Class Divided On The Baseball Mega-Stadium

Sports are often identified as a utopian medium for escapism and entertainment, and yet fans still widely recognize that the romantic “love of the game” can be infringed upon by the murky political and economic realities of the business. For nearly a century, baseball owners have meticulously constructed the composition of their audience by tinkering with the public’s accessibility to the ballpark, as well as the affordability of the tickets to the game. 

At the beginning of the 20^th century, baseball, a self-prescribed democratic sport that valued all social and economic groups, was directed towards the white-collar fans that could access the stadium (there is also a lot of hypocrisy in a so called democratic sport that excludes players based upon their race). However, in the 1920s, society glorified extravagance and social amusement, and sports spectatorship became a spectacle for mass consumption. Attempts were made to bring all-black baseball teams to the country’s major urban centers, although baseball still lacked its self-purported democratic basis because black teams remained reliant on renting white major league parks, and having games set up with white semi-pro clubs. More pronounced even today than in the past, baseball stadiums are no longer a place to merely watch a game, but are commercial enterprises that are divided based upon class, rather than being open to the democratic masses for communal gatherings.

In the consumer-driven economy of the 1920s, sports acted as the most prominent public sphere of leisure and entertainment for the masses. As national demographics shifted towards northern cities, baseball became an escape from the rigors of monotonous mechanized industrialization for an expanding middle class in the United States. Baseball acted as form of cheap amusement for a consumer culture. In his terrific piece for Outside The Lines on the evolution of the accessibility to the ballpark, Wright Thompson pointed out, “[owners] never raised prices during the boom of the 1920s" to keep sporting events within a manageable price range.

In response to urbanization, baseball acted as a source of communal identity, and stadiums were built in cities to function as a collective gathering of urban dwellers. A news clipping from the New York Amsterdam News recalled about a Negro League game at Yankee Stadium in the early 1930s: “Jersey will send over a vast army of rooters... Newark is a baseball town and Harlem is certain to be flooded with folks.” As entire cities like Newark began to congregate around the spectacle of a baseball game, individual identities became defined by their relationship to mass society and the social identification of an individual became connected to the larger community. Large crowds accumulated at baseball events as a form of social gathering, even as recently as the early 2000s, as Thompson said “ten years ago, it was cheaper to go to a baseball game than to a movie in half of the big league markets" because baseball stadiums accommodated the democratic masses. 

As black communities funneled into cities, the Negro Leagues were designed to function as a mechanism of collective unification. The games created a space for black enclaves within a segregated society. Gus Greenlee wanted to share the Randalls Island Stadium with the Yankees because as a news clipping from the New York Amsterdam News described, “reports of the move stimulated the keen interest of local diamonds fans... and [would] undoubtedly inject a tonic into the Harlem diamond scene.” He wanted to capitalize on the sporting interest of the growing black community in the city by using one of the largest local baseball stadiums.

However, despite the democratization of the baseball viewing experience, and its formation as the fulcrum of urban residential life, Negro League teams remained at the will of white stadium support and financial sponsorship due to their inability to solidify independent stadium deals. Neil Lanctot wrote in hapter one of his terrific book Negro League Baseball that Hamtramck Stadium in Detroit “was inconvenient for black fans because of its Hamtramck location [5 miles from central Detroit] and was controlled by John Roesink, an unpopular white promoter.” Black sports fans resented playing at white major league ballparks, and felt ostracized by the institutional white control of stadiums, which often alienated black teams from their most loyal city supporters.

While baseball still ostensibly acts as a symbol of American democratic values, baseball attendance today is highly restrictive to wealthy Americans, and caters to those that have the finances to access the luxurious stadiums. As teams have become increasingly preoccupied with short-term profit rather than with long-term fan loyalty and democratized consumption, the upper class has become the only group that can attend games on a regular basis. Season tickets for the New York Yankees Legends Suite in the eight row of Section 014A cost just under $50,000 for a single seat (not to mention the extra expenses that are inevitable with going to a ballgame like buying team merchandise). Fans need to have a sizeable disposable income to be a regular at sporting events in a major city.

Thompson noted during his experience within the Legends Suite at Yankee Stadium: “I can see the masses moving back and forth beyond the glass wall,” implying that even when “regular fans” can afford a ticket, stadiums have conspicuously been constructed to differentiate the luxury seats of the rich from the masses. Fans have always felt a connection to their team, even during difficult economic times, but the commodification of tickets, and the division of the supporters, has shattered the collective fan engagement.

The Dining Room inside the Legends Suite Club at Yankee Stadium

The business of sports has inhibited fan nostalgia, as Thompson said that an individual was not [paying] because he didn't have the money, but because a bond had been broken." Stadiums now act as a status symbol of power, as boxes and club seats have created an environment catering to the financially privileged. 

Thompson argued, “We see examples of the collapsing middle class," and cited an observation from pollster Rich Luker that, "The lower the income, the less they’re enjoying sports.” Baseball has been circumscribing its own fan base because the lower and middle class less frequently experience the thrills of the baseball stadium. Ballparks are no longer a place for communal identity formation because the democratic masses have been classified as surplus supporters to the teams.

Baseball stadiums today are representative of the commercialization of sports, as retro ballparks to watch games have been replaced by gaudy mega-stadiums that act as a shrine to the prosperity of the sport, the league, or to the specific owner (Jerry World comes to mind). The aquarium at Marlins Park and the swimming pool at Chase Field in Phoenix, which can be rented for $6,500 a game, shows how contemporary stadiums have become more opulent than ever before. 

The Party Pool at Chase Field, a site of controversy in 2013 when the Dodgers players jumped in the pool after clinching the NL West Title.

Marlins Park aquarium seats are too expensive for the ordinary fan, yet taxpayers publicly financed the stadium, which happens so often in sports unless the team is owned by Stan Kroenke, in which case he will just pay for the entire thing. In his piece on "The End of the Retro Ballpark" Barry Petchesky commented how, for ballparks, “excess is the new excess." Stadiums are no longer traditional sporting venues that produce nostalgia and communal formations, but are regarded as sporting exhibitions of ostentatious modernity for an upper-class audience.

Rembert Browne wrote in a piece for Grantland about the planned move of the Atlanta Braves to Cobb County in the Northern suburbs of Atlanta, “people will go to great lengths to not live among undesirables." As cities have become overpopulated with poorer minority groups, not only have wealthier residents moved into the suburbs, but baseball parks are now moving away from the urban people that others classify as “undesirables.”

