It’s hard to believe that a little over a week has evaporated since the Boston Red Sox won their third World Series titles in the last 10 years. The sobering reality of a 100-day hibernation period has finally crept into the minds of loyal Major League Baseball fans around the globe who must eagerly await the return of their teams to the familiar sanctuary of the baseball diamond when Spring Training revs up in February. Overall, the 2013 season was a success. It may not have been the greatest on record, but it certainly had its fair share of highs and lows that will forever be etched into the history books.
The Good
It’s difficult to know where to start when talking about the bright sports of the season, so we may as well just roll with it. In what could have been one of the most mind-blowing start of any MLB season, Texas Rangers’ starting pitcher Yu Darvish took a perfect game into the ninth inning against the Houston Astros in his first start of the season. He quickly got through the next two batters, leaving only Marwin Gonzalez left to stand between him and the 23rd perfect game in MLB history. In only took one pitch, a rising fastball on the outside corner, for Gonzalez to punch it up the middle, breaking up the bid for perfection. The mostly full Minute Maid Park crowd stood on their feet and gave Darvish a standing ovation as he left the field, thus capping off every good thing that happened in 2013. Kidding of course. No, that was the introduction for many spectacular things to come, all of which trigger an emotional spot for every baseball fan differently. This of course makes for a lot of bias as far as what is and isn’t a “good” moment, so please don’t blast me if I leave anything out.
Chris Davis had a very special season, something we haven’t seen Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder in 2007. Davis had always been touted as a great talent just waiting to come out of his shell. In 2012, his first season with the Baltimore Orioles he broke out and clubbed a career-high 33 home runs. So what did he do for an encore? He hit 53 and knocked in 138 runs. Davis became the first player since 2007 to hit at least 50 home runs and maintain at least a .285 average. His 53 dingers also overtook the club’s career high originally set by Brady Anderson in 1996.
San Francisco Giants outfielder Angel Pagan did what only 14 other players since 1950 have been able to accomplish on May 25th, he hit an inside-the-park walk-off home run against the Colorado Rockies. The last time it occurred was in 2004 by Tampa Bay Devil Rays infielder Rey Sanchez in an interleague game against, you guessed it, the Rockies.
On May 28th and July 9th Jean Segura of the Milwaukee Brewers and Alex Rios then of the Chicago White Sox each had a six-hit game respectively. It may not seem like a big deal, but consider this; the last time a six-hit game occurred was in 2009. Not an easy task to accomplish by any means.
On the day to follow Segura’s six-hit game, two guys combined for six home runs in separate games: Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals and one of the least-likeliest guys in the Majors, Dioner Navarro of the Chicago Cubs. Both batters clubbed three each making it only the second time since 2006 that two players have hit a triplet of dingers on the same day.
On July 2nd Cincinnati Reds’ starting pitcher finished off the second no-hitter of his career at home against the Giants. The most unusual bit about this accomplishment is that he was also the last person in the Majors to throw a no-hitter which took place on September 28th against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Only two more no-hitters would be thrown throughout the rest of the season, one by Tim Lincecum on July 13th and the other by Henderson Alvarez of the Miami Marlins on the final day of the season against the Detroit Tigers.
Max Scherzer of the Tigers was the only pitchers in the Majors to win at least 20 games (21) while his teammate Anibal Sanchez struck out the most batters in a single game (17) on the season on April 26th against the Atlanta Braves.
The Bad
On April 11th the Los Angeles Dodgers faced off against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. In the bottom of the sixth inning Carlos Quentin was at the plate with a full count when Dodgers’ starting pitcher Zack Greinke launched a fastball into Quentin’s back. The result, a bench clearing brawl which left Greinke with a broken collar bone. It was truly baseball at its worst.
Veteran umpire Angel Hernandez blew a lot of calls in 2013. The most notable of which includes a clear home run by then-Oakland Athletics’ infielder Adam Rosales against the Cleveland Indians on May 8th and a missed safe call for the Chicago White Sox against the Marlins which could have cost the Sox the game. Unfortunately for the Athletics, it did.
Bryce Harper looked awesome during the Nationals’ first game of the season when he slugged two home runs in his first two at-bats; however, on May 13th during a game in LA against the Dodgers he looked like a little leaguer. Long story short, Harper ran full sprint after a ball hit to right field and went head first into the wall. Ouch!
