Kudos to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred for the suspension of Astros manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow for their involvement in electronic sign stealing during the team’s 2017 World Series winning season.
Those weren’t the only penalty for the team and the manager and the g.m. The team was fined $5 million and lost its 2020 and 2021 first and second round draft choices.
For nearly 40 years, writer Jeff Swiatek and Ronald Hawkins have shared competing picks regarding the upcoming Major League Baseball season. The person with the most correct picks is the beneficiary of a dinner from his opponent.
An opening day in Cincinnati. Photo by Ronald Hawkins.
This tradition began when the writers were working at a daily newspaper in Carlisle, Pa. Hawkins has moved many times and Swiatek a few times with both somehow ending up in Indiana. Despite the moves, the competition has continued unabated.
Hawkins has completed his 2019 predictions and has agreed to post them here. He confesses to being a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, but isn’t blinded to the challenges the team faces in the 150 anniversary of Cincinnati claiming the first all-professional team.
The predictions:
2019
Major League Baseball Predictions
Division/Pennant/world series winners
National League
East: Philadelphia Phillies
Central: Milwaukee Brewers
West: Los Angeles Dodgers
Wild Card: St. Louis Cardinals
Wild Card: Atlanta Braves
Playoffs
National League
Braves over Cardinals
Dodgers over Braves
Phillies over Brewers
Phillies over Dodgers
American League
East: New York Yankees
Central: Cleveland Indians
West: Houston Astros
Wild Card: Boston Red Sox
Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays
Playoffs
Red Sox over Rays
Houston over Red Sox
Yankees over Cleveland
Houston over Yankees
World Series
Phillies
over Astros
Individual
Honors
National League
Average: Jesse Winker
Home Runs: Christian Yelich
Wins: Max Scherzer
American League
Average: Mookie Betts
Home Runs: Aaron Judge
Wins: Corey Kluber
ODDITIES
Reds
win 87 games and barely miss the playoffs
Bryce
Harper and Manny Machado each miss 26 games
Machado
benched for failing to hustle.
Christian
Yelich hits for the cycle again, the third time in two years, but this time it
isn’t against the Reds.
Winker
has a six hit game.
Harper
hits six homers over two games.
Ten
games are showed out in March and the first week of April
The “Baseball Dreams and Memories” exhibit at the Martinsville main branch of the Morgan County Public Library is now open and is scheduled to there through March 31. The library is open seven days per week, but the hours vary depending on the day of the week. For more information about the library, http://morgancountylibrary.info/
Here’s a taste of what of what the exhibit looks like:
RDH Great Stories 