As I've been writing these reflection pieces I've been getting a rush or memories. The moments of this decade have been captured more than any other decade before it. With each moment becoming a GIF or Meme almost instantly. That's great, but also these moments are quickly forgotten as you continue your scroll. It's that double edged sword of the times we live in, we're more connected than ever but also have a tremendous disconnect. These moments, special plays, happen, get shared to the world and then poof the next day they are gone, replaced by another thing. There is no "Bobby Thompson shot heard round the world" or MJ's "The shot" vs Cleveland anymore, we go through moments so quickly, but also we get so many MORE, there is something incredible almost weekly. Someone tries to break the internet every day, I'm going to look back at a few I can remember, in no particular order.
Tebow Mania 2011, The Tim Tebow era in the NFL was short but incredible. If you want to boil it down to one moment, it would have to be the Wild Card TD he threw to Demaryius Thomas in Overtime. That play was Tebow Mania in a nutshell, the dude throws the ball 15 yards and the receiver takes it the final 65 yards. I was very hard on Tebow, I even wrote a post about it, before the 2011 season. I don't think my stance has softened, mostly because I was right, he flamed out and flamed out quickly. However, he does have that 2011 season, when he would play like crap for 3 quarters, but somehow the opposing team would let the Broncos hang around and suddenly in the final 10 minutes it was Tebow time and the dude took a team who was 1-4 with Kyle Orton starting to the playoffs. They won the division and won games in the most improbable ways, but just like that playoff game, he made the plays when they mattered and beat a very good Pittsburgh team.
The Bat Flip, They will do a 30 for 30, or one of those "Oral Histories" on the entire 7th inning of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS between Texas and Toronto. It was epic and capped off by the greatest bat flip in MLB history. The Rangers scored the go ahead run on a crazy play, where the catcher hit the bat of the batter on his throw back to the pitcher in the top of the 7th. After a review and almost 20 minute delay the Rangers were winning late. Enter Jose Bautista in the bottom of the 7th with 2 runners on and a tie game he uncorked a monster homer, and the mother of all bat flips. After contact, he stared the ball down, then threw the bat over the plate and towards his dugout, before running to first. Reminder this is the 7th inning, there is still time to play in the decisive game of the series. It was incredible, impossible and cocky as hell. The Rangers weren't thrilled and things escalated again in 2016, when the two teams played and Bautista got punched by Rougned Odor after a hard slide at 2nd, another moment in itself. So great, go watch it again.
When the Lights Went Out, I could probably do a bunch of these on the Super Bowl moments, but this has to be the most memorable. In the 3rd quarter in Super Bowl 47, the lights went out in the Superdome. The game between the 49ers and Ravens was delayed for 34 minutes. I still think the blackout made that game closer than what it should've been. Baltimore was up 28-6, then San Francisco went on a 17-0 run and made the game much closer. With the blackout and the long halftime the Ravens offense was off the field for over an hour, that really slowed them down. It was tremendous black eye for the city of New Orleans and the NFL to have their premier event hampered by such an event but it was still incredible.
The Cubs Win the World Series (finally), When I did my breakdown for baseball in the 2010's I didn't really mention the Cubs. I'm a noted Cubs hater and even in the header for this moment, I couldn't help and take a shot. What can't be denied though is the Cubs did it. The finally won one, something not done in 108 years, not since the dead ball era had the Cubs been the kings of baseball. And they did it the 2nd hardest way possible, going down to the Indians 3-1 and winning the last 3 games including the last 2 on the road. The Cubs overcame so much to win that series including their boneheaded manager using their closer in a blowout Game 6 win that left him vulnerable in Game 7. But those scrappy Cubs overcame those obstacles and a rain delay to win Game 7 and end the streak. A moment that no baseball fan should forget, Cubs fan or not.
The Little 16 Seed That Could, When you fill out your bracket you always know you get 4 freebies in the first round. Since the NCAA Basketball Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 the #1 seeds were undefeated. Until 2018, then University Maryland Baltimore County did the unthinkable. Not only did they beat #1 Virginia, they embarrassed them 74-54. There was point late in the game where I felt UMBC was running up the score a little. It was a shocking result and the fact the Terriers laid it on UVA made the game feel less flukey. The aftermath was amazing, the UMBC twitter account was hilarious after the game. It was a shocking result and I'm not sure we'll ever see it again. Virginia did rally and win the NCAA title in 2019 lessening the blow of the loss, but I'm sure it's something none of those players will ever forget.
IshikaWalk-Off, I talked about the greatest moment for me in baseball when I talked about 2014 game 7 of the World Series in my baseball memories. The 2nd best memory of that postseason was Travis Ishikawa winning the NLCS with a walk-off 3 run homer. The game was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th, the Cardinals were out of pitchers and with 2 men on and nobody out I think they knew what was going to happen. Ishikawa launched a ball into right field, when it left the bat I knew the game was over, whether it was a double or a homer the runner from 2nd was scoring. I wasn't the only person who figured game over no matter what, Jake Peavy started mobbing Ishikawa between 2nd and 3rd not realizing he had to complete his home run trot. Ishikawa pushed Peavy off him and rounded 3rd before being mobbed at the plate, amazing moment. It sent the Giants to the World Series and legendary broadcaster Jon Miller said "Travis Ishikawa with the Bobby Thompson Moment." The Giants didn't have many clinching victories at home in their 3 World Series in 5 years run, that's why this is such a big deal to me.
Watson to Renfrow, Sometimes it happens, the team everyone wants to see lose, loses on a last second TD pass with 1 second left on the clock. In the 2017 National Championship game Deshaun Watson rolled to his right, Clemson ran a rub route and Hunter Renfrow ran free to the pylon, turning a 3 point deficit into a 4 point lead Clemson with 1 second left on the clock. Clemson finally took down the giant that was Alabama. The game was one of the best college football games of the decade as these teams fought it out for the 2nd straight year. Clemson scored 21 points in the 4th quarter en route to avenging the previous seasons loss. Renfrow a former walk on caught 2 TD passes on the night, while Deshaun Watson capped off his college career with 3 TD passes and 1 rushing TD as Clemson won 35-31.
Crowning of the Pharoah, In May/June of 2015 I was 33 years old my son was 3 months old. We each had witnessed the same amount of Triple Crown winners in our lives: 0. American Pharoah changed that, not only did he win the first Triple Crown since 1978, he kicked everyone's ass getting that Triple Crown. American Pharoah dominated horse racing that spring, his time in the Belmont was the 2nd fastest for a Triple Crown winner. I had given up hope on seeing a Triple Crown winner as it seemed trainers would hold their horses out of races to be fresher in later races thus making it harder for a horse who runs all three races to win all three. American Pharoah didn't care though, he won those races and capped off his season winning the Breeder's Cup Classic before retiring to stud, what life, what a horse.
