Junk Food Nation, it’s Government Shutdown Day!  But I’m not going to talk about it – just turn on the news or read one of 8000 news sources if you want to learn about it.  Nope, today I’m going to look back on one of my favorite posts every year: my MLB Predictions post.  It’s where I get to pretend to be Bill James!  And fail miserably. Hell, I predicted Texas would win last night, and Tampa Bay won.  I stink…. Let’s look at how I did:

AL EAST: Predicted – Yankees. Actual – Red Sox.  Well, this is a bitter pill to swallow, especially after I bet on the Sox to finish last in the AL East.  Ouch.  And now I owe my friend Joe $50 because I bet the Yanks would finish ahead of the Sox.  This is a bad day all around.

AL CENTRAL: Predicted – Tigers. Actual – Tigers. NAILED IT.  I was surprised by the fight the Royals and Indians had this season, and equally surprised at how bad the ChiSox were.  Paul Konerko, what happened, man?

AL WEST: Predicted – Angels.  Actual – Athletics.  To be fair, I DID bet that Oakland would make the Wild Card if they didn’t win the West outright.  But I kept forgetting my mantra regarding the Angels – it’s where pitchers go to die.  Plus, the regression by Josh Hamilton didn’t help.  And Albert Pujols being hurt all year.  Ugh, if I were Mike Trout, I’d be pretty pissed.

AL WC 1: Predicted – Athletics. Actual – Indians.  WHAAAAAT????  The Indians?  My friend Omar must be stoked.  The Indians make the postseason for the first time since…well, I’m too lazy to find out.  I credit SWISHA entirely.

AL WC 2: Predicted – Blue Jays. Actual – Tampa Bay.  Yuck.  That’s all I have to say.

NL EAST: Predicted – Nats. Actual – Braves.  I was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off here.  Harper was injured, the staff was getting it down, but they weren’t scoring runs.  Then they were scoring runs, but the pitchers stunk.  It was an up and down season, capped off by an AMAZING winning streak in August, but too little too late.

NL CENTRAL: Predicted – Cardinals.  Actual – Cardinals.  NAILED IT AGAIN.  And they didn’t even need Oscar Taveras! Matt Adams, Michael Wacha, Matt Carpenter, Joe Kelly, Trevor Rosenthal, Edward Mujica – WHO THE HELL ARE THESE GUYS??  Well, you’ll know their names when they’re in the World Series – mark it.

NL WEST: Predicted – Giants. Actual – Dodgers.  UGH.  I love you, Don Mattingly, but your team is super annoying.  I don’t know why, I just feel that way. It’s probably for all the same reasons that people hated the Yankees.

NL WC 1 & 2: Predicted – Braves and Cincy. Actual: Pittsburgh & Cincy.  Well, I got Cincy right, basically, and had the Braves doing well this year, so that’s good.  But Pittsburgh??  WOW.  Now that’s a surprise, and I’m stoked for them.  First time in like…well, again, I’m too lazy to figure it out.  But credit it to their pitching staff – 577 runs allowed is the second lowest in the National League.  Bravo, Gerrit Cole.

For the next two nights, the Wild Cards games will be played… between Cincy and Pittsburgh, I’m going to give the edge to Pittsburgh, for the same reason as I stated above – amazing pitching staff.  Cueto vs. Liriano is a great matchup.  In Tampa Bay vs. Cleveland, I’m going to give the edge to …..Cleveland, I guess.  I just don’t think Tampa’s pitching is that great, but Cleveland’s great offense needs to jump on the ball early.  This will be a very close matchup.

Today’s junk food: Limited Edition Caramel Tootsie Pops!

Limited Edition Caramel Tootsie Pops!  Brought to you, and given to me, by my friend Steve.  First thought: since when is CARAMEL a limited edition flavor?  What?  Tootsie Pops, definitely not blazing any trails, but whatever.

Whenever I think of Tootsie Pops, I’m reminded of this commercial.

Classic.

Limited Edition Caramel Tootsie Pops presumes that a consumer HAS to pick between a Tootsie Roll and a caramel hard candy.  I don’t know what kind of Sophie’s Choice world you think I live in, but I can have either whenever I damn well please.

When I was younger, I used to eat Blow Pops a lot, and I remember when Tootsie Pops came out, I was like, who the heck wants to eat these?  Even after I tried one, I was skeptical.  Blueberry candy outside, chocolate Tootsie Roll inside?  Why not pair the fruit candy outer shells with the fruit flavored Flavor Rolls inside? Am I the ONLY one who ever thought of this?? DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING?

As soon as I stuck one of these Limited Edition Caramel Tootsie Pops in my mouth, two thoughts popped in my head.  (1) Man, I haven’t had a lollipop in a very long time, and (2) WERTHER’S ORIGINAL ALERT.  WERTHER’S ORIGINAL ALERT.  My friend Steve who gave these thought these sort of tasted like Candy Corn…I tried another last night, and I can see where he got that from, but I couldn’t get the Werther’s Original flavor out of my head.

So, there’s really not that much description here – if you’ve had a Werther’s Original before, you’ve tasted this lollipop.  I’ve stated before that Werther’s Originals are old man candy, and these lollipops are similar.  Tasting, burnt sugar caramel flavor, with a Chocolate-y Tootsie Roll center.  On a stick.

Did I like them?  SURE I DID.  Who DOESN’T like Werther’s Originals, even if it IS old man candy that creeps me out.  IT TASTES GOOD.  And these Limited Edition Caramel Tootsie Pops tasted good, albeit not the most new experience in the world.  And I did almost destroy my molars trying to bite into this thing.  That commercial was a lie.

After eating, my real thought was: Why didn’t Tootsie Roll release these sooner?  It’s not like the idea is THAT unique or the ingredients new, at all.  Get with the program, Tootsie Pops.

PURCHASED AT: Bought by a friend, but honestly, you can find these ANYWHERE

COST: I’ve seen them for $2.50-$3.50 a bag

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy