As you can see Nesty won the AL batting crown with Jesus Avalos coming up just short of a triple crown, tying for the HR lead and finishing second in BA and RBI. He was tops in OPS and WAR and should be headed for an MVP award.
We were a 54-27 team in the second half, but that mediocre first half - especially the lousy June - cost us a real shot at the division. Nevertheless if we get by the Angels in the WC game I like our chances moving on in the postseason. The offense was great, except for the run game. 31 SB? For the entire year? Also as usual with us some quality pitchers put up subpar numbers as a result of shoddy defense. #1 in pitcher WAR but #7 in ERA out of 14 speaks to that.
What a season from J.Avalos, and E.Avalos wasn't chopped liver either. Chinchilla had a great second half with the bat and was one of the elite defenders at 2B, and Nesty was a big threat with the bat all year. Age has finally caught up to Luis Barela, and although he's still reasonably productive at the plate he can no longer really 3B. And with Kim's major tailoff in the second half I might play Abney at 3B and DH Barela in the playoffs.
The starters (except for Johnson) all pitched well this year even if their numbers were inflated by the defense (too many BABIPs starting with .3). It's a shame Hilton got hurt as he was having his best season but we still have 4 pretty good starters to fill out a playoff rotation provided we're not just playing one game.
The prospect pipeline really hasn't flowed of late but there are some signs of promise, especially after a good draft this year. Mattila is close, and 2054 picks Mendoza and Dominguez seem to be on the fast track.