Mookie Betts Looks to Become First Red Sox Player to Win MVP and World Series in the Same Year

In all of the Red Sox storied history, no player has ever won the Most Valuable Player award and the World Series championship in the same season. Of the 10 times the franchise has had a player win the individual accolade, there have been four instances where the team lost in game seven of the World Series that particular year. Ted Williams in 1946, Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, Fred Lynn in 1975, and Roger Clemens in 1986 all fell one win short of achieving this goal. Luckily for Betts, the championship has already been captured, with just the MVP still up for grabs.

Mookie Betts is arguably the best player in the MLB, headlining the recently announced short list for the 2018 AL MVP Award, along with Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez and the Angel’s Mike Trout. Betts helped guide the Boston Red Sox to a franchise record and league leading 108 wins this season, enroute to a World Series Championship. Whereas in most cases, missing over 20 games during the season would be detrimental to a player’s chance at winning the MVP, the missed games actually help to justify the Red Sox’s outfielder’s claim to the award.

Despite missing 26 regular season matches, Betts managed Boston’s second only 30-30 season (homers and steals). He led the AL with 84 extra base hits and in runs scored with 129 (tied with Francisco Lindor), with Lindor playing 22 more games than Betts.

The Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic, which determines a player’s value to his team, displayed Betts’s true worth with a 10.9 rating to lead all Major League Baseball. His WAR rating is also tied for the 21st highest in a season in MLB history, being the highest since Barry Bonds (11.8) in 2002. In 136 games, Betts won the batting title, posting a .346 batting average, belted 32 home runs, and batted in 80 RBI’s. He also sported an MLB leading .640 slugging percentage, along with a .438 OBP, and 1.078 OPS, both good for second in baseball.

Betts tied for second in the AL with 47 doubles and was 3rd in the league with 333 total bases. His 180 hits on the season were only 12 behind the MLB’s leader Whit Merrifield who played 22 more games than Betts.

As usual, Betts’ plate discipline contributed to the right fielder having only 91 strikeouts opposed to 81 walks this season.

Beyond his bat, Betts lead the MLB in defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs. Betts was also announced on November 4th as the Gold Glove winner for his play in right field. This is his third year in a row claiming the defensive honor.

Though Mookie Betts wasn't quite in the same dominant form during the postseason, his Gold Glove play in the field, as well as his homer in the World Series clinching game five helped the Boston Red Sox win their fourth championship in 15 seasons.

To see if Betts will make history, tune in to MLB Network on Thursday, November 15th at 6 p.m. ET to see the MVP announcements for both leagues.

Predicting How the East Will Play Out

With the dust settled for big name Free agents this off-season, it's time to look at how the standings in the Eastern Conference will play out.

Most prominently, there is no LeBron James around anymore. After eight straight years representing the East in the finals, the baton will be passed to another this upcoming season.

My prediction (and the East favorite), is the Boston Celtics. With a healthy Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward returning to the Boston cast that fell one game short of a trip to the Finals, the Celtics are primed to get back to their first championship appearance since 2010.

The heart and grit of the squad, Marcus Smart was recently brought back on a four year deal. His presence is invaluable to the Celtics as they make their title run, making winning plays time after time for the C’s.

With what Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could (and seemingly will) blossom into, along with the proven talent and leadership of Al Horford and Marcus Morris; this Celtics team is loaded. Terry Rozier will be off the bench yet again, after proving this past postseason he's a huge threat on the court with starter potential. With Rozier, Smart, Baynes and Morris being the anchors of the second unit, Boston looks to have one of the deepest benches in the Eastern Conference.

Add one of the best coaches in the league in Brad Stevens running the show, and the Celtics could easily cruise to 60-plus wins and into the NBA Finals.

Tier 2 Teams

Though the Raptors added Kawhi Leonard to an already deep roster, I still wouldn't bet on them over the 76ers for second place in the East. Embiid and Simmons next season will be quite the dynamic duo in year two of their iteration. Both young stars are going to get better, which is scary to think about about considering Simmon’s 15.8/8.1/8.2 rookie stat line and Embiid’s first All-NBA (second team) nod.

Covington, Redick, and Šarić bring additional scoring to the team, along with defensive prowess that had the 76ers ranked 3rd overall in defensive rating last season (Celtics were 1st).

