2014 MLB Predicted Standings

This is a month overdue now, but season's aren't determined on May 1st. There was some research behind this, but not a lot to waste my time on something that will probably end up wrong. So here you go:

2014 PREDICTED MLB STANDINGS
AL EAST	W	L	PCT	GB
Boston Red Sox	94	68	0.580	- -
Tampa Bay Rays	89	73	0.549	5
Baltimore Orioles	87	75	0.537	7
New York Yankees	83	79	0.512	11
Toronto Blue Jays	74	88	0.457	20
AL CENTRAL	W	L	PCT	GB
Detroit Tigers	92	70	0.568	- -
Kansas City Royals	85	77	0.525	7
Chicago White Sox	80	82	0.494	12
Cleveland Indians	75	87	0.463	17
Minnesota Twins	71	91	0.438	21
AL WEST	W	L	PCT	GB
Oakland Athletics	96	66	0.593	- -
Texas Rangers	88	74	0.543	8
Los Angeles Angels	82	80	0.506	14
Seattle Mariners	73	89	0.451	23
Houston Astros	58	104	0.358	28
NL EAST	W	L	PCT	GB
Atlanta Braves	97	65	0.599	- -
Washington Nationals	93	69	0.574	4
Philadelphia Phillies	73	89	0.451	24
Miami Marlins	71	91	0.438	26
New York Mets	64	98	0.395	33
NL CENTRAL	W	L	PCT	GB
St. Louis Cardinals	93	69	0.574	- -
Milwaukee Brewers	84	78	0.519	9
Cincinnati Reds	83	79	0.512	10
Pittsburgh Pirates	82	80	0.506	11
Chicago Cubs	66	96	0.407	27
NL WEST	W	L	PCT	GB
Los Angeles Dodgers	91	71	0.562	- -
San Francisco Giants	87	75	0.537	4
Colorado Rockies	78	84	0.481	13
San Diego Padres	75	87	0.463	16
Arizona Diamondbacks	66	96	0.407	25

- - - - -

AL Wildcard Series

#4 Tampa Bay Rays over #5 Texas Rangers

NL Wildcard Series

#4 Washington Nationals over #5 San Francisco Giants

AL Divisional Series

#1 Oakland Athletics over #4 Tampa Bay Rays

#3 Boston Red Sox over #2 Detroit Tigers

NL Divisional Series

#4 Washington Nationals over #1 Atlanta Braves

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers over #2 St. Louis Cardinals

AL Championship Series

#1 Oakland Athletics over #3 Boston Red Sox

NL Championship Series

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers over #4 Washington Nationals

WORLD SERIES

NL #3 Los Angeles Dodgers over AL #1 Oakland Athletics

60 Seasons, 60 Orioles - 1957: Connie Johnson

“Connie was a good pitcher in the major leagues. He was a great pitcher in the Negro Leagues. No comparison. He threw hard for the Monarchs. Hard. He had good control. Could have won 20 games in the big leagues. Oh yeah. Could have won 20 games every year. That's Connie Johnson.”     - Buck O'Neill

Clifford "Connie" Johnson made his professional debut at 17 years old for the Toledo/Indianapolis Crawfords of the Negro Leagues. The Crawfords disbanded the next season, so he signed with the Kansas City Monarchs, and became the #3 starting pitcher in the rotation behind future Hall of Famers Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith. He was a member of the club through the 1950 season (minus 1943-1945 due to serving in the military during World War II). Johnson made his MLB debut for the Chicago White Sox in 1951 at the age of 30, then was traded to the Orioles early in the 1956 season.

At the age of 34, Johnson had his best season in 1957 for the O's, going 14-11 with a 3.20 ERA (9th in the AL). He was essentially the first ace starter for the O's, pitching 14 complete games and recording 3 shutouts. He also had a league-leading 2.76 FIP, and was 3rd in the AL that season with 177K's, and had an AL second best 6.58 K's/9 IP. The Orioles finished 76-76 that season (the first non-losing record by the Baltimore Orioles, and best franchise record since the 1945 St. Louis Browns went 81-70). Connie Johnson was a major reason for the O's success that year, because every game he pitched, the O's had a good chance of winning. Decades later, when reflecting back on Connie Johnson's performance that season, Brooks Robinson said: "He looked about 50, but he threw so easy. He was just smart. He didn't have his great stuff by then, but he still threw plenty hard. I wish I'd seen him when he was young."

