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The word 'special' somehow doesn't do enough justice when describing the 2023 MLB season on the grandest diamond. What a season it was as we literally saw it all. From unreal stats offensively; epic standings flips; and a two-way superstar that gave baseball something it hasn't seen in near a century. Mix in rookie phenoms; culture elevatin' play and swag; oh and of course a giant farewell(s) that flips MLB to it's next chapter and era.
With a season like this- it's hard to not write a damn book to recap it. So much epic moments and pure noise. I will try and keep things relatively short while recappin' the best moments as well as droppin' my yearly awards; Silver Sluggers (MLB); and my All-MLB squad. 2023 speak to me!
Lately we have seen sports leagues give proper and respected farewell tours to icons that immortalized their names in sports. Kobe Bryant (RIP) and Dwayne Wade had awesome tributes across their final seasons on the hardwood in the NBA. Kobe's farewell was marvelous. The UFC sounded off that same chord a few weeks ago as they bid The Korean Zombie farewell the best way they could. Farewell tours are a MUST for those deserving. Major League Baseball has joined the fray and added another job well done in 2023.
Baseball does right here and there as Yankees' legends Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera had perfect exits orchestrated by the league and teams. Cal Ripkin Jr. as well, back in the day. MLB did awesome once again with the farewell tour of Miguel Cabrera in 2023- arguably the purest hitter of the 21st century.
Outside of St. Louis, I thought we dropped the ball with bidding farewell to Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. Pujols especially. It was good to see the alternative with Miguel Cabrera gettin' his love across the season by the league and all 30 clubs. Miggy's last game was SPECIAL. Kudos to the Detroit Tigers and all involved in puttin' everything together to honor him. The other teams giving him a quick ceremony and gifting him respect and a memento was amazing to see. So awesome and well deserved. Kudos to them as well. Miggy delivered the first Triple Crown in baseball since 1967 and was a generational hitter. The game will miss him, but will never forget him. If you adore Miguel Cabrera or are a Tigers' fan who didn't read my farewell blog on Cabrera- check it out .
Trea Turner signed a mega 11/YR $300 million contract with the Phillies and did not play up to the contract most of the season in his first campaign in Philadelphia. Welp, after August 4th that all changed thanks to a show of support from the Phillies' faithful that gave us one of the best moments of the season.
I wasn't in Citizens Bank Park on the 4th of August to be able to describe the smell in the air upon the Phillies fans standing up and cheering as Turner walked to the plate. The crowd just acted. An action that kickstarted a power inside Trea Turner that we hadn't seen all season. A showing of support is all Trea Turner needed.
Baseball is a game with many rituals and weird jujus. Players of the sport know what I mean. When players get into a slump, they think of any possible way to get that bad juju off them. I have seen so many outlandish attempts of a player trying to get out of a slump when in reality it's pure overthinking (myself included). In this case, all Trea Turner needed was motivation. He needed to know his fans are still there to back him up. Rather when he is down or up: they are behind him.
Post the ovation, Turner ended the final two months as one of the hottest players in all of baseball as he multiplied his power stats; batting average; and advanced batting stats. The resurgence gave himself as well as his club, a unreal confidence wave and just in time for the playoffs. If the Phillies finish their story and win the World Series- this standing ovation will be talked about for decades inside Philadelphia sports fandom.
For most of the season, baseball fans had the pleasure to witness a two-way player so elite he was compared to a player that most alive actually didn't witness. 2023 for a short time, gave us the greatest player all-around that baseball has seen... ever.
Babe Ruth was stellar, and has tales of fiction around him that has shined his name for decades. That was 1930 and in a time that genetics and evolution couldn't hang weight in comparison to our modern day. Also a time that was ancient to the point that we don't have color footage to prove all the greatness (just saying). Today we have footage. Today we have proof. For a summer we got to witness greatness in the truest of form. Want a fact? A real fact in stone with no ponder: Ruth was no Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani was playing the best two-way season of all-time prior to his devastating injury news in August, in which I won't discuss again on this post. Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to have 40 homeruns and 10 wins as a pitcher in the same season. He was on pace to win the Cy Young and MVP but not in a Verlander a way- in the Ohtani two way. Shohei's season from April to August was that of possibly the best athlete on the planet and was setting up a contract unlike anything seen in the Big 4. Ohtani had a season we will talk about for decades and decades. Now we pray that he can somehow return to that level of play again after getting Tommy John surgery for the second time.