28-3, 2nd and 11, ball on the 23 yard line, little over 4 minutes left in the game, up by 8, a FG makes it a 2 score game, what do you do? Run a pass play that results in a 12 yard loss, then another pass play that earns you a holding penalty, and then another pass play that falls incomplete and forces you to punt to the best QB of our generation with plenty of time to go score and get a 2 point conversion to force overtime? That wasn't ideal, but nothing in Super Bowl 51 made much sense. The Falcons built the huge lead on big plays, while New England ran a crap load of plays but left so many points on the field. The lead itself was just as flukey as the comeback. The best part of this comeback was the meltdown on social media, as all of America was basking in the Patriots demise, well until it wasn't their demise anymore. That 2nd down play will always haunt Atlanta fans, just run the ball and stay in FG range and seal it. But they didn't so Tom Brady did some Tom Brady shit and James White did his thing and the Patriots scored a TD on the opening drive of overtime. Next time Atlanta just kneel it 3 times and take the FG.
Sister Jean, The Cinderella story is what every sports fan wants. When UMBC beat Virginia it opened up the region for the other 14 teams, Loyola-Chicago took advantage. As the 11 seed they beat #6 Miami, then dispatched #3 Tennessee to make the Sweet 16, there they faced #7 Nevada before moving on to face #9 Kansas State, whom they beat and punched their ticket to the Final Four. During this entire run America fell in love with the Ramblers team Chaplain, Sister Jean, a 98 year old nun who was at every game. She was known as a good luck charm, it was such a great story and Sister Jean took much of the attention from the team so they could just keep winning. They eventually lost to Michigan in the Final Four but that doesn't make the story any less fun. Sister Jean just turned 100 in August and is still there for the Ramblers.
That's it, that's the list. I decided to stick with 10 moments, and mostly moments I watched. I obviously missed a ton including, OBJ's catch, the Minnesota Miracle, and Malcolm Butler. The USWNT winning World Cups, Landon Donovan scored a goal once. The Olympics gave us plenty of memories. Brandon Belt hit a homer in the 18th inning, David Freese shocked the Rangers, Doc Halladay threw a postseason no hitter, Chase Utley tweets, the Royals Wild Card comeback vs Oakland. Tiger Woods won the Masters, while Golden State blew a 3-1 lead, and Golden State also won a lot. Tua came in to beat Georgia, and the next year Jalen Hurts came in to beat Georgia. I mentioned the Kick Six and 2015 MSU vs Michigan game in the NCAA post. The "Iowa Wave" is a great tradition, I don't think of it as a moment. So many moments and we could go on forever. What do you remember? Hit me up on twitter @derekbredeson or on Facebook
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
The 2010's Reflection NCAA Football Edition
When talking about the decade and college football things can get tough. Players only get 3 or 4 years to show their talent (unless you're Donovan McNabb who was at Syracuse for what seemed like 8 years), so you can't have the normal discussion of guys who made it 10 years or even 5 years, you're basically looking for who had the best 1 or 2 seasons, and rarely a someone who dominated 3 seasons.
Even more fascinating is the head coach carousel, from my count there are 14 coaches who have been at their schools from 2010-2019, Nick Saban Alabama, Kirk Ferentz Iowa, Brian Kelly Notre Dame, Kyle Whittingham Utah, Gary Patterson TCU, Ken Niumatalolo Navy, Mike Gundy Oklahoma State, Mark Dantonio Michigan State, Troy Calhoun Air Force, Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern, Dabo Swinney Clemson, David Cutcliffe Duke, Rick Stockstill Middle Tennessee, Doc Holliday Marshall. Now that's a list, from the power 5 (which at the start of the decade was the power 6) the Pac-12 has 1 which Utah wasn't a part of in 2010, SEC has 1 DUH, ACC has 2, Big 12 has 2 and again TCU wasn't a part of the Big 12 in 2010, then finally the Big Ten checks in with 3, and man are they the 3 most boring dudes on this list, plus Notre Dame, of the 61 P5 teams 51 have had at least one coaching change and in some cases multiple changes. Four of the guys on the list have made the playoff, 2 of them have multiple National Titles. Just amazing.
The decade was maybe one of the busiest off the field decades in the game. It started in 2010 with the massive realignment, then another one in 2012. After that the NCAA decided to scrap the BCS format for crowning a National Champion and creating the Playoff that started in 2014. Conferences expanded, conferences retracted and some conferences disappeared from the football landscape (Big East). Now it's 2019, the Big Ten has 14 teams, the Big 12 has 10 teams, the Pac-10 became the Pac-12 and the ACC is Clemson and FCS schools. The playoff created an entire other discussion every year and I shared my thoughts on that a couple weeks ago.
It was a decade dominated by Alabama and Clemson (the last 5 years for Clemson). It also gave us some sweet new terms like "Grad transfer" and "the transfer portal." The grad transfer rule has grown on me, I remember hating it at first but it's fine. I think the NCAA is a few years from telling guys they get 5 years and 1 free transfer in their time. Let us also not forget the new Redshirt rule, where players can play 4 games in a season and not lose a redshirt.
Now I'm not going to make an All-Decade team, instead I'm just going to talk about some memorable moments and memorable players.
Moment #1: The Kick 6
In 2013 in the Iron Bowl, undefeated Alabama and 1 lost Auburn were tied when Alabama was trying to get into field goal range. The clock ran out, or so we thought, Nick Saban challenged the final play and got 1 second back on the clock. The Tide attempted a 57 yard field goal, Auburn put a guy in the end zone in case the kick was short. The kick was short and Chris Davis returned the kick 109 yards to the other end zone and shocked the Tide and winning the game for Auburn. With the win Auburn won the SEC West, eventually the SEC and made the BCS National Championship game where they lost to Florida State. For Alabama, they lost a shot at another Natty, and Saban was let down by another kicker. Find the play and watch it.
The Oklahoma QBs: Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts
The last 5 years of Oklahoma football were dominated by 3 amazing QB's. 2 guys won the Heisman in 17 and 18 in Mayfield and Murray. Combined the 3 have taken the Sooners to 4 Playoffs, and even though Hurts has been there with Alabama his role at Oklahoma is much bigger. Plus, all three were transfers, Mayfield from Texas Tech, Murray from Texas A&M, and Hurts from Alabama. It's an incredible story and something that should be talked about more.
Moment #2: 2015 Michigan State vs Michigan
This play is up there with the greatest gaffes of football history. Leading by 2 with 10 seconds left, Michigan was facing a 4th down and 2 from the MSU 47. All they had to do was punt it deep and the game was essentially over. Instead all hell broke lose, on the snap the punter fumbled the ball and little known Michigan State player Jalen Watts-Jackson, scooped the ball up and ran 38 yards to a game winning touchdown, The camera cut to the Michigan fan with his hands on head and a look of utter disbelief. To add to the lore of the play, Watts-Jackson suffered a hip injury when scoring and was in terrible pain as his teammates mobbed him in the end zone and it took almost a minute for anyone to realize he was in an extreme amount of pain and needed medical attention.
The Alabama vs Clemson Saga:
Do you remember the term "Clemsoning?" It was used affectionately to describe Clemson football for most of my adult life, Clemson would rise up and get close only to be embarrassed in a big game or beat by a lesser team, it happened time and time again. The climax of "Clemsoning" happened in the 2012 Orange Bowl, where West Virginia crushed Clemson 70-33. Clemson was higher ranked and just pissed their pants. Then the later part of the decade happened and Dabo Swinney stopped the Clemsoning and started winning Championships. In the 6 playoffs Alabama or Clemson have been in, and they've played each other every time both have made the playoff (2015, 2016, and 2018 Finals and 2017 Semi-Finals). They are 2-2 when playing each other in those 4 match-ups, with each winning 2 National Titles. The fact Dabo is a former Alabama player just adds to the fire. Clemson started off as the baby face, but I think they are slowly becoming the other villain of college football. Obviously this fight is far from over and could continue until Nick Saban retires.