The Atlanta Braves are moving their stadium closer to the majority of their season ticket holders in the Atlanta suburbs.

Browne said, “suburbs are where you may go to either self-segregate or distance yourself from others." The Braves move from Turner Field in downtown Atlanta to SunTrust Park symbolizes their attempt to distance the team from the downtrodden urban environment and embrace the glitzy suburban modernity. Browne commented on the hypocrisy of the Braves official team statement addressed to all their fans about the move, “The ‘you, our fans’ is not targeted at a person who lives in the city of Atlanta. It’s targeted at everyone… that lives in the city’s northern suburbs." Only fans in the suburbs have the wealth to value the team’s commercialism, and therefore the club is more concerned about providing their product to those specific consumers. While that may be sound business, it does not seem right to me.

The Adam Dunn Article

For some random reason, I sat down to watch the Dodgers and Brewers play two night ago on May 6th, particularly because one of my favorite former Red Sox players, Adrian Gonzalez, had started the year off on a tear with 9 home runs and a .364 batting average through his first 26 starts.

And yet, it was a highly touted, baby-faced, lanky 23-year old center field prospect playing for LA, who was thrust into a very important role for the team earlier than expected because of an injury to Yasiel Puig, that caught my eye. That night, he ended up hitting the first multiple home run game of his career on two solo blasts in the 5th and 8th innings. The next night I turned back on the Dodgers game to watch Joc Pederson again and he came to the plate 6 times, struck out 3 times, and walked on 2 other occasions.

This has been the theme of Pederson's early rookie season because when he comes to the plate, he either goes yard, strikes out, or takes first on a walk (9 of his first 23 big league hits have been home runs). There is only one man over the past decade who defined his career based upon those three true outcomes and that is the one and only Adam Dunn (the original three true outcome king was Rob Deer).

There is a game that little kids know from Sesame Street called "One of These Things," where Kermit and Susan identify which item does not belong in a group. If I give you Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, Daniel Craig, and Steve Seagal, the name that does not quite fit in for an action movie star is Seagal. How about Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, Elgin Baylor, and John Havlicek? The answer is Havlicek because he won a NBA Championship. If I gave you Carlos Mesa, Danny Bejarano, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Evo Morales, Bejarano is the one that does not fit (know your Bolivian Presidents guys). If I give you Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Roberto Benigni, and Jack Nicholson, you know the odd man out would be Benigni because all four won the Academy Award for Best Actor, but only three of them can act.

So when people ask you in terms of home runs which name does not fit between Adam Dunn, Willie McCovey, Duke Snider and Willie Stargell, the answer may surprise you but it is Duke Snider, who is the only one that did not hit at least 460 career home runs (Snider hit 407 with the Dodgers, Mets, and Giants). Dunn's 462 career home runs are in the top 20 for a player over the last 40 years and he hit more long balls than all-time great power hitters like Andre Dawson, Juan Gonzalez, Billy Williams, Al Kaline, and Dale Murphy.

In very Adam Dunn-like manner, he is also third all-time in strikeouts with 2,379 career K's, behind only Reggie Jackson and Jim Thome, and his career K% of 28.6% is the highest for any batter with a minimum of 4,600 career plate appearances. Only one batter could put up those kind of numbers, so long live the unique legacy of Adam Dunn (also, long live the Starks because they are quickly dying out)!

Like most normal Americans, I have been waiting to write an Adam Dunn article for years, hoping that he would eventually get into the 500-home run club and be BY FAR the worst player ever to do so. As I patiently sat at home and fixated over his quickly rising home run numbers, despite his annual 170 strikeout seasons (and that would be a good year for him), I realized that Adam Dunn is a bigger hit or miss character than Ryan Reynolds (I will never forget the horror that was masquerading as the film Green Lantern, never). The "Big Donkey," as he is known around MLB circles, has always fascinated me with his all or nothing approach at the plate, an emphasis on the three true baseball outcomes of homers, strikeouts, and walks, which Joc Pederson is now emulating.

Dunn was incapable of doing anything other than slugging home runs or striking-out with his big, loopy left-handed swing during his 14-year career with the Reds, D-Backs, Nats, White Sox, and A's. His high-risk, high-reward batting style was always put under a microscope because of his astronomical strikeout rates and his failure to drive runners in scoring position home, but he was a guy that was one of baseball's most alluring hitters with his easy power. Only a few names in MLB history can be compared to all-time great power hitters from Ralph Kiner, Hank Greenberg, and Jimmie Foxx to Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas, but also be aligned with batters like Lee May, Royce Clayton, Mark Reynolds, and Seth Green in terms of empty opportunities at the dish (one of those names may not apply).

Unfortunately, Dunn retired after the Oakland A's loss to the Kansas City Royals in the AL Wild Card Game last year. Despite waiting until May to make see if he would come back for some team to hit homers and strike out in 2015, I think he may just be making cameos in movies like he did in Dallas Buyers Club. Although he fell 38 long balls short of 500, an arbitrary mark anyway, some of his career numbers in terms of only hitting home runs, striking-out, or walking may never be repeated.

Here Are Some Of The Craziest Adam Dunn Stats:

