So Maybe the Tepera Vote Was an Oopsie, Why Darvish Was Left Off, and Other Cubs Bullets

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•   Chicago Cubs reliever Ryan Tepera receiving a down-the-ballot MVP vote was instantly one of the best stories of 2020 … and was almost as instantly RIPPED AWAY from us:

•   Rick Hummel, the St. Louis writer who voted Tepera 10th on his ballot, tells NBC that it was just a tech oopsie, as he meant to select Nationals shortstop Trea Turner in the dropdown selection tool, not Ryan Tepera. AN ABSOLUTE OUTRAGE I SAY. You’re gonna tell me you’re voting for Turner over Tepera, who struck out FAR less often than Turner, who successfully threw SEVERAL innings, and whose average exit velocity off his bat was literally incalculable:

(via FanGraphs)

•   In all seriousness, Turner had an absurd season, and probably should’ve been higher on Hummel’s ballot anyway. Wait a minute. That would’ve meant that TEPERA would’ve wound up even higher than 10th on the ballot, which means he would’ve finished even higher than 18th in the voting. Dang.

•   One voter left Yu Darvish off his five-player Cy Young ballot entirely, which is, of course, an indefensible move. But, to his credit, JP Hoornstra out of LA at least tried to defend it. I read it, and it is about as compelling as you’d expect when one has to contort themselves into profoundly absurd shapes to justify leaving the most valuable pitcher in the NL by WAR off of a five-player ballot. At some point – if I’m being charitable – you’re overthinking it:

•   This is the REAL Cy Young Award:

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1327239278120869889

•   Meanwhile, Jose Abreu won the AL MVP award last night, and he was overcome with emotion:

•   Beautiful stuff. He should also probably share a little bit of that MVP with the Cubs, because, well, yeah. He crushed the Cubs.

•    Marvel toys, drinkware, computers and gear, pet cameras, and much more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon. #ad

•   Had a little fun on Twitter talking Cubs uniforms:

•   The Cubs are hiring:

written by

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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