American League
The A.L. Most Valuable Player Award goes to Paul Goldschmidt; Goldschmidt batted .271, 40 HR & 114 RBI with .897 OPS; Along with Madison Bumgarner, helped the Fairgrove Tigers become 2014 BoS World Champions.
Bumgarner was the unanimous choice for the A.L. Cy Young Award, going 20-6, 2.16 ERA with 208 K's in 221 Innings. The Tigers' ace was also a killer in the League Championship Series, going 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA -- including 18 K's (while only allowing 8 hits) in 16 innings of work.
Hyun-Jin Ryu wins the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award; He put together a 16-7 record, that included 7 complete games & a save -- posting a 2.58 ERA with 169 K's in 223.2 innings. Ryu also earned one Cy Young vote.
Koji Uehara earns the A.L. Fireman of the Year Award (presented to the best A.L. Relief Pitchers). Uehara was nearly untouchable with 0.80 ERA & 5-0 record in relief -- he recorded an American League leading 31 Saves, with 72 K's in 56 innings; He also earned 3 votes on the A.L. Cy Young ballot.
Robert Mosher led his Fairgrove Tigers to their first BoS World Championship, by defeating the Portland Microbrewers in the BoS World Series, 4-2. Fairgrove posted a 107-55 record, while winning their division by an impressive 35 games. Mosher also had two stars in Goldschmidt & Bumgarner walking away with awards as well, while he had other stars that played a major part in their championship run in Adam Jones, C.J. Wilson, Mat Latos, Jed Lowrie, Joe Nathan (Fireman Runner-Up) & rookie Jarred Cosart. Jones set the second-half tone for the Tigers by winning the 2014 BoS All-Star Game MVP Award.
National League
The Portland Microbrewers' Mike Trout edged San Diego's Chris Davis for the National League's Most Valuable Player Award. Trout put together an excellent, all-around season, batting .309 with 29 HR & 89 RBI; Trout also stole 19 bases while sporting a .963 OPS.
Davis, meanwhile set the single-season BoS record for most home runs with 56.
Bartolo Colon wins the N.L. Cy Young Award, defeating Hannibal's Jon Lester by 8 votes. Colon was consistent & strong, completing 8 games, while on his way to a 17-7 season campaign with a low 2.07 ERA. He may not have been blazing fastballs for K's (127), but he kept batters off the bases -- allowing only 139 hits & 42 walks, with a 0.818 WHIP!
Lester overachieved with his APBA Grade 11-Y (19-7, 2.20 ERA & 189 K's) compared to his real-life stats of 15-8 & 3.75 ERA.
The #1 overall pick in the 2014 BoS Annual Draft - Yasiel Puig would win the N.L. Rookie of the Year Award for the Traverse City Panthers. Puig's presence with the emergence of Matt Carpenter, Josh Donaldson, Brandon Belt and their pitching staff transformed the Panthers from league laughing stock to falling a game short of reaching the World Series this past season.
Puig batted .275 with 14 home runs & 45 RBI, plus 7 stolen bases in 295 AB's (86 games). He was the other unanimous 2014 BoS award winner (other than Bumgarner) this season. Fellow Panther, Dan Otero led the Panthers in Saves with 22 Saves (while sporting a 1.28 ERA).
Greg Holland felt comfortable in Holland (yeah.. I know) leading the Holland Hitchhikers with 34 Saves (2nd in N.L.) -- with a microscopic ERA of 0.48! Kenley Jansen was runner-up & led the league with 36 Saves for the San Diego Heroes.
Just as Mosher & Fairgrove was to the American League -- so was Brad Stark and his Portland Microbrewers to the National League; Both teams met up in the World Series & their success is reflected in the major awards this season as well. Stark's "Brew Crew" fell short of the BoS single-season record for wins (while setting a N.L. record) with 108 victories -- but have the bragging rights as the National League's only league champions to date, going back-to-back...
while still seeking that BoS World Championship.