The Champions:
2010: Auburn defeated Oregon (BCS Championship Game)
2011: Alabama defeated LSU (BCS Championship Game)
2012: Alabama defeated Notre Dame (BCS Championship Game)
2013: Florida State defeated Auburn (BCS Championship Game)
2014: Ohio State defeated Oregon (CFP Championship)
2015: Alabama defeated Clemson (CFP Championship)
2016: Clemson defeated Alabama (CFP Championship)
2017: Alabama defeated Georgia (CFP Championship)
2018: Clemson defeated Alabama (CFP Championship)
2019: TBD, but probably LSU, right? or maybe Ohio State? I don't know, Clemson I guess?
Favorite Players: Instead of making an All American team and putting my foot in my mouth I'll just talk about of a few of my favorite guys to watch play.
Desmond King DB Iowa, Des is by far my favorite player of the decade. He got in the 2nd series of his true freshman series and played the rest of his 4 years. King could've left after 2015 when he won the Thorpe Award and was a Consensus All American, while leading Iowa to a 12-2 record. He plays the game beautifully, can cover almost anyone and was a sure tackler on the outside. Rarely did Des make a mistake at Iowa. He's in the NFL now with Chargers and is still doing big things.
Deshaun Watson QB Clemson, Watson was basically a 3 year starter at Clemson and lead them to the mountaintop after the 2016 season, winning the Natty. Watson was so fun to watch at Clemson, he made so many awesome throws and also moved his feet well. He ended his 3 year career with 10,000 yards passing and 1,900 yards rushing. He's playing for Houston in the NFL but don't tell Bears fans that.
Johnny Maziel QB Texas A&M, is Johnny Football the best college QB of the decade? That's a very loaded question, but I think he's in the conversation. In 2012 he became the first Freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy, in 2013 he finished 5th in Heisman voting. What Johnny didn't get in stats, which he had a shitload of stats, he made up for in play making ability. The guy would just run around behind the line of scrimmage and wait for receivers to break open and then fire darts without looking it seemed. If Johnny wasn't the best QB of the decade he was certainly the most polarizing, you either loved the guy or hated him. He did eventually prove the haters right with his performance in professional football, but his college game was elite.
The decade was crazy, it started with 6 Power conferences, it ended with 5. It had scandals at some of the bluest of blue bloods, the Penn State news broke in 2012. There was so much change and evolution of the game and it's only going to continue into the 20's, when there will be another round of realignment and maybe a different system for how we watch and who pays for watching. Plus you never know when the next playoff expansion might happen. So go ahead look back, go on Youtube and watch John Football toy with Alabama, Jadaveon Clowney run over that Michigan RB, the Iowa Wave start, the kick six, the turnover chain (plus Paul Chryst saying "turnover chain my fucking ass)" and of course the Michigan kid with his hands on his head. It was a decade with so many highlights it would take me 3 more days to hit them all, let me know some of yours. Hit me up on twitter @derekbredeson or comment on the Facebook link.
Even more fascinating is the head coach carousel, from my count there are 14 coaches who have been at their schools from 2010-2019, Nick Saban Alabama, Kirk Ferentz Iowa, Brian Kelly Notre Dame, Kyle Whittingham Utah, Gary Patterson TCU, Ken Niumatalolo Navy, Mike Gundy Oklahoma State, Mark Dantonio Michigan State, Troy Calhoun Air Force, Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern, Dabo Swinney Clemson, David Cutcliffe Duke, Rick Stockstill Middle Tennessee, Doc Holliday Marshall. Now that's a list, from the power 5 (which at the start of the decade was the power 6) the Pac-12 has 1 which Utah wasn't a part of in 2010, SEC has 1 DUH, ACC has 2, Big 12 has 2 and again TCU wasn't a part of the Big 12 in 2010, then finally the Big Ten checks in with 3, and man are they the 3 most boring dudes on this list, plus Notre Dame, of the 61 P5 teams 51 have had at least one coaching change and in some cases multiple changes. Four of the guys on the list have made the playoff, 2 of them have multiple National Titles. Just amazing.
The decade was maybe one of the busiest off the field decades in the game. It started in 2010 with the massive realignment, then another one in 2012. After that the NCAA decided to scrap the BCS format for crowning a National Champion and creating the Playoff that started in 2014. Conferences expanded, conferences retracted and some conferences disappeared from the football landscape (Big East). Now it's 2019, the Big Ten has 14 teams, the Big 12 has 10 teams, the Pac-10 became the Pac-12 and the ACC is Clemson and FCS schools. The playoff created an entire other discussion every year and I shared my thoughts on that a couple weeks ago.
It was a decade dominated by Alabama and Clemson (the last 5 years for Clemson). It also gave us some sweet new terms like "Grad transfer" and "the transfer portal." The grad transfer rule has grown on me, I remember hating it at first but it's fine. I think the NCAA is a few years from telling guys they get 5 years and 1 free transfer in their time. Let us also not forget the new Redshirt rule, where players can play 4 games in a season and not lose a redshirt.
Now I'm not going to make an All-Decade team, instead I'm just going to talk about some memorable moments and memorable players.
Moment #1: The Kick 6
In 2013 in the Iron Bowl, undefeated Alabama and 1 lost Auburn were tied when Alabama was trying to get into field goal range. The clock ran out, or so we thought, Nick Saban challenged the final play and got 1 second back on the clock. The Tide attempted a 57 yard field goal, Auburn put a guy in the end zone in case the kick was short. The kick was short and Chris Davis returned the kick 109 yards to the other end zone and shocked the Tide and winning the game for Auburn. With the win Auburn won the SEC West, eventually the SEC and made the BCS National Championship game where they lost to Florida State. For Alabama, they lost a shot at another Natty, and Saban was let down by another kicker. Find the play and watch it.
The Oklahoma QBs: Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts
The last 5 years of Oklahoma football were dominated by 3 amazing QB's. 2 guys won the Heisman in 17 and 18 in Mayfield and Murray. Combined the 3 have taken the Sooners to 4 Playoffs, and even though Hurts has been there with Alabama his role at Oklahoma is much bigger. Plus, all three were transfers, Mayfield from Texas Tech, Murray from Texas A&M, and Hurts from Alabama. It's an incredible story and something that should be talked about more.
Moment #2: 2015 Michigan State vs Michigan
This play is up there with the greatest gaffes of football history. Leading by 2 with 10 seconds left, Michigan was facing a 4th down and 2 from the MSU 47. All they had to do was punt it deep and the game was essentially over. Instead all hell broke lose, on the snap the punter fumbled the ball and little known Michigan State player Jalen Watts-Jackson, scooped the ball up and ran 38 yards to a game winning touchdown, The camera cut to the Michigan fan with his hands on head and a look of utter disbelief. To add to the lore of the play, Watts-Jackson suffered a hip injury when scoring and was in terrible pain as his teammates mobbed him in the end zone and it took almost a minute for anyone to realize he was in an extreme amount of pain and needed medical attention.