• Of the 41 hitters in major league history to have hit at least 440 home runs, only Adam Dunn (25.1) and Dave Kingman (20.4) had a career WAR below 42.0. 
• The only other player to have blasted at least 360 homers and yet still have a career WAR as low as Dunn and Kingman was Joe Carter, who had a career WAR of 17.1. Carter rarely got on base, but he hit 396 long balls during his career, most of them with the Blue Jays after a massive trade between San Diego and Toronto that sent Carter and Roberto Alomar to the Jays and Fred McGriff to the Padres in 1989. Carter's 1993 World Series homer for Toronto made up for all those seasons when his OBP was barely above .300 because he never walked. (Carter is the third coolest guy in Toronto behind the Ford brothers, but definitely ahead of Phil Kessel).
• From 2010 to 2013, Adam Dunn stroke out 787 times in 2,400 plate appearances. Over the final 15 seasons of his career with the Red Sox from 1969 to 1983, Carl Yastrzemski stroke out a total of 776 times in 8,721 plate appearances, less than Dunn with more than 3.5 times the plate appearances. And yet, Dunn and Yaz sit next to each in other on the all-time home runs list and are 2 of only 40 players in nearly half a century to have a season with an isolated power of .295 or above (Yaz in 1967 when he won the AL MVP and the Triple Crown had a .295 ISO and Dunn had a .303 ISO in 2004). 
• The beauty of baseball is that different pros can do things in such drastically different manners to help their team win a game. Look at American League left fielders Alex Gordon and Hanley Ramirez.
• Gordon, who has won four straight Gold Gloves for KC, catches any ball within his zip code. His ultimate zone rating, which according to fangraphs "puts a run value to defense, attempting to quantify how many runs a player saved or gave up through their fielding prowess (or lack thereof)," is the 6th highest in the league (his UZR of 25.0 led the MLB last season). Despite only having a modest slash line of .253/.364/.425 so far in 2015, Gordon is baseball's best left fielder (sorry Matt Holliday) and the most important everyday player on the Royals along with Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez.
• Hanley Ramirez may be the worst left fielder to have played the position in some time. He is slowly morphing into Manny Ramirez with his complete ineptitude to play the outfield, but his pure looking, effortless swing that just shoots balls over the monster. The Red Sox rely so heavily on his production at the plate that it is no coincidence that when he hit 10 home runs in April the Sox went a respectable 11-10 and then when he hurt his left shoulder and did not hit a home run from May 1 to May 27, the Sox took a nose dive and went 8-14. Gordon and Hanley play the same position and yet contribute in such different manners to their team's success, kind of like Yaz and Dunn (my have-heartened attempt to get back on topic because I wanted to rant for a little).
• In 2004, Adam Dunn hit 46 home runs for the Cincinnati Reds, but he also stuck out 195 times and had a K% of 28.6%. Of the 136 single-seasons in which a player tagged at least 45 home runs, only four ever had a K% as high as Dunn. In 2001 with the Indians, Jim Thome hit 49 home runs, but had a K% of 28.7%. Ryan Howard blasted 47 homers in 2007 with the Phillies, but his K% was 30.7% that year. In 2013, Chris Davis hit 53 home runs for the Orioles, but also had a K% of 29.6% because of his 199 strikeouts.
• A team is going to take a season where a guy can give you 45-50 home runs, regardless if his strikeout totals range from 170 to 200 K's. Dunn's all-or-nothing approach made him a threat to go long every time he was at the plate.
• Some of the all-time baseball greats have had historic home run seasons, but unlike Dunn, they did so without a high strikeout rate. There have been 10 players in MLB history to hit at least 45 home runs in a season and to also have a K% of 10% or below.
• In 1930, Babe Ruth hit 49 homers and had a K% of 9.0% and in 1931 he hit 46 HR and had a 7.7 K%.
• Lou Gehrig had three such seasons when he hit 46 homers in 1931, 49 home runs in 1934, and 49 homers in 1936 while having a 7.6 K%, an incredible 4.5 K% (he stroke out only 31 times the entire season), and a 6.4 K% in those respective years.
• Joe DiMaggio hit 46 homers and had a 5.3 K% in 1937 and in 1947 Johnny Mize blasted 51 homers and had a 6.3 K%.
• Ted Kluszewski, the worst player to accomplish the feat, had two such seasons when he hit 49 homers in 1954 and 47 home runs in 1955 while having a 5.3 K% and 5.8 K% in those years respectively.
• In 1955, Willie Mays hit 51 homers and had a 9.0 K%, in 1961 Roger Maris hit 61 long balls and had a 9.6 K%, and Ralph Kiner hit 54 homers and had a 9.1 K% in 1964.
• More recently, Barry Bonds had 46 homers and a 7.7 K% in 2002 and 45 homers and a 6.6 K% in 2004, and Albert Pujols had three such seasons when he hit 46 homers in 2004, 49 home runs in 2006, and 49 homers again in 2009 while having a 7.5 K%, 7.9 K%, and a 9.1 K% in those respective years.
• In 2012, Adam Dunn stroke out 222 times for the Chicago White Sox in 539 at-bats, the second most in a single-season in MLB history behind only Mark Reynolds's 223 strikeout year in 2009 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Dunn stroke out on 41.1% of his official at-bats, but he still hit 41 homers, which gave him a rate of home run per every 13.1 at-bats (8th best in White Sox history)! That number actually set a White Sox record for most homers in a season by a left-handed hitter, and was only behind Albert Belle (49 in 1998), Jermaine Dye (44 in 2006), Frank Thomas (43 in 2000 and 42 in 2003), and Jim Thome (42 in 2006) for most home runs in a single-season in franchise history. If that doesn't tell the story of Adam Dunn's career, I'm not sure what does.
• In that wild season, where Dunn struck out more than Armie Hammer at the box office, he had 3 different games with 4 strike outs and 20 games with at least 3 strikeouts.
• In 17 years with the Yankees, Lou Gehrig never stroke out four times in a game. In 2,164 career games, Gehrig only had 13 games where he struck out 3 times at the plat/  including only one such game over his final 7 complete seasons from 1932 to 1938. He did so while also hitting 493 career home runs and leading the league in home runs three different times (1931, 1934, and 1936).
• Mel Ott played in the majors for 22 years with the New York Giants, and he had just 8 career games with 3 strikeouts out of 2,730 career outings. In 1930, Ott had just 3 games with 2 or more strikeouts in 148 starts (for perspective, you could have penciled Dunn in for at least 2 K's a game in 2012 because he did so in an astounding 65 contests).
• Only once in his entire career did Tony Gwynn have a three strikeout game for the San Diego Padres (it came in 1986 against the Dodgers and Bob Welch).
• While Ted Williams may be "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived," Stan Musial is damn close, especially when you consider that he hit 475 home runs while NEVER striking-out. In 1943, Stan came to the plate 700 times and struck out just 18 times in route to one of his 3 MVP's with the St. Louis Cardinals. His absurdly low strikeout rate makes Dunn's constant swinging and missing look that much worse, like how Armie Hammer must have felt worse after the The Lone Ranger get crushed by Despicable Me 2 at the box office.
• Adam Dunn came to the dish 8,328 times during his career and in those plate appearances, he hit 462 home runs, stroke out 2,379 times, and recorded 1,317 walks (he led the league in walks in 2008 with the Reds and Diamondbacks and in 2012 with the White Sox). Of Dunn's 8,328 career plate appearances, his at-bats finished without the fielders coming into play and not involving the defensive team other than the pitcher and catcher 4,158 times (stat geeks argue that pitchers do not have control over balls put into play and therefore the three true outcomes (TTO) are the best way to measure their performance). Dunn's career TTO% of 49.9% is the highest in the history of baseball (for context the league TTO% has typically been anywhere from 25% to 30% over the last half decade, and it be increasing with the recent league-wide spike in home runs and strikeouts).
• The highest team three true outcomes percentage for a single-season came in 2010 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, which had a club TTO% of 37.11% with batters like Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche. 
• Rob Deer, the man the stat was originally designed for, had a career TTO of 49.1% while Jim Thome had a 47.6% career TTO, and Mickey Mantle had a 40.2% career TTO. Dunn's TTO sum is the highest in MLB history, and his 2012 season where his TTO% was 56.83% ranks behind only two Jack Cust seasons in 2007 and 2008 when the left-handed hitter's TTO% was 58.19% and 57.02% in two seasons with the A's.
• Since the three true outcomes deemphasize contact hitters because "TTO hitters" get on base through walks rather than constantly putting the ball into play, hitters with low strike out numbers, and typically lower home run numbers, have some absurdly low TTO's.
• Not including this season with the Miami Marlins because the year is still ongoing, Ichiro came to the plate 9,663 times from 2001 to 2014, and he had a TTO sum over that period of 1,646 (112 home runs, 944 strikeouts, and 565 walks). Thus, Ichiro's TTO% over his first 14 seasons was just 17.0%. 
• Going further back, Ty Cobb came to the plate 13,084 times during his 24-year career with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics and he had a TTO sum of 2,047 (117 home runs, 681 strikeouts, and 1,249 walks), which means that his career TTO% was 14.8% compared to Adam Dunn's 49.9 TTO%!

