a hole in the defending NL champions outfield with Carlos Beltran departing. Bourjos provides excellent speed and defense and will benefit greatly from regular playing time, which the Angels were unable to give him in a crowded outfield. Freese and Salas are great candidates for regression, especially with the horribly mis-managed Angels. I see this deal working out great for the Cardinals, now with a starting outfield of Holliday-Jay-Bourjos.


Free agent signing #1: Brian McCann to the Yankees, 5 year/$85 million deal

I've just got a short reaction to this one, I'm not too surprised that the Yankees aggressively pursued a catcher, fulfilling one of their biggest needs. McCann is an excellent sign and his offensive numbers should increase in the hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium. I am, however, a little suspicious of giving McCann five years. I know that was his asking price but I don't see McCann being worth $17 million a year three, four, five years from now. I know the Yankees have the money to spend but only time will tell if this was a good long-term decision.


Stay tuned next week for more analysis of the exciting MLB offseason!

Comeback Blog - Awards and all

Well with the MLB season having been over for three weeks now, it seems like a good time to reflect back upon this past season and prepare for what looks like it might be a wild off-season. The Boston Red Sox closed the World Series out at home in Boston in Game 6, with a fairly boring, standard victory. I did not watch games 5 and 6 after an exciting games 3 and 4 but the best team won, and congratulations to the Red Sox and to the city of Boston.

Since that time, all major awards have been handed out to deserving players and hot stove rumors have begun to swirl. I'd like to weigh in on a few of the more heavily-debated awards and then (in future posts) take a look ahead at what the off-season has in store for us.

Rookie of the Year: I was extremely relieved to hear Jose Fernandez's name called as the NL Rookie of the Year. After all the hype surrounding Yasiel Puig, the right player absolutely won the award, as Fernandez would even have gotten stronger consideration for Cy Young if it wasn't for a certain one of Puig's Dodger teammates that had an unbelievable season. Wil Myers on the American League side was a less obvious choice. The Rays had a pair of deserving teammates (Myers and pitcher Chris Archer) but Myers took it home in a very weak class of AL rookies. Would've liked to see Archer win but no major complaints here.

Cy Young: Can't make any legitimate arguments against Kershaw and Scherzer winning here except that I would've liked to see them both a little more unanimous. Both had incredible seasons.

MVP: I love Andrew McCutchen and am glad that he took home the hardware from a tough NL field, but the real deabte is on the American League side here. I won't focus much on the NL side of this, although arguments could be made, but I love McCutchen and completely agree. However, everyone seems to have an opinion on the American League side of this debate, in what is becoming the yearly "Cabrera vs. Trout" debate, which pits traditional baseball thinkers against the new-age statisical-minded analysts. By all account, sabremetrics and other advanced statistics show that Mike Trout is the most valuable player in the American League. But at what point do you draw the line between being statistically "valuable" and having intangible values in leading your team to victories (and ultimately, the playoffs). One can argue that if you traded Cabrera and Trout, would the Angels be as good as the Tigers and go to the playoffs? Probably not. Would the Tigers still go to the playoffs with either Trout or Cabrera? Probably. So how does one decide the true "value" of one player leading a team of 25 players? I don't know enough about this all yet to make a valid argument but what I do know is that I seem to be taking a more traditional position in this debate and agree that Miguel Cabrera should be the MVP. His offensive numbers are off the chart, and he has become one of the best hitters of all time. Is baseball only played on offense? Of course not. Is Trout more valuable in the field and on the basepaths? Absolutely. If Trout's team had better pitching and offense and went to the playoffs would he be the MVP? Probably. But this is all part of the debate, which I will come back to in future posts, but for now, I agree with the voters and believe that Miguel Cabrera is the American League's Most Valuable Player.

Next post: Hot Stove Report! Stay tuned.

October comes to an end, my love for the World Series returns

With just a few days remaining in my favorite month of the year, it's time to reflect back on what is typically my favorite month and look ahead to see what the rest of this year has in store for us. October presented me with (for the most part) great weather, decent grades, a great month of work at the MTC, a whole lot of wedding planning, a wonderful weekend trip to California, and of course, the MLB playoffs. It's been a great month, with the exception of the playoffs that had, up until now, had my interest in them die. But with the wild finishes of the last two games, the (potentially) final three World Series games will be can't-miss television.