The battle for third place in the east is up for grabs from a few teams, namely the Raptors, Bucks, and Pacers. Kawhi Leonard's presence boasts Toronto to be my favorite to round out the top three, though that is bearing any holdout or extended injury time from Leonard.

The 59-win Raptors bowed out of last season's playoffs with a sweep by LeBron’s Cavaliers. With James now out of the Eastern Conference, Toronto has a chance to overcome their postseason misgivings.

However, the same Cavaliers team that steamrolled the Raptors were brought to a game seven by the Pacers in the first round of the postseason. Victor Oladipo’s emergence as an all-star pushed Indiana to a surprise fifth-seed last year, showing potential for growth with the team. With players like Bagdanovic, Collison, Turner, and Sabonis being key contributors returning to the team, the Pacers could very well be knocking at the door of being a top three team in the East.

Bottom-Half Playoff Squads

Giannis Antetokounmpo might be the best player in the conference now. With averages of 26.9 points, 10 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals & 1.4 blocks per game during the 2017-2018 campaign, the Greek Freak will likely be an MVP contender yet again as he tries to carry the Bucks as far as they can go. Taking Boston to a game seven in the opening round was an accomplishment in itself for Milwaukee. Depending on their first round matchup, they could advance past the first round next season for the first time since 2000-01.

The Heat and Wizards are probably going to lead the back half of the pack for playoff spots. Both teams however are likely to be first round exits to higher seeded opponents. John Wall did miss half the season in 2017-18, perhaps skewing the perception of how good Washington is coming into this upcoming season. But until the Wizards add another significant piece to their arsenal, I think the Wall and Beal tandem won’t be enough to get things done in D.C. Similar to the Wizards, the Heat are simply just lacking enough high level talent to truly do much in the conference. The Pistons with Blake Griffin in his first full season could make a run for top four positioning, but that's only if head coach Dwane Casey succeeds immediately with his new squad. I’d expect them to end up just squeezing into the postseason as an seventh or eighth seed.  

Undoubtedly, there will be many twists and turns through the 2018-19 seasons, with surprise breakout players and teams to go along with big name injuries and disappointments. Overall however, the top dogs in the Eastern Conference fighting for a trip to the Finals are basically set, with my final predictions being:

Final Picks

1. Celtics

2. 76ers

3. Raptors

4. Pacers

5. Bucks

6. Wizards

7. Heat

8. Pistons

History of Halo Esports, Part 1

With the start of a new competitive Halo season beginning this weekend, I decided to write a brief history of the esport’s tournament placings.

The early history of competitive Halo goes hand in hand with the careers of some of the scene’s most decorated players, Ogre 1, Ogre 2, and Walshy.

In the early days of 2002 and 2003, some initial Halo: Combat Evolved tournaments rose up,attracting the attention of many halo players. Often referred to as the first official competitive tournament prior to MLG taking over the scene, Halo50k was won by The Dream Team lead by Zyos. Zyos would go on to win seven total Halo: CE events in his career and was later a member of Team FFA and Str8 Rippin.

Though Halo 50k resulted in a third place finish for the Ogre twins, the following tourney (Halo50k2) saw them win under the Shoot to Kill (STK) banner, beginning their first reign over competitive Halo by winning 4 tourneys in a row.

This success prompted the formation of Team FFA, a collection of individually skilled players who came together solely to dethrone STK. Team FFA was headlined by Walshy and included Zyos, KillerN and Gintron.

Team FFA succeeded in their goal, winning back to back tournaments over STK. Following MLG Atlanta 2004, Walshy and KillerN left Team FFA to team with Ogre 1 and 2 forming Team Domination for the rest of competitive Halo: CE. Team Domination closed out the season winning the final four tourneys, culminating in the 2004 New York Championships. This was to be the first of multiple national championships for the core three of Walshy and the Ogres.

The 2005 season started off with a roster change for the squad, with Saiyan getting picked up over KillerN. The team also went back to referring to themselves as Shoot to Kill.

2005 was the inaugural season of competitive Halo 2, marking the start of the golden age of professional Halo.