Greg Maddux Deserves To Be A Unanimous Hall of Famer

In the history of America's national pastime, no player has ever been unanimously selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Just mull over and contemplate the implications of that ridiculous and absurd statement for a brief moment. To this date, there has never been a single player to receive every vote for acceptance into Cooperstown. Names that are in baseball lore and are widely accepted as the greatest to ever play the game have not been universally recognized by the baseball writers for perfect entry into the Hall. The fact that some voters have disregarded and neglected the legacy of those who have been the cornerstone of the game and whose careers exemplify as close to excellence as has been seen in the history of the sport is just plain ignorant and ludicrous. The long list of ballplayers who have been unable to crack the unanimous barrier are not equivocal or puzzling to anybody that has watched or followed baseball even fairly closely, which makes it so baffling how some voters could be so futile as to note vote in obvious Hall of Famers on their first ballot. The sense of bewilderment that fans feel towards some of the recalcitrant voters has always been present and this feeling of disdain has only intensified over the past decade with writers leaving names like Ripken and Gwynn off some of their ballots.

It is almost laughable how a variety of the inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame were not selected by some of the so-called baseball experts. Who were the 23 voters that did not elect Stan Musial to their ballot in 1969, the second best left-handed hitter to ever play behind Ted Williams? How can anybody truthfully explain how the greatest all-around baseball player who ever lived, Willie Mays, did not even appear on 23 ballots in 1979? Did 30 people in 1983 really not vote for the best defensive player to ever step on a diamond in Brooks Robinson? How could 19 writers in 1994 honestly make a claim that Steve Carlton, the second best left-handed pitcher since the 1970's behind Randy Johnson, was not a sure fire Hall of Famer? I would like to know the 28 voters that decided not to put Rickey Henderson on their ballot in 2009, the greatest lead-off hitter in baseball history? How can 16 writers possibly justify leaving the best catcher to ever play the game, Johnny Bench, off their ballot in 1989? Babe Ruth was even left off 11 ballots in 1936, a guy that was so good that his ghost hung over an entire organization for 86 whole years. The thought that baseball immortals like Cobb, Aaron, Wagner, Yastrzemski, Brett, Schmidt, Seaver, Ryan, Gibson, Mathewson, Feller, and Ryan (the list goes on and on) are not recognized as such by some narcissistic voters is nothing short of preposterous.

Obviously, no player goes through their entire baseball career in a perfect manner, as the game is simply a sport of failure. In fact, Mickey Mantle said in 1970, "During my 18 years I came to bat 10,000 times (9,907 to be exact]. I struck out 1,700 times [1,710 precisely] and walked maybe 1,800 times [1,733 to be accurate]. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at-bats a season [Mantle averaged a little more than 550 per year in his career]. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball." Even the most periodic hitters in baseball history fail more than they succeed. However, Mantle and so many other ballplayers have played at such an extraordinarily high level that it is impossible for anybody to rationally assert that they should not be put into the Hall right away. Often times, writers refuse to vote for historic players because of their own agendas, their dislike towards a player professionally (Ted Williams didn't get some votes because of some troublesome relationships with the media), or some sort of egotism that no guy should go into Cooperstown with a completely unblemished record. However, with Greg Maddux on the ballot in 2014, undoubtedly one of the best five pitchers to ever take the mound, baseball writers have the chance to make up for their past failures and unanimously vote in a player that is universally accepted as one of the greatest of all-time and a no doubt Hall of Famer.

It needs to be remembered that Greg Maddux pitched in a time period where hitting numbers were at an all-time high. The mad dog, who took the major league mound from 1986 to 2008 with the Cubs (1986-1992, 2004-2006), Braves (1993-2003), Dodgers (2006, 2008), and Padres (2007-2008), spent the entirety of his career in the steroid era and pitched to a generation of supposed stars whose performance was being radically enhanced by synthetic drugs. Even aside from steroids, which is a major reason for the increase in runs in the MLB over the past several years, a surge in analytical analysis, tape on every pitch a pitcher has ever thrown, more restrictions on pitchers innings and pitchers, lowering the pitching mound, livening up the baseballs, and decreasing the size of the strike zone has made it ever so difficult for starting pitchers nowadays to be as dominate as those that preceded them.

Let's take a look at Bob Gibson, another pitcher widely recognize as one of the greatest of all-time, for a brief comparison on just how much baseball has changed over the ages. While Gibson is unquestionably one of the best pitchers to have ever lived, he pitched in an era where low ERA's and little run production were the norm rather than the exception. Gibson's 1968 season is certainly astounding by any measure, no matter what time period. Heck, having a 1.12 ERA over an entire season (the fourth lowest all-time behind Tim Keef's 0.86 ERA in 1890, Dutch Leonard's 0.96 ERA in 1914, and Mordecai Brown's 1.04 ERA in 1906) and pitching in 24 games where the opponent scored one run or fewer would be impressive against a team from Eagle, Alaska, not to say major league ball clubs.