The Alabama vs Clemson Saga:
Do you remember the term "Clemsoning?" It was used affectionately to describe Clemson football for most of my adult life, Clemson would rise up and get close only to be embarrassed in a big game or beat by a lesser team, it happened time and time again. The climax of "Clemsoning" happened in the 2012 Orange Bowl, where West Virginia crushed Clemson 70-33. Clemson was higher ranked and just pissed their pants. Then the later part of the decade happened and Dabo Swinney stopped the Clemsoning and started winning Championships. In the 6 playoffs Alabama or Clemson have been in, and they've played each other every time both have made the playoff (2015, 2016, and 2018 Finals and 2017 Semi-Finals). They are 2-2 when playing each other in those 4 match-ups, with each winning 2 National Titles. The fact Dabo is a former Alabama player just adds to the fire. Clemson started off as the baby face, but I think they are slowly becoming the other villain of college football. Obviously this fight is far from over and could continue until Nick Saban retires.
The Champions:
2010: Auburn defeated Oregon (BCS Championship Game)
2011: Alabama defeated LSU (BCS Championship Game)
2012: Alabama defeated Notre Dame (BCS Championship Game)
2013: Florida State defeated Auburn (BCS Championship Game)
2014: Ohio State defeated Oregon (CFP Championship)
2015: Alabama defeated Clemson (CFP Championship)
2016: Clemson defeated Alabama (CFP Championship)
2017: Alabama defeated Georgia (CFP Championship)
2018: Clemson defeated Alabama (CFP Championship)
2019: TBD, but probably LSU, right? or maybe Ohio State? I don't know, Clemson I guess?
Favorite Players: Instead of making an All American team and putting my foot in my mouth I'll just talk about of a few of my favorite guys to watch play.
Desmond King DB Iowa, Des is by far my favorite player of the decade. He got in the 2nd series of his true freshman series and played the rest of his 4 years. King could've left after 2015 when he won the Thorpe Award and was a Consensus All American, while leading Iowa to a 12-2 record. He plays the game beautifully, can cover almost anyone and was a sure tackler on the outside. Rarely did Des make a mistake at Iowa. He's in the NFL now with Chargers and is still doing big things.
Deshaun Watson QB Clemson, Watson was basically a 3 year starter at Clemson and lead them to the mountaintop after the 2016 season, winning the Natty. Watson was so fun to watch at Clemson, he made so many awesome throws and also moved his feet well. He ended his 3 year career with 10,000 yards passing and 1,900 yards rushing. He's playing for Houston in the NFL but don't tell Bears fans that.
Johnny Maziel QB Texas A&M, is Johnny Football the best college QB of the decade? That's a very loaded question, but I think he's in the conversation. In 2012 he became the first Freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy, in 2013 he finished 5th in Heisman voting. What Johnny didn't get in stats, which he had a shitload of stats, he made up for in play making ability. The guy would just run around behind the line of scrimmage and wait for receivers to break open and then fire darts without looking it seemed. If Johnny wasn't the best QB of the decade he was certainly the most polarizing, you either loved the guy or hated him. He did eventually prove the haters right with his performance in professional football, but his college game was elite.
The decade was crazy, it started with 6 Power conferences, it ended with 5. It had scandals at some of the bluest of blue bloods, the Penn State news broke in 2012. There was so much change and evolution of the game and it's only going to continue into the 20's, when there will be another round of realignment and maybe a different system for how we watch and who pays for watching. Plus you never know when the next playoff expansion might happen. So go ahead look back, go on Youtube and watch John Football toy with Alabama, Jadaveon Clowney run over that Michigan RB, the Iowa Wave start, the kick six, the turnover chain (plus Paul Chryst saying "turnover chain my fucking ass)" and of course the Michigan kid with his hands on his head. It was a decade with so many highlights it would take me 3 more days to hit them all, let me know some of yours. Hit me up on twitter @derekbredeson or comment on the Facebook link.
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
The 2010's Reflection NASCAR Edition
When looking at a sport like NASCAR you can't do the normal breakdown like other sports, there really isn't positions in stock car racing where you can build a "team." Now I'm going to build a 4 car team of the drivers and their crew chiefs of the past decade with this post, but I'm also going to give some awards for the decade, a decade that saw a shift in NASCAR's playoff format, how they give points, they changed the overtime rules, the title sponsor for the Cup Series, and plenty of other changes to the sport. So let's get into it.
Drive of the Decade: Tony Stewart 2011 Chase
In 2011 Tony Stewart won his 3rd NASCAR Cup Series Championship. The beauty of that championship was how he won it. He went into the 10 Race Chase (NASCAR's old version of playoffs) with 0 wins and got in on points. Before the chase started, Tony had informed Darian Grubb that he wouldn't be the crew chief for Tony following the season, as Tony was ready to hire Steve Addington to take over after not winning any races in the regular season. Once the Chase started Smoke took over the series and went on to win 5 of the 10 races including the final race at Homestead, and tied Carl Edwards in points for the year, but won the Championship based on a tiebreaker for winning 5 races to Edwards 1. This was the precursor to the current playoff format where if you win, you automatically move on to the next round, and then when Tony won the final race and everybody lost their minds, it made this idea of having the last race count for everything a reality for the sport.
Best change for the sport: The Championship Race
I'm gonna piss off some NASCAR purists, but I love the winner take all race at the end of the year. The NASCAR playoff format is something I really enjoy, it makes the racing more like other sports. Purists don't like that an entire year of racing comes down to 1 race, but I love it. Often in the past teams would open up such huge point leads the last race of the year didn't count, but in the new format you can't stop watching. This is how I spend my Sunday's in the fall, I watch the playoffs every week and love the points movements. The championship race has created great drama and since incorporating the format the winner of the championship has won the race and that's how it should be.
Worst change for the sport: Stage Racing
I don't hate stage racing but the implementation has been terrible. The idea of scoring points in the middle of the race is great, because not getting credit for what you've done in a race does suck. My problem with stages is the breaks and the laps they run. In a race that is 400 laps they'll have stages of 100, 100, and 200 laps each. The crappy part is after stage 1 they throw a yellow and have caution laps. so the 2nd stage maybe goes green with 94 laps left in the stage, so that stage isn't 100 laps anymore, that sucks. Forced cautions are dumb, stopping the race is dumb. To me the perfect answer is, have stages, and when a stage ends keep going under green, pay out the points and keep the race going.
Honorable mention the racing package for 2019, it ruined the good tracks and made the bad tracks racing better but enough to ruin the few good tracks where there is good racing like Martinsville, Phoenix, and Homestead for sure. We get 1 more year of this but hopefully the 2021 car gets the racing back to where we want it.
Biggest Loss(es): Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The decade also saw the 3 biggest giants of the 2000's leave racing full time. No story of the 2010's would be complete without talking about the retirements of Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. probably the 3 drivers who had 95% of the fan base. Their void has been huge. All 3 are still active in the sport but they are missed on the track.
