S1P02 - MLB 2018 Season Recap

I know the baseball season has been over for a while, It's now college football bowl season and NFL Superbowl speculation time. Nevertheless, I am a baseball fan 12 months a year. Since we didn't do a season-ending podcast, here are the random thoughts I had jotted down.

MLB 2018 Season Recap

General

• Adrian Beltre retires after 21 years in majors. He will be missed.
• 3,166 Hits, 15th all-time, the most by a foreign-born player
• 1,707 RBI (24th all-time), 477 HR (30th all-time), .286/.339/.480 slash numbers
• Four all-star games, four silver slugger awards, five gold gloves
• 2004 MLB home run leader (48)
• 2013 MLB hits leader (199)
• 2017 MLB Personality of the Year - an award he should have won almost every year
• Future Hall of Famer

• There were more strikeouts than hits in the 2018 regular season. The first time in MLB history. K’s - 41,207. Hits - 41,019. BA - .248. HR - 5,585
• Three teams had 100 or more wins. Boston, Houston, NYY.
• Three teams lost more than 100 games. Baltimore, KC, CWS. Orioles finished 61 games out of 1st place
• The team with the best record, Boston, won the World Series

Managers

• Rangers Manager Jeff Bannister fired with 10 games left in the season
• Rangers hire Chris Woodward, LA Dodgers 3B coach
• Angels manager Mike Scioscia chooses not to return in 2019
• Angels hire Brad Ausmus as new manager
• Twins manager Paul Molitor fired. Will probably remain with team in some capacity
• Twins name Rocco Baldelli (37) as new manager. The youngest manager in the Majors
• Orioles manager Buck Showalter fired. No replacement yet.
•  Reds fire manager Bryan Price after 18 games, Jim Riggleman named interim manager
• Reds hire David Bell (46) as new manager. Son of Buddy Bell

Awards

• Rookie of the year - NL Ronald Acuna, Jr., Braves; AL Shohei Ohtani, Angels
• Manager of the year - NL Brian Snitker, Braves; AL Bob Melvin, A’s
• Cy Young - NL Jacob deGrom, Mets; AL Blake Snell, Rays
• MVP - NL Christian Yelich, Brewers; AL Mookie Betts, Red Sox
• Batting Average - NL Christian Yelich (.326); AL Mookie Betts (.346)
• Home Run Leaders - NL Nolan Arenado, Rockies (38); AL Khris Davis, A’s (48)
• RBI Leaders - NL Javier Baez, Cubs (111); AL J.D. Martinez, Red 
• Sox (130)

MLB spring training and college baseball both start in February. I'll be posting more baseball stuff when that happens. Maybe a big trade or free agent signing will prompt a post before then. 

I'll be writing a full post about Adrian Beltre and around March, I'll once again do my Fearless Forecast for the 2019 season. 

wjh