However, it cannot be overlooked that in that same season, six other pitchers (Luis Tiant, Sam McDowell, Dave McNally, Denny McLain, Tommy John, and Bobby Bolin) also had an ERA under two. To put just how high that number is in perspective, in the 45 years since 1968, only 19 times have pitchers ever finished with an ERA under two and just four pitchers did so during Maddux's entire career (Maddux in 1994 and 1995, Kevin Brown in 1996, Pedro Martinez in 1997 and 2000, and Roger Clemens in 1990 and 2005). In fact, the .237 batting average of the American and National League that year was the lowest in the history of the game. Meanwhile, Maddux pitched in a completely different time period, where the National League's batting average of .268 in 1999 was the highest for the league since 1939 when guys like Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Mel Ott, and Hank Greenberg were dominating baseball. While in 1968 the NL scored 5,577 runs, in 2000, the National League tallied up an astonishing 12,976 runs, the most ever scored by a league in a single-season in baseball history. You want more examples? In Gibson's historic 1968 season, just 1.623 percentage of at-bats ended in home runs in the NL, the lowest rate since 1946, but in 2000, there were home runs every 3.386 times a hitter came to the plate in the National League, the highest percentage ever. In fact, although Frank Howard was the only guy in 1968 to hit at least 40 home runs, 16 different ballplayer reached the plateau in 2000. In 1968, the major league slugging percentage of .340 was the lowest since 1918 while in 2000 it was .437, the highest in MLB history.

Nonetheless, when looking at Maddux's numbers, they still stack up very favorably with the greatest players who have ever stepped on a mound to pitch in the major leagues. This is why the time period that Maddux pitched in needs to be considered when looking at just how amazing he was in his career. While everybody around him was having difficulties pitching in an age of high run scoring, Maddux was throwing as if it were the 1960's or 1970's, which makes his career that much more impressive. It was as if Maddux was an anachronism, pitching at levels they were only seen in baseball's stone ages before the game was geared towards an increase in run production. Just look in the next few paragraphs at some of the unprecedented numbers that Maddux put up in his 23-year career despite the ridiculous scoring rates in the majors in the 1990's and 2000's.

Greg Maddux was not a pitcher that would overpower hitters with his velocity, as his fastball only topped out at around the 93 mph mark even in his younger years with the Cubs and in the prime of his career with Atlanta. In fact, Maddux routinely threw fastballs in the mid to high 80's for the majority of his illustrious career. Since the mad dog was not anything close to a power pitcher like a Randy Johnson or a Steve Carlton, he did not strikeout too many opposing hitters, as he only had one season with more than 200 k's (1998). To put that in perspective, Nolan Ryan had 15 seasons with at least 200 strikeouts, Tom Seaver had 10 seasons where he fanned more than 200 batters, and Walter Johnson had 7 consecutive seasons with more than 200 k's from 1911 to 1916.

While Maddux did not have a propensity for strikeouts, he was able to put hitters on their bat foot by always thinking a step ahead, as he was the best cat-and-mouse pitcher anybody has ever seen with his diligent pitching approach. Maddux was a baseball genius and one of the most tactically advanced pitchers to ever step on a big league diamond. There has never been another pitcher in baseball history to have the same accuracy and ability to paint all the corners of the plate as Greg Maddux. His incredible control of the baseball was truly unprecedented, as he out-smarted and out-manipulated so many hitters by changing speeds, being deceptive with his pitch selections, and putting the ball in the exact position he wanted it to go. Maddux's true precision on the mound can be seen in the paucity of walks that he allowed in his career. In the last 80 years dating back to 1933, Maddux's career BB/9 rate of 1.8 ranks in the top 10 all-time (minimum 1,500 innings pitched for starters), only behind Hall of Famers like Robin Roberts and Carl Hubbell. His BB% of 4.9 is also amongst the top 10 lowest in the last 70 years since 1943 (minimum 1,500 innings pitched for starters). Although Maddux did pitch to contact, as he rarely walked opposing batters but also got few strikeouts, he was a ground ball pitcher with his slider and change-up and scarcely got exploited for home run balls. In the last 30 years since 1983, Maddux's HR/9 ratio of 0.63 is the fifth best amongst starting pitchers (minimum 1,500 innings pitched for starters). In fact, in a six year stretch from 1992 to 1997, despite pitching nearly 1,425 innings, the mad dog allowed just 53 home runs in 192 starts or roughly just one home run for every three and a half starts. In 1994, for example, Maddux pitched 202 innings and allowed just 4 home runs the entire season, the last pitcher to have at least those numbers was Marino Pieretti, who did so 68 years ago in 1945 with the Washington Senators when he pitched 233.1 innings and allowed just 3 home runs.

There are a lot of pitchers in the Hall of Fame who had very steady, consistent careers in the major leagues for several years. While Bert Blyleven only had one season with at least 20 wins, just one year with a WHIP under 1.060 (outside of the top 500 for a single-season), and never finished in the top two of the Cy Young in a particular season, he did have an ERA of at least 3.03 in 11 different years in the big leagues and had eight seasons with more than 205 strikeouts. Similarly, Don Sutton, only exceeded 20 wins once in his 23 years in baseball and never had a season with a pitching WAR above 6.6, but he did have 20 years with more than 200 innings pitched and 10 seasons with an ERA of at least 3.06. On the other hand, many pitchers in Cooperstown had a few seasons in the big leagues that were exceedingly brilliant but then did little beyond their great few years. Sandy Koufax is the prime example of this. The left-hander had the greatest six-year stretch in baseball history that included four seasons with an ERA of 2.04 or lower, at least 20 complete games in three separate years, a H/9 of at least 6.5 in four seasons, three seasons with more than 300 innings pitched along with more than 300 strikeouts, and four no-hitters (including a perfect game). However, Koufax only had 165 wins and a career WAR of 53.2 (Cy Young's career WAR was 170.3) because he only pitched 12 seasons due to arm injuries.