This roster would win the first eight events of Halo 2 (switching their name to Team 3D in the middle of their run) before finally dropping in the grand finals to Str8 Rippin at MLG Philadelphia 2005. Though Team 3D quickly regained their footing, this win for Str8 gave famed Halo pro Tsquared his first event victory (that Ogre 1, Ogre 2 and Walshy also attended). Tsquared would remain a top player throughout most his Halo 1, 2 and 3 career, being the only competitive Halo player to have double digit first, second, and third place finishes*.

Team 3D followed this loss by winning the final six events of the season, including the championships at MLG New York. The core three of Walshy and the Ogres had won back to back Halo National championships and 18 of the previous 19 events they attended.

The 2006 season started off as if the dominance of this roster would continue. Walshy, Ogre 1, Ogre 2 and Saiyan, now playing under the famous Final Boss moniker, would win the first four tournaments of the year.

For the first time in a long time however, the Final Boss roster finally met their match. At MLG Orlando, team Carbon consisting of Karma, GH057ayame, Ghandi and Shockwav3. Carbon had consistently been the second and third place team during Final Boss’s unprecedented run, losing to them in the previous five events.

This event win was not a fluke for Carbon however. The next tournament, MLG New York Playoffs 2006, Carbon backed up their performance with another win for the season. This marked the first time a team other than those consisting of the core three of Walshy and the Ogres had won back to back tournaments in Halo esports since Walshy did so against the Ogres back on Team FFA in Halo CE.

The next tournament was the 2006 Championships in Las Vegas. The event hosted the largest prize pool to that point in Halo esports history with $180,000 up for grabs on the 4v4 side of things.

Carbon and Final Boss breezed their way to the Winners Finals to face each other. Carbon yet again got the best of FB, winning the series 3-1. In the Grand Final, Carbon held off Final Boss in a grueling 10 game series that saw Carbon win 6-4 and walk away with $100,000. (*disclaimer: Grand finals back then used to be a continuation series, best of 11. So the grand finals started 3-1 Carbon up, with both squads each winning 3 games in the finale).

In the off-season, Final Boss dropped Saiyan from their team in place of Strongside. Strongside had previously been a member of Carbon, getting dropped right before Carbon went on their 3-peat of tournament wins. Carbon on the other hand kept the same roster heading into next season.

2007 Final Boss is often hailed as one of, if not the best competitive Halo team ever. Though the team did not have the same level dominance that the Ogre twins and Walshy enjoyed during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, finishing second 2nd at two events, the squad absolutely dismantled the competition when it mattered most.

To begin the 2007 season, FB put their 3-peat of second place finishes behind them, winning back to back tournaments at MLG Charlotte and MLG Meadowlands. Carbon would not sit down however, defeating Final Boss in the finals at MLG Dallas. FB returned to form immediately, winning MLG Chicago over Str8 Rippin in the grand finals while Carbon dropped to fourth. Str8 would flip the result in MLG Orlando though, beating Final Boss in the last event before Nationals (Carbon had yet another fourth place finish).

MLG Las Vegas Championships 2007 is where Final Boss cemented their legacy as the best Halo 2 team, and possibly the greatest Halo team ever. While Str8 Rippin and Carbon battled one another in a tough 10 game loser’s bracket final, FB cruised their way to the grand finals. When Carbon emerged as Final Boss’s challenger yet again, the famous roster completed the sweep, winning the 2007 Championships without dropping a single game during the entire tournament. Watching that squad at that event was insane. Ogre 1, Ogre 2, Walshy and Strongside played practically perfect Halo and blew even their top competition out of the venue.

Halo 2 would feature one more bonus event following Las Vegas Championships, where Final Boss would yet again prevail, this time over the Str8 Rippin squad.

With the first Halo 3 event months away, Final Boss looked to be the clear favorites to continue their dominance of the esport.

*Counting events where some top players did not attend as well as including 3rd/4th place finishes

The Boston Celtics and the Future of the Eastern Conference

The Boston Celtics are one win away from their first Finals appearance since 2010. Boston finds themselves against LeBron in a winner-take-all game 7 yet again. Tonight’s game will determine whether it works out for the Celtics like in 2008, or for LeBron more recently in 2012 with the Heat.