We had records be broken with historic offensive play across the season in Atlanta. Led by Ronald Acuna Jr's unprecedented 40/70 season, the Braves also had crazy production from Matt Olson; Austin Riley; Ozzie Albies; and Marcell Ozuna. Only four teams in MLB history have had three 40-homerun hitters in the same season: '73 Braves; '96 Rockies; '97 Rockies; and now the 2023 Braves with Olson (54); Ozuna (40); and Acuna (41) eclipsing 40. The Braves had five players with more than 30 homers if you include Albies (33) and Riley (37).
The Braves tied the 2019 Twins for the most homeruns hit as a team in a season with 307. They also rank 19th all-time in most RBIs by a team in MLB history. Matt Olson smashed in 139 of those runs batted in, the most in the league by a player since Miguel Cabrera's 139 in 2012. The Braves did a lot of their damage in the first inning as they broke a slew of records related to fast scoring. The Braves were incredible to watch hit the baseball this season. The offense is the biggest reason the Braves had the most wins of any club in 2023.
Ronald Acuna Jr. takes most of the cred as he punched out 2023 with one of the greatest seasons from the plate in MLB history. Acuna went full out John T. Teller and founded several new clubs amongst batting's elite. Five players, including Acuna, can say they are a part of the illustrious 40/40 club. Out of those 5, Acuna was the only one to go even higher. 30/60? Check. 40/60? Check. 40/70!? You bet your a**. The last 40/40 was in 2006 making the chances of someone joining Acuna's 40/70 club extremely slim. What a season.
For us to witness Ohtani's two-way season and Acuna's 40/70 season in the same season is unreal. Baseball is building it's prestige back up. We are turning to special times across the world of baseball. Acuna is only 25 years old- he's going to be back and wanting more. We may not even be near his peak yet. So many electric players made up 2023 and make up the future.
We had a slew, and I mean a SLEW of newcomers introduce their names to The Show this season. The young cats immediately transformed into young risers and impact players on the diamond in year one of their careers adding more poise and light for the future of baseball. Every week we either saw a crazy web gem; a towering blast; or a-grade bat flips off the shine of a rookie. The rookie infestation immediately took over the big leagues and helped add more fun and exciting vibes to the culture of baseball. MLB has so many young superstars who are talented as ever on the diamond and swaggy as ever off of it. The future of baseball is in incredible hands which sees the passing of Miguel Cabrera feel a little less sad (I still cry). Manfred goes away and baseball is going to ELEVATE.
From game-breaking risers in Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson and Arizona's Corbin Carroll to star-studded pitchers who had eyes on not just a Rookie of the Year, but a Cy Young in the Mets' Kodai Senga and Cleveland's Tanner Bibee. Unreal production out the gates of a career and those are just four. Kodai Senga isn't the only International signing that balled out in year one as a MLB rook: Red Sox' Japanese signing Masataka Yoshida showed real promise on the offensive side of things at the plate for Boston. Poor on defense but still made real impact at the plate and should only improve. Yoshida was joined by another rook in Triston Casas, who made himself known along with Masataka as a guy who wants to be a pillar for the Red Sox in the future. Casas and Yankees rookie Anthony Volpe showed that we may have some new power hitters out of the AL East and two to see square off in Yankees-Red Sox games in the future.
