One of the players who has been identified with the Boston Red Sox for so long is Alex Gonzalez. It would be hard to imagine him in any other uniform. But it turns out that we’re probably going to have to, since he has left the Red Sox. He decided to sign a contract with Toronto instead of waiting for the Boston to make a decision about how much money he would get and for how long. He went for what was certain rather than what people had thought might happen. It’s going to be a busy year for the Red Sox, because now they’re going to have to start making real decisions about their shortstop position and actually pick someone. It won’t be long!

Joe Mauer (the Wall) has been awarded the AL MVP award. He deserves it too. While catchers like Mauer aren’t known for their amazing batting, this Minnesota Twin has been able to get a lot done at the plate for his team. He won a Gold Glove this year for his fielding, which was outstanding, and his batting has been stellar. This combines to give him the triple crown of baseball awards, with the Gold Glove, MVP and batting award going to him. What a year, and with him on the team, it’s not surprise that the Twins were able to push through a hard fought division title this year. This kind of player is an example to his teammates and probably a big leader on the team too. Keep your eye on the Twins, because they seem to be improving each year!

Like the Rookies of the Year, we’re finding that Cy Young Awards sometimes go to people who are on the bad teams. Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young last year and he made a big splash again this year. He had 15 wins throughout the year, but really made an impression with his other averages and stats. The pitcher is one of the best in the league. We can also expect that in a couple of years, when his contract runs out in San Francisco, New York will offer him about a billion dollars to join them and no one else will be able to match it. He is the first to win a Cy Young twice in a row since Randy Johnson a couple decades ago. If you look at the pictures, he has the same intensity. He’s an asset for any team and anyone who gets two Cy Youngs will help anyone out in the future. Congrats to him!

The Athletics’ Andrew Bailey won the AL Rookie of the Year, after his 26 saves this season for a team that had few other bright spots this time around. He said that he called his family right after the announcement and they were absolutely shocked and joyful for his win. Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins was the winner on the National League side. For the Marlins’ player, it just tops off an amazing season for him where he had some strong batting and fielding numbers. This is the way you would want a rookie season to go. You can get some great numbers and then win a big award. It’s not clear if these guys will be able to keep up these numbers over a long period, but hopefully they will be able to. Some new blood will make the game more intense.

The last time we had an entry on this blog, the World Series was down to the last couple of games. By now you certainly know that the Yankees won the series in 6 games, with Mariano Rivera shutting down the Phillies at the end. It will be interesting to see whether either of these teams will have a drop off of any significance at the start of next season. Both teams have declared that they will return next season, but that’s fairly unusual. Just look at the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. The Phillies put up a difficult fight against the Yankees, making the Yankees work harder for it than they might have expected, but they weren’t able to produce the runs that they needed against a hard-fighting Yankees team. The Yankees now have 27 World Series titles since the title was started over 100 years ago.

The World Series has played 5 games so far. The teams split in New York and the Yankees took 2 of 3 in Philly. The battle between the two teams continues to be the most exciting thing going on right now. But with the Phillies down 3-2 headed back to the Bronx, can they take the series? Several people are suggesting that they can, even though it’s going to be very tough for them. The new Yankee Stadium is very tough to win in, and it’s only happened a few times this season. But it’s certainly going to be possible for them to do it. On the flip side, the Yankees are in a very good position to actually win the series now, with just one win necessary for them to get the win they need.