Early contenders

The season started on Thursday 31^st March  and finished on Wed 28^th September and is the first time a season has started on a Thursday since 1976. Early contenders were the Philadelphia Phillies, who got off to an amazing start, despite their highest average age for a position player of 31.5 years, not bad for a team made up of veterans. The Yankees are always ‘there or there abouts’  and it helped when early on in the season Mark Teixera hit a third consecutive home run in three consecutive days and by early April the Yanks had hit an astonishing 27 homers in the first 14 games. In the NL The Brewers also got off to a flyer and by the all star break had the NL’s best home record at 33-14. This was clearly helped by one of the outstanding players of the season, Ryan Braun. Despite failing to sign 2011′s biggest free agent pitcher Cliff Lee, the Texas Rangers  didn’t lose a game until April 19^th against the Orioles and as a result were the last team to record a loss

Not so rans

Whilst some teams were riding high, lets take a look at some of the teams who were having a season they’d rather forget. The Houston Astros had the unenviable recognition of losing over 100 games in a season and were the only team in the MLB to do so. Equally this was also the first team in the franchises 50 year history to do so. The Minnesota Twins were probably surprised to find themselves in this position after finishing in first place the year before, but the bottom line is that they just weren’t good enough. The Mariners haven’t made it to the dizzy heights of the play-off’s for ten long years and it showed. After a coaching change in October 2010 when Eric Wedge was hired, the fans were optimistic, but unfortunately it was short lived.

Outstanding players

So who really shone during the hectic MLB baseball schedule?

Mat Kemp from the LA Dodgers had an outstanding season. and finished just one home run short of that famous 40/40 club. Jose Bautista is 31 years of age but that still didn’t stop him hitting 43 homers for the Blue Jays this season. Miguel Cabrera is the spearhead of the Detroit offense and has been rock solid this season. Milwaukee had Ryan Braun to thank for the best home record of 2011 and is one of the reasons why they won the NL central title.

Most disappointing players

Every season begins optimistically for teams fans and players alike, and some players are regarded as pivotal in their team’s success. Unfortunately some players simply don’t live up to these expectations, so  let’s take a look and see who failed to ‘step up to the plate’ when it really mattered.

Adam Dunn -  Chicago Whitesox

Over the last seven seasons Dunn had averaged over 40 home runs and 100 RBI, so more was expected of the same when he signed for the ‘sox’ as a free agent at the start of the season. However he seemed to have left his playing ability at his former team and his shockingly bad 11 home runs, 42 RBI and 165 strike out’s in 115 games does not make good reading.

Hanley Ramirez -Florida Marlins

The ‘Fish’ had a lot of their hopes pinned on Ramirez, but unfortunately shoulder surgery ended his season early on. However by this time, it had already started to go wrong and as a result had still only managed to hit 10 homers an average of just .243.

The world series

Last year’s champions the Giants were eliminated from contention post season which left it open for the Yankees, the Tigers, Tampa Bay and Texas Rangers to compete from the AL and the Cardinals, the Phillies, The Brewers and the Diamondbacks from the NL. In the Semi’s the Rangers beat the Tigers 4-2  and the Cardinals beat the Brewers by the very same score leaving St Louis and Texas to compete. At present it is one game apiece so there is everything to play for.

There you have it, the 2011 baseball season and how it panned out. If your team didn’t ‘cut the mustard’ then there’s always 2012 to look forward to.