April Surprises

People tend to overreact to small sample sizes.  Baseball season lasts six months, so what happens in April won't necessarily look the same when we get to September.  So far we've seen certain players and teams get off to hot starts while others have been massive disappointments.  While it may be too early to know which trends are legitimate and which ones are a mirage, it's still interesting to look at some of the surprises from the early season schedule.

• The Red Sox are the best team in baseball.  Not bad for a team that few expected to even make the
  
  playoffs, but Boston seems to have turned things around after suffering through last year's nightmare season.  The Sox have the league's best record (18-7) and best run differential (+40).
• Clay Buchholz (5-0, 1.19 ERA, 1.01 WHIP) leads a rotation desperate for redemption and has put himself in the early season race for the AL Cy Young.
• David Ortiz is the hottest hitter in baseball.  Now this is a small sample size, even by April standards, considering Ortiz started the season on the DL.  Since his return, he's hit .516/.529/.871 with 2 HRs and 5 doubles in 8 games.
• Boston benefited from a four game sweep at home of the lowly Astros.  But is Houston really that bad?  Ok, yes they are, but that was to be expected from a team what has a combined payroll that costs less than what A-Rod is getting paid this year to not play for the Yankees.  Despite having few household names in their lineup, their offense hasn't been as awful as you might think.  Their 98 runs scored is better than 13 other teams. 
• That number is partially inflated by one 16 run game against Seattle pitchers not named King Felix, but it still counts.  Their offense probably won't remain league average for long, but they might not be as bad as expected.  The pitching on the other hand is as bad as advertised.  148 runs against is easily the worst in the league.

Revis to the Bucs

It's not often that the best player at his position gets traded.  Especially when it's one of those vital, difficult to fill positions.  It's even more rare for those types of trades to actually work out for both sides.  Yet in this case... it actually does make sense for both teams.

The New York Jets completed their long rumored trade by sending star CB Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay for the 13th overall selection in this week's draft, along with a conditional pick next year (a 4th round pick that becomes a 3rd rounder if Revis remains on the Bucs 2014 roster). 

So why did each side make this deal?

Why the Bucs did the deal
Revis is widely considered to be the league's top cornerback after making 4 Pro Bowls in his first 6

seasons.  He quickly developed a reputation for shutting down the league's top receivers by blanketing them with his physical play and great instincts.  Opposing receivers around the league dreaded being stranded on "Revis Island."  The only reason he doesn't find his name at the top of the list for INTs and passes defended more often is because most QBs are afraid to even throw in his direction.  He's capable of forcing a team to change their game plan by taking their top receiver out of the game and making teams beat them another way.  There are few defenders that can have such a drastic impact on the game.  Revis is not only the best at his position, he may be the best defensive player in the entire league.

NBA Season Awards

With the playoffs about to begin, it's an exciting time around the NBA.  More so than any season in recent memory it seems like a number of high profile players suffered devastating injuries that derailed hopeful contenders.  Andrew Bynum, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, and Danny Granger are just a handful of stars that missed most, or all, of the season.  Others, like Kobe Bryant and Danilo Gallinari, fell to injuries of their own late in the season, impacting the playoff fates of their respective teams. 

Now that the regular season has come to a close, it's time to reflect on the season and hand out some awards to players that did have a big impact on the season.

MVP
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Chris Paul
4. Carmelo Anthony
5. James Harden

There is only one option for the top spot on the ballot.  While the other players on this list had phenomenal

seasons, anyone that doesn't vote for LeBron as MVP deserves to have their voting privileges taken away.  When an all time great player has perhaps his greatest season ever, he deserves to be the run away winner.

Let's see - best player on the best team?  Check.  Miami finished with 66 wins, which was 6 wins more than the next best team.  Over the past decade, only one team has won more games in a season (Dallas won 67 in '06-'07).  Two teams equaled the 66 win mark in that span, with one of them being a LeBron led Cavs team (the other was the '07-'08 Celtics in the first year of the Big Three).  Their lofty win total was fueled by a 27 game win streak that stands as the second longest streak ever.

Kobe's Achilles

The Lakers push for the final playoff spot in the West received a devastating blow when Kobe Bryant collapsed to the ground with what is feared to be a torn Achilles.  Such an injury would not only put an end to any hopes of the Lakers putting up a fight in the first round of the playoffs (if they even make it now), but it also could put an end to Bryant's career in a Lakers uniform.

Recovery from a torn Achilles can take anywhere from three months to a year, which would certainly take

Kobe out of the equation for the rest of the season - no matter how far the Lakers progress without him.  What remains to be seen is how much the injury could potentially impact next season, which would be the last season remaining on his current contract with the Lakers.  A worst case scenario could have Kobe missing an entire year with the injury, which could mean he could become a free agent before ever stepping back on the court for the Lakers.

Why the DH is good for baseball

It's been 40 years since the designated hitter was introduced to MLB and there still remains a wide split within the game regarding those in favor of the position and those that oppose it.  With the Houston Astros moving to the AL this year, putting an uneven 15 teams in each league and adding an interleague series to the schedule throughout the season, the DH will be in the spotlight now more than ever.

There are still many in the game of baseball that prefer the old school rules of the National League.  Having the pitcher hit at the bottom of the lineup creates a more strategic game with a greater emphasis on manager decisions.  A lot of managers prefer the NL rules because it gives them more control in the outcome of the game, which leads to them receiving more credit when they succeed.  Bench players are used more for pinch hitting or running.  A manager needs to decide whether to pinch hit for a pitcher that is still throwing strong in favor of increasing their odds of a timely hit with a man in scoring position late in a game.  The art of the sacrifice bunt comes into use far more often, as most teams will ask their pitcher to bunt whenever they are given the opportunity to move runners over.  Some pitchers prefer playing in the NL because they actually like getting the opportunity to hit.  If nothing else, they certainly enjoy facing weaker lineups where they get to face the opposing pitcher a couple times per game.

There are enough people in the game that favor these rules to keep the old school NL style around, but the DH used in the AL still has an important place in baseball.  For starters, it creates stronger lineups, which leads to more scoring.  They say chicks dig the long ball.  In general, fans are in favor of more scoring.  This is particularly the case with the casual fans, who aren't typically drawn in by low scoring pitching duels.  MLB is a business, so their top priority is to draw fans in order to make money.