One Man's Thoughts on Sports Card Collecting

Monday, March 25, 2013

2nd Annual MLB Prediction Contest!!

Hi everybody, long time, no see.    I've been on a 7-week hiatus, but I HAD to come back for a very important reason - it's time to celebrate the dawning of a new baseball season with...

The Common (Card) Man's Second Annual MLB Prediction Contest!  

The idea is simple - pick which teams and players will perform best in 2013 as outlined below.  We can follow along all season, and at the end we will find out (to steal a line from Bryan Alvarez at F4Wonline.com) "who was a prognosticator, and who was a FOOL~!"

The details:
So here's the deal.  All you have to do is pick the playoff teams in both leagues and also who will lead the league in various statistical categories.  I will compile all the entries into a page on my blog so everyone can view it throughout the year.  There will be TWO prizes - one for the points leader at the All-Star Break, and a Grand Prize for the Champion at the end of the season.  I don't know exactly what the prizes will be yet, but rest assured I will do my best to include multiple auto, patch, and/or other "hit" cards that fit your collection.  Last year blogger Play At The Plate won the mid-season prize, and Chunter over at Chipp 'n' Dale took home the Grand Prize.  I plan on putting up my own predictions to play along, but my score won't count as far as winning the prizes is concerned.

What do I have to pick?:
1.) Pick the 6 Division Champions and 4 Wild Card winners (remember there are 2 Wild Cards in each league now).  Each correct guess earns 10 points.  If you pick a team to win their Division and they win the Wild Card instead (or vice versa) you receive 5 points.  For purposes of determining the All-Star Break prize winner, we will use which teams would make the playoffs if the season ended that day.

2.) Pick who will lead ALL of MLB (not just the AL or NL) in each of the following categories.  We're going to modify the scoring for this section this year.  If the player is #1 in that category you earn 20 points, and you earn 9 for second place, 8 for third, all the way down to 1 point for 10th place.  Hopefully the change will make things a little more interesting in the stat categories, as last year it was FAR easier to earn points picking playoff teams than it was picking stat leaders!

Hitting Categories:
-Batting Average
-Home Runs
-RBIs
-Runs scored
-Stolen Bases

Pitching Categories:
-Wins
-ERA
-Strikeouts
-Saves
-WHIP (last year we did Holds, I think this will be better)

For the Batting Average and ERA categories the player has to qualify for the league title to count.

What if I really blow one of my picks?:
Fear not!  At the All-Star Break, you are allowed to change any ONE pick to a different choice. BONUS - if you promote the contest in your blog and include a link in the comments below, you can change TWO picks at the All-Star Break.

That's it!  To enter, either post your choices in the comments section of this post, or else you can email your picks to me.  All entries must be received by 11:59pm on Monday, April 1st.  We had 10 participants last year, hopefully we can make it a bunch more in 2013!

13 comments:

  1. Division Champs:
    AL East--Blue Jays
    AL Central--Tigers
    AL West--Angels
    NL East--Nationals
    NL Central--Cardinals
    NL West--Dodgers
    Wild Cards: Orioles, Athletics, Braves, Giants
    World Series: Tigers and Dodgers, and Tigers win it all!

    Leaders:
    Batting Average: Miguel Cabrera
    Home Runs: Prince Fielder
    RBIs: Miguel Cabrera
    Runs scored: Mike Trout
    Stolen Bases: Mike Trout

    Wins: Max Scherzer
    ERA: Clayton Kershaw
    Strikeouts: Felix Hernandez
    Saves: Mo Rivera (wouldn't that be cool)
    WHIP: Brandon McCarthy

    OK, I think that does it. Let me know if I missed anything. Thanks for this great contest.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have to defend my mid season title:

    AL East: Toronto
    Central: Detroit
    West: LA Angels
    Wildcards: Texas (homer call) and Tampa Bay

    NL East: Washington
    Central: Cincy
    West: SF
    Wildcards: LAD and Atlanta

    World Series: Angels and Nationals, Angels win (It pains me to say it.)

    Batting AVG: M. Cabrera
    HR: Josh Hamilton
    RBI: Josh Hamilton
    RUNS: Mike Trout
    SB: Mike Trout

    Wins: J. Verlander
    ERA: C. Kershaw
    SO: J. Verlander
    Saves: F. Rodney
    WHIP: C. Kershaw

    Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What the heck!

    AL East-Blue Jays
    AL Central-Tigers
    AL West-Angels
    AL Wild Cards-Orioles and A's
    NL East-Nats
    NL Central-Reds
    NL West-Dodgers
    NL Wild Cards-Giants and Phillies

    World Series: Angels/Dodgers, Dodgers win

    Batting Average: Buster Posey
    Home Runs: Giancarlo Stanton
    RBI: Josh Hamilton
    Runs: Mike Trout
    Stolen Bases: Mike Trout

    Wins: David Price
    ERA: Kris Medlen
    Strikeouts: Stephen Strasburg
    Saves: Mariano Rivera
    WHIP: Clayton Kershaw

    Thanks for running this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Division Champs:
    AL East--Blue Jays
    AL Central--Tigers
    AL West--Angels
    NL East--Atlanta
    NL Central--Cardinals
    NL West--Dodgers
    Wild Cards: Orioles, Athletics, Nationals, Giants
    World Series: Angels and Braves, and Braves win it all!

