In a league that increasingly lauds speed and skill over teamwork and toughness, Alexander Ovechkin gets a standing “O.” I agree with Sports Illustrated’s recent conclusion that Ovechkin is the best hockey player under the age of 25, and the rightful winner of this debate (please vote). In fact, SI fails to go far enough. I believe Ovechkin is the best player in the entire league. However, for the purposes of this debate framework, I will relay several reasons why Ovechkin is the best player under 25 in the NHL.
The righty is listed at a generous six feet tall and a solid 212 pounds. Despite the smallish frame, Alexander Ovechkin embodies excitement. Every time he sets foot on the ice he has an excellent chance to score. His colleagues and the media agree. In just four NHL seasons in his career, Ovechkin has already won the league MVP twice. Not only is he a good bet to score a goal when he is on the ice, he has a 50-50 shot at winning the league MVP. How many other players in the history of the NHL – or sports in general – have started their career that way? Zero. Not Wayne Gretzky, not Bobby Hull, not Patrick Roy. Ovechkin is the only player with that distinction, and he has earned it.
Ovechkin’s statistics are impressive, obviously. He is already on the list of the top 50 active goal scorers. Again, Ovechkin is in his fifth season in the league. This season he is in vintage form, already tied for the league lead in points and is second in goals… just five games in. Through those five games Ovechkin has averaged a goal and a point per game. How is that for consistent greatness?
Ovechkin has an impressive trophy closet, too. If you are curious about all of his trophies, read his Wikipedia page. But heed this warning, Ovechkin’s greatness cannot be contained by a Wikipedia page.
Ovechkin is great because of firsts… NHL firsts, not just sports firsts like that nifty MVP achievement. He is the first player in the history of the league to win the Art Ross Trophy (NHL leader in points for a season), the Maurice Richard Trophy (NHL leader in goals scored), the Lester B. Pearson award (NHL MVP – as chosen by the NHL Player’s Association), AND the Hart Memorial Trophy (NHL MVP – as chosen by the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association… yea, there is one). He currently holds the record for most goals scored by a left-winger in a single season (65), the most points by a left-winger as a rookie (106), and the award for the fastest overtime goal in the history of the NHL – six seconds. There are other all-time NHL records Ovechkin holds – already. It is logical to conclude that Overchkin may go on to have the greatest career of any NHL player ever. It is a very real possibility.
Greatness loves company, too. Great company. By a show of hands, readers, who among you believes LeBron James is the best player in the NBA ? That is a lot of hands! Like LeBron, Alexander Ovechkin – the first overall pick in the NHL draft in 2004 – is another once rare example of a first overall draft pick that actually lives up to the sensational hype. LeBron and Ovechkin are also fans of each other.
There is greatness besides Ovechkin in the NHL, too. In fact, it is the presence of other outstanding contemporary players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin that make Ovechkin’s accomplishments appear so amazing. While Crosby and Malkin – as my esteemed colleagues will boast – have won a Stanley Cup ring, they also are supported by an excellent goalkeeper in Marc-Andre Fleury. A solid goaltender enables players like Crosby and Malkin to take risks up ice, pass more aggressively, and turn their skates up the ice sooner because Fleury has proven his ability to play at a high level. Ovechkin is unable to take as many risks, but he has proven to be a more effective scorer than either Crosby or Malkin.
If Ovechkin has one flaw it is that his worst scoring day by far throughout his career is Sunday. Of his 224 career goals, he has scored only 17 on Sunday. Shameful. But, do not play him on Saturday, where he has scored a career high 51 goals (along with an impressive 49 assists).
No other NHL player combines the speed, skill, instinct, and surprising power of Alexander Ovechkin. If you refuse to take my word for it, let your eyes feast on a highlight reel unlike any other in the league.
The NBA’s greatest player under 25 is undoubtedly LeBron James. There are many other players with accolades worthy of mention (Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, and Carmelo Anthony, just to name a few), but none can compete with LeBron in terms of overall impact in the league. From his highly publicized entry into the NBA to the unprecedented accomplishments he has already earned, LeBron has been the king of the court.