No matter the result of tonight's game, the future of the NBA looks ripe for change, at least in the Eastern Conference. The young squads featured on the Celtics and 76ers finished as 2nd and 3rd seeds respectively this year, both topping the win count of LeBron’s Cavaliers.

Of course regular season wins alone doesn’t mean anything in the playoffs, as the Cavaliers themselves showed in their second round matchup against the top seeded Raptors. But both the Celtics and 76ers backed up the solid seasons they had with at least one playoff series win already under their belts.

The expected rookie of the year, Ben Simmons, and best big man in the East, Joel Embiid look primed to turn into a dynamic duo for years to come. Pair these two with first overall pick Markelle Fultz, and Philadelphia could be in the beginning of their best era in well over a decade. Admittedly, Fultz is still an unknown, but anyone drafted as number one overall talent shouldn’t be easily dismissed.

The way Philadelphia closed out the regular season, winning 16 straight and holding off the Cavaliers to capture the 3rd seed was impressive in itself. It was playoff atmosphere down the stretch, and the young core showed up. The 76ers made quick work of the Heat in the opening round, before falling to the Celtics in 5 games. Though only getting a single win in the series, three of the games were decided by five points or less. A couple of those losses came down to late game execution failures by the 76ers, nothing to do with skill or talent. Fixing crunch time turnovers comes with experience, which the 76ers will be getting plenty of in the years to come.

The Celtics meanwhile are the current challengers to LeBron’s throne in the East. The greatest part about this run by Boston is how far they’ve gone while being shorthanded. The injuries surrounding the Celtics have been well covered throughout the season. And its this fact that makes Boston such a dangerous team for the future.

Even when this Celtics roster was completely healthy to start the season, expecting them to be a game away from ending LeBron’s seven consecutive NBA Finals appearances would be a stretch. When it was Kyrie Irving leading the way through the months, being in this position wasn’t even a thought, nevermind once he went down too. Yet here we are, a team missing it’s two best players (at least to begin the year) has been the biggest threat to LeBron’s reign since the Big 3 era in Boston.

Whatever happens tonight in TD Garden, the Celtics 2018-19 roster will arguably be the most formidable team in the Eastern Conference. Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward returning to action, alongside Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford and Terry Rozier. If the Celtics could manage to retain Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris too, I don’t see any team in the East standing in their way.

Tatum and Brown will continue to make strides toward greatness that they’ve both already demonstrated in prolonged flashes. Becoming starters this season, though at the expense of Hayward, was important for their hastened development that has them both knocking at the door of stardom.

Irving and Hayward are already proven stars who haven’t even reached their prime yet. When these two return to the court, the Celtics, proven by this season’s postseason run without them, will certainly be contending for a championship.

While bench players on the Celtics, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier could each be starting point guards in the NBA. Luckily for Boston, Rozier is under contract for at least another season. Smart however, the epitome of the heart and grit of this Celtics team, is a restricted free agent this offseason. Boston would be wise to keep Smart, but if another team offers the point guard too high a price to match, he’ll be a huge asset to lose.

A player I think the Celtics have up their sleeve though is Semi Ojeleye. Though Ojeleye played sparingly throughout the Celtics season, he has shown toughness and potential in the playoffs. Against the Bucks specifically, Ojeleye played great defense against one of the best players in the NBA in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Ojeleye is quite an athlete as well, and proved to be a solid shooter in college at SMU. Given the chance, just like the young guns of this year’s Celtic squad, I predict Semi Ojeleye to rise in Boston.

Between the final buzzer at this year’s Finals and the first tip off of next season in October, a lot can happen to shake up teams in the NBA. Three of the four remaining teams in the postseason all underwent some type of major roster change to get where they’re at now. With Danny Ainge at the helm in Boston, things rarely stay stagnant in his pursuit to always improve his squad. Still, I wouldn’t expect anything too dramatic in Boston’s offseason considering the quality of their players.

The real unknown that will determine the future of the Eastern Conference is where LeBron James will end up. If James departs for the West, then the East becomes a battle between the Celtics and 76ers for years to come. If he stays in the Eastern Conference though, will he have enough to compete for more championships? James has yet again willed his team to the brink of another Finals with his worse supporting cast in quite awhile. But a fully healthy Celtics team would blitz through this roster next year. If LeBron James gets some help in Cleveland, or joins another Eastern squad that has more pieces to work with, perhaps he can remain atop his perch.

