Only two National League teams won as many as 90 games in 2007, and the Colorado Rockies only won that many because they played a playoff game to win the Wildcard spot over the Padres. So, the Rockies won the pennant, though they lost the World Series. Arizona won 90 games in winning the West Philadelphia won 89 to take the East, Chicago 85 in winning the West. San Diego won 89, New York 88. Pittsburgh lost 94 games as the worst team in the league: San Francisco and Florida lost 91, Cincinnati 90.
All the races were close, the biggest gap between first and second in a division being two games. Ten teams finished within ten games of a division lead. It was a lot of mediocrity, really, but it did make for some interesting pennant races.
Matt Holliday won the batting title with a .340 average, Chipper Jones was next at .337, while Chase Utley, Edgar Renteria, and Hanley Ramirez were all at .332. Jimmy Rollins scored 139 runs, Ramirez 125. Holliday had 216 hits. He also led with 50 doubles. Rollins had 20 triples. Prince Fielder hit 50 homers, Ryan Howard 47. Holliday had 137 RBI, Howard 136. Jose Reyes stole 78 bases, Juan Pierre 64.
Jake Peavy had 19 wins, Carlos Zambrano and Brandon Webb 18 each. Peavy led with a 2.54 ERA, Webb was at 3.01, Brad Penny 3.03. Webb had 236 innings, Aaron Harang 232. Peavy had 240 strikeouts, Harang 218. Jose Valverde saved 47 wins, Francisco Cordero 44.
Win Shares leaders, players: David Wright (New York) 34, Albert Pujols (St. Louis) 32, Miguel Cabrera (Florida) and Matt Holliday (Colorado) 30, Hanley Ramirez (Florida) 29, Prince Fielder (Milwaukee), Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley (both Philadelphia) 28, Carlos Beltran (New York) and Adrian Gonzalez (San Diego) 27, Eric Byrnes (Arizona), Ryan Howard (Philadelphia) and Chipper Jones (Atlanta) 26, Troy Tulowitski (Colorado) 25.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers: Jake Peavy (San Diego) 23, Brandon Webb (Arizona) 22, Brad Penny (Los Angeles) 21, Tim Hudson (Atlanta) 19, Roy Oswalt (Houston) 18, Aaron Harang (Cincinnati) 17, Takashi Saito (Los Angeles), John Smoltz (Atlanta), Adam Wainright (St. Louis) and Carlos Zambrano (Chicago) 16, Cole Hamels (Philadelphia) 15.
WAR leaders (Fangraphs), position players: Wright 8.8, Pujols 8.4, Utley 7.9, Holliday 7.7, Jones 7.5, Alfonso Soriano (Chicago) 7.0, Rollins 6.9, Aaron Rowand (Philadelphia) 6.0, Russell Martin (Los Angeles) 5.9, Jose Reyes (New York) 5.8, Ramirez 5.7, Cabrera and Tulowitski 5.6, Beltran 5.5. Pitchers: Webb 6.9, Peavy 6.1, Smoltz 5.5, Hudson 5.3, Harang 5.2, Oswalt 4.6, Peavy 4.3, Jeff Francis (Colorado) 4.1, Matt Cain (San Francisco) 4.0, Hamels 3.8, Ted Lilly (Chicago) 3.6.
Actual award voting:
MVP:
1. Jimmy Rollins, 353 points
2. Matt Holliday 336
3. Prince Fielder 284
4. David Wright 182
5. Ryan Howard 112
6. Chipper Jones 107
7. Jake Peavy 97
8. Chase Utley 89
9. Albert Pujols 50
10. Hanley Ramirez 49
11. Eric Byrnes 43
12. Alfonso Soriano 39
13. Aramis Ramirez 36
Rollins with a narrow win over Holliday, Wright did not get a first-place vote. Utley would likely have won if he had not missed a month.
Cy Young
1. Jake Peavy 160 points
2. Brandon Webb 94
3. Brad Penny 14
4. Aaron Harang 10
Rookie of the Year
1. Ryan Braun 128
2. Troy Tulowitski 126
3. Hunter Pence 15
4. Chris Young 10
5. Kyle Kendrick 7
Very close race for top rookie.
Manager of the Year
1. Bob Melvin, Arizona, 119 points
2. Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia, 76
3. Clint Hurdle, Colorado, 58
4. Lou Piniella, Chicago, 27
Player of the Year; David Wright. Wright had a terrific season and ends up on top of the Win Shares and WAR boards. He got overlooked in the voting because his team didn't win.
1. David Wright, 2. Albert Pujols, 3. Chase Utley, 4. Chipper Jones, 5. Jimmy Rollins, 6. Matt Holliday.
Pitcher of the Year: Jake Peavy. Tough call, as Peavy was in a better pitchers' park, but I think the facts bend his way.
1. Jake Peavy, 2. Brandon Webb, 3. Tim Hudson, 4. Aaron Harang, 5. Roy Oswalt.
Top Rookie: Troy Tulowitski. Braun also terrific, but Tulo had the better year.
Top Manager: Charlie Manuel, setting up a Philly mini-dynasty.
No comments:
Post a Comment