The Champions
2010 Jimmie Johnson (5th Championship) Chase format
2011 Tony Stewart (3rd Championship) Chase format
2012 Brad Keselowski (1st Championship) Chase format
2013 Jimmie Johnson (6th Championship) Chase format
2014 Kevin Harvick (1st Championship) Playoff format
2015 Kyle Busch (1st Championship) Playoff format
2016 Jimmie Johnson (7th Championship) Playoff format
2017 Martin Truex Jr. (1st Championship) Playoff format
2018 Joey Logano (1st Championship) Playoff format
2019 Kyle Busch (2nd Championship) Playoff format
Best Finish: 2016 Daytona 500
It took me this long to talk about my favorite driver, Denny Hamlin. Denny won the 2016 Daytona 500 on a last corner pass of teammate Matt Kenseth and then side drafted the hell out of Martin Truex Jr. to edge him at the line in the closest Daytona 500 ever. The set up was great the 5 Toyota cars stunk up the show and got in line all day and held the other cars behind them all day. Then on the last lap from 4th place Denny jumped in front of Kevin Harvick and got a huge push down the back stretch, he passed Kenseth, then Denny was in 2nd about 20ft before the line before edging past Truex by 4 inches at the line. It was a great finish and I still watch it about once a month, what a great moment.
Best Fight: Jeff Gordon vs Brad Keselowski
2014 was the first year of the playoff format, a year where Brad K tried to piss off everyone in the garage. At Charlotte he had Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin trying to hurt him, then at Texas his antics came to a boil. I'm not sure if the eliminations brought it out of everyone since they had never done it before or if Brad was just having a rough 3 months but the drivers were heated. Then after Texas, Jeff was pissed that Brad came down on him and cut a tire on the 24 car, so after the race they were discussing the incident and when Brad had enough he tried to walk away, enter Kevin Harvick. Harvick much like the rest of us had seen enough of the Brad show, so he gave Brad a gentle push back into the discussion and with that push Jeff Gordon pounced and started a brawl with rest of the 2 team. People were bloodied, including Brad K. and the fight was so awesome.
Best on Track Retaliation: Matt Kenseth on Joey Logano
In 2015 Matt Kenseth got maybe the loudest ovation I've heard a driver get. After Logano moved Kenseth for a win at Kansas (a win that Logano didn't exactly need) he got his retribution at Martinsville. After an incident on a restart knocked Kenseth out of contention for the race win, he decided it was time. Down a couple laps already and being lapped by JoLo Kenseth settled their beef by driving straight into the 22 heading into turn 1, he ended Logano's race and title shot. A move that earned Kenseth a 2 race suspension, it was a beautiful moment, go YouTube it.
To end I'm going to build my 4 car stable with a driver and crew chief of the decade. Why 4, because that's what NASCAR allows teams to field for races.
My Championship Team:
#1 Driver: Jimmie Johnson Crew Chief: Chad Knaus
The dynamic duo won 3 championships in the decade and are the only team to win in the 3 different points systems set by NASCAR, they've won the old way, the chase way, and the playoff way. Great duo and any list that talks about best driver and crew chief in the decade better include them.
#2 Driver: Kyle Busch Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
Stevens and Busch weren't together the entire decade but the last 5 years they were the best pair, they got 2 titles and 26 Cup wins. They have been a great team, and Kyle has made a case to be driver of the decade.
#3 Driver: Kevin Harvick Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
They joined forces in 2014 and haven't looked back. They won a championship in their first try. They also transitioned from Chevy to Ford together when SHR decided to switch manufacturers. They've won 22 races together and are considered a contender every year for the championship, something Harvick didn't have until they got together.
#4 Driver: Martin Truex Jr. Crew Chief: Cole Pearn
In the era of big money and big teams dominating the sport, these 2 caught everyone off guard. The 2 got together in 2015 and that was a boon for Truex's career. Joining forces at Denver based Furniture Row Racing, a single car team. They've got 17 wins and a championship. Pearn shocked the racing world announcing he's stepping away from NASCAR. Pearn and Truex were made for each other and how Truex competes next year will be interesting.
That's it for this week, it was a fun one. You can find everything I talked about on Youtube if you want to see some great moments. I'm sure I missed some great things but feel like I hit most of the high points. Next week it's college football, in the meantime hit me up on twitter @derekbredeson.
Drive of the Decade: Tony Stewart 2011 Chase
In 2011 Tony Stewart won his 3rd NASCAR Cup Series Championship. The beauty of that championship was how he won it. He went into the 10 Race Chase (NASCAR's old version of playoffs) with 0 wins and got in on points. Before the chase started, Tony had informed Darian Grubb that he wouldn't be the crew chief for Tony following the season, as Tony was ready to hire Steve Addington to take over after not winning any races in the regular season. Once the Chase started Smoke took over the series and went on to win 5 of the 10 races including the final race at Homestead, and tied Carl Edwards in points for the year, but won the Championship based on a tiebreaker for winning 5 races to Edwards 1. This was the precursor to the current playoff format where if you win, you automatically move on to the next round, and then when Tony won the final race and everybody lost their minds, it made this idea of having the last race count for everything a reality for the sport.
Best change for the sport: The Championship Race
I'm gonna piss off some NASCAR purists, but I love the winner take all race at the end of the year. The NASCAR playoff format is something I really enjoy, it makes the racing more like other sports. Purists don't like that an entire year of racing comes down to 1 race, but I love it. Often in the past teams would open up such huge point leads the last race of the year didn't count, but in the new format you can't stop watching. This is how I spend my Sunday's in the fall, I watch the playoffs every week and love the points movements. The championship race has created great drama and since incorporating the format the winner of the championship has won the race and that's how it should be.
Worst change for the sport: Stage Racing
I don't hate stage racing but the implementation has been terrible. The idea of scoring points in the middle of the race is great, because not getting credit for what you've done in a race does suck. My problem with stages is the breaks and the laps they run. In a race that is 400 laps they'll have stages of 100, 100, and 200 laps each. The crappy part is after stage 1 they throw a yellow and have caution laps. so the 2nd stage maybe goes green with 94 laps left in the stage, so that stage isn't 100 laps anymore, that sucks. Forced cautions are dumb, stopping the race is dumb. To me the perfect answer is, have stages, and when a stage ends keep going under green, pay out the points and keep the race going.
Honorable mention the racing package for 2019, it ruined the good tracks and made the bad tracks racing better but enough to ruin the few good tracks where there is good racing like Martinsville, Phoenix, and Homestead for sure. We get 1 more year of this but hopefully the 2021 car gets the racing back to where we want it.
Biggest Loss(es): Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The decade also saw the 3 biggest giants of the 2000's leave racing full time. No story of the 2010's would be complete without talking about the retirements of Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. probably the 3 drivers who had 95% of the fan base. Their void has been huge. All 3 are still active in the sport but they are missed on the track.
The Champions
2010 Jimmie Johnson (5th Championship) Chase format
2011 Tony Stewart (3rd Championship) Chase format
2012 Brad Keselowski (1st Championship) Chase format
2013 Jimmie Johnson (6th Championship) Chase format
2014 Kevin Harvick (1st Championship) Playoff format
2015 Kyle Busch (1st Championship) Playoff format
2016 Jimmie Johnson (7th Championship) Playoff format
2017 Martin Truex Jr. (1st Championship) Playoff format
2018 Joey Logano (1st Championship) Playoff format
2019 Kyle Busch (2nd Championship) Playoff format
Best Finish: 2016 Daytona 500
It took me this long to talk about my favorite driver, Denny Hamlin. Denny won the 2016 Daytona 500 on a last corner pass of teammate Matt Kenseth and then side drafted the hell out of Martin Truex Jr. to edge him at the line in the closest Daytona 500 ever. The set up was great the 5 Toyota cars stunk up the show and got in line all day and held the other cars behind them all day. Then on the last lap from 4th place Denny jumped in front of Kevin Harvick and got a huge push down the back stretch, he passed Kenseth, then Denny was in 2nd about 20ft before the line before edging past Truex by 4 inches at the line. It was a great finish and I still watch it about once a month, what a great moment.