No matter what James does though, Boston (and Philadelphia) are coming, with the Celtics giving an early taste of what is to come in future seasons through this year’s playoff run.

Whatever happens in tonight’s game, Boston has already outdone all expectations. The 17x NBA champions may soon find themselves in familiar territory for the franchise: atop the Eastern Conference, and even the entire NBA.

Mookie Betts is The Best Player in Baseball

Mookie Betts is the best player in baseball currently and has been among the top players for the last few seasons.

Coming into tonight's game at Tampa Bay, Betts is leading Major League Baseball in batting average, home runs, runs, slugging percentage, total bases, on base percentage, doubles and OPS. He is also second in the American League in stolen bases and has almost as many walks (20) as strikeouts (21) this season.

Betts came out of the gate firing this season, and hasn’t let up as we near the conclusion of May baseball. In terms of overall productivity this season, no player has done it all like Betts has.

Looking beyond Mookie’s stolen bases alone, the intelligence that Betts runs with on the bases is among the best in baseball. On multiple occasions this season and over Betts’s career, he finds a way to gain an extra base or two that could be invaluable when it comes toward trying to win a game. This skill is evident when seeing that Betts leads the MLB in total bases and runs, but even those accolades don’t do justice to his base-running ability.

Mookie Betts is also the 2x reigning Gold Glove award winner out in right field who has already shown this season that he’s still atop the best defensive outfielders in the MLB.

Betts has led the way for the Red Sox this season, being an integral part of Boston’s best start in franchise history. The Red Sox currently sit a half game ahead of the Yankees in the AL East with the best record in the Major League Baseball.

His Wins Above Replacement rating (WAR) is 3.9, barely behind Mike Trout’s MLB leading 4.0 rating despite Betts leading Trout by a significant margin in most statistical categories.

Mookie is no stranger to being ripped off by the WAR stat. In 2016, Betts had a higher batting average, more home runs, RBIs and hits than Trout; along with similar numbers with stolen bases and runs. Betts also won his first Gold Glove out in right that season, helping to lead Boston to the AL East division title. Trout didn’t win a Gold Glove himself in the 2016 campaign, and his team failed to make the playoffs. Yet Trout sported a 0.8 better WAR rating and beat out Betts to take the MVP.

WAR is a statistic that unfortunately punishes players for having good teammates. Betts is leading all of baseball in most of the major statistical categories, never mind the contribution put forth into elements of the game that don’t show up on the stat sheet. How that doesn’t translate into the best WAR in the MLB is beyond me. Baseball already has established a precedent of awarding the MVP to the best player regardless of how the team does, such as with Cal Ripken Jr. in 1991. This mindset contributes to a skewed viewpoint on players who are among the best in the MLB who happen to also be apart of one of the League’s best teams. Discounting the services of a player such as Betts on the voting ballot for MVP because his team is also good is not conducive to the sport or the award.

Even so, Betts just trails Trout for top WAR in baseball. Yet according to an article by Sam Miller of ESPN.com, it is Trout who is “on pace for the greatest season in MLB history.” Considering Betts has been the front runner all season, setting the bar for all other batters and fielders, it is the Red Sox right fielder that should be receiving said consideration; especially with practically the same WAR.

Mookie had a down year batting average wise last season, yet still managed 24 home runs, over 100 RBI’s and 46 doubles. His 16 bombs already this season put Betts on pace to top his career high 31 homers during his 2016 campaign. The way #50 has been playing puts him clearly atop the running for this year’s AL MVP.

The baseball season is still young, with months to go which could feature slumps and streaks for many of the MLB’s best, Betts included. But if the production of these first two months and last three seasons for Betts is any indication, the 25-year-old will surely remain among the best in baseball. To this point, he has shown to be the best. Only time will tell whether the rest of the League takes notice.

Sources-

Trout article:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23520017/los-angeles-angels-mike-trout-pace-greatest-season-mlb-history

2016 Awards Voting:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_2016.shtml

Betts Stats:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bettsmo01.shtml

Trout Stats:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutmi01.shtml

League Wide Stats:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/statistics