Update: Remember, this contest is open until midnight tonight (on the west coast). There are about sixty entries so far. My brother's been copying and pasting entries into an Excel sheet, so hopefully we'll have everyone's picks and some analysis ready to go tomorrow.
I'm stealing this contest idea from an old professor of mine, Doug Drinen of Pro-Football-Reference, and heck, I might as well steal his directions, too (translated into baseball-speak):
Below you will find 32 pairs of numbers. In each case, you tell me which number will be bigger. One point for each correct answer. Most points wins.
Ties — and I expect there to be a nontrivial number of them — go to the side that had fewer votes. For example, here is a pair of numbers:
Wins by the Yankees
Wins by the Red SoxLet’s say 41 people take the Yankees and 54 take the Red Sox. If the Yankees and Red Sox end up with the same number of wins, then each Yankee-backer will get a point and each Red Sox-backer will not.
The grand prize is BtB bragging rights, and there may also be some sort of small materialistic trinket I dig up over the next six months. But maybe not.
To enter, copy the pairs into a text editor, delete each line you're not picking, remove any blank lines in between to save space, and copy your ballot into a comment. Do not change the text of the options you're picking at all.
Ballots are due Monday night at midnight Pacific. In case of an overall tie, the tie-breaker goes to the person who entered first.
BtB authors are encouraged to participate, but can only win the intangible prizes.
The 32 questions:
Wins by the Red Sox
Wins by the Yankees
Division championships by Los Angeles teams
Division championships by Chicago teams
HRs by last year's SB leader, Willy Taveras
SBs by last year's HR leader, Ryan Howard
Games played by Colby Rasmus
Games played by Brandon Wood
Pitchers to start games for the Orioles
Infielders and catchers to start games for the Giants
Saves by Francisco Rodriguez
HRs by Albert Pujols
Wins by the Phillies minus losses by Mariners
Wins by the Rays minus losses by Nationals
Average wins by NL Central teams
Average wins by AL Central teams
UZR of Hanley Ramirez plus UZR of Dan Uggla
Negative five
Javier Vazquez's ERA
Javier Vazquez's FIP
IP by John Smoltz
IP by Tom Glavine
HRs by BJ Upton
SBs by BJ Upton
1000 times Jack Cust's AVG
Combined Runs by Derek Jeter and Brian Roberts
Games played by Matt Wieters
Five times starts by David Price
SOs by Jeff Suppan
BBs by Oliver Perez
OBP by Marcus Thames
AVG by Matt Holliday
Royals hitters with 10+ HRs
Yankee pitchers with 10+ Wins
HRs hit by pitchers
HBPs by the MLB leader
2B + 3B + HR + SB by Jimmy Rollins
Runs scored by Curtis Granderson
SOs by Russ Branyan
Five times HRs by Russ Branyan
UZR of the Orioles' outfield
UZR of the Mariners' outfield
IP by Derek Lowe
IP by AJ Burnett
Fangraphs WAR by Pat Burrell
Fangraphs WAR by Raul Ibanez
Games played by Chipper Jones
RBIs by Miguel Cabrera
IP by Roy Halladay
IP by CC Sabathia
Rich Harden's ERA
Johan Santana's ERA
Pitchers who throw 200 IP
Hitters who have 650 PAs
Relief IP by Joba Chamberlain
Starter IP by Brandon Morrow
Most runs scored by one team in any game
Most caught stealings by any one player
World Series won by AL East Teams
World Series won by any NL team
MVPs and Cy Youngs won by first-timers
MVPs and Cy Youngs won by repeaters
Points from the first 31 questions for Sky
Points from the first 31 questions for R.J.