2009 MLB Awards Predictions (Mon 10/12/09)
I recently concluded my wrap-up for the 2009 season, ranking the top Hitters and Pitchers for several widely used formats. Just out of curiosity I checked my rankings for the 2008 season and compared them to the MVP and Cy Young award winners in both leagues. The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa rankings correctly predicted both MVPs (Albert Pujols and Dustin Pedroia) and the NL Cy Young (Tim Lincecum). The only discrepancy was with the AL CY Young, where Cliff Lee, who was second in the Fantasy Baseball Sherpa rankings, beat out Roy Halladay, who was first in the Fantasy Baseball Sherpa rankings.
Since the NL MVP race seems to be the only 2009 race with a clear winner, I thought it would be fun to use the 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sherpa rankings to predict the results of several of the awards which are in doubt. Here are my predictions:
NL MVP - Albert Pujols
AL MVP - Joe Mauer
NL Cy Young - Tim Lincecum
AL Cy Young - Zack Greinke
NL Rookie of the Year - Chris Coghlan
AL Rookie of the Year - Andrew Bailey
Actually, I cheated a bit - I assumed that the MVP awards would go to hitters. If we allow pitchers to be eligible for the MVP, which technically they are, then according to the Fantasy Baseball Sherpa rankings, Zack Greinke should win the AL MVP too. I’ll be shocked if that actually happens, but if it does, remember that you read it here first!
I’ll do a follow-up post after all the awards are announced to see how accurately the rankings predicted the award winners.
In the meantime, enjoy the playoffs!
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Tags: Albert Pujols, Andrew Bailey, Chris Coghlan, Cliff Lee, Dustin Pedroia, fantasy baseball sherpa, Fantasy Baseball Sherpa's Blog, Fantasy Baseball Sherpa's Facebook fan page, fantasy_sherpa, Joe Mauer, Roy Halladay, The Sherpa, Tim Lincecum, Zack Greinke