After the first game of the World Series (which I did not watch, along with all 12 NLCS/ALCS games minus the last three innings to Game 1 of the ALCS but only because the Tigers had a no-hitter going), I was ready to throw in the towel. I was ready to give up on a baseball season that had so much promise going in to it's final month for fans like me that love to root for the underdog teams (Orioles, Royals, Pirates, Athletics, etc.), especially with the Yankees not making the playoffs. The underdogs all fell short and baseball's two superpowers this season, the Red Sox and Cardinals, were the last teams standing. I was ready to half-heartedly congratulate whoever won and get ready for next season, with plenty of football and basketball in between (especially with a huge Redskins victory over the Bears last week). But the wildly unpredictable finishes to Games 3 and 4 of the World Series have sucked me back in to the sport I love so much and, combined with the most depressing Redskins loss I've seen in a long time, thrust me back into baseball for a few more days. 

I had planned to blog about the upcoming NBA season tonight. To make predictions and to get exciting for opening night here in just two short days. However, there are still a few more baseball games to be played, and from the way this series has gone so far, I'm betting we'll see three of them. After rookie Kolten Wong got picked off with one of the best postseason hitters in baseball history (Carlos Beltran) standing in the batter's box with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, the Red Sox escaped Game 4 and tied up the series at two games apiece, with one more game left to be played in St. Louis. Originally I picked the Cardinals in 6, but with the way things are going I am no longer sticking to that prediction (I'll stay close to it though). With Game 3 ending on a wild obstruction call awarding Allen Craig and the Cardinals the victory and Game 4 ending on a pickoff, we have no idea what to expect from Game 5. What we do know is this: it will tomorrow night in St. Louis at 6:30 PM (local time) and that Adam Wainwright will start at home for the Cardinals against Jon Lester of the Red Sox. We know that in Game 1 Lester tossed 7 2/3 shutout innings against a powerful Cardinals offense and that Wainwright had possibly his worst career postseason start (although he did last longer and give up fewer runs than he did in Game 5 of last year's NLDS against the Nationals). We know that Wainwright will be pitching with a chip on his shoulder to bounce back after putting the Cards in an early hole in Game 1, and we know that Lester has dominated this Cardinals offense so far in the World Series. I see a pitching duel for the ages, possibly with both throwing near-complete games and possibly a 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1 game. I'm going with Wainwright and the Cards in Game 5 and then the Sox in Game 6.

So that leaves a Game 7 in Fenway.

A Game 7 in Fenway Park on October 31st, All Hallow's Eve - a night where anything can happen, a night that can be the only night of the 365-day calendar year in which there are MLB, NBA, and NFL games all played on the same night. A night that can go down into history as one of the best endings to a World Series in baseball history. I'm not going to make any specific predictions - I don't think anything can be predicted this series - but what I will say is that deep down I feel like the Red Sox will pull it out, but that's not what I will predict. Cardinals win the game 3-0 on the third-ever postseason no-hitter and the first to ever clinch a World Series, by Joe Kelly.

Because hey, the way this World Series is going, why the heck not?

World Series here we come

Since my last post, a lot has developed in the MLB playoffs, including something quite unexpected - my loss of interest in them. I told a few people when the playoffs began that there were just two teams that I would not like to win the World Series - the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. And alas, here we sit on October 20th, and the two remaining teams that will play for the Championship in Major League Baseball's 109th World Series.

The Red Sox beat the Tigers in an apparently classic (I hardly caught any of it) ALCS which featured them scoring over half of their runs in the series on two Grand Slam swings, with Shane Victorino's 7th inning slam in Game 6 giving them the lead for good in that series-ending game. The Cardinals managed to beat Clayton Kershaw twice en route to a six-game victory over the Dodgers in the NLCS. Despite the fact that I can't stand either team and that both have two World Series championships within the last 10 years, you have to give credit to the Red Sox and Cardinals for such tremendous seasons. Historically the Red Sox and Cardinals are two of baseball's best organizations, with the Cardinals owners of 11 World Series championships, second only to the New York Yankees. The Red Sox, winners in 2004 and 2007, have seven World Series Championships, which is fourth behind the Yankees, Cardinals, and Athletics.

The entire season comes down to the next seven (maximum) games, and I honestly don't know who to pick. The Red Sox have displayed the best offense in baseball all season long, but it was their pitching that helped them beat Detroit and advance to the World Series. However, the Cardinals may be baseball's best all-around team, and with so much postseason experience on their roster, I'm picking the St. Louis Cardinals in 6 games to hoist the trophy and win the 109th MLB World Series.