The Reds made the most noise in regards to rookies raising the roof. Cincy was one of the most entertaining clubs in baseball during the meat of the regular season, led by the arrival of Elly De La Cruz and Elly-Mania and bonded together by the production of SP Andrew Abbott; SS Matt McLain; and IF/OF Spencer Steer. De La Cruz got the attention for his game-breaking speed; elite arm strength; and straight swagger on the grind- but Steer; Abbott; and McLain (prior to missing September) deserve some major recognition as they almost lifted the Reds to a playoff berth a year after the club lost 100 games. That's the kind of impact that was made by rookies. I think we all were lowkey rootin' for the Reds to make the playoffs despite the chance of them probably being swept in the first round (they are young..). To come down to the final week after a rollercoaster of slumps and streaks: the Reds rookies were a storm and elevate the potential of the club tremendously.
If those guys didn't make enough impact for you: I still have yet to mention the Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll who is a top candidate for Rookie of the Year. The young riser was 7th in Runs (116); 3rd in Stolen Bases (54); and 2nd in Triples (10). A's rookie Esteury Ruiz stole 67 BASES this season, just six shy of Acuna. Ruiz's 67 is the 13th most all-time by a rookie.
Back to Carroll, he possessed electric speed mixed with electric plate vision and topped off with a swift meter of power to springboard him to a league known name and one of the better rookie campaigns in sometime. To see two rookies snag 50+ stolen bases, is crazy. Carroll showed he can do it all, being a pillar to a playoff clinching D-backs squad & continues to be a fixture for the D-backs as they are up 1-0 against the Dodgers in the NLDS. Carroll isn't alone as a rookie fighting for a crack at The Fall Classic: Texas 3B Josh Jung; Baltimore 3B/SS Gunnar Henderson; Minnesota 3B Royce Lewis; and Baltimore reliever Yennier Cano are notable rooks that are being put in big spots to produce and help bolster their clubs to the next round and on. What a year for the rookies. The future is bright.
I talked about all the good things that came from 2023... but as always there is a few bad things. The A's and Royals combining for 106-218... not so good. The umpiring in whole... not so good. There was also a horrific pitching stat-line and two guys who repeated a stat from last year they were hoping not to repeat.
Kyle Schwarber and Eugenio Suarez were number one and number two in most strikeouts at the plate- Schwarber had the most with 215 and Suarez was straight behind him with 214. Both players led the majors in strikeouts last year, and now do it again this year. Adding a much higher amount in this go around. Not a fun stat to have. The Mariners and Phillies are ok with tradin' those Ks for the power numbers. Especially in regards to Philadelphia and Schwarber, as Kyle smashed 47 homers this season for the Phillies (2nd in MLB). Schwarber is the 4th Phillies player ever to record back-to-back 40-homer campaigns joining Mike Schmidt; Ryan Howard; and Chuck Klein.
An even worse stat than that? ALL of the stats of Royals starting pitcher Jordan Lyles. This cat stunk up the entire diamond every time he stepped on the mound this season. Lyles led all pitchers in losses with 17 going 6-17 on the mound with a league high 6.28 ERA. Lyles tied a league high in complete games (3)! He went 0-3 with 12 combined earned-runs (4 each) though. Not sure if you can look at that as a positive in his case.
Lyles continues to be awful on the mound in the big leagues, which has his longevity scratchin' my head. Lyles is 72-107 with a 5.24 lifetime ERA in his career across 13 years in the big leagues. Again, mind blown. Time for the cat to hang 'em up. No way the Royals are to bring him back next season full-time in the starting rotation. They need to create a winning culture. Jordan Lyles will never help a club in havin' a winning culture.
After some time spent brainstorming and collecting an opinion, I officially have my award winners; All-Teams; and All Silver Slugger Team to present. Some of the awards came with difficulty; so I am sure you will find a few you disagree with. I took a lot of things in question for each selection. It's not all about WAR, you dorks. While some were difficult; some were also quite easy. I am sure we all can agree on Ronald Acuna Jr. being the NL MVP, right!?
Lets start with the awards. I have my AL and NL award winners as well as special All-MLB award winners that looks at the players in one full pool. First, the AL and NL:
AL:
NL:
Now we talk elite. Throw out AL/NL. Here are my All-MLB awards and full awards including Comeback Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year:
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