Dodgers are NL West Champs (And Everybody's Celebrating)

I remember watching the Dodgers this spring and thinking this year was going to be terrible. But you want to know the moment when I first had hope they could turn it around? June 7 against the Braves when they were still meandering in last place.

I was there with my church during the humble beginnings of the Yasiel Puig era. Puig hit a game-tying home run while I was at the concession stands and despite leaving guys on base, the team won in extra innings for their first walkoff of the season. The season was still bleak but I had hope that Puig was going to be some kind of spark.

Fast forward three months later. The Dodgers clinched the division and they're celebrating in the Arizona Diamondbacks pool like kids. Don Mattingly held back tears talking about how great this team was and how resilient they were. Hanley Ramirez finally gets to taste the postseason and played like he wanted it going 4-4 with two home runs.

And in true Dodger fashion, AJ Ellis provided the surprising biggest blow with the go-ahead home run. I listened on the radio and could only smile.

Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp and the 2011 MVP

For me, the biggest deal with Ryan Braun being suspended for the rest of the season is how quickly he owned up to it compared to what happened last year. He found a loophole in the process and exploited it well. Now he couldn't outrun lightning striking near him twice.

I'm not shocked when somebody cheats anymore. I also don't assume everyone is cheating either. I'm at that weird in-between where I just watch the game, trust my eyes more than my ears and let the process play out. I'm not about to call somebody a total fraud without considering the totality of their career.

Yet as a Dodgers fan, I'm not about to say Braun's MVP should be given to Matt Kemp. Why? Because I already argued a few times in 2011 why Kemp should've won and that argument hasn't changed in two years. In a close race, Braun won because his team went to the postseason.

MLB wisely doesn't strip folks of winning awards (for the record - I'm fine with it in the Olympics to a point). Doing that would insult what our eyes saw and pretend it didn't exist. PED-enhanced numbers existed on MLB's watch and it wasn't until the game became a cartoon that they stepped in to clean it up.

That all said, I've believed for a while that Barry Bonds got cheated out of an MVP (1991) as did Pedro Martinez (1999) and Albert Belle (1995). I'd rather argue that Kemp deserved it in 2011 and should've won it on his own merit regardless of what Braun did.