However, Maddux had the best of both worlds, as he was a very dependable starter that also had a few historic and unparalleled seasons that will go down as some of the greatest of all-time. The mad dog had a very long and consistent 23-year MLB career. He won 355 games in his time in the big leagues (the 8th most ever by a pitcher and the 2nd most since the 1930's, only behind Warren Spahn) and chewed up innings with 5,008.1 over his career (the 13th most all-time and the 6th most since the 1930's). His adjusted pitching wins of 57.75, win probability added of 59.44 (2nd best behind Roger Clemens), and adjusted pitching runs of 531 are all in the top 6 all-time for a career and his WAR of 104.6 is also the 8th best ever and only behind Roger Clemens and Tom Seaver since the 1930's. Maddux had 7 seasons with a WHIP under 1.050, which has only been bettered by Walter Johnson's 10 seasons under the mark (Johnson had an WHIP under 1.000 9 times in fact). Additionally, Maddux had a seven-year stretch from 1992 to 1998 that included some of the greatest single-seasons that baseball has ever seen from a pitcher. In that span, Maddux went 127-53 with a 2.15 ERA, a 190 ERA+, and a 0.968 WHIP. In 1994 and 1995, Maddux's ERA was below 1.632, which only two pitchers have ever done once since 1918 (Bob Gibson and Luis Tiant in 1968). In fact, Sandy Koufax is the only pitcher aside from Maddux to have two seasons with an ERA under 1.90 since 1918. Maddux also had a ERA+ of at least 260 in both of those seasons, which puts both of them in the top 5 all-time and puts him as the only pitcher along with Walter Johnson and Pedro Martinez to have two seasons with an ERA+ of more than 222. In that 1995 season as well, Maddux's WHIP of 0.811 was the 6th best ever in a single season and the 2nd best since 1913 only behind Pedro Martinez. The mad dog's pitching feats over this historic stretch were recognized, as he won four straight Cy Young awards from 1992 to 1995 (Randy Johnson, who won four consecutive Cy Young awards from 1999 to 2002, is the only other pitcher to win more than 2 in a row). While year-after-year Maddux was amongst the steadiest pitchers in the big league, his amazing stretch in the prime of his career sets him apart from almost any other pitcher of the last four decades.

One of the many things that often gets overlooked in the Hall of Fame process is a player's role in the context of a team or in relation to the success or failure of a ball club, particularly his play in the postseason. Obviously, the Hall is an individual accomplishment for a ballplayer's performance on the field (and off it thanks to betting on games [Pete Rose] and steroids [too long of a list to even begin]). However, while it is rather overt, the point of baseball is to in fact win games and championships and not just accumulate and compile impressive numbers in meaningless innings in order for consideration into Cooperstown. Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, for example, pitched in 864 games (the four most by a starting pitcher all-time behind Cy Young, Nolan Ryan, and Walter Johnson) and won 318 games, but he was never apart of a single playoff victory in his entire 24-year career. While it would not be equitable to claim that it was Niekro's doing that his teams were always below par, it does mean something extra when guys like Maddux build a team up to a title contender. Granted, Maddux did have a Atlanta ball club made up of guys like Javy Lopez, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Mark Wohlers, Tom Glavine, and John Smolz, but a Hall of Fame career should at least be somewhat predicated on a player's ability to improve his team in a way that manifests itself into putting the club in position for victories. Thus, while team success should not be used as a deterrent for players who were on poor MLB clubs, the accomplishments of a team should be seen as a added boost for players' Hall of Fame candidacy.

Maddux was a key figure in the Braves' stretch from 1995 to 2003 in which the team won 9 straight NL East crowns (only the Yankees from 1998 to 2003 have ever won more than 5 division championships in a row), which included three trips to the World Series (1995, 1996, and 1999) and a MLB title in 1995. Maddux's triumphs in the postseason should be like a weighted GPA in school, as you should get more Hall of Fame credit for pitching well in big postseason games, which in this rather odd metaphor, would be like honors classes. In the Braves three World Series appearances, Maddux was the prime reason behind the team's success, as he had a 2.27 ERA in the postseason in 95, 96, and 99 and only had 1 start out of 14 where he didn't last at least 7 innings. Maddux proved clutch time and time again in the postseason with Atlanta, highlighted by his start in game 1 of the 1995 World Series against the Indians, where Maddux threw 9 innings and allowed 2 hits, no walks, and no earner runs in just the Braves 7th World Series since the 1900's. While baseball is not an individual based sport like basketball, where the best players in the world automatically put their team in a title position, the fact that Maddux was the catalysts behind a strong ball club certainly enhances his already loaded Hall of Fame resume.

Maddux's exact place in history can and will be debated for the rest of time. In my estimation, the mad dog is the 2nd best pitcher the majors has seen since the 1940's and is in the number 5 spot all-time behind Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, and Tom Seaver. However, one thing that can not be contested is that Maddux is more than deserving of a first-ballot nomination in the Hall and as one of the best pitchers in the history of the sport by all accounts, it would take a really foolish and incompetent voter to not select him. If voters are so stuck up in their ways that they refuse to chose a player not because he isn't worthy of selection but because they believe nobody should be a unanimous pick, than some real changes need to be considered for the Hall of Fame voting.

MLB Storylines To Follow During The Second Half Of The Season

The phrase has been muttered a million times, but yet it bears repeating year after year: the MLB season is a marathon, not a sprint. Unlike the NFL, where every week there is a feeling of desperation, the MLB teams are accustomed to long stretches during a season where their club may be struggling, whether it is a World Series contender or a last place team that is rebuilding. In fact, the 1951 New York Giants and the 1982 Atlanta Braves both had 11-game losing streaks and still managed to reach the postseason (the Giants lost to the Yankees in the World Series and the Braves lost in the NLCS to the Cardinals). With the first half of the MLB season in the rear-view mirror and the dog days of July and August rapidly approaching, it is important to remember that a few losses or a few wins don't make a playoff team, as the consistent ball clubs are always the ones that last the entire season. Here are some storylines to closely monitor during the tail end of the baseball calendar.

Manny Machado's Chase Of The Doubles Record:

Since 1936, not one player in the major leagues has hit 60 doubles over the course of a season. In 2000, Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton came close, and in 2002 Garret Anderson and Nomar Garciaparra fell just short. However, not only will Manny Machado likely become the first player since Joe Medwick to hit 60 doubles in a season (Medwick hit 64 with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936), but he is also on pace to eclipse Earl Webb's record for doubles in a single season. In 1933, Webb hit 67 doubles with the Boston Red Sox, and remarkably, the record has stood ever since. Machado, who needs just 18 doubles over the second half of the season to break the Orioles single season record of 56 set by Brian Roberts in 2009, is having a historic year for any ball player, especially for a guy that just turned 21 in July. To show just how impressive it is that Machado hit 39 doubles during the first half of the season, only once in the history of baseball has a player younger than 24 hit more than 48 doubles over an entire season (Alex Rodriguez in 1996 at the age of 20 with the Mariners). As good as Machado has been defensively for the O's, his offensive consistency has been just as impressive. While Machado will certainly hit more home runs as his career progresses, his smooth stroke at the plate lends itself perfectly for his chase of the doubles record. The former first round pick will continue to rack up doubles over the second half of the year because he is a line drive hitter. Of Machado's 128 hits this season, 61 of them have been line drives, which shows his ability to drive the ball into the gaps. This could be the year that the 77 year old doubles record finally falls.