Here we go - Postseason 2013 off and running

Despite the fact that the League Division Series' officially started yesterday, I needed to get on and make my predictions as to what the first round may entail. After the one-game playoffs Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, the field of the final eight MLB teams standings is finally set. As I accurately predicted, David Price led Tampa Bay to a win over Texas Monday night in Arlington, eliminating the Rangers from postseason contention. I also correctly called the outcome of Tuesday night's game in Pittsburgh, as the Pirates ousted the Reds and moved on to match up with the Cardinals in the NLDS. Wednesday night, however, was a different story, as the Indians failed to cash in on a number of great opportunities and were ultimately shut out by Alex Cobb and the Rays, eliminating Cleveland and advancing Tampa Bay to play the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. So for the one-game playoffs I went 2/3, not too bad! Let's see how I can do in the Divison Series round.

ALDS - Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox
This has been a great battle all season long between two division rivals, which saw the Red Sox win 12 out of the 19 games in which these teams faced each other during the regular seasons. Of course October is always a different story, as teams will just have five games to fight it out in the ALDS. The Rays pitching has carried the team through the season's final month and first two playoff games, and the Red Sox hitting has been the best in baseball. This series poises to be a classic matchup of great hitting versus great pitching. The old adage in baseball is that pitching will always win in the end, but I give the advantage in this series to the Red Sox, with how dominant their bats have been and how well they've handled the Rays. It will definitely be close, but my prediction is that the series goes back to Fenway Park for Game 5 and the Red Sox win on their home field. Red Sox in 5.

ALDS - Detroit Tigers at Oakland Athletics
A rematch of last year's ALDS pits the low-budget Athletics against the star-studded Tigers. The story of the season has been the dominance of the Tigers pitching, but the Athletics suprised many by winning a second consecutive division title. Last year's ALDS was full of drama, with both teams winning walk-off games and the series ultimately coming down to a decisive Game 5, with Justin Verlander shutting down the A's bats and leading Detroit to the ALCS. Despite the Tigers tremendous pitching, and Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder leading the offense, I believe that this has been and will continue to be a special season for the Athletics. With Verlander and the AL wins leader Max Scherzer scheduled to pitch the first two games for the Tigers in Oakland, I see the A's splitting the first two in Oakland, splitting two in Detroit, and coming home for a Game 5 for the ages and winning it in front of their home crowd. Athletics in 5, setting up a Red Sox-Athletics ALCS.

NLDS - Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves
The Dodgers were a great story of 2013, coming back from a 9-game deficit in the NL West to win the division by 10 games. Carried by fantastic rookie seasons from the electric Yasiel Puig and Hyun-Jin Ryu, an incredible offensive comeback season by Hanley Ramirez, and Clayton Kershaw having one of the greatest pitching seasons in recent memory, the Dodgers are ready and loaded for playoff baseball. However, the Braves stand in their way, who exepectedly cruised to an easy division title in the NL East and have home-field advantage against LA. The Braves have had incredibly solid team play all season, with no real stars, other than the emerging Freddie Freeman and baseball's most dominanat closer, Craig Kimbrel. Despite the Braves having home field advantage, the Dodgers pitching staff led by Kershaw and Zach Greinke will be a nightmare for a team to beat in a 5 game series. Depending on how Don Mattingly sets up his rotation, in order to win you will have to beat Kershaw/Greinke at least once and possiby twice to win the series. I don't see that happening. Dodgers take care of business and send the Braves on a long flight home to Atlanta from L.A. after Game 4. Dodgers in 4.

NLDS - Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals
This sets up to be, in my opinion, the most interesting of the first-round series. The Pirates and Cardinals battled for the division title all season long, with the Cardinals ultimately coming out on top of the division despite the Pirates edging them in the season series 10-9. The Pirates unexpected season has been led by NL MVP-favorite Andrew McCutchen, slugging from NL home-run leader Pedro Alvarez, and great pitching performances, especially in the back end of the bullpen (aka the "Shark Tank"). The Cardinals continue their winning ways, as they put together one of baseball's most well-rounded teams season after season. The Pirates are back in the postseason for the first time in 21 years, and the city of Pittsburgh couldn't be more excited. Tuesday night's Wild Card game against the Reds was highlighted by an absolutely packed PNC Park decked out in black and loud as can be, which many believe got inside the heads of Johnny Cueto and other players on the Reds. If the Buccos can manage to split the first two games in Busch Stadium, I believe the atmosphere and momentum that they carry back to the 'Burgh just might be enough to pull off the upset at home. A packed PNC Park and the Pirates in 4, setting up a Dodgers-Pirates NLCS.


The picks are in. Now let's PLAY BALL!

(author's note: This post was written after the first 2 games of the NLDS series' and the first game of each ALDS series, however, all of my predictions were my original predictions from before the games began. Both NLDS series' are tied up, I picked the Cards and Pirates to split but did not think the Braves would beat Greinke, so that series definitely has a chance for an upset. I'm worried about the Athletics after a game one loss, they desperately need to beat Verlander tomorrow to stand a chance. The Red Sox look well on their way towards winning the series after a game one beatdown, they could easily do it in less games than my predicted 5. We'll see!!)

