Biggest Surprise of 2008
By Thomas Fischer - Contributing Writer
10/13/2008
What was the biggest surprise during this 2008 baseball season? Granted we haven’t made it all the way through the post season and perhaps more surprises are in store but we can make an educated guess as to what will happen in the playoffs without too much surprise. The real point of this essay is what was the biggest surprise during the regular season. Was it that the Tampa Bay Rays won 97 games and the American League east division? Or could it be that the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Was the biggest surprise that the Cubs won their division or that the Mets once again took a dump in September?
There were many things about the season that could have been a surprise to some fans. For me as a Detroit Tigers fan, I was dumbfounded at their God-awful start and then really surprised again when they emerged to compete in June and early July before the all-star break. I was surprised all over again when they fell apart after the all-star break falling to the bottom of the division. It was extremely disappointing to me as a fan.
None of these things were the BIGGEST surprise of the 2008 season to me. The biggest surprise this year to me was the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) and the way they systematically destroyed, demolished, and annihilated the other teams in the American League. Not only were they the first team to win 100 games since the Yankees did it in 2004, but they won their division by 21 games over a second place Texas team that finished under .500 for the fourth year in a row. The Angels finished 24 games ahead of the Athletics and 39 games ahead of the Mariners in the AL West.
Another surprise about the Angels was their incredible pitching staff. They had six pitchers with double-digit wins and their closer Francisco Rodriguez, a.k.a. K-Rod, finished with 62 saves setting a new record in that statistical category breaking the record of 57 saves, set by Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox in 1990. The staff ended up with a 3.99 ERA, 3rd best in the AL, and nearly four tenths of a run lower than the league average.
Despite the fact that the defending World Series champions eliminated the Angels in the first round of the playoffs, the LA Angels had a terrific season, and one for the record book thanks to K-Rod.