Possible Back to Back Triple Crowns For Miguel Cabrera:

As we all know, Miguel Cabrera had a season for the ages last year. Not only did Cabrera become the first Tigers batter to win the MVP award since Hank Greenberg in 1940 (Hal Newhouser, Denny McLain, Willie Hernandez, and Justin Verlander all won the award as pitchers), but he also become the major leagues first Triple Crown winner in 45 years since Carl Yastrzemski. As crazy as this may seem, Miguel Cabrera is actually having a better season this year! The Tigers slugger is on pace to finish the season with 51 home runs and 163 RBI's, which has only been done by three people in the history of baseball (Babe Ruth in 1921 and 1927, Hack Wilson in 1930, and Jimmie Foxx in 1932). Cabrera, who currently has an OPS of 1.132, is also looking to become the first player since Barry Bonds in 2004 to have an on-base plus slugging percentage of at least 1.1300 for an entire season. Cabrera is in such a grove right now that in at-bats where he is ahead of the count, he is batting a ridiculous .411. The third baseman is also trying to achieve something that no other triple crown winner ever did, which is to accomplish the feat in back to back years. Miggy has a seizable lead in batting average over Mike Trout, as his .365 average is 43 points better than the Angles star. However, despite an almost laughable 95 RBI's at the All-Star break, Orioles slugger Chris Davis drove in 93 runs over the first half of the season, while Davis has a 7 home run advantage in the last Triple Crown category. Despite having even better numbers than last season, Cabrera may miss out on consecutive Triple Crowns because of the historic season that Chris Davis is having. Nonetheless, just how good Miguel Cabrera has been this year can not be understated, as he is having one of the greatest single-seasons in MLB history.

Clayton Kershaw's Sub .200 ERA:

In the last 40 years, only 8 pitchers have ever finished a season with an ERA below 2.00 (Ron Guidry in 1978, Nolan Ryan in 1981, Dwight Gooden in 1985, John Tudor in 1985, Greg Maddux in 1994 and 1995, Pedro Martinez in 1997 and 2000, Roger Clemens 1990 and 2005, and Kevin Brown in 1996). However, at this year's All-Star break, Clayton Kershaw has an astonishing 1.98 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers. If Kershaw is able to end the season with a sub .200 ERA, he would forever be linked to some of the greatest single season pitching performances in MLB history. In 1994, Greg Maddux had a 1.56 ERA, the lowest for any pitcher in 77 years since Fred Anderson and Eddie Cicotte in 1917. In the heart of the steroid era in 2000, Pedro Martinez finished the season with a 1.74 ERA, while also setting the MLB record in WHIP for a single season. Kershaw has the stuff to finish a season with an ERA under 2, as his nasty curveball beautifully complements his mid 90's fastball. The Dodgers ace is certainly a strikeout pitcher, as his strikeout percentage of 24.8 ranks amongst the top 10 in the league. However, Kershaw can also pitch to contact and still be just as effective, as hitters are batting just .238 when they put balls into play against him, which is the 5th lowest in the league. Although Kershaw has been terrific the last two years (winning the NL Cy Young in 2011 and coming in 2nd in 2012), he has been even better so far this season.

Late Season Drama:

When the MLB instituted the second Wild Card berth in each league in 2012, its main intention was to put emphasis on team's winning their own division. However, the underlining goal of the expanded format was to create more drama with late season playoff races and the winner take all wild card showdown. The final day of the 2011 season was the greatest single night of baseball in MLB history, with more drama and twists and turns than a Shakespearean play. Baseball could be in store for some classic late season playoff races once again this year. Unless the Angles can miraculously turn around another massively disappointing season, the American League will likely be a 8 team race for 5 postseason spots, as all 8 of the clubs are within 6 games of each other. In fact, the Rays, Rangers, Orioles, Yankees, and Indians are all within three games of one another in the AL Wild Card race. The National League, specifically the NL West is likewise very crowded. In the NL West, the last place Padres are only 8.5 games out of first place. In fact, before San Diego went on a 2-11 skid, each team in the division was sitting within 3 games of each other on July 2. While the Dodgers have been playing exponentially better baseball ever since they got healthy and Yasiel Puig came to the big leagues, the Diamondbacks have been holding a slim lead in the division all season long. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to ever count out the Giants, who have won 2 of the last 3 World Series. Meanwhile, it is going to be a dogfight in the NL Central, as the Cardinals, Pirates, and Reds will all be looking to capture the divisional crown.

Yasiel Puig's Dominance:

Whether you thought that Yasiel Puig should have been an All-Star or that the question was an absolute joke (Jonathan Papelbon), there is no denying the impact that the Cuban sensation has had on the Los Angeles Dodgers. When Puig made his MLB debut on June 3rd, the Dodgers were 9 games under .500 at 23-32 and were 8.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West. Ever since then, the Dodgers have been 25-15 and have crawled to within two games of the division leading Dbacks. Puig got off to such a torrid pace in June that his opening month in the big leagues drew comparisons to Joe Dimaggio. The star outfielder had a hit in 26 of his first 30 games including 8 home runs, 19 RBI's, a ridiculous slugging percentage of .745, and a batting average a tad under .450. Puig's energy (jumping into walls to make catches, throwing guys out from the outfield, and being ultra aggressive on the base paths) along with his crazy talent have proven to be invaluable for the Dodgers. However, the question is: can Puig continue to light up the big leagues or will pitchers begin to figure him out? While Puig has mainly slowed down in July due to a hip injury, some of his flaws have begun to appear. Puig is a guy that loves to swing the bat and he can sometimes be inpatient at the plate. The Cuban star only walked in 3 of his first 26 MLB games and through his first 161 plate appearances, Puig has walked just 7 times. In fact, Puig had a 12 game stretch from June 8 to June 21, where he didn't walk in 49 consecutive plate appearances. Pitchers have begun to pepper Puig with off-speed pitches outside of the strike zone because they know that he will chase a lot of pitches. Nonetheless, Puig is still just a 22-year old rookie that has unlimited potential and power, as he has already shown to opposing pitchers.