This week's Wild Card games

As the sun has set on the regular season of Major League Baseball earlier tonight, unanswered questions remain about the final eight teams that will be playing on into the American and National League Divison Series. Naturally, with the MLB's new rule of a one-game playoff for the 4th and 5th place finishers in each league leaves questions marks as to which team will play as the Wild Card, but the wild race in the American League has furthur complicated the situation.

At my last post two weeks ago, six teams were alive and fighting for those two American League Wild Card spots. Tonight, 3 of those 6 teams still have a chance. The Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Kansas City Royals all fell out of contention (in that order), while the Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays, and Cleveland Indians had strong, winning weeks to keep their postseason hopes alive. By the time play ended today, the Indians led the way with an impressive final regular season record of 92-70. The Rangers and Rays are right on their heels, finishing at 91-71 apiece. The National League situation is and has been much less intense, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds have held the two wild card positions for the last few months, and will square off in their long-expected one game battle on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. The winner of the Pirates and Reds one-game playoff will earn a first round series with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The A.L. situation leaves us with a one-game playoff tiebreaker to determine who will play in the official one-game playoff. This tiebreaker will be between Texas and Tampa Bay, played in Arlington on Monday night, with the winner travelling to Cleveland to match up with the Indians on Wednesday night. The winner of that game in Cleveland will earn a spot in the Division Series against the Boston Red Sox.

While it is too early to release my official playoff predictions with so many teams still fighting for the wild card position, I will make predictions for the three wild card games to be played this week. After these scores are settled, I will make my official 2013 MLB playoff predictions.

For this week, I see Tampa Bay edging the Rangers in a tough game Monday night in Texas. Reigning A.L. Cy Young award winner David Price will have a good start against the Rangers rookie Martin Perez, and the Rays will earn a date with the Indians on Wednesday night. The Indians have had a magical season, and I'll make a prediction that it will continue past Wednesday night, and that they will win and move on to battle Boston. In the National League, the Pirates have just come off of a weekend sweep on the Reds in Cincinnati and are playing great ball. They send Francisco Liriano to the mound, who is 11-1 when pitching at home in Pittsburgh this season. The Reds will counter with Johnny Cueto, who has recently come back after a back injury and has looked solid since his return. I see the Pirates staying hot behind their best home pitcher and playing into October for the first time since 1992.

However, nothing I say will make a difference - the only thing left to do is wait for the games to be played! There's nothing better than October baseball.

Race for the Wild Card - AL Contenders

After my last post regarding the leaders of the AL Wild Card (at the time), the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers, I went forward to make these predictions about the following four teams in the race (before the games this week). Even though the week is nearly over, I'll still write about the four contending teams as I would have before it started and leave my same predictions for the week. Their records on this post reflect their records before this week's games.

Cleveland Indians: 81-68, 0.5 games behind Texas/Tampa Bay for Wild Card. The Indians have been playing great ball and taking advantage of a weak September schedule, but don't count them out as serious playoff contenders just because they've been beating up on the White Sox and Twins all month. The Indians have emerged as one of baseball's biggest surprises this season, and with the offense clicking up and down the lineup and a strong resurgence of Ubaldo Jiminez, I predict that there will be October baseball in Cleveland this season.

Week ahead: 3 games at Kansas City, 4 games vs. Houston. Prediction: 4-3. Dropping 2 of 3 in Kansas City and taking 3 out of 4 at home against the Astros.


Baltimore Orioles: 79-70, 2.5 games behind Texas/Tampa Bay for Wild Card. The Orioles have had an extremely up-and-down season, at times the hottest hitting team in baseball and at other times hitting dreadful slumps. After dropping 3 of 4 at home to the Yankees in a few close, heart-breaking games they bounced back by winning the weekend series in Toronto. Unfortunately for the O's, they still have stops in Boston and Tampa Bay for 3 games with the Sox and 4 with the Rays, the two teams ahead of them in the AL East standings. The Orioles have been an exciting team to watch all year but pitching is the name of the game in late September/October, and so far the Orioles haven't proven that their starting pitching can keep them in close, playoff-like games.

Week ahead: 3 games at Boston, 4 games at Tampa Bay. Prediction: 4-3. Winning 2 of 3 in Boston and splitting the 4 games with the Rays.


