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(AP)
The 2033 season is over and congratulations are in order for the Santo Domingo Rum Runners. It is the first time this proud franchise has taken home the Brewmasters Cup since being rebranded after the Virginia scandal that rocked the BLB in 1999. Since that time Death Valley/Santo Domingo has gone to the playoffs an amazing 24 times but could never quite get over the hump. Their GM was also 0-6 in previous Brewmaster Cup appearances. Well those dubious streaks are over and all hail our new champions. With that being said congratulations are also in order for the runner up Philadelphia Freedom. In what many consider the most dramatic postseason in BLB history the Freedom took the Rum Runners to Game 7 extra innings before finally falling 2-1 in the 12th inning.
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The Brewski's
The Daily Keg is excited to announce the 4th annual Brewski Awards show. After pouring over the season the selection committee has announced the the winners for the following awards, some serious...some not so serious. So without further delay here we go.
Player of the Year
C Ian James, SDR - The 1.1 pick of 2023 finally led the Rum Runners to the promised land. During the season he hit .333/.399/.566 with 25 HR's, 71 RBIs and posted a 7.3 WAR, second best in the league. He was selected to his 9th straight All-Star game and hit .296 in the playoffs with 3 HR's and 13 RBI's.
2030 winner: 3B Johnny 'Big Stick' Swope, SEA
2031 winner: 1B Turell 'Two Ton' Morris, MAI
2032 winner: 3B Johnny 'Big Stick' Swope, SEA
Hitter of the Year
1B Manny Quezada - Finally having the breakout season that management dreamed about he finished the 2033 campaign by hitting .300/.422/.611 with 45 HR's and 115 RBI's. His monster September propelled him past Johnny Swope in the voters eyes and denied Swope his 4th straight Stout Slugger while Quezada won his first.
2030 winner: 1B Turell 'Two Ton' Morris, MAI
2031 winner: RF Ron 'Vampire' Hutchison, HAR
2032 winner: 1B Jermaine Williams, IND
Pitcher of the Year
P Pat Arballo, WAS - The 28 year old single handily kept the Bats afloat amidst injuries and a slow offensive start. In the end he finished off the year by going 19-7 with a 2.81 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 7.0 WAR.
2030 winner: Manabu Hamada, DEN
2031 winner: Manabu Hamada, DEN
2032 winner: Noel Graham, MAI
Rookie of the Year
2B Tom Martin, NYK - Selected in 2028 with the 8th pick of the 2nd round, Martin played in 28 games in 2032 before playing in 132 this last season. Over the course of the year he hit .285/.371/.485 with 20 HR's, 56 RBI's, and a 5.2 WAR. He was an IL All-Star, the IL Designated Driver at second base, and was also the IL Refreshing New Brew winner.
2030 winner: 1B Pat Walton, HAR
2031 winner: 2B Alex Arana, SDR
2032 winner: 1B Dave Perry, PIT
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All-State Hands Award
(Given to the player with the most total chances and no errors...who doesn't play primarily first base)
CF Tom White, SDR- Playing center field for the Rum Runners he had 329 total chances and never recorded an error. He also posted a +5.7 ZR in 109 games.
2030 winner: RF Dusty Janson, DEN
2031 winner: LF Jamie Hendon, NY
2032 winner: CF Gil Banda, SEA
Army Ranger Sniper Award
(Given to the catcher with the highest runner thrown out percentage with a minimum of 30 attempts)
C Tristan Logan, SEA - During the year 56 runners attempted to steal a base with Logan behind the plate and he threw out 22 of them for a RTO % of 39.3, over 5% points higher than second place.
2030 winner: C Micah Gordon, WIL
2031 winner: C Ian 'Pickles' James, SDR
2032 winner: C Landon McClelland, PHI
Frank Abagnale, Jr Award
(Given to the player who stole at least 20 bases and was caught the least)
RF R.J. Kapper, PIT - On pace for another record year...again...before being derailed by injury...again...Kapper stole 35 bases in 37 attempts, good enough for first place with a 94.5% success rate.
2030 winner: CF Pat Welch, BAT
2031 winner: LF Akiyuki Kimura, MAI
2032 winner: RF R.J. Kapper, PIT
Ludacris Award
(Given to the player who got hit with the most pitches)
1B Joy-shan Guo - While most at the top of the leader board got hit an average of 10-12 times Guo found himself on the other end of the baseball 20 times. No wonder he had his lowest batting average of his career at .246 because he was too busy getting ready to leap out of the way.
2030 winner: 1B Geoff 'Mr. Reliable' Dail, MIA
2031 winner: 2B Dave 'Bulldog' Bickford, NY
2032 winner: 2B Tristan Hagen, HAR
Broadside of the Barn Award
(Given to the player with the highest strikeouts per plate appearance)
C Jaime 'Dodo' Bushnell - From being invited to the 2030 All-Star game to striking out a league high 28.4% of the time in 2033 is a long way to fall for a 30 year old. Since he's making over $18m a year the Tobs are probably hoping he regresses back to 2030 form.
2030 winner: LF Sayid bin Sariyah, LAD
2031 winner: C Sean Gallion, SYR
2032 winner: 1B Tom Lewis, MAI
Swing For Between the Infielders Award
(Given to the player with the most hits but no home runs)
RF Tom Lyon, PHO - In 392 at bats he racked up 115 hits by ways of 86 singles, 25 doubles, four triples...and 0 home runs. Last season he went on a power surge and knocked five out in only 236 at bats but his career stats are 18 total home runs in 4071 at bats, or one HR every 226 plate at bats.
2030 winner: 2B Ricky 'Heartthrob' Figueroa, DEN
2031 winner: 2B Ricky 'Heartthrob' Figueroa, DEN
2032 winner: 3B Ron Morgan, SDR
Dickey's BBQ Beans Award
(Given to the pitcher who hits the most batters)
P Jarrod Peacock, PHI - Playing for the Freedom he led them to the cusp of their first franchise Brewmasters by going 17-6 with a 2.63 ERA. He also led the league with 14 batters beaned. "Crowd the plate, get hit in the face" was his unofficial motto and it paid off to a 2033 Pale Ale and a $106,300,000 contract this off season with the Racers.
2030 winner: P Nate Bettis, PHO
2031 winner: P Pat Burgess, PIT
2032 winner: P Robby 'Bruiser' McEvoy, BAL
The Milton Swingline Stapler Award
(The player who earned a check without deserving one)
3B Erik Redding, CAL - California steal the Toronto crown. Unfortunately for the DK, Redding went through so many trades with so many teams retaining his salary that we can't exactly figure out how much he stole last year. The poetic justice of it all though is that at making somewhere around $20m and having a 0.0 WAR it was California that signed him to the contract in 2029 before trading him to Baltimore, who traded him to Syracuse, who then traded him back to California. We're not really sure who 'lost' out of those three teams but if someone ever writes a book on the BLB it could have its own chapter.
2030 winner: P Jerrod Blick, TOR
2031 winner: P Jerrod Blick, TOR
2032 winner: 1B Dylan Owens, TOR
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