MLB Awards Watch

AL Cy Young: The AL Cy Young is a three man race between Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver, and CC Sabathia. Verlander has been the ace of the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers, and has been their horse the entire season. Verlander began the season 2-3, even though his ERA was just 3.75 at the time, but since then he has gone 15-2, including an outstanding 9-0 record in the months of May and June. Verlander's unhittable stuff has been highlighted by his 1 walk no hitter on May 7th against the Blue Jays and his two other near no hitters against the Indians on June 14th and the Angles on July 31st. Verlander leads the league in nearly every pitching category including innings pitched, strikeouts, wins, WHIP, and is also 3rd in ERA. With the inconsistency of A.J. Burnett and the injuries to Phil Hughes and Bartolo Colon, CC Sabathia has been the main cog in keeping the Yankees in reaching distance of the first place Boston Red Sox. Sabathia has eaten up innings when the bullpen has needed rest, evidenced by being second in the MLB with 190.2 innings pitched. He went 11-1 from May 19 to July 16, and kept the Yankees in the AL East race. Sabathia's 16 wins are second in the MLB, and the only thing holding him back from winning the AL Cy Young is his struggles against the Red Sox. CC is 16-3 against every team other than the Sox, but is 0-4 against the Yanks arch rivals. In his last three starts against the Red Sox he has been rocked for more than 6 runs each time. Jered Weaver has had a roller coaster season. He began the year 6-0 with a sub 1.00 ERA, but then lost his next four starts and fell to 6-4. Weaver bounced back once again and improved his record to 14-4 with an unbelievable 1.79 ERA. However, Weaver was knocked around yesterday in the shortest start of his career, as he was lit up for 8 runs in just 4.2 innings. His ERA skyrocketed from 1.78 to 2.13 and Verlander has now surpassed him as the front runner for the award.

AL MVP: The AL MVP will most likely go to either Adrian Gonzalez or Curtis Granderson. When Gonzalez was acquired by the Red Sox, they knew he was a great player, but they could of never have expected him to be this good in his first season with a new team in a different league. Gonzo has exceeded expectations and has the Fenway faithful jumping with joy every time he steps up to bat. The power hitting first basemen leads the MLB in hits and has a .351 average, which is 15 points higher than any other player in the league. He also is second in the AL in RBIs and doubles. Gonzalez has never been held hitless for more than 2 games in a row, and he is also a gold glove first baseman to go along with his outstanding batting numbers. The only thing that Gonzalez is struggling with is his power numbers, especially since the all-star break when he participated in the home run derby. Before the All-Star game, Gonzalez had 17 home runs and was 10th in the AL in the category. Since the home run derby, he has just 1 home run and is now 20th in the AL in homers. Curtis Granderson has no doubt been the Yankees MVP and the surprise of that team. Coming into this season, Granderson's career high in home runs was 30 in 2009, and his career high in RBIs was 74 in 2007. With 44 games remaining, Granderson has an astonishing 33 home runs, which is tied for the most in the league, and leads the AL in RBIs with 94. Joe Girardi said about all the home runs Curtis is hitting, “The real difference is really against left-handers too, I think he has 11 home runs off left-handers, and more homers off lefties than anyone in baseball and that's not common that you see a left-handed hitter be the guy leading in that category. He just seems to make solid contact and he's got bat speed and pulls the ball, and we've seen him hit homers the other way into left-center and we've seen them all over, he just has a lot of power and when you look at his frame, that's not what you necessarily think of, but he does." Granderson also leads the league in runs scored with 107, 22 more than any other player, and leads the AL with 9 triples. If the Red Sox win the division, Gonzalez will likely win the award, but if Granderson can continue to hit well and lead the Yankees to a division win, he will likely take home the MVP.

NL Cy Young: Unlike the AL, where Verlander, Weaver, and Sabathia have been the three dominating pitchers, the NL Cy Young race is much more up for grabs. The most likely candidate is last year's winner, Roy Halladay. Doc is once again having a great season with a 15-4 record and a 2.51 ERA. There was a stretch from mid-May to early July when in 10 straight Roy Halladay starts, the Phillies were victorious. During that stretch, Doc allowed 2 runs or less 6 times. If Halladay were to win the award, he would be just the fourth pitcher to win the NL Cy Young award in back to back years. The only other contenders to Halladay are Ian Kennedy of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kennedy has revived his career in his second season with the NL West leading Diamondbacks. He struggled mightily as a starter for the Yankees, but he has looked great in Arizona as he has a 15-3 record with a 3.12 ERA. Kennedy has made a furious charge for the award in the last month. Since July 8th, he is 7-0 and hasn't allowed more than 3 runs in any of his starts. Clayton Kershaw is 14-5 and leads the NL in strikeouts with 193 and is tied with Halladay for the most innings pitched. Clayton has had 6 games where he has struck out more than 10 batters. Kershaw began the year 2-3, but turned it around and went 6-0 in May and June, and is now 14-5. 

NL MVP: Much like the NL Cy Young, the NL MVP is still up in the air and still has many contenders for the award. The leading candidates for the award, Prince Fielder, Justin Upton, and Matt Kemp, and all have a chance to gain a stronghold on the award in their last 40 games or so. Fielder looks like the frontrunner today. His team is beginning to run away with the NL Central, and he is having a career year in all categories. Fielder has always been a big power hitter with the ability to drive in runs in a very good Brewer lineup. He is third in the NL in home runs with 27, and is second in RBIs with 89. Those kinds of numbers are expected from Fielder, but his average is also way up from last year and he has cut down on his strikeouts. Last year he batted .261, but this season his average is up 47 points to .308. In the Brewers 15-2 stretch since July 26, Fielder had 5 home runs, 16 RBIs, and his average had risen from .287 to .308. Just like how Fielder has been instrumental in helping the Brewers stretch their lead in the NL Central to 5 games over the Cardinals, Justin Upton has done the same thing for the Diamondbacks. His hot hitting has led the Diamondbacks to a 1.5 game lead over the Giants in the NL West. Upton has had an all around solid year and is in the top 10 of nearly every single NL batting category. He is batting .306, has 24 home runs to go along with his 74 RBI's, and also has scored 78 runs, which is tied for the 4th most in the NL. Like Upton, Matt Kemp has had an all around solid season. He is fifth in batting average at .318, third in home runs with 27, third in RBIs with 88, and is fourth in the NL with 30 stolen bases. Although Upton may have slightly worse numbers than Kemp, Upton probably has a leg up on him in the race because the Diamondbacks are leading the West, and the Dodgers are 12 games behind.