Best Fight: Jeff Gordon vs Brad Keselowski
2014 was the first year of the playoff format, a year where Brad K tried to piss off everyone in the garage. At Charlotte he had Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin trying to hurt him, then at Texas his antics came to a boil. I'm not sure if the eliminations brought it out of everyone since they had never done it before or if Brad was just having a rough 3 months but the drivers were heated. Then after Texas, Jeff was pissed that Brad came down on him and cut a tire on the 24 car, so after the race they were discussing the incident and when Brad had enough he tried to walk away, enter Kevin Harvick. Harvick much like the rest of us had seen enough of the Brad show, so he gave Brad a gentle push back into the discussion and with that push Jeff Gordon pounced and started a brawl with rest of the 2 team. People were bloodied, including Brad K. and the fight was so awesome.
Best on Track Retaliation: Matt Kenseth on Joey Logano
In 2015 Matt Kenseth got maybe the loudest ovation I've heard a driver get. After Logano moved Kenseth for a win at Kansas (a win that Logano didn't exactly need) he got his retribution at Martinsville. After an incident on a restart knocked Kenseth out of contention for the race win, he decided it was time. Down a couple laps already and being lapped by JoLo Kenseth settled their beef by driving straight into the 22 heading into turn 1, he ended Logano's race and title shot. A move that earned Kenseth a 2 race suspension, it was a beautiful moment, go YouTube it.
To end I'm going to build my 4 car stable with a driver and crew chief of the decade. Why 4, because that's what NASCAR allows teams to field for races.
My Championship Team:
#1 Driver: Jimmie Johnson Crew Chief: Chad Knaus
The dynamic duo won 3 championships in the decade and are the only team to win in the 3 different points systems set by NASCAR, they've won the old way, the chase way, and the playoff way. Great duo and any list that talks about best driver and crew chief in the decade better include them.
#2 Driver: Kyle Busch Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
Stevens and Busch weren't together the entire decade but the last 5 years they were the best pair, they got 2 titles and 26 Cup wins. They have been a great team, and Kyle has made a case to be driver of the decade.
#3 Driver: Kevin Harvick Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
They joined forces in 2014 and haven't looked back. They won a championship in their first try. They also transitioned from Chevy to Ford together when SHR decided to switch manufacturers. They've won 22 races together and are considered a contender every year for the championship, something Harvick didn't have until they got together.
#4 Driver: Martin Truex Jr. Crew Chief: Cole Pearn
In the era of big money and big teams dominating the sport, these 2 caught everyone off guard. The 2 got together in 2015 and that was a boon for Truex's career. Joining forces at Denver based Furniture Row Racing, a single car team. They've got 17 wins and a championship. Pearn shocked the racing world announcing he's stepping away from NASCAR. Pearn and Truex were made for each other and how Truex competes next year will be interesting.
That's it for this week, it was a fun one. You can find everything I talked about on Youtube if you want to see some great moments. I'm sure I missed some great things but feel like I hit most of the high points. Next week it's college football, in the meantime hit me up on twitter @derekbredeson.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
The 2010's Reflection Baseball Edition
The end of the nameless decade is less than a month a way and before we step into the roaring 20's I'm going to take a look back at the last 10 years of the sports I like to talk about. Tonight let's visit the past decade of baseball in the coming weeks I'll talk some NASCAR, College Football, and probably the NFL. Baseball is my first love so let's get into it.
Team of the Decade: San Francisco Giants
Well if it wasn't obvious who I would pick. The Giants won 3 of the 10 World Series, more than any other team, they made the Postseason 4 times, which isn't the most by any means but still respectable. The key to the Giants was great pitching, getting hitting hot at the right time, and great pitching again. My favorite part of the Giants run through the first 5 years of the decade was it was different ace every year. 2010 Tim Lincecum dominated, then 2012 Matt Cain was the horse, and finally 2014 Madison Bumgarner had a dominating postseason. Only a few players were on all 3 teams, most of the 2010 position players didn't stick around, sans Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval who wasn't an every day player in the postseason.
Player of the Decade: Mike Trout
Again the answer was obvious, Trout threw up a 72.5 bWAR and 73.4 fWAR, higher than everyone is baseball for the decade and he didn't play 2010 and only played 40 games in 2011, he basically gave everyone a 2 year head start and nobody was close to him. 285 Home Runs, 200 SBs, while batting over 300 and pushing across 752 RBIs for all you old stats people. He is the most dominate player in baseball and has been for 7 years running.
Now let's pick a starting 9, 5 man rotation and a bullpen (of sorts)
Catcher: Buster Posey
This is a close call between Buster and Yadier Molina, but Buster gets the nod because he's got the hardware. Buster has an MVP, 4X Silver Slugger, batting championship, and of course 3 rings. He truly was the best all around catcher for the decade, sorry best fans in baseball.
First Base: Miguel Cabrera
Again another close call between Miggy and Joey Votto. I give the nod to Miggy with the hardware and the postseason success. Miggy also won the Triple Crown in 2012, if you're into that sort of thing. He even played third most of that Triple Crown season. Miggy was a dominate player in the early part of the decade and even though he's struggled last couple years, I think he did enough to get in the line up.
Second Base: Jose Altuve
Another close call between Altuve and Robinson Cano. This time I'm choosing Altuve for a few reasons, he got a ring and MVP, 3X batting champion, meanwhile Cano has none of those things and a PED suspension, which I'm using to split hairs, I don't care he used. Altuve is a hitting machine and is the heartbeat of the team of the 2nd half of the decade. I think we would all want Altuve in our line up.
Third Base: Adrian Beltre
Man do I want to put Nolan Arenado on that line, but Beltre is going to the Hall of Fame and the work he did from 2010-18 is part of the reason. Dude played amazing defense, hit the absolute shit out of the ball, tallied 3,000 hits in his career, hit 227 homers in the decade. He was a great great player and will have his Cooperstown day in a few years.
Shortstop: Andrelton Simmons
This is one of the tougher choices. Shortstop the first 5 years outside of Tulo was a wasteland. The last 5 years have been amazing with the arrival of so many great young studs. However, Simmons played the entire decade, and mostly because of his defense he led all SS's in bWAR. Simmons can play on this team, gobble the ball up at SS, bat 9th and we'll still win 120 games.
Left Field: Alex Gordon
This sucks, left field has been a wasteland for the decade, I've seen lists with Braun and Yelich on them, but I'm going with Alex Gordon, based on his defense and he played the entire decade out there. He isn't amazing and doesn't have any stats that jump off the page. He won 7 Gold Gloves in the decade, was a 4 WAR player per season the first 5 years. Again, he may not have the biggest numbers but he has a ring and honestly he's probably the purest LF of the decade.