An oddity from that season was that Johnson had a blown save in a game that would end in a 4-4 tie, on 5/18/1957. Evidently a pre-arranged curfew of 10:20pm (Retrosheet Box score; scroll all the way down for info) was set so the White Sox could catch a train out of town after the game. Fortunately the O's hit a game-tying homer in the bottom of the 9th right before curfew. Even stranger, the O's had another tie the following day! That game was called for a more common reason - rain. Johnson would only play one more season in MLB, but the O's were lucky to have him when they did, because he was on of the early building blocks towards establishing a relevant baseball team in Baltimore.

Additional Links:
http://www.pitchblackbaseball.com/nlotmedconniejohnson.html
http://coe.k-state.edu/annex/nlbemuseum/history/players/johnsoncl.html
http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Negro%20Leaguers/Johnson.Connie.Obit.html

60 Seasons, 60 Orioles - 1956: Bob Nieman

Bob Nieman is another Oriole that I have never heard of, so additional learning for me. In 1956, the O's fleeced the White Sox by trading pitcher Jim Wilson to Chicago for future Hall of Famer George Kell, former Negro League All-Star Connie Johnson, and Nieman. For a team lacking in quality and depth, this was a fantastic trade for the O's. Better yet, Nieman had one of his best seasons that year for the O's, batting .322 with 12 homers and 64 RBI in 114 games. More impressively, he had a .442 on-base percentage in 1956! He ended up finished 7th in MVP voting after that 1956 season.

Nieman played four seasons for the O's (1956-59), but they were all pretty solid, averaging a .303 batting average, 16 homers, and 64 RBI. A fun fact about Nieman is that he had the distinction of becoming the first player to homer in his first two MLB at-bats, on 9/14/1951. That has occurred only one other time in MLB history, and it was by Keith McDonald in 2000. For more information on Bob Nieman, in addition to the links above, I recommend these other links:

http://urbanshocker.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/bob-nieman-most-valuable-oriole-1956/
http://oriolescards.blogspot.com/2011/01/vintage-fridays-bob-nieman-1959-topps.html
http://www.seth.com/coll_histbseballs_32.html
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=niemabo01

60 Seasons, 60 Orioles - 1955: Willy Miranda

I admit I do not know a lot about those early Orioles teams before the O's dynasty that lasted from the mid-1960's through the early 1980's. So this is a bit of a learning lesson for me. That goes for the player I selected to feature from the 1955 Baltimore Orioles: Willy Miranda.

Miranda was one of the 17 players involved in the O's/Y*anks trade that I touched on in my previous post. He was the epitome of shortstop's from that era of baseball: light-hitting but a great fielder at a demanding position. However, he was a notably exceptional fielder. Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda (who used to play in the Cuban winter league with Miranda) once said: "He was the best defensive shortstop I've ever seen and I've seen plenty. This guy could do it all." Former Orioles manager Paul Richards noted his acrobatic fielding ability by calling him "Ringling Brothers". Orioles catcher Gus Triandos also remarked he was a flashy fielder, and added that his strong throwing arm was almost "abnormal for such a small guy".

A career .221 hitter, Miranda had his best offensive season in 1955, batting a career high .255 in 153 games played - his first full season as an everyday shortstop.  Ironically, he committed the most errors he ever had in a season with 34 that season, for a .958 fielding percentage. That may have been a byproduct of his incredible range at the shortstop position though. What wowed Baltimore fans was that range and his flashy fielding style, as well as the fact that he led the league that year with 101 double plays turned as a shortstop.

It seems that Willy Miranda was a building block in laying the foundation of interest and enthusiasm for Baltimore baseball fans. That was best summarized by Paul Richards in 1975: “In the years we were trying to build a team in Baltimore, the fans didn't have much to entertain them. From 1955 to 1959, Miranda kept the interest alive. I always felt, in some ways, he helped save the franchise in those formative years.” For more extensive insight on Miranda, take a look at his SABR BioProject page.

Sources:

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/41aceb0e

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-09-08/news/1996252075_1_willy-miranda-gus-triandos-orioles

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/09/sports/willie-miranda-70-shortstop-in-majors.html

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/DP_ss_season.shtml

http://rsarm.blogspot.com/p/photos.html

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/miranwi01.shtml

60 Seasons, 60 Orioles - 1954: Don Larsen

This season marks the 60th season for the Baltimore Orioles, so I decided to honor the good, the bad, and the ugly over those 60 years by highlighting one player from each season. But first, some quick background information. Prior to the 1954 season, the franchise played in St. Louis, as the Browns, and were pretty lousy. Of the 52 seasons of St. Louis Browns baseball, they had only 12 winning seasons, with their best season during 1944 when they lost the World Series to the crosstown St. Louis Cardinals. After years of declining attendance, the Browns were sold and relocated to Baltimore for the 1954 season.

