31 May 2014

2012 National League

The National League's biggest winner in 2012 was the Washington Nationals, who took the East division with 98 wins, followed by the Cincinnati Reds, who won the Central with 97 victories.  San Francisco won the West with 94 wins, also the number won by Atlanta in taking the first wild card slot while finishing second in the East.  The Cardinals took the second WC slot with 88 wins and second place in the Central, to edge West second-place team Los Angeles, winners of 86.  At the bottom of the standings, Houston lost 107, the Cubs lost 101, Colorado lost 98 and Miami lost 93.

In the playoffs, the Cardinals took the wild card game, then beat the favored Nationals in the division series.  In the other division series, the Giants came from behind to beat the Reds, then defeated the Cardinals in seven games in the NLCS.  San Francisco then swept the Tigers to win the World Series.

The Brewers were the top scoring team in the league, followed by the Cardinals and then the Rockies.  In OPS+, which adjusts for park, it was the Cardinals first and then the Giants.  The Reds gave up the fewest runs, followed by the Nats, the Dodgers, and the Braves.

Buster Posey led the league with a .336 batting average, followed by Andrew McCutchen at .327 and Ryan Braun at .319.  Joey Votto hit .337, but did not have enough plate appearances to qualify.  Votto had the best on-base percentage, with Posey leading among qualifiers.  Giancarlo Stanton didn't have enough time in to lead in slugging, so Braun was the official leader.

Braun led in runs scored with 108, followed by McCutchen and Justin Upton with 107.  McCutchen led in hits with 194.  Aramis Ramirez led with 50 doubles.  Angel Pagan led with 15 triples.   Braun had 41 homers, Stanton 37.  Chase Headley led with 115 RBI, Braun had 112.  Everth Cabrera led with 44 steals.  Braun edged McCutchen in runs created.

Gio Gonzalez led with 21 wins, R.A. Dickey and his knuckleball posted 20, Johnny Cueto 19.  Clayton Kershaw led the way with a 2.53 ERA, Dickey was at 2.73 and Cueto 2.78.  Dickey edged Kershaw with 230 strikeouts to 229.  Cole Hamels was third with 216.  Dickey led in innings and complete games.  Craig Kimbrel and Jason Motte each posted 42 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players:  Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh) 40, Buster Posey (San Francisco) 38, Chase Headley (San Diego) 32, David Wright (New York) 30, Yadier Molina (St. Louis) 29, Michael Bourn (Atlanta) and Ryan Braun (Milwaukee) 28, Angel Pagan (San Francisco) and Joey Votto (Cincinnati) 27, Melky Cabrera (San Francisco) and Aaron Hill (Arizona) 25, Carlos Ruiz (Philadelphia) 24.  Pitchers:  Aroldis Chapman and Johnny Cueto (Cincinnati) 21, R.A. Dickey (New York) and Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles) 19, Cole Hamels (Philadelphia), Craig Kimbrel and Kris Medlen (Atlanta) 18, Gio Gonzalez (Washington) 17, Matt Cain (San Francisco), Yovani Gallardo (Milwaukee), Mat Latos (Cincinnati) and Kyle Lohse (St. Louis) 16.

bWAR (baseball-reference WAR) leaders, players:  Posey 7.3, McCutchen and Wright 7.0, Braun and Molina 6.9, Headley 6.3, Bourn 6.1, Votto 5.9, Jason Heyward (Atlanta) 5.8, Martin Prado (Atlanta), Aramis Ramirez (Milwaukee) and Giancarlo Stanton (Miami) 5.5.  Pitchers:  Kershaw 6.2, Cueto 5.9, Dickey 5.8, Gonzalez 4.9, Jordan Zimmerman (Washington) 4.7, Hamels 4.6, Cliff Lee (Philadelphia) and Medlen 4.5, Latos and Lohse 4.3, Cain 3.9.

fWAR (Fangraphs WAR) leaders, players:  Posey 7.6, Braun 7.5, Wright 7.4, Headley 7.2, McCutchen 6.7, Heyward 6.3, Bourn and Molina 6.1, Ramirez 5.7, Prado, Stanton, and Votto 5.6, Hill 5.4, Ruiz 5.2.  Pitchers:  Kershaw 5.4, Gonzalez 5.1, Lee 4.9, Cueto, Dickey, and Hamels 4.5, Wade Miley (Arizona) 4.4, Adam Wainright (St. Louis) 4.0, Medlen 3.7, Cain 3.6, Josh Johnson (Miami) 3.5, Lohse and Zimmerman 3.4.

