2012 MLB Moments Of The Year Part 1

The 2012 MLB season was humble and hardworking. There were under and over achivers, surprisers, dissapointers, and record-breakers. The road to the World Series was memorable.

It all starts with the off-season, the question is how do you make a successful team or how are you going to improve from last seasons slumps. Media and money spending was huge before the 2012 season even started, it was all about adding stars to make a dominat team.

The stroy of the 2012 Miami Marlins started like this, Marlins sign starter Mark Buehrle, another signing by the Marlins, Marlins add all-star Jose Reyes, Marlins sign all-star closer Heath Bell, Marlins bring in Ozzie Guillen as new manager. New stadium, new atmosphere, new stars, new manager, the Marlins looked to compete for a championship. The Marlins would take a step back as they started the first month of the season 8-14. Heath Bell struggled early as he slumped to an early 0-3 record and a 10.80 E.R.A. Jose Reyes cooled off to a .220 AVG and a .634 OPS. Starter Mark Buehrle went a poor 1-4 record, but a solid 3.34 E.R.A. While the 3 Marlins expected more out of there 3 stars, they improved in May through mid June. After the all-sar break Miami tasted defeat as they finished off the season at 69-93. The huge collapse in the 2nd half by the Marlins shows that adding all-stars won't always help your team.

While the Marlins expirenced a club collapse, the Los Angeles Angels were in the process of creating a potential world series team. The Angels signed all-star first basemen Albert Pujols to a record contract and all-star pitcher C.J. Wilson to complete there "world series roster". With starter Jered Weaver and outfielder Tori Hunter in the mix, the Angels looked ready. The Angels started pretty much the same way the Marlins did, 8-15. Trying to get out of a slump, rookie Mike Trout worked his way up to an all-star. While Trout robbed homers and stole bases, he helped keep the Angels in the playoff hunt. Trout was also the first rookie ever to have a 30 homerun and 30 stolen base season. Starter Jered Weaver did it all, striking out batters, winning games, and Albert Pujols finally tagged along too after a rough start to help pull the Angels back in the wild card race. However a late September slump by the Angels prevented there chances to make the playoffs.

While the Angels and Marlins looked like fools, the Washington Nationals had another strategy for success, pitching. The Nationals stars of the rotation Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, and Jordan Zimmerman was one reason why the Nats ran to an MLB best 98-64 record. 19 year old rookie outfielder Bryce Harper also helped pace the Nats to the best record in baseball. Offensivley, the Nationals weren't amazing, but found enough to blaze there way to the best record in the MLB. Led by first basmen Adam LaRoche (33 homers and 100 RBI), Ryan Zimmerman (25 homers, 95 RBI), Bryce Harper (N.L. rookie of the year), and Ian Desmond (.292 AVG, 25 homers, 21 stolen bases), the Nationals showed that a team didn't need a superstar batter in the lineup to games. The Nationals weren't playoff ready as they lost to the Cardinals in the NLDS.