    Leaders:
    Batting Average: Mike Trout
    Home Runs: Josh Hamilton
    RBIs: Miguel Cabrera
    Runs scored: Mike Trout
    Stolen Bases: Mike Trout

    Wins: Justin Verlander
    ERA: Stephen Strasburg
    Strikeouts: Aroldis Chapman
    Saves: Craig Kimbrel
    WHIP: Clayton Kershaw

    ReplyDelete
  5. AL East-Blue Jays
    AL Central-Tigers
    AL West-Angels
    AL Wild Cards-Rangers and Rays
    NL East-Nats
    NL Central-Cards
    NL West-Dodgers
    NL Wild Cards-Giants and Reds
    World Series: Angels/Dodgers, Dodgers win

    Batting Average: Mike Trout
    Home Runs: Ryan Braun
    RBI: Miguel Cabrera
    Runs: Mike Trout
    Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes

    Wins: Jered Weaver
    ERA: Justin Verlander
    Strikeouts: Felix Hernandez
    Saves: Craig Kimbrel
    WHIP: Matt Cain

    I will post link on my blog see below

    http://dionsipautosonly.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. ooops meant to delete the World series above Thinking Angels over Nats

    ReplyDelete
  7. What the heck I'll try too.

    AL East:Rays
    Central:Tigers
    West:Angels

    Wild Card:Orioles,A's

    NL East:Nationals
    Central:Reds (hate to put that)
    West:Dodgers

    Wild Card:Cardinals,Diamondbacks

    World Series: Cardinals/Angels-Cardinals win(suck it Albert)

    Batting Average:Buster Posey
    Home Runs:Ryan Howard
    RBI:Miguel Cabrera
    Runs:Michael Bourn
    Stolen Bases:Mike Trout

    Wins:Lance Lynn
    ERA:Clayton Kershaw
    Strikeouts:Felix Hernandez
    Saves:Aroldis Chapman
    WHIP:R.A. Dickey

    I think that does it for me. Let me know if I missed anything. Thanks for the awesome contest.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AL East--Rays
    AL Central--Tigers
    AL West--Angels
    NL East--Nationals
    NL Central--Cardinals
    NL West--Dodgers
    Wild Cards: Blue Jays, Athletics, Braves, Giants World Series: Angels lose to Dodgers

    Batting Average: Andrew McCutcheon
    Home Runs: Josh Hamilton
    RBIs: Albert Pujols
    Runs scored: Mike Trout
    Stolen Bases: Everth Cabrera

    Wins: Clayton Kershaw
    ERA: Clayton Kershaw
    Strikeouts: Clayton Kershaw
    Saves: Craig Kimbrel
    WHIP: Matt Cain

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sounds like a fun contest. I'm in!

    AL East- Rays
    AL Central- Tigers
    AL West- Angels
    AL Wild Cards- Blue Jays & Rangers

    NL East- Nationals
    NL Central- Reds
    NL West- Dodgers
    NL Wild Cards- Braves & Cardinals

    World Series- Reds over Angels

    Hitting Categories:
    Batting Average- Joey Votto
    Home Runs- Mark Trumbo
    RBIs- Adrian Beltre
    Runs scored- Mike Trout
    Stolen Bases- Everth Cabrera

    Pitching Categories:
    Wins-Johnny Cueto
    ERA- Clayton Kershaw
    Strikeouts- Stephen Strasburg
    Saves- Aroldis Chapman
    WHIP- Clayton Kershaw

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rays
    Tigers
    Angels
    Wild Cards: Jays and Indians

    Dodgers
    Cards
    Nationals
    Wild Cards: Braves and Giants

    I guess we're doing this too?: Nationals over Angels

    -Batting Average (Miggy Cabrera)
    -Home Runs (Bautista)
    -RBIs (Hamilton)
    -Runs scored (Trout)
    -Stolen Bases (Trout)

    Pitching Categories:
    -Wins (Darvish)
    -ERA (Kershaw)
    -Strikeouts (Kershaw)
    -Saves (Kimbrel)
    -WHIP (Medlen)

    ReplyDelete
  11. AL East-Yankees
    AL Central-Tigers
    AL West-Angels
    AL Wild Cards-Blue Jays and Indians
    NL East-Braves
    NL Central-Cards
    NL West-Dodgers
    NL Wild Cards-Giants and Nats

    World Series: Yanks over Nats in six.

    Batting Average: A. Gonzalez
    Home Runs: Josh Hamilton
    RBI: Albert Pujols
    Runs: Mike Trout
    Stolen Bases: Brett Gardner

    Wins: CC Sabathia
    ERA: Josh Johnson
    Strikeouts: Clayton Kershaw
    Saves: Mariano Rivera
    WHIP: Cliff Lee

    ReplyDelete
  12. AL East - Toronto
    AL Central - Detroit
    AL West - Texas
    AL WC - Los Angeles and Oakland
    NL East - Atlanta
    NL Central - St. Louis
    NL West - Los Angeles
    NL WC - Cincinnati and San Francisco

    World Series - Dodgers over Angels

    BA - Mike Trout
    HR - Adrian Beltre
    RBI - Josh Hamilton
    R - Miguel Cabrera
    SB - Mike Trout

    W - R.A. Dickey
    ERA - David Price
    K - Justin Verlander
    SV - Craig Kimbrel
    WHIP - Clayton Kershaw

    And I even promoted it:
    http://tenetsofwilson.blogspot.com/2013/03/lets-get-prognosticating.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. AL East - Toronto
    AL Central - Detroit
    AL West - Angels
    AL WC - White Sox and Texas
    NL East - Atlanta
    NL Central - St. Louis
    NL West - Los Angeles
    NL WC - Cincinnati and Washington

    World Series - Nationals over Tigers

    BA - Adrian Gonzalez
    HR - Giancarlo Stanton
    RBI - Ryan Braun
    R - Mike Trout
    SB - Mike Trout

    W - Justin Verlander
    ERA - Clayton Kershaw
    K - Stephen Strasburg
    SV - Craig Kimbrel
    WHIP - Clayton Kershaw

    ReplyDelete