By Danny Blumenthal and Josh Jaffe
Sports Writers
As the Major League Baseball regular season winds down, fans at Jamesville-DeWitt High School are excited about the awards that are given out, such as MVP and Cy Young, and for the 2013 playoffs and World Series. This year has had some ups and downs. All baseball fans have been ashamed of the players who were suspended for involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. This year is also Mariano Rivera’s final season after nearly 20 years in the Major Leagues. Many players, such as Chris Davis, Alex Rodriguez, and Ichiro Suzuki have achieved important milestones this season. Rookies Yasiel Puig, Jose Fernandez, and Matt Harvey have made a very big impact. Puig has aided the L.A. Dodgers’ move from last to first place in their division; Fernandez was a bright spot for a terrible Miami Marlins team; and Harvey lead the New York Mets before an injury to his arm.
At J-DHS, many people’s favorite team is the New York Yankees, but they haven’t been playing up to their usual greatness. Many key players, such as Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter have been injured for most of the season. CC Sabathia and other Yankee players have not been playing as well as they usually do. Some scary statistics include that the Yankees went 28 consecutive games without a right-handed player hitting a homerun from June 26 to July 27. Yankees fans’ fears came true; this was one of the few times since the 1990s that they will not make the postseason, even though freshman Ryan Collins believed in them. However, other students don’t have faith in their team. “The Red Sox are the reason the Yankees aren’t going to make the playoffs. (The Yankees) suffered too many blows down the stretch to teams also contending in the Wild Card race. The Yankees just didn’t have enough time to get those games back,” said senior Alex Way.
Even though some had faith that the Yankees would make the playoffs, few people seem to think that they will win the World Series. In fact, both Way and senior Adam Resestartis think that the Red Sox, the Yankees’ biggest rival, will win the World Series. Way believes the Red Sox will win because “their lineup is just stacked!” Boston leads the Major Leagues with over 800 runs this season, according to ESPN.com. Senior Sam Clemons, also thinks the Red Sox will win because “they have strong pitching.” Collins’ pick to win it all is the St. Louis Cardinals, and they have the most runs in the National League.
According to senior Ryan Mulvihill, the Cardinals also have the MVP of the National League, catcher Yadier Molina, a main force in their lineup batting well over .300, according to baseball.reference.com. In the AL, Collins believes that Mike Trout will win the MVP award. Trout is hitting .326, which is second in the AL behind Miguel Cabrera, who is Way’s pick to win the MVP. According to ESPN.com, Cabrera leads the AL in batting average with a .349 average and is tied for first in RBIs with Chris Davis. They each have 136. Davis also leads the American League with 51 home runs. It should be a very close contest between the three players for MVP.
One of the biggest storylines of the year was the Biogenesis scandal. Thirteen baseball players were suspended for using steroids, according to yahoo.sports.com. The players are believed to have received the steroids from the Biogenesis clinic in Miami, Fla. The most notable players suspended were Ryan Braun, the 2011 NL MVP, and Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod), the Yankee third baseman. For 11 of the players, this was a first time offense, so they only received a 50 game suspension. That is a little less than one third of the regular season. However, even though Ryan Braun and A-Rod are technically first time offenders, they have been linked to steroids before and they were punished with more severe suspensions. Braun got a 65 game suspension, which was the rest of the 2013 season. A-Rod received an incredible 211 game suspension. This was meant to eliminate him for the rest of the 2013 and entire 2014 season, but he is appealing the suspension. A-Rod is a very publicized figure and many students at J-DHS weighted in. “It’s stupid what these players are doing, and they are a disgrace to the game. I think that if they are caught more than once, they should banned for life, especially A-Rod,” said Adam Resetartis, Senior. Way also believes A-rod shouldn’t be allowed to play baseball again.
This season will be the last for Yankees greats Mariano “Mo” Rivera after 19 seasons. Rivera announced his retirement before the season started and has gotten many gifts from teams around the league. Donations have been given to Rivera’s foundation, and Rivera has received a golden record of “Enter Sandman,” the song that is played whenever he enters a game at Yankee Stadium, a surfboard, and a rocking chair made of broken bats. Mariano Rivera’s number 42 has been retired by the Yankees as well. Mariano Rivera will always be remembered as one of the greatest pitchers ever. No matter if you are a Yankees or a die-hard Boston fan, all of the students at J-DHS has the same reaction to Mariano’s farewell season. “It’s upsetting to see a legend like him to leave the game but it is time for him to go and I think its really cool how much respect other teams and players have for him and that shows the good side of the game,” said Boston fan, Resetarits. Clemons said “Even though I am a Red Sox fan, I have a lot of respect for him because I think he is a very humble person and probably one of the greatest closers ever.”