30 for 30 League (PART V -- Regular Season Complete!!)

 2430 games later, the regular season has completed in the 30 for 30 league!!! And as we all expected..... we'll have two more to go before the playoffs -- so get ready for a pair of Game 163s! Enough of this talk, let's get into it:

The Brewers won the NL Central thanks to their pair of superstar aces!

STANDINGS

So right off the bat, a congratulations to the managers of the ten playoff teams:

• Boston (AL East Champs) -- Win Dance Repeat on Discord
• Cleveland (AL Central Champs) -- Ksgriff88 on Discord
• Houston (Co-AL West Champs) -- Tensins on Discord
• Oakland (Co-AL West Champs) -- Nicklar20 on Discord
• Seattle (2nd Wild Card) -- Izzaldizzal on Discord
• Miami (Co-NL East Champs) -- Turkey Club Samich on Discord
• Philadelphia (Co-NL East Champs) -- Boshwack on Discord
• Milwaukee (NL Central Champs) -- Luke L on Discord (and original blog leaguer)
• Chicago Cubs (2nd Wild Card) -- Miles (original blog leaguer) 
• Arizona (NL West Champs) -- Michael (original blog leaguer)

Before the playoffs begin, we're going to break those division ties: Oakland goes to Houston while Miami will play at Philadelphia. That'll lock in the field. However, we already know that Cleveland (91 wins) and Milwaukee (106 wins) have the #1 seeds locked up, while Boston and Arizona are locked into the 3rd seeds. 

Brewers definitely thrived thanks to their rotation, wherein Sheets wasn't even the best player despite a 2.27 ERA and 14-7 record

The biggest story of Part V has to be the devastating collapse of the LA Angels. The Halos went a dismal 14-26 down the stretch, choking away their division lead so badly they fell from the #1 seed in the AL to one game out of the wild card (and fourth in their own division). Really, it just shows how deep the AL West was this season and how competitive the league is as a whole -- really tight bunching in the American league with only one team crossing the 90 win mark. Speaking of, that Cleveland team finished with the most runs scored with 683, nearly 30 runs more than Colorado. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep up that production in the playoffs against stronger pitching overall. Another interesting note -- both teams that selected closers in Round 1 won their respective divisions (Boston and Houston).

Houston finds itself in the AL playoffs thanks to great bullpen help, including its stud closer, 

as Wagner went 38/41 saves with a 1.71 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.

In the National League, the Phillies did it!!! Despite the Marlins hot 24-6 start, the Phillies overcame the 9 game deficit that existed after Part I, chipping away until they forced a game 163 for the NL East crown (with the loser guaranteed to host the wild card game). We don't have game by game results, but I'm choosing to believe that the Phillies had a dramatic win over the Expos right after a dramatic comeback by the Mets ruined the Marlins chances to clinch earlier that day, perhaps a David Wright walkoff.  The NL West had a similarly tight race, with the Dodgers and DBacks tied heading into the final part, only for Arizona to ride their potent offense (3rd most runs scored) to a division crown! Those teams will have to take down the Brewers, who are the only team to pass 100 wins thanks to an unbelievable pitching staff (2.81 team ERA) and stars like Prince Fielder (42 HR, 118 RBI). The mighty Cubbies and HR leader Sammy Sosa (57 dingers) also look to threaten in the wild card game.

Everyone expected Johnson and Schilling to be workhorse aces, but the key to Arizona winning the West was likely Kennedy, 

who went 17-7 with a 3.05 ERA and over 6.9 IP/start

Check out all the stats, individual and team, right HERE HERE HERE to see what happened to your favorite team!

The full leaderboards are in that link above, but let's go through some of the current top leaders!

Slammin' Sammy Sosa does what he could not do in 1998 -- overtake Big Mac for the home run crown, as Sosa smashed 17 HR in the final 40 games, powering the Cubs to the NL Wild Card game

Probably the least anticipated member of the 100 RBI club this season, Suarez did his best in the heart of Cincy's lineup... but they went 15-25 down the stretch and will miss the playoffs.

Larry Jones had a fabulous season -- not only did he join the 30/30 club, but he dashed his way to the top of the leaderboard in runs while finishing 5th in RBI!

Hanley's sensational season -- including having the most doubles in a season since 1936 -- helped push the upstart fish into a Game 163 for the NL East crown

Narrowly edging out the competition, Bobby Abreu secures the triples crown!

The Giants lack of success this season cannot be contributed to Melky Cabrera, who finished 3rd in steals and 3rd in runs scored this season -- deadly on the basepaths! 

In quite the surprise, Darin Erstad's original card ended up with over 200 hits, 

one of only five players to cross this milestone

As was mentioned on the discord, it seems only right that Tony Gwynn lead the league in batting average 

One of only 14 players with an OBP over .400, DJ was one of the top performing pinstripe players:

.297/.401/.442 with 39 2B, 10 3B, 8 HR and 97 R

Big Mac may have lost the HR race, his grip for best average and best OBP..... 

but boy oh boy, did he keep a stranglehold on the top spot for OPS in the league, 

as he is the only player to have an OPS of 1.000 or better!!

He finished tied for 12th in wins, but I want to give a special shout-out to this Tier 2 gem of a German Marquez -- this defacto ace, Marquez ended up with a 2.54 ERA and 17-9 record for the 71-91 Rockies.

Giving some love to Dennis, who finished above Pedro in ERA (and 4th in baseball) with his 2.16 ERA

The ace for Seattle ended up tied for 6th best WHIP. His stretch-run helped Seattle pass the Angels and move into the wild card game. He finished with a very King Felix 14-10 record, with a 2.86 ERA

The number one overall pick finished 8th in strikeouts, 

and he finished with a 16-9 record with 2.88 ERA, despite a 1.45 WHIP

Texas pitching struggled on the whole, but their first rounder still accumulated a ton of innings

 (7.69 IP/start), resulting in a 16-14 record and 3.36 ERA for the 66 win Rangers

WDR's first round pick (and card creation) of a closer was certainly controversial, but he ended up a frontrunner for reliever of the year: 45/50 saves, 1.54 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 11.42 K/9

30/30 Club

Of note, I have. to shout out the four players who managed to join the elusive 30/30 club this season --

• MIL Christian Yelich (33 HR, 31 SB)
• ATL Chipper Jones (32 HR, 45 SB)
• LAD Cody Bellinger (31 HR, 42 SB)
• LAD Matt Kemp (30 HR, 34 SB)

Kemp won't win any MVPs this time either, but he still had a fine year:

.281/.348/.489 slashline with 31 2B, 30 HR and 34 SB to go with 78 R and 71 RBI 

Next up will be the results of the two Game 163 matchups, final playoff seeding, and award voting! So review the stats and figure out who you think deserves the glory at year's end in each league.... and then check back soon!

If anyone stood out to you for any MVP, Cy Young, Silver Slugger voting, etc etc -- let me know!