The NHL has many very talented young players amongst its ranks, as well. Like the NBA, some players will develop into superstars, while others enter the league and dominate from the word go. Although all of the players Sarah Kwak listed in her Sports Illustrated article of the top 25 players under the age of 25 deserve recognition for their accomplishments, the name that SHOULD be on the top of that list (but surprisingly is not) is the man justifiably known as “The Next One” – Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby.
Like LeBron, Crosby came into the NHL as a VERY highly anticipated player with prodigious skill on the ice. Following the strike-ended season of 2004, the NHL was eager to resume play, and wanted a fresh new face that could be associated with the “return” of the NHL. After an unprecedented lottery that awarded the Penguins the top pick of the draft, Crosby was selected and became that face.
Since then, Crosby has lived up to every single expectation placed upon him. On a personal level, his accomplishments (like LeBron’s) have been unprecedented. During his rookie season, Crosby set franchise records for assists and points by a rookie, surpassing the records set by hockey legend Mario Lemieux.
His second year in the league earned him even greater success, as he won the Art Ross Trophy, which is awarded to the scoring leader in the league, making him the youngest player ever to win the award, and the youngest scoring champion in any of North America’s major sports. That same year he also went on to win the Hart Memorial Trophy (which is awarded to the league’s MVP), becoming the youngest person since Wayne Gretzky to win the award in 1980, and he won the Lester B. Pearson Award, which is given to the NHL’s top player of the year, as voted by the NHL Players Association.
Some other personal accomplishments for Crosby are that he is the youngest person in NHL history to reach 100 and 200 career points, and was the youngest person elected to the first team of an NHL All-Star Team. In 2007, he also became the youngest player in NHL history to be named a team captain.
Along with those personal accomplishments, earned in a very short time, Crosby has more importantly been the focal point for the resurrection of Pittsburgh dominance in the NHL. Not since the glory days of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr have the Penguins been considered a dominant force in the NHL. In fact, when Crosby came into the league the Penguins were one of the worst teams in hockey. They had finished the 2004 season with the league’s worst record, and they had not made a playoff appearance since 2001.
Once he joined the team, however, Crosby led the Penguins to the playoffs in three of the last four years, including Eastern Conference Championships in the 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 seasons, and a Stanley Cup Championship this past season – the first title for the Penguins since the 1991-1992 season.
Sidney Crosby has not only been the face of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he has been the face of the NHL. Other players may achieve better results in specific categories over specific years, but none have had the overall impact that “Sid the Kid” has brought to the league.
It was a decent weekend with some good football and baseball games. But today, in lieu of our usual recap of the weekend football games, The Sports Debates is going to do something a little different. We like to try to cover all sports from various angles. We have yet to do anything on hockey, and I know there are some hockey fans amongst out readership. Today is a good day to discuss hockey. We are going to debate who we think is the best hockey player under the age of 25 in the National Hockey League. Being from the south, hockey just is not a big deal down here. But, from what I have watched and read, it is obvious to me that Evgeni Malkin is the best player in the league under the age of 25.
Malkin, who just turned 23 a little over two months ago, plays center for the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. It should be noted that he is also left-handed. And he does get extra points for having a very hot girlfriend, right?
Malkin made his NHL debut three years ago, though it was actually delayed nearly a month after being injured in a preseason game in a run-in with teammate John LeClair. However, that injury, which ended up being a dislocated shoulder (ouch!), did not stop him from scoring at least one goal in his first six regular season games, which is a modern day record. He went on to score 33 goals and 85 points in his shortened rookie year, but still was able to win the Calder Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s top rookie. Folks, he has not slowed down since.
He definitely did not experience a sophomore slump, as he totaled 106 points in helping lead the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in six games.
This past season, his third, was his greatest season. Individually, he scored 113 points, which was enough to capture the Art Ross Trophy, given annually to the player with the most points. After coming up just short in the Finals the previous season the Penguins were able to get over that hump and defeat the Red Wings in a classic seven game series to win the Stanley Cup. Malkin was named playoff MVP, and deservedly so after scoring 36 points throughout the playoffs.
He is off to a good start this year also, as through Sunday’s he has seven points in five games.
Looking at the numbers, it is hard to argue against Malkin. To the rest of the NHL… look out! The kid is only 23 years old! I would say the Penguins, who also have another young star in Sidney Crosby, are well set for the next several years.
