AL West:
Winners: Oakland Athletics
With the highest runs scored and the lowest runs allowed, the Athletics are a powerhouse with the potential to win the World Series. Backed by an all around good hitting team, and an all around pitching staff, there is no weak link to this strong team. Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Donaldson, and Coco Crisp have been tearing it up for the A’s. On the pitching side of the ball, Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir have done an excellent job shutting down opposing bats. As with most teams, bats and pitches alone can’t win a game. Fielding must be occurrent, and the A’s have been making diving plays right and left.
Losers: Houston Astros
As with the Twins, they were never that good of a team in the recent past, and their tradition of never being close to the playoffs continues to this day. While their pitching may be decent, their lack of offensive production continues to kill them. Their best batter has to be George Springer, a young rookie new to the MLB, which shows their lack of depth in the older guys.
d 7,397 quarts of fresh cream are consumed over the two-week championship.
* Wimbledon is one of the few sporting events that prohibit advertising around its courts.
9
Losers: Minnesota Twins
With Joe Mauer getting older, the teams formerly futile offense is doing nothing but dropping. Furthermore, their sub-par pitching has done nothing as to help the team further themselves into the season. With their 3rd best pitcher almost achieving a horrendous 6 ERA, you know that your pitching must be terrible.
* I
n 1998, a men’s singles match was interrupted when a mouse ran onto the court du
ring play.
* To ward off pigeons, Wimbledon uses a hawk named Hamish who flies over the grounds at nine AM each morning.
* The loudest tennis grunt ever recorded came from Maria Sharapova during the 2009 championship, coming in at 105 decibels, or the equivalent of standing three feet from a motorcycle.
* Wimbledon tradition requires all players to wear predominantly white clothing.
* The players with the most men’s singles titles are: William Renshaw, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, all with 7 championship titles. The player with the most men’s doubles titles is Todd Woodbridge, with 9 championship titles.
* The player with the most women’s singles titles is Martina Navratilova with 9 titles, and the female player with the most doubles titles is Elizabeth Ryan with 12 titles.
Now that you are a little bit more acquainted with the world of professional tennis, hopefully you will be able to enjoy tuning in to the 137th Wimbledon Championships this June with less confusion than ever before!
-Alex M.
NL east:
Winners: Washinton Nationals
With a tremendous pitching staff and an above-average hitting staff, the Nationals are a clear contender to win the NL East. With a rotation of Jordan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg, the Nats rotation is a scary one. If Gio Gonzalez pitches like he was expected to, it will be downright overpowering. Adam LaRoche has been crushing the ball, and a recovered duo of Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper will definitely help.
Losers: New York Mets
With Matt Harvey out for the season and R.A. Dickey traded away, the Mets have no one to pull together their pitching rotation. While Zack Wheeler may become good in the years to come, he is still a young rookie with many areas to work on. In addition, David Wright’s bat has not woken up yet, and he is not living up to the expectation of leading his team in offense. the older guys.
NL west:
Winners: San Francisco Giants
Their key to winning is timely hitting and lockdown pitching. Their pitching rotation has done amazingly so far, with Tim Hudson and Madison Bumgarner both having sub 3 ERAs, Hudson having a sub 2 ERA. Michael Morse, Hunter Pence, and Angel Pagan have been getting on, getting over, and getting in for the offensive side of the Giants.
Losers: San Diego Padres
As well as the Astros and the Cubs, this is yet another team that has sat in the basement of their division for a very long time. Their batting is downright horrendous, with only one batter hitting a ball more than 1 out of every 4 times. Because of this, their already sub-par pitchers must pitch perfectly in order to win a game. Ian Kennedy is the exception to this team of lousy players, as he pitches well, but with no run support.
d 7,397 quarts of fresh cream are consumed over the two-week championship.
* Wimbledon is one of the few sporting events that prohibit advertising around its courts.