That first Orioles team continued the Browns' losing ways, finishing 54-100 for the season. One of the first Orioles was pitcher Don Larsen - yes that Don Larsen. Before he pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series for a team that shall not be mentioned on this blog, he was a Baltimore Oriole. His sophomore season in 1954 was absolutely terrible, finishing 3-21 with a 4.37 ERA for the 'Baby Birds'. It may be surprising to know he actually had 12 complete games that season, but that was more of a sign of the times.

Larsen was traded prior to the 1955 season to the 'team that shall not be mentioned'. This wasn't an ordinary trade though, this was a 17-player trade! It was essentially Larsen and future 1958 AL Cy Young award winner Bob Turley to the Y*nks, for Gus Triandos, as the other 14 players exchanged between Baltimore and New York were a bunch of no-names. Triandos was a key player for those 50's and early 60's teams, becoming a 3-time All-Star at catcher. So maybe it was a trade that worked out for both teams.

Back to Larsen, he became a reliever late in his career, and during the 1965 season, was traded back to the O's from the Houston Astros. He had a much more respectable season, finishing with a 2.67 ERA in 54 innings pitched. He certainly looked a lot happier, when comparing photos of Larsen from 1954 (above) and 1965 (right). For more information, including an interview with Don Larsen, check out this MASN Sports article from February. Check back this weekend, as I will honor a player from the 1955 Orioles.

March Climate Summary

I began my February climate summary with "I think winter is over." For the most part, that was the case in March, as I had observed just 1" of snow for the month through 3/29. A strong cold front then plowed through on the 30th, giving me 3.3" of snow that afternoon and evening, after a late morning high temperature of 59°F. It has snowed twice since then, reminding me that winter is not completely over yet.

Average high/low for March was 53.5°F/34.9°F, and KSLC had a monthly mean temperature departure of +5.6°F. Monthly maximum temperature was 67°F on 3/25, while the monthly minimum temperature was 28°F on 3/19. With the 4.3" of snowfall, my seasonal snowfall through 3/31 was 52.4", which is almost exactly half of the 105" observed over the past two winters.

Meanwhile up in Grand Forks, after a couple months of having a seasonal snowfall just below that which I have observed, GFK has taken a commanding lead after their 3/31 blizzard that gave them 11.5" of snow. For the season, Grand Forks (Elev. 830') leads the Wasatch Bench (Elev. 5,104') : 59.2" to 52.6" (through 4/1). Just preposterous.

Salt Lake City, UT

Day	CW8826 High	CW8826 Low	CW8826 Mean Temp.	SLC Mean Departure	Snowfall	12z Snow Depth
1	50	38	44	12	0.0"	0”
2	53	39	46	11	0.0"	0”
3	56	43	49.5	14	0.0"	0”
4	47	36	41.5	7	Trace	0”
5	53	38	45.5	9	0.0"	0”
6	55	41	48	13	0.0"	0”
7	46	38	42	6	0.0"	0"
8	54	35	44.5	5	0.0"	0"
9	61	37	49	10	0.0"	0"
10	60	37	48.5	13	0.9"	0"
11	42	31	36.5	0	0.0"	0"
12	50	31	40.5	1	0.0"	0"
13	55	34	44.5	5	0.0"	0"
14	57	40	48.5	6	0.0"	0"
15	50	38	44	3	0.0"	0"
16	62	38	50	8	0.0"	0"
17	59	30	44.5	6	0.0"	0"
18	39	29	34	-3	0.1"	0"
19	53	28	40.5	-1	0.0"	0"
20	60	37	48.5	7	0.0"	0"
21	48	30	39	0	0.0"	0"
22	49	34	41.5	2	0.0"	0"
23	54	33	43.5	2	0.0"	0"
24	57	41	49	5	0.0"	0"
25	67	45	56	12	0.0"	0"
26	61	34	47.5	7	Trace	0"
27	44	33	38.5	-1	0.0"	0"
28	53	35	44	3	0.0"	0"
29	59	46	52.5	10	0.0"	0"
30	58	33	45.5	3	3.3”	0"
31	46	31	38.5	-1	0.0"	1”
March 2014	53.48	35.90	44.69	5.61	4.3”	N/A