Five Things I Was Pleasantly Surprised By This Season
Five Things I Was Pleasantly Surprised By This Season
A Quick Look Back At The 2024 Regular Season
Editors Note:
We just completed our 150th episode of The Skippers View Podcast. The average podcast lasts less than ten episodes, and only around 15% of all podcasts last more than 50. So, we have crushed those numbers. Whether our download numbers are that high is a private matter. However, with so many new subscribers, we wanted to show you all the places you can watch/listen to us. Enjoy! - Dean
The Major League Baseball season always sends us a few twists and turns—some for the good and some for the bad. The regular season is over, and I decided to dive into the year-end statistics as everything is now said and done for the 2024 regular season. After running through the final stats and standings, I found a few interesting things, but 5 in particular stuck out to me, and I wanted to shout out some kudos to players/teams that went above and beyond in 2024. There are so many ups and downs during the baseball season, so I will stick to ranking five events that made me smile.
Honorable Mention:
Shohei Ohtani hits 54 Home Runs & steals 59 bases (no one saw this coming! Don’t @me 50-50 has never been done before)
The Royals Pitching staff shoving to a 3.76 ERA and carrying this team to the 2024 playoffs (now up 1-0 in the Wild Card series over Baltimore due to Cole Ragan’s dominance in Game 1!)
Somehow, the Grimace Mets made the playoffs!
5) The Emergence of Jarren Duran
Jarren Duran has become a game-changer for the Boston Red Sox. Duran has solidified himself as one of the best overall players in the sport, and I am not exaggerating. According to Fangraphs, Duran put up a 6.7 fWAR in 2024, which was the 7th highest in all of baseball. Beating out players like Jose Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Yordan Alvarez, and Bryce Harper. Not to mention, he was also in the top 10 in Stolen Bases (34), Runs (111), and the top-20 in Batting Average (.285). Not too shabby of a season. Oh, did I mention that he also hit 21 bombs?
4) Tigers make the playoffs!
Somehow, the youth of the Detroit Tigers pulled it off and made the playoffs after finishing six games below .500 in 2023. Tarik Skubal is a big part of that, but the Tigers made the playoffs as the youngest team in baseball, with an average player age of 26.0. To add some perspective, just last year, the average age of an active player on an MLB Opening Day roster in 2023 was 29.33 years old, according to J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Trust me, this team is YOUNG! That said, they are in the dance, and thanks to Mr. Skubal, they are up 1-0 on the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card series.
3) Guardians Rise To The Occasion in 1st Year Under Stephen Vogt
In his first year as manager, the Guardians have won the American League Central. Sixteen additional wins from just a year ago, and there were not many moves made to make a big difference. Emmanuel Clase, Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, Steven Kwan, Bo Naylor, David Fry, Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, Gavin Williams, and Hunter Gaddis were all on the roster in 2023. Notice these are their best players I just listed. I think Vogt has this team confident and rolling right now. Arguably, they are the best bullpen in baseball and will look to make a run at the World Series in the divisional round as they earned a BYE from their regular season dominance by winning 92 games!
2) Spencer S. replaces Spencer S.
The Atlanta Braves have been hit as hard as any club this season when it comes to injuries. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. might be the biggest 1-2 knockout punch a team could have been dealt to start the season with, yet the Braves have somewhat prevailed to make the 2024 playoffs. Braves fans can thank Mr. Spencer Schwellenbach, who has been a savior to this rotation. Through 21 starts (123 ⅔ innings), Schwellenbach has put up a 3.35 ERA and struck out 127 batters. The crazy thing is he only has walked 23 batters this season! No one can replace Spencer Strider, but Spencer Schwellenbach did his best to make us forget all about Mr. Strider in 2024.
1) The Rise of the Jacksons! (Will Jackson Jobe & Jackson Holiday follow suit in 2025?!?)
Rookie sensations Jackson Merrill & Jackson Chourio both received the call to the majors to begin the season and dazzled in 2024. Jackson Merrill has a very solid chance to win the National League Rookie of the Year award. Had Chourio not been miserable at the start of the season, he would be widely considered a candidate, along with Pirates phenom Paul Skenes. Both Jacksons have taken this league by storm and look to be staples of their respective teams for years to come. It might be a bold take, but I wouldn’t be shy to say that I think we have a couple of perennial All-Stars on our hands.
Jackson Merrill - 5.3 fWAR | .292 AVG | 24 HR | 90 RBI | 16 SB | 156 G
Jackson Chourio - 3.9 fWAR | .275 AVG | 21 HR | 79 RBI | 22 SB | 148 G