It is finally Friday. For some of us it is a long weekend with Monday being Columbus Day! I am sure Sports Geek and Bleacher Fan have to work on Monday, so pick on them if you have Monday off! As for this weekend, I will be at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee to watch a live soap opera unfold before my eyes when the much maligned Florida State Seminoles welcome the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech to town. We all know that Florida-LSU is THE game of the week. It is too obvious, though, so we are all are staying away from it. Outside of that game, I think that the best game of THIS weekend will take place in Oxford, Mississippi when the Alabama Crimson Tide take on the Mississippi Rebels.
A quick look at the SEC standings show the Tide with a 2-0 record in conference (a half-game behind 3-0 LSU) while Ole Miss stands at 1-1, with the loss coming 15 days ago against South Carolina.
I must say that the Crimson Tide have totally surprised me. I thought they would struggle. Granted, the only ranked team it has played to this point is Virginia Tech, but, the Tide have looked impressive – even downright dominant – at times. Even though the Tide are ranked third, I think it is possible to say they are being overlooked a little on the national level. I think we all know which team gets all the headlines in the Southeastern Conference. Tide quarterback Greg McElroy, in quite a shock to Loyal Homer, could actually end up being an upgrade over John Parker Wilson. And on defense, the team is still anchored by one of my favorite college players, Terrence “Mount” Cody.
Ole Miss comes into the game on the heels of a 23-7 victory over Vanderbilt. Do not laugh! It is not uncommon for teams to struggle on road trips to Nashville. Still, what lingers in the mind of most of the country is a pitiful performance in Columbia against the Gamecocks in a nationally televised Thursday night game. Ole Miss does not get on national television much, and it is fair to say the team laid the proverbial egg that night. Quarterback Jevon Snead, for all the preseason hype he had coming in, has been a bust to this point. This game is a chance for Ole Miss to get back on the national radar and climb back into the SEC West. It is a must win for the Rebels if they are entertaining any thoughts of an SEC championship. And believe me, that was the goal coming into the season.
With games still against LSU and Auburn, this is a big game for both the Rebels and the Tide. The SEC West is shaping up to be the best division in all of football, with LSU, Auburn, Alabama, and Ole Miss combining for only one loss at this point. The winner of the battle in Oxford ends up with a leg up on the rest of the division. The loser – especially if it is Ole Miss – faces a steep uphill climb to make it to Atlanta in December!
FINALLY, we all will get to find out if the Denver Broncos are for real this year!
While their 4-0 start to the 2009 season has already exceeded expectations for many, there are still questions surrounding the team’s ability to compete against the league’s elite. To date, the Broncos have defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, the Cleveland Browns, the Oakland Raiders, and the Dallas Cowboys – none of which are being mistaken for Super Bowl contenders this season.
This weekend, however, we should get some answers as to just how good the Broncos REALLY when the team plays host to the always dangerous New England Patriots.
After a shaky start to the season, the Patriots seem to have found a rhythm once again, as evidenced by impressive wins in the previous two games against truly formidable opponents in the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens. In fact, many pegged the Ravens as being the best team in the NFL heading into their matchup against New England last weekend. Thanks to an unfortunate drop in the end zone late in the game by Ravens wide receiver Mark Clayton, the Patriots were able to hold them off. With that victory, the Patriots officially tossed the proverbial hat back in the ring as legitimate contenders for the AFC crown.
Now that the Patriots have answered some of the questions about their claim to being one of the best in the AFC, it is time for the Broncos to prove worth.
The most interesting battle on the field during this game will be examining how the Broncos’ defense (which is currently ranks third in the NFL in total defense) handles New England’s offense. The Broncos on defense have given up only 6.5 points per game during the first four weeks of the season. Let’s be honest, though, the offenses in Oakland, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and yes… even Dallas… are not that impressive. In fact, the Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders have COMBINED for only 91 total points scored, a total that is lower than what 13 other teams in the league! This weekend, however, the Broncos are facing a dangerous Patriots offense that is averaging 21.8 points per game on offense.