Center Field: Mike Trout
See above for all the reasons Trout belongs on this team. If I could use this space to make a case for Andrew McCutchen as this teams 1st outfielder off the bench. Cutch put up great numbers in the decade and just so happens to be behind the best player in the last 50 years.
Right Field: Giancarlo Stanton
Chicks dig the long ball and so do I. This is a close race between, Stanton, Bryce Harper, and Mookie Betts. I'm giving the nod to Stanton. He was 3rd in the decade in homers with 308, and that was with being hurt for large portions of different seasons. Stanton is the best pure power hitter of our time, signed the longest MLB contract ever and has an MVP award.
Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz
Nelly lead all of MLB in homers in the decade, 346 to be exact. He started the decade in the middle of a power laden Rangers line up that went to back to back World Series, and then he ended the decade in the middle of a power laden Twins line up that made the postseason in 2019. Cruz was awesome and belongs on this team.
So here is the line up
1) Mike Trout CF 72.5 WAR
2) Jose Altuve 2B 38.5 WAR
3) Miguel Cabrera 1B 43.5 WAR
4) Nelson Cruz DH 34.3 WAR
5) Giancarlo Stanton RF 39.9 WAR
6) Adrian Beltre 3B 51 WAR
7) Buster Posey C 42.2 WAR
8) Alex Gordon LF 31.5 WAR
9) Andrelton Simmons SS 36.9 WAR
Now the rotation
The Ace: Clayton Kershaw
Kershaw is a beast, has been the most dominate regular season pitcher of the decade. He belongs on this team, 3 Cy Young awards, 2nd twice, and the MVP in 2014. That's 5 years where he has been either the #1 or #2 pitcher in the NL. He racked up 156 W's if you're into that sort of thing, plus over 2,000 K's in the decade. He truly was the ace of the decade. Only knock is the zero rings which I'm only pointing out for my own amusement.
The #2: Justin Verlander
What would a rotation be without a 2-time Cy Young winner and MVP winner as the 2nd guy to take the mound. Verlander was the absolute beast of the decade. He lead the AL in innings 3 times, and K's 4 times. For comparison in 2011 he had 24 W's 2.40 ERA 250 K's in 251 Innings as a 28 year old, 8 season later he put up 21 W's 2.58 ERA 300 K's in 223 innings. Plus all him domination in between, along with Kershaw they were the best pitchers of last 10 years, and Verlander may be the best of our generation.
The Bulldog: Madison Bumgarner
My staff isn't going to be just the 5 best pitchers of the last 10 years based on regular season numbers. I need that guy who is going to come in and be the bulldog, win you that game that needs won. Say the Wild Card game in 2014 9 innings 4 hits 0 runs 10 K's, or Wild Card game 2016 9 innings 4 hits 0 runs 6 K's. Mad-Bum truly was the bulldog of the decade, he locked it down in the 2010 World Series game 4 as a rookie, he struggled in 2012 postseason but still went 7 shutout innings vs Detroit in the World Series, then in 2014 he went full on Bob Gibson vs the Royals, 21 innings 1 run 17 K's, a complete game shutout in Game 5, plus the greatest relief appearance in World Series history in Game 7. He belongs on every all decade team, not because of his regular season stats but because he was an absolute monster when the lights were the brightest.
The Playoff Warrior: Jon Lester
Lester is another guy who doesn't have the elite numbers but you know what he's done? Pitched in the Postseason 6 times in 10 years. I want that guy on my wall, I need him on my wall. 2013 Posteseason Lester went 34 2/3 innings 6 earned runs and 29 K's for Boston, then in 2016 35 2/3 innings 8 earned runs and 30 K's helping the Cubs get their ring. The dude is a gamer and I want that type of dude on this team.
The Youngin: Jacob deGrom
Want a funny story, Jacob deGrom is older than Mad-Bum, he just debuted 5 years after him, so his innings are much less. Since debuting in 2015 all deGrom has done is, win Rookies of the Year and 2 Cy Youngs, while sporting a 2.62 ERA and racking up 1255 K's in 1100 innings, he is awesome. deGrom has come so far in just 5 years and to be considered one of the greats of the decade is amazing.
The Closer: Craig Kimbrel
He was an absolute shutdown pitcher for 9 of the 10 years, since debuting in 2010 Kimbrel had a career WAR over 20, until 2019 brought him back down with a negative .5 WAR. He lead the NL in saves 4 years in a row. Never had a season below 13 K/9, and has only 1 season where he's given up at 1 hit per inning, again the debacle that was 2019. Kimbrel to me gets the edge as our 9th inning guy.
The Set-Up Man: Sergio Romo
In a game dominated by velocity, Romo has done it differently. He has rode his slider to be the best set up man of the last 10 years. Sergio has done every job in the bullpen, set up man, closer, and even opener, but he was dominate in the 8th inning for a few years, and when I think of the 8th inning guy, he's the dude I think of.
The Relief Ace: Andrew Miller
The Relief Ace is next great thing in baseball, many teams are trying to copy what Andrew Miller did in the middle of the decade for the Yankees and Indians. Starting in 2014 Miller put up ERAs of 2.02 2.04, 1.45, and 1.44 and over 60 innings in all 4 seasons, coming out of the bullpen. He dominated his innings for 4 straight seasons.
That's it, that's the team. It took me a while to put this one together and it may not be perfect but it's what I think would make a great team. There are plenty of guys not mentioned but hey sometimes guys come up at the wrong time. Feel free to yell at me about my homer picks and my blatant disregard for the Cubs, except for that one guy. Let me know your all decade team on twitter @derekbredeson, comment on here or comment on the Facebook link, catch ya next week with some NASCAR decade talk.
Team of the Decade: San Francisco Giants
Well if it wasn't obvious who I would pick. The Giants won 3 of the 10 World Series, more than any other team, they made the Postseason 4 times, which isn't the most by any means but still respectable. The key to the Giants was great pitching, getting hitting hot at the right time, and great pitching again. My favorite part of the Giants run through the first 5 years of the decade was it was different ace every year. 2010 Tim Lincecum dominated, then 2012 Matt Cain was the horse, and finally 2014 Madison Bumgarner had a dominating postseason. Only a few players were on all 3 teams, most of the 2010 position players didn't stick around, sans Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval who wasn't an every day player in the postseason.
Player of the Decade: Mike Trout
Again the answer was obvious, Trout threw up a 72.5 bWAR and 73.4 fWAR, higher than everyone is baseball for the decade and he didn't play 2010 and only played 40 games in 2011, he basically gave everyone a 2 year head start and nobody was close to him. 285 Home Runs, 200 SBs, while batting over 300 and pushing across 752 RBIs for all you old stats people. He is the most dominate player in baseball and has been for 7 years running.
Now let's pick a starting 9, 5 man rotation and a bullpen (of sorts)
Catcher: Buster Posey
This is a close call between Buster and Yadier Molina, but Buster gets the nod because he's got the hardware. Buster has an MVP, 4X Silver Slugger, batting championship, and of course 3 rings. He truly was the best all around catcher for the decade, sorry best fans in baseball.
First Base: Miguel Cabrera
Again another close call between Miggy and Joey Votto. I give the nod to Miggy with the hardware and the postseason success. Miggy also won the Triple Crown in 2012, if you're into that sort of thing. He even played third most of that Triple Crown season. Miggy was a dominate player in the early part of the decade and even though he's struggled last couple years, I think he did enough to get in the line up.