On July 24th fan-favorite Tim Hudson of the Braves played his final game of the season after having his ankle fractured by New York Mets outfielder Eric Young when he was trying to leg out a run to first base. The injury wasn’t intentional as shown by Young, Jr. when he tried to console Hudson after the play. Just a bad way to go out.
On August 15th MLB Commissioner Bud Selig approved expanded replays and managerial reviews for the 2014 season. “Remember how much faster the game was before replays?” will be a hot question next season.
On August 16th the Philadelphia Phillies fired Charlie Manuel. Why is this a big deal? Prior to 2004 the Phillies had only won six National League Eastern Division titles and one World Series. Since Manuel took over as skipper in 2005 the Phillies have won five division titles and a World Series. In short, they canned the greatest manager the team had ever seen.
September 17th, “the butt slide.” Just seek this video out. Words cannot do it justice.
Brian McCann and the Braves and Carlos Beltran and the St. Louis Cardinals regulate who can and cannot have fun. Just wrong on so many levels.
The Ugly
This section will be short as there is only one entry worth mentioning. The Biogenesis mess started in the offseason and slipped its ugly head into the regular season roughly three months in. In what would become the biggest drug-related case involving MLB since the Pittsburgh cocaine trials of the 1980s, 14 players received suspensions for their alleged performance enhancing drug-related activity with only one player, Bartolo Colon, sliding by based on his suspension for testing positive in 2012. In the fall out, A-Rod and Ryan Braun received the biggest penalties while Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, Everth Cabrera and the other nine all were handed 50-game suspensions. A-Rod was the only player to appeal and allowed to play while the appeal was moved until the end of the regular season. Some Yankees fans were mad, others were happy because he almost helped them squeeze into the postseason, but in the end, the majority of baseball fans, player and various other employees were disgusted by the blight that he shows no remorse for.
The Unforgettable
The end of a 19-year-creer was finally met on September 26th when Yankees’ teammates Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte strolled to the mound to take out their closest friend, the greatest closer in the history of the game Mariano Rivera. We all knew it was coming as Rivera announced prior to the season that this would be his last. At 43-years-old he added 44 more notches to his belt, bringing his save total to 652. He also won the MVP for the All-Star Game for his inning of relief in the eighth. But it was the hero’s goodbye he received from his team, the fans and the band (Metallica) who made his entrance infamous that brought us all to tears. He’s the last man to don the #42, and probably the last career-dominant closer we’ll ever see again.
It had been 20 years since the Pittsburgh, the Steel City, had seen their once-dominant Pirates in the postseason. It had been 20 years since the black and yellow saw one of the grittiest bunch of talent post a record above .500. It had been 20 years since Pirates fans stood on their feet, hooted and hollered until they were hoarse and then did it some more. In 2012 the Athletics captivated the baseball world as the best story in baseball as they did what no one expected in the final three games of the regular season, make the playoffs and win the division title. In 2013, the Pirates went into the regular season with modest aspirations, but the critics and fans were more “realistic” as manager Clint Hurdle and his band of misfits came within hair of breaking the hex the previous two seasons. This year was different. This year the chips were somehow falling in the right places. It was never an easy task, as so perfectly quoted by Hurdle during their National League Division Series matchup against the Cardinals when he said, “We embrace the hard around here.” With the exception of Andrew McCutchen, there truly wasn’t another breakout star amongst the group. Jason Grilli had a terrific season, as did Francisco Liriano and Starling Marte, but everyone needed one another in order to be successful. Despite their exit in the postseason the Pirates and their fans should always hold their heads high for accomplishing what no one honestly felt was ready to happen.
I wrote a much more compelling version of this story on April 24th in the wake of the bombings that took place near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, but you just can’t help but feel a sense of pride after the Red Sox won their first World Series title at home since 1918. Whether you’re a fan of the team or not, it was hard to not be emotional when Jonny Gomes laid the Commissioner’s Trophy at the finish line prior to the start of the victory parade in Boston. There’s hardly a team throughout the country whose attitude and makeup fully represent their team as much as the Red Sox. They’re an interesting breed of characters, much like the city. They tend to go out and have a little too much fun, much like the city. But they are human, they wear their emotions on their sleeves and they never give up until the final out is made, much like the city. No matter how you break it down, David Ortiz’s words, “This is our f---ing city” is one of the most poignant, yet honestly appropriate slogans for one of the greatest baseball cities.