In fairness, Denver’s offense has not exactly been a disappointment, either. Despite some preseason criticism heaped onto new Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels after quarterback Jay Cutler left town – and then the subsequent issues surrounding wide receiver Brandon Marshall – the Broncos have managed to move the ball with reasonable success thanks in large part to a rushing attack that is averaging 148 yards per game. The rushing attack, which features Correll Buckhalter and rookie Knowshon Moreno, poses a considerable challenge for a New England defense that has undergone very heavy personnel changes in recent seasons.
It is time for the Denver Broncos to put the questionable record on the line. This potential playoff preview will be very competitive, and should reveal just how impressive the Broncos’ 4-0 start is.
After recently pronouncing the San Francisco 49ers visit to the Minnesota Vikings as the best game of a weekend, the 49ers find themselves in another important, sure to be well-contested game – the best game of THIS weekend.
The 49ers have shown tremendous promise this season under flourishing head coach Mike Singletary. If not for last minute heroics from the resurgent Brett Favre in Minnesota, the 49ers would be sitting at 4-0. As of right now, they are completely in control in a weak NFC West. They have already defeated every other team in their conference, and the only thing standing between the team and a 4-1 record heading into the bye week is the Atlanta Falcons.
Both teams share some similar traits. For example, both are struggling to run the football on offense. The 49ers would be fine running the football if not for an injury to star running back Frank Gore. Rookie Glen Coffee has been adequate in a week of service as Gore’s replacement, but the team needs to run the ball better to play the style of football Singletary believes will succeed and results in a playoff appearance – play great defense and run the ball to own the clock. The Falcons have had changes up front to the offensive line and the result is less running room for last season’s break out player, running back Michael Turner. The Falcons average just over 92 yards per game, well off their pace from a year ago.
Another common trait is that both teams also boast stingy defenses. The Falcons are eighth in the league in total defense allowing 17.7 points per game while the 49ers are second allowing just 6.5 points per game. Excellent defense.
The teams also share difficult stretches in their respective schedules. The Falcons are coming out of a bye week off of a stinging 26-10 by the New England Patriots. Now Atlanta travels to San Francisco before returning home to face a tough Chicago Bears team before a two game road trip where the team plays Dallas and New Orleans in back to back weeks. The 49ers will enter the bye week after this weekend’s match up with Atlanta, and emerge on the other side to travel to Houston then Indianapolis, host Tennessee, host Chicago, and then travel to Green Bay.
Each team also has a great deal to prove. Both teams must prove they are effective in the running game, that they can perform consistently week to week, and that they can finish games.
The Falcons may have slightly more to prove in the game, however. Matt Ryan has yet to put up the numbers he did a year ago. Turner is struggling to run the ball, and the defense is still trying to find their identity after losing long time leader linebacker Keith Brooking to free agency. The Falcons must prove they are a contender not only for the playoffs in general, but that they can challenge division favorites New Orleans.
The 49ers, despite the drama the organization could have spiraled into, has largely avoided distraction. Even the prolonged holdout from rookie wide receiver Michael Crabtree did not result in a distraction to the team. The team has played well and competed hard in every game. The 49ers must also prove they can stand up and take a talented, good and desperate team’s best shot. For Singletary, the 49ers must prove they can function in a playoff type atmosphere as excitement returns to the Bay.
Both are talented, tough, well-coached teams – the ingredients necessary for excellent football. The Falcons must avoid .500 while the 49ers must prove they belong in the same category as the league’s better teams. No matter what the outcome is, this game is the cannot miss, must watch, best game of THIS weekend.
I am almost directly down the middle on this one. As a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, I know the importance of starting pitching – obviously. As everyone knows, starting pitchers essentially carried the Braves through the majority of their 14 consecutive division titles. However, as a Braves fan, I also know the importance of the closer – as the Braves lacked a dominant closer for many of those years.
To recap the two presented arguments about whether a Cy Young winner should be a relief pitcher, Sports Geek argued that relievers should not be eligible for the Cy Young. The point that strengthened the argument the most was the fact that relievers already have the Rolaids Relief Man award (what a great idea by Rolaid’s to sponsor this award?!). If is unfortunate that not everyone is aware of the award. Major League Baseball does a poor job of showcasing this award. Basically, it is for relievers only. Obviously, no starter is eligible to win this award. It is not voted on by anyone, but it is an award that is won based on a points system where eligible pitchers accumulate award points by saves, tough saves, and wins, with points taken away after a loss or a blown save.
