Is This A Great Game, Or What?

With apologies, well actually, in homage to Tim Kurkjian, is this a great game, or what?

Twenty-fourteen is shaping up as another utterly implausible season that is nonetheless occurring. In this game, the impossible is commonplace.

In the NBA, last year's championship combatants, to no one's surprise, are this year reconvening in the title series. In MLB, last year's champs occupy next-to-last place, just ahead of a 2013 playoff team. 

The 2013 kings of the NL are scuffling along at .500, five game behind a club in baseball's smallest market (Milwaukee) that last season dropped 88 games.

The best reliever in the American League this year is the throw-in to the 2013 Wil Myers-James Sheilds trade between Tampa Bay and Kansas City. Wade Davis has allowed just 11 hits and four runs in 27 innings for the Royals. None of the hits is for extra bases. This is all perfectly understandable, as AL hitters battered Davis for a 5.32 ERA last season.

On the other hand, all-world starter Justin Verlander has fanned just 60 in 86 frames and sports a thoroughly average W-L record, ERA, K/BB rate and hit rate. Who saw that coming?

Who saw steroid user Nelson Cruz returning from suspension even better than when he was juicing? He leads the league in HR (20) and OPS (1.025) for the Orioles, so what were the drugs all about?

Not only didn't we see Met pitcher Jacob de Grom coming, we didn't see him batting .556/.600/.667 a third of the way into the season. His 1.267 OPS is higher than outfielders Chris Young's and Eric Young's combined.

Whose crystal ball had the 94-win Pirates scrambling to reach .500 despite good health? Okay, ours did. But we didn't predict the Rays would be dusting off David Price's for-sale sign by June or that the mini-payroll A's would clinch the West before the All-Star break in front of teams (Texas and Anaheim) that that own Federal Reserve Banks. 

The Midas-touched Rays have lost 39 games, worst in the Majors and a number they hadn't suffered last year until a month later. The A's are winning with widespread goodness -- sort of like Switzerland. Not a single Oakland batter is hitting .300, but they're scoring five runs a game. 

The long-forsaken Blue Jays -- last year's colossal flop -- are running away with the AL East thanks almost entirely to three players -- Buehrle, Bautista and Encarnacion. If you selected Buehrle as a high-round fantasy pick there are nine guys no longer laughing at you.

Last year, Troy Tulowitzki batted .312, earned an All-Star berth and snagged MVP votes for the five-plus wins against replacement he provided the Rockies. In the first third of this season, he's already produced 90% of that value while leading the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging average and runs scored.

Tampa Bay's James Loney has never been a long ball guy, but he legged out 15 triples his first three years, despite mostly part-time play. The next three seasons he collected five triples, in full-time play. In the three years since, he has yet to notch a triple. What a game.

Indians catcher/DH Carlos Santana collected MVP votes last season. This year he's on pace to walk 143 times. Good thing, because he's batting .171. Why don't they throw him strikes? They should take back the MVP votes this year.

Outfielder Seth Smith only once in his career hit better than .284/.347/.483, and that was in Denver's thin air. Now in the worst offensive park in the Majors, he's hitting .302/.405/.587. Wacky.

Houston's Dallas Keuchel entered the season with a .520 ERA. In 2014 he's doubled his K/BB ratio and cut his ERA in half. A below replacement pitcher coming into the season, he's added 3.4 wins to the Astros in 2014. And you could have had him for a buck in your fantasy league draft.

Flipside: The Bucs' Francisco Liriano anchored the rotation last season with a 16-8, 3.02 performance. He allowed nine home runs all year. This year, he's an anchor, all right. He's 1-6, 4.54 with seven jacks allowed.

How can this all be? Because it's baseball. Is this a great game, or what?