2013 MLB Season Wrap-Up

       Ryan Haynes
       Sports


As the 2013 MLB season comes to an end lets look back on how the season panned out. Late, last season the MLB announced that the Houston Astros would be moving from the National League Central to the American League West. Because of this change there was an equal amount of fifteen teams in both leagues, thus inter-league games were played throughout the entire season for the first time in MLB history.
       On the first game of the season Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish was throwing a perfect game until in the bottom of the 9th with two outs Houston's Marwin Gonzalez hit a hard grounder up the middle for a single. Other milestones for the season include Homer Bailey, Tim Lincecum, and Henderson Alvarez all threw no-hitters. Other achievements include Ichiro Suzuki collected his 4,000 career hit, and Albert Pujols got his 1,000 career extra base hit.
       Max Scherzer, pitcher for the Detriot Tigers, got off to a ridiculous start being 14-0 before surrendering his first loss. Also Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles became one of only eight players ever to have thirty home runs by the end of June. Arizona Diamondback's Paul Goldschmidt had a break out year batting .302, 36 HR, and 125 RBI rewarded him with his first all-star game. Michael Cuddyer had a surprise season batting .331 leading the national league. Clayton Kershaw has another fantastic season with an ERA of 1.83 by far the best in the major leagues this year. Craig Kimbrel has another dominant year with the Atlanta Braves, starting the season off with 37 consecutive saves without blowing one.
       This year out of the ten teams to go to the play-offs half of them had not made it the year prior. Those teams include the Red Sox, Rays, Indians, Pirates, and the Dodgers. There was a 163rd game that was played this year to decide the second American league Wild Card winner between the Rays and the Rangers. The Rays won and then beat the Indians in the Wild Card game but then lost to the Red Sox in the ALDS. The A's and the Tigers faced off in the ALDS for the second year in a row and once again the Tigers came out victorious. In the National league the Pirates won the Wild Card game against the Reds but lost in game 5 to the Cardinals in the NLDS. Also the Dodgers beat the Braves in four games to move on the NLCS. Then in the NLCS the Cardinals beat the Dodgers in six games. In the American league ALCS the Boston Red Sox beat the Tigers also in six games. Now the World Series was between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. The first to games were in Boston at Fenway Park where the series was split 1-1. Then the series went to St. Louis in Busch Stadium where the Red Sox despite being in St. Louis took two of three games. Now the series moves back to Fenway and the St. Louis Cardinals are down to their last chance to win another World Series.