Bleacher Fan, on the other hand, argued that relievers should be eligible with a statistical comparison of the 2009 seasons of Royals starting pitcher and Cy Young contender Zach Greinke and New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera. He showed that Rivera’s numbers statistically matched up favorably with Greinke’s. I also liked the analogy in the closing of his argument with the analogy of how a starting pitcher is similar to someone at the tee in golf while a closer is similar to someone on the green. In other words, the driver begins the hole but the putter finishes it out. For golf fans, a good analogy is J.B. Holmes starting the hole on the tee with his massive drives and Steve Stricker finishing out the hole on the green with his hot putter (as showcased in the President’s Cup this week).
However, one must make decisions in cases like this… and the decisions are not always popular. Such is the life of Loyal Homer here. Without further adieu, I award the victory to Sports Geek.
What won the debate for Sports Geek was the inclusion of the Rolaids Relief Man award. Relievers essentially have their own award. Leave the Cy Young award alone!! The argument also brought up the pitcher that the award is named after, Cy Young, demonstrating the fact that Cy Young had a whopping 749 complete games!! That is amazing folks. The creators of the award obviously meant for the award to be for a starter, and I agree with them.
As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged and I fully expect feedback from Bleacher Fan.
The game of baseball, as it is played today, has evolved into a game of specialization. Nowadays, you have starters, middle-relievers, closers, set-up men, sinker-ballers, and knuckle-ballers. Each pitcher serves a purpose, and each is equally valuable to the organization. With that specialization, the evaluation of pitching success has also evolved, and must provide a fair measure of the game by today’s standards.
It is true that pitchers like Walter Johnson and Cy Young were expected to both start AND finish a game. The expectation at the time was that the best pitchers were those that could start a game and pitch nine innings without allowing runs to cross the plate. This arrangement is no longer the reality of baseball. Today, if a pitcher throws just six innings, it is potentially considered a “quality start.” Based on that fact, relief pitchers (even after a quality start) can still be called upon to pitch for the remaining 33 percent of a game!
Here’s some perspective:
Over the course of any season, the teams in Major League baseball will combine for at least 43,740 total innings of baseball played (that is before extra innings, play-in games, etc.). If a starting pitcher only throws for six innings per game, then relievers will throw for more than 14,580 innings of baseball every year (that is 486 relief innings for EVERY team in the league). That is a lot of pitchers over a lot of innings to exclude from consideration for determining who the best pitcher in the league is, just because they did not pitch in the first inning of the game.
The Cy Young award is supposed to be given to the best pitcher in baseball. It is not for the best starter, or the best pitcher who throws for more than 200 innings in a season. It is simply awarded to the best pitcher.
The candidate that many expect to win the American League award this year is Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals. Greinke definitely had a tremendous 2009 season, but compare his numbers to Mariano Rivera, the closer for the New York Yankees.
The first measure of a pitcher’s success is their ERA. Greinke, in 2009, pitched with an ERA of 2.16, which is extremely impressive. Rivera’s ERA, though, was only 1.76, which is 0.40 runs BETTER than Greinke.
As for the other vital statistics that a pitcher is measured on, compare Greinke and Rivera’s 2009 statistics based on an average of instances per nine innings -
Hits per nine innings: Greinke – 7.7; Rivera – 6.5
Walks per nine innings: Greinke – 2.0; Rivera – 1.6
Strike outs per nine innings: Greinke – 9.5; Rivera – 9.8
When comparing these two pitchers by equal standards Rivera actually has a better ERA, and gives up proportionally fewer hits, fewer walks, and strikes out more batters than does Greinke.
Relief pitchers are the go-to guys. When the starter cannot handle the mess, it is the reliever that is called upon to clean things up. Starting pitchers are like drivers in golf. They exist for a big production early, and hopefully put a golfer on the path towards a successful result. Relievers, on the other hand, come into play on the green. They are the guys who bring everything home. Whether the drive landed in the fairway or the rough, the putter ALWAYS comes out to finish the deal, and as Bobby Locke once said, “You drive for the show, but you putt for the dough.”
