We were wide-eyed optimists seven months a go, before the veil was torn and the cleansing rain of Arroyo home runs began to fall. The vast majority of commenters in the pre-season prediction thread back in March had the Reds in 1st place after 162 and not a one dared to guess the Reds would finish worse than 2nd. To be fair, most projection systems agreed with us.
Please find below the results of the pre-season prediction thread, which asked for prognostications at both the team and individual level. The height of the pre-season aim may have been influenced as much by homerism as it was by post-2010 expectations, but it serves as a decent baseline for the disappointment in 2011 - especially in the pitching department.
Results after the jump.
Here's the generic ballot, with season results filled in:
Team - overall:
WINS: 79
PLACE IN CENTRAL: 3rd
RUNS SCORED: 735
RUNS ALLOWED: 720
Leaders - offense:
The original post just asked for names, but most provided stat lines too. Which, in fairness to most but to the detriment of some, were not used to determine the winning ballot.
AVG LEADER: Joey Votto
OBP LEADER: Joey Votto
SLG LEADER: Joey Votto
HR LEADER: Jay Bruce
SB LEADER: Drew Stubbs
SO LEADER: Drew Stubbs
Leaders - pitching:
WINS LEADER: Mike Leake
SAVES LEADER: Francisco Cordero
ERA LEADER (STARTER, 5 GS): Johnny Cueto
ERA LEADER (RELIEVER, 25 IP): Francisco Cordero
SO LEADER: Mike Leake
K/9 LEADER: Aroldis Chapman
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Winning Ballot:
TheC (closest on wins, place in division and 7 correct leaders picks) -- Make sure your e-mail in your SBNation profile is up-to-date for details on your disappointing prize.
Honorable mention: kcgard2 and badenjr, the latter of which landed two of the three (unfortunately un-scored) EXACTA picks
Best picks:
Statlines included for consolation
WINS: TheC (83)
PLACE in CENTRAL: TheC, KevinMitchellisBatman, RedStalk, BadBadAntoineBethea
RUNS SCORED: Andromache (750)
RUNS ALLOWED: 3 Fast 3 Furious, kcgard (719, just one off the actual)
HR LEADER: Many had Bruce, but jch24 had 34 and andromache guessed 30
SB LEADER: All had Stubbs, but fromcubawithluv had an EXACTA with 40
SO LEADER: Almost all had Stubbs, but Madville guessed 185
WINS LEADER: No one had Leake
SAVES LEADER: Everyone had Cordero, but badenjr guessed his saves on the nose (37)
ERA (STARTER): nycredsfan, GlennBraggsSwingandMissBrokenBat, murphdog, UncleWeez and kcgard all guessed Cueto
ERA (RELIEVER): Not a soul guessed Cordero
STRIKEOUT LEADER: Not surprisingly, no one guessed Mike Leake
K/9 LEADER: badenjr scored an uncanny second EXACTA by getting Chapman's K-rate correct to the tenth place