New York Yankees: 79-71, 3 games behind Texas/Tampa Bay for Wild Card. The Bronx Bombers have lacked their power this season, but somehow have managed to stay in the race despite lengthy (and some season-ending) injuries to stars such as Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez. Their pitching has come on strong as of late, especially Ivan Nova who has emerged as a star and won the August AL Pitcher of the Month award. After winning 3 out of 4 in Baltimore, the Yankees looked poised for an incredible comeback to possibly capture the second wild card position. However, they then traveled to Fenway and were swept by the Red Sox over the weekend, putting a damper on their plans to crash the postseason party. With a fairly light schedule over the next week, don't count the Yankees out just yet, but 3 games may just be a little too many to make up with two weeks remaining after the sweep in Boston.

Week ahead: 3 games at Toronto, 3 games vs. the Giants at home. Prediction: 4-2. Winning 2 of 3 in each series against the last-place Blue Jays and Giants.


Kansas City Royals: 78-71, 3.5 games behind Texas/Tampa Bay for Wild Card. The Royals are still playing meaningful games late into September, which may have a lot of people around the country surprised. Having not had a winning season since 2003, the Royals look destined to at least break that mark, if not make a late push into one of the remaining two wild card spots. After a rough 3-game sweep by the hands of the last-place White Sox in late August, the Royals have turned things around, going 15-8 since then and catapulting themselves right back into the playoff race. This week will pit them against two other wild card contenders (Indians and Rangers) and home before going on the road to play the lowly Mariners then White Sox over the last week of the season. If they can manage to survive the Indians and Rangers series' (and I believe they will), the Royals should be right in the mix heading in to the last week of the season.

Week ahead: 6 game homestand, hosting the Indians for 3 and then the Rangers for 3. Prediction: 4-2. Winning 2 of 3 in each of their final two home series'.


IN REVIEW
Based on the weekly predictions I made, here is what I expect the AL Wild Card standings to be after all games are complete on Sunday, September 22nd.

Tampa Bay Rays: 86-70 (+1 game)
Cleveland Indians: 85-71
--------------------------------
Texas Rangers: 83-72 (1.5 games back)
Baltimore Orioles: 83-73 (2 games back)
New York Yankees: 83-73 (2 games back)
Kansas City Royals: 82-73 (2.5 games back)

Race for the Wild Card - American League leaders, 9/15/2013

As explained in the last post, the purpose of these blogs will be to analyze the remaining two weeks of the Major League Baseball season and attempt to make accurate predictions as to which teams will play on into October and make a run at the World Series championship. Today's post will be specifically analyzing the six remaining teams in the American League and making predictions based on their schedules this week.

Texas Rangers - 81-67, tied with Tampa Bay for the Wild Card lead. The Rangers have hit their roughest patch of the season thus far, coming off of an 0-6 week, having been swept by both the Pirates and the Athletics. Getting swept by the Athletics at home all but ended their hopes of a division title, and they are now clinging to hang on to a Wild Card position. Unfortunately, this week may be their most difficult challenge yet. The Rangers have a week-long road trip, playing seven games in seven days, all against other wild card contenders. They will start in Tampa for four games with the Rays and then travel to Kansas City for three games over the weekend against the Royals.

Prediction: Not good. Two wins and five losses, one win against each the Rays and Royals. The Rangers have lost six games in a row and 13 of their last 16. With no off-days left on the schedule and this rough upcoming road trip, the Rangers may be playing their way out of postseason position.

Tampa Bay Rays - 81-67, tied with Texas for the Wild Card lead. The Rays have recently seemed to break out of their recent slump, going 3-3 this past week and winning the weekend series against Minnesota, despite blowing a late lead and losing on Sunday. This coming week will also be a test for them, with back-to-back four game series' at home against fellow Wild Card contenders Texas and Baltimore. They played well agaisnt Baltimore three weeks ago before hitting their slump, so this week may be a different story. Something has to give between Tampa Bay and the Rangers, and I expect the Rays pitching to be the deciding factor in a winning series for the Rays.

Prediction: Five wins and three losses. Winning three out of four against the Rangers and splitting the two game series with the Orioles.

Introduction - 9/15/2013

With two weeks remaining in the Major League Baseball regular season, the race for the postseason is heating up. The race in the American League is particularly close, with six teams chasing the final two wild card positions. The Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Kansas City Royals are all separated by just three and a half games in the standings. The National League appears to be less dramatic, but with the Washington Nationals finally playing good baseball and a slumping Cincinnati Reds team, it is certainly not over. The Central division of the National League is also yet to be determined, as the Reds are battling to keep up with the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, two of baseball's best teams over the last few months. In this blog I will make weekly predictions based on the schedule strength of the remaining teams and attempt to predict which clubs will still be playing ball come October.