In a game that requires so much participation and production from relief pitchers, many of whom are required to perform under moments of extreme pressure, it is unfair to summarily exclude them from consideration when you are trying to evaluate who the best pitcher in the league was.
No reason to beat around the bush on this topic. A reliever should not be eligible to win the Cy Young award, the award reserved for the best pitcher in baseball every season. While I could write all day about the myriad reasons giving the Cy Young award to a reliever makes no sense, I will try and limit my points to a select, impactful few.
The most important point to consider with this debate topic is the 30,000 foot view of how baseball has evolved in the modern era. Baseball is now a specialized sport. Back in the days of yore (that is a real thing), when pitchers were pitchers and hitters were hitters, the relief pitcher did not exist. Why? Because starting pitchers pitched complete games. Missing out on a complete game was rare, in fact.
Now, before the debate devolves into a, “it is impossible to compare yesteryear’s pitchers to modern pitchers” conversation, consider the Cy Young award’s name. The pitcher, his name was Cy Young (yea, it is a real dude), has an award named after him because he pitched for 22 seasons and recorded a whopping 511 career wins. He made a total of 815 starts, and completed 749 games. Think about that. Let it synch in. It is obvious this player deserved an award – no matter how many games he lost (also an admirable 316). Here is another stats to ponder: Cy Young pitched a total of 7,354 (and two thirds) innings in his career. He was an impressive pitcher by win total, effectiveness (his career ERA is just 2.63), and stamina. The award with his namesake should embody the pitching principles of his career. For that reason, a relief pitcher should not win the Cy Young award.
Relief pitchers toss 65-80 innings per year. Even impressive relief pitchers like Eric Gagne (who WRONGLY won the award in 2003), only pitched 82 and a third innings during the season. His ERA was very impressive (1.20) and his 55 total saves were a record at the time. But Gagne embodies the evolution and specialization in baseball. The game has changed and the pitching staff has been carved up into specialized roles. However, relief pitching specialists, like closers, do not achieve or embody the characteristics Cy Young did. Therefore, relief pitchers should not be allowed to win the Cy Young award. The award is conceived, designed and modeled after a starting pitcher.
Also, there IS an award for relief pitchers. It is called the Rolaid’s Relief Man Award. This award was created based on the changes and natural evolution of baseball. It accommodates specialized roles the closer, a role that has emerged as an official role only in the last 45 years (give or a take a few). Eric Gagne rightly won the award in 2003 – an award specifically designed to appreciate the value of a specialized, role-playing pitcher.
Baseball is a game of history. It is unique among sports in the world because records from the 1800s can be compared with records of the 1900s and 2000s. Baseball is working on its third Century! Over time, the game naturally evolves, and awards and achievements have also. To shoehorn new roles into an old award structure is an affront to baseball, and to history.
Now, a relief pitcher potentially winning the MVP award… that is a completely different debate.
The Major League Baseball playoffs kicked off yesterday with three games and will continue with three more games today. Hopefully, Tuesday’s scintillating winner take all game between the Twins and Tigers was enough to create excitement for the playoffs. It sure got me pumped! But, while the Sports Debates keeps one eye on the playoffs, we are taking a look at the Cy Young award. As we often say in our production meetings, “we aren’t in the prediction business.” So, TSD is not going to write about who we think will win the Cy Young award. If you want to see who we think is the best pitcher in baseball, please check out a debate we did a couple of weeks ago.
What TSD is going to debate today revolves around the credentials of the Cy Young award. There have been a handful of relievers who have won the award, with Eric Gagne being the most recent in 2003 with his 55 saves. Seemingly, Mariano Rivera is in contention for the American League Cy Young award nearly every year.
The Cy Young award is given to the pitcher who has had the best season in each league, respectively. It can be debated all day long about whether or not a reliever should be eligible to win the award. But, who has time to debate something all day, especially when my colleagues are more than willing to duke it out on this very website!
That leads me to the question: Should a relief pitcher be eligible to win the Cy Young award?
Bleacher Fan will argue that a reliever should be in consideration for the award while Sports Geek will argue that the award should be strictly for starting pitchers.
The ball is yours. Present your cases and the real closer, Loyal Homer, will come in during the ninth inning to decide the outcome of this debate!
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