Really, really hard for me to believe that it’s been 12 years since a group of bloggers got together and voted on some hardware. We’ve expanded the ballot since then and we’ve also expanded our reach, allowing you the fan to participate with us.
Here’s how it works. The various members of the United Cardinal Bloggers will be putting their picks into blog posts and podcasts over the next couple of weeks. Each of those ballots will count individually toward the overall winner. Added to that will be the fan ballot, which will be the sum total of all those that vote via our handy-dandy Google form. So if Matt Carpenter got three fan votes for Player of the Year and Yadier Molina got two, the fan ballot would show Carpenter as the winner of the fan balloting and that would get added into the votes of the bloggers to get to the overall winner.
The voting will run from today to November 19. The ballot is below, including some relevant links. While not listed, all categories have a write-in option on the form. And to make sure you didn’t miss where you can give your feedback:
LINK TO THE BLOGGER AWARDS BALLOT VOTING
#1 Player of the Year
Nominees: Matt Carpenter, Jose Martinez, Yadier Molina, Marcell Ozuna
#2 Pitcher of the Year
Nominees: Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks, Miles Mikolas, Bud Norris
#3 Game of the Year (Non-Walkoff Division)
Nominees: June 3 vs. Pirates (Michael Wacha’s almost no-hitter), June 22 at Brewers (Flaherty 1 hit, 13 K), July 15 vs. Reds (Mike Shildt’s first game), July 20 at Cubs (Carpenter five hits, 3 HR), September 16 vs. Dodgers (Adam Wainwright six scoreless innings)
#4 Game of the Year (Walkoff Division)
Nominees: April 26th vs. Mets (run off Familia in 10th, Dexter Fowler single in 13th), May 5 vs. Cubs (Kolten Wong HR in 10th), May 6 vs. Cubs (Fowler HR in 14th), August 2 vs. Rockies (Martinez single in 9th), August 13 vs. Nationals (Paul DeJong HR in 9th)
#5 Surprise Player of the Year
Nominees: Harrison Bader, Miles Mikolas, Bud Norris, Kolten Wong
#6 Disappointing Player of the Year
Nominees: Dexter Fowler, Greg Holland, Tommy Pham, Adam Wainwright
#7 Rookie of the Year
Nominees: Harrison Bader, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks, Yairo Munoz, Tyler O’Neill
#8 Acquisition of the Year
Nominees: Miles Mikolas, Yairo Munoz, Bud Norris, Marcell Ozuna, Chasen Shreve
#9 Most Anticipated Cardinal
Nominees: Randy Arozarena, Dylan Carlson, Nolan Gorman, Ryan Helsley
#10 Individual Blog of the Year (blog written by mainly one person)
Nominees: Baseball Geek in Galveston, C70 At The Bat, Cardinal Red Baseball, CardinalsGM, MLB Voice, RetroSimba, View from the Cheap Seats, Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball
#11 Team Blog of the Year (blog written by multiple writers)
Nominees: Bird Law, Birds on the Black, Cardsblog, Redbirds Nest in Korea, Redbird Rants, STL Hat Trick, Viva El Birdos
#12 Best Media Coverage
Nominees: Derrick Goold, Benjamin Hochman, Jenifer Langosch, Bernie Miklasz, Rob Rains, Mark Saxon, Joe Trezza
#13 Post of the Year
Nominees: “Hey ESPN, Why Won’t You Talk About the Cards?“, Diane Schultz, Women Who Love Cardinal Baseball; “Hometown Jerry Reuss Dreams of MLB“, Joe McBrayer, Cardinal Red Baseball; “The NL Central Road No Longer Goes Through St. Louis“, Daniel Shoptaw, C70 At The Bat; “Red Schoendienst: The Consummate Cardinal“, Brian Swope, STL Hat Trick; “A Tribute to a Cardinal Legend“, Chuck Brownson, Me and Willie McGee
#14 Best UCB Podcast
Nominees: 11th Inning Stretch, Bird Law, Bird Seeds (video), Cardinals Nation 24/7, Gateway to Baseball Heaven, Meet Me at Musial, Prospect to be Named Later
#15 Best Non-UCB Podcast
Nominees: 243 Podcast, Best Podcast in Baseball, Cubs Cards Cast, Seeing Red, Scoops with Danny Mac, St. Louis Cardinals Extras (MLB.com), Team of Rivals Podcast, Two Birds on a Bat, Viva El Birdos
#16 Best Podcaster
Write-in only
#17 Best Fan/Media Hybrid
Nominees: Dan Buffa, Jeff Jones, Brenden Schaeffer, Joe Schwarz
#18 Best Social Media Game
Nominees: #bombsaway, The Cardinal Six
If you’ve gotten this far and don’t want to scroll back up, here’s the link again. Get your vote in! We want to hear from you!