Actual BBWAA voting results:

MVP:
1Buster PoseySFG422.020.094%7.31485307817824103169.336.408.549.957
2Ryan BraunMIL285.010.064%6.9154598108191411123063.319.391.595.987
3Andrew McCutchenPIT245.01.055%7.015759310719431962070.327.400.553.953
4Yadier MolinaSTL241.01.054%6.91385056515922761245.315.373.501.874
5Chase HeadleySDP127.00.028%6.316160495173311151786.286.376.498.875
6Adam LaRocheWSN86.00.019%4.11545717615533100167.271.343.510.853
6David WrightNYM86.00.019%7.01565819117821931581.306.391.492.883
8Craig KimbrelATL73.00.016%3.3630000000311.010.6546304262.227314116
9Aramis RamirezMIL47.00.010%5.51495709217127105944.300.360.540.901
10Jay BruceCIN46.00.010%1.9155560891413499962.252.327.514.841
11Matt HollidaySTL34.00.08%4.01575999517727102475.295.379.497.877
12Aroldis ChapmanCIN20.00.04%3.7680000000551.510.8096803871.235423122
13Brandon PhillipsCIN18.00.04%4.01475808616318771528.281.321.429.750
14R.A. DickeyNYM16.00.04%5.834723110300.153.164.153.3172062.731.05334330233.21922454230
14Joey VottoCIN16.00.04%5.9111374591261456594.337.474.5671.041

Cy Young:

nk Tm Vote Pts 1st Place Share WAR W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP ERA+
1 R.A. Dickey NYM 209.0 27.0 93% 5.8 20 6 .769 2.73 34 33 1 5 3 0 233.2 192 78 71 24 54 2 230 9 1 4 927 1.053 139
2 Clayton Kershaw LAD 96.0 2.0 43% 6.2 14 9 .609 2.53 33 33 0 2 2 0 227.2 170 70 64 16 63 5 229 5 2 6 901 1.023 150
3 Gio Gonzalez WSN 93.0 1.0 42% 4.9 21 8 .724 2.89 32 32 0 2 1 0 199.1 149 69 64 9 76 3 207 5 1 10 822 1.129 138
4 Johnny Cueto CIN 75.0 1.0 33% 5.9 19 9 .679 2.78 33 33 0 2 0 0 217.0 205 73 67 15 49 5 170 12 3 1 888 1.171 148
5 Craig Kimbrel ATL 41.0 1.0 18% 3.3 3 1 .750 1.01 63 0 56 0 0 42 62.2 27 7 7 3 14 0 116 2 0 5 231 0.654 399
6 Matt Cain SFG 22.0 0.0 10% 3.9 16 5 .762 2.79 32 32 0 2 2 0 219.1 177 73 68 21 51 1 193 9 0 8 876 1.040 126
7 Kyle Lohse STL 6.0 0.0 3% 4.3 16 3 .842 2.86 33 33 0 0 0 0 211.0 192 74 67 19 38 1 143 4 0 1 864 1.090 133
8 Aroldis Chapman CIN 1.0 0.0 0% 3.6 5 5 .500 1.51 68 0 52 0 0 38 71.2 35 13 12 4 23 0 122 4 0 4 276 0.809 274
8 Cole Hamels PHI 1.0 0.0 0% 4.6 17 6 .739 3.05 31 31 0 2 2 0 215.1 190 80 73 24 52 3 216 3 2 3 867 1.124 132

Rookie of the Year:
1Bryce HarperWSN112.016.070%5.11395339814422591856.270.340.477.817
2Wade MileyARI105.012.066%3.732654110202.169.194.200.39416113.331.18232290194.21931437144
3Todd FrazierCIN45.03.028%2.2128422551151967336.273.331.498.829
4Wilin RosarioCOL12.01.08%2.1117396671072871425.270.312.530.843
5Nori AokiMIL11.00.07%3.41515208115010503043.288.355.433.787
6Yonder AlonsoSDP1.00.01%1.515554947150962362.273.348.393.741
6Matt CarpenterSTL1.00.01%1.11142964487646134.294.365.463.828
6Jordan PachecoCOL1.00.01%-0.413247551147554722.309.341.421.762

Manager of the Year:
1Davey JohnsonWSN131.023.082%9864.6051621.0
2Dusty BakerCIN77.05.048%9765.5991621.0
3Bruce BochySFG61.04.038%9468.5801621.0
4Fredi GonzalezATL17.00.011%9468.5801622.0
5Buddy BlackSDP1.00.01%7686.4691624.0
5Mike MathenySTL1.00.01%8874.5431622.0


Top Manager:  Davey Johnson took the Nationals to the playoffs for the first time in their history.

Top rookie:  Bryce Harper had the best season and has a brilliant future.

Top Pitcher:  The metrics are split, so I go with the writers, especially since the metrics are somewhat biased against knuckleball pitchers like Dickey.  R.A. had a big season and a great book.
1. R.A. Dickey, 2. Clayton Kershaw, 3. Johnny Cueto, 4. Gio Gonzalez, 5. Cole Hamels, 6. Aroldis Chapman.

Top player:  I think the Giants' catcher was definitely the right choice here.
1. Buster Posey, 2. Andrew McCutchen, 3. Ryan Braun, 4. Chase Headley, 5. David Wright, 6. Yadier Molina.

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