Second Base: Jose Altuve
Another close call between Altuve and Robinson Cano. This time I'm choosing Altuve for a few reasons, he got a ring and MVP, 3X batting champion, meanwhile Cano has none of those things and a PED suspension, which I'm using to split hairs, I don't care he used. Altuve is a hitting machine and is the heartbeat of the team of the 2nd half of the decade. I think we would all want Altuve in our line up.
Third Base: Adrian Beltre
Man do I want to put Nolan Arenado on that line, but Beltre is going to the Hall of Fame and the work he did from 2010-18 is part of the reason. Dude played amazing defense, hit the absolute shit out of the ball, tallied 3,000 hits in his career, hit 227 homers in the decade. He was a great great player and will have his Cooperstown day in a few years.
Shortstop: Andrelton Simmons
This is one of the tougher choices. Shortstop the first 5 years outside of Tulo was a wasteland. The last 5 years have been amazing with the arrival of so many great young studs. However, Simmons played the entire decade, and mostly because of his defense he led all SS's in bWAR. Simmons can play on this team, gobble the ball up at SS, bat 9th and we'll still win 120 games.
Left Field: Alex Gordon
This sucks, left field has been a wasteland for the decade, I've seen lists with Braun and Yelich on them, but I'm going with Alex Gordon, based on his defense and he played the entire decade out there. He isn't amazing and doesn't have any stats that jump off the page. He won 7 Gold Gloves in the decade, was a 4 WAR player per season the first 5 years. Again, he may not have the biggest numbers but he has a ring and honestly he's probably the purest LF of the decade.
Center Field: Mike Trout
See above for all the reasons Trout belongs on this team. If I could use this space to make a case for Andrew McCutchen as this teams 1st outfielder off the bench. Cutch put up great numbers in the decade and just so happens to be behind the best player in the last 50 years.
Right Field: Giancarlo Stanton
Chicks dig the long ball and so do I. This is a close race between, Stanton, Bryce Harper, and Mookie Betts. I'm giving the nod to Stanton. He was 3rd in the decade in homers with 308, and that was with being hurt for large portions of different seasons. Stanton is the best pure power hitter of our time, signed the longest MLB contract ever and has an MVP award.
Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz
Nelly lead all of MLB in homers in the decade, 346 to be exact. He started the decade in the middle of a power laden Rangers line up that went to back to back World Series, and then he ended the decade in the middle of a power laden Twins line up that made the postseason in 2019. Cruz was awesome and belongs on this team.
So here is the line up
1) Mike Trout CF 72.5 WAR
2) Jose Altuve 2B 38.5 WAR
3) Miguel Cabrera 1B 43.5 WAR
4) Nelson Cruz DH 34.3 WAR
5) Giancarlo Stanton RF 39.9 WAR
6) Adrian Beltre 3B 51 WAR
7) Buster Posey C 42.2 WAR
8) Alex Gordon LF 31.5 WAR
9) Andrelton Simmons SS 36.9 WAR
Now the rotation
The Ace: Clayton Kershaw
Kershaw is a beast, has been the most dominate regular season pitcher of the decade. He belongs on this team, 3 Cy Young awards, 2nd twice, and the MVP in 2014. That's 5 years where he has been either the #1 or #2 pitcher in the NL. He racked up 156 W's if you're into that sort of thing, plus over 2,000 K's in the decade. He truly was the ace of the decade. Only knock is the zero rings which I'm only pointing out for my own amusement.
The #2: Justin Verlander
What would a rotation be without a 2-time Cy Young winner and MVP winner as the 2nd guy to take the mound. Verlander was the absolute beast of the decade. He lead the AL in innings 3 times, and K's 4 times. For comparison in 2011 he had 24 W's 2.40 ERA 250 K's in 251 Innings as a 28 year old, 8 season later he put up 21 W's 2.58 ERA 300 K's in 223 innings. Plus all him domination in between, along with Kershaw they were the best pitchers of last 10 years, and Verlander may be the best of our generation.
The Bulldog: Madison Bumgarner
My staff isn't going to be just the 5 best pitchers of the last 10 years based on regular season numbers. I need that guy who is going to come in and be the bulldog, win you that game that needs won. Say the Wild Card game in 2014 9 innings 4 hits 0 runs 10 K's, or Wild Card game 2016 9 innings 4 hits 0 runs 6 K's. Mad-Bum truly was the bulldog of the decade, he locked it down in the 2010 World Series game 4 as a rookie, he struggled in 2012 postseason but still went 7 shutout innings vs Detroit in the World Series, then in 2014 he went full on Bob Gibson vs the Royals, 21 innings 1 run 17 K's, a complete game shutout in Game 5, plus the greatest relief appearance in World Series history in Game 7. He belongs on every all decade team, not because of his regular season stats but because he was an absolute monster when the lights were the brightest.
The Playoff Warrior: Jon Lester
Lester is another guy who doesn't have the elite numbers but you know what he's done? Pitched in the Postseason 6 times in 10 years. I want that guy on my wall, I need him on my wall. 2013 Posteseason Lester went 34 2/3 innings 6 earned runs and 29 K's for Boston, then in 2016 35 2/3 innings 8 earned runs and 30 K's helping the Cubs get their ring. The dude is a gamer and I want that type of dude on this team.
The Youngin: Jacob deGrom
Want a funny story, Jacob deGrom is older than Mad-Bum, he just debuted 5 years after him, so his innings are much less. Since debuting in 2015 all deGrom has done is, win Rookies of the Year and 2 Cy Youngs, while sporting a 2.62 ERA and racking up 1255 K's in 1100 innings, he is awesome. deGrom has come so far in just 5 years and to be considered one of the greats of the decade is amazing.
The Closer: Craig Kimbrel
He was an absolute shutdown pitcher for 9 of the 10 years, since debuting in 2010 Kimbrel had a career WAR over 20, until 2019 brought him back down with a negative .5 WAR. He lead the NL in saves 4 years in a row. Never had a season below 13 K/9, and has only 1 season where he's given up at 1 hit per inning, again the debacle that was 2019. Kimbrel to me gets the edge as our 9th inning guy.
The Set-Up Man: Sergio Romo
In a game dominated by velocity, Romo has done it differently. He has rode his slider to be the best set up man of the last 10 years. Sergio has done every job in the bullpen, set up man, closer, and even opener, but he was dominate in the 8th inning for a few years, and when I think of the 8th inning guy, he's the dude I think of.
The Relief Ace: Andrew Miller
The Relief Ace is next great thing in baseball, many teams are trying to copy what Andrew Miller did in the middle of the decade for the Yankees and Indians. Starting in 2014 Miller put up ERAs of 2.02 2.04, 1.45, and 1.44 and over 60 innings in all 4 seasons, coming out of the bullpen. He dominated his innings for 4 straight seasons.
That's it, that's the team. It took me a while to put this one together and it may not be perfect but it's what I think would make a great team. There are plenty of guys not mentioned but hey sometimes guys come up at the wrong time. Feel free to yell at me about my homer picks and my blatant disregard for the Cubs, except for that one guy. Let me know your all decade team on twitter @derekbredeson, comment on here or comment on the Facebook link, catch ya next week with some NASCAR decade talk.
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