And thus the regular season has come to an end. Took two months to complete with every team playing 44 games. Had a good time and now for a recap of the regular season:
#1 Buffalo Saberhagens - 19-25 - top performers were Lampkin and Womack - the team played well but had a dead stretch in the middle of the season that hurt, when the bullpen got rocked multiple times
#2 The Highs and Lowes - 17-27 - top performer Greg Vaughn - starters had a bunch of bad outings that did this team in
#3 GitRekt - 24-20 - (three seed in the post-season) - more on this team below
#4 Genny Screamers - 23-21 - top performers Venafro (which without keeping stats I believe led the league in saves but also had some reason bad outings in trailing games) and Singleton - was right in the thick of things but then dropped 3 of the last 4 to be eliminated from the post-season in their last series
#5 What Smells - 17-27 - top performer Ashby - Ashby came one out away from throwing a perfect game allowing a single on his own chart to Pokey Reese in the top of the 9th - this game started a stretch of three games for Ashby where he dominated allowing only 4 runs over 26 innings
#6 Fire Sharks - 24-20 - (tied for the fourth seed in the post-season and playing in the play-in series) - more on this team below
#7 Life of Brian - 21-23 - top performer Vaughn - nothing terribly stellar about their season - had a couple of tough breaks and back to back outings by Smoltz and Milton with own chart outs that hurt
#8 Whose Line is It Anyway - (two seed in the post-season) - more on this team below
#9 Tyrannosaurus Rexes - (one seed in the post-season) - more on this team below
#10 Newburyport Skippers - 23-21 - top performer Ramiro Mendoza - fell one win short of joining the play-in group but had a couple of tough breaks on Saberhagen starts with low run support
#11 Donny Donowitz's Boys - 24-20 - (tied for the fourth seed in the post-season and playing in the play-in series) - more on this team below
#12 Island of Misfit Bats - 21-23 - top performers Beltre and Ausmus - both these guys were fun to play with and did damage in the middle to the end of the lineup - the team dropped some games early and didn't have enough in the tank down the stretch to flip the script
Overall biggest disappointments would be Johnstone, Jackson, and Rolen. Johnstone got rocked regularly by everyone that had him on the team and he slowly shifted from being in late game situations (non-closing) to more middle to long relief. Jackson blew more saves than I have ever seen for the Misfit Bats (I lost count at 5). And Rolen, while he did perform well at times, really didn't do as much damage on his own chart rolling a lot of own chart outs and drawing a ton of walks with the 6-11 range. Tough to do damage when you only put the ball in play under 50% of the time. On a side note, Blake Stein pitched really well but had numerous times where he would walk in multiple runs in an inning. Some really tough rolls from the dice gods for him.
On the overachieving standout section we had Ashby, Farnsworth, Vaughn, Young, Sanders, and Gonzalez. Ashby as stated above as well, was just consistent all the way around, what you expect from a 4-16 guy. Farnsworth rarely got rocked and with a deep bullpen for his team, there were a lot of situations in which he would be pulled after 4 or 5 innings and the team would win. He did his job well putting them in position to win. Greg Vaughn was a solid piece for his teams adding a power bat and speed, and Mo Vaughn had a tremendous second half of the season. Eric Young was a guy I did not play much with before this but really is a great card. Was a key point to both squads he appeared on and consistently hit guys in and scored. Reggie Sanders was solid all around with power, speed, and timely hits for his owners. Lastly was both versions of Juan Gonzalez (in the Showdown hall of fame as Jeff says) as this guy brought power all of the time. In match ups featuring him on both teams, on more than three occasions (it's all I can remember) he hit home runs for both teams in the same inning back to back. As for fun cards, Bergeron and Womack both stood out providing good defensive value but made great work with their chart and speed offensively at the bottom of lineups.
On to the playoffs now. Three teams tied at 24-20 and going on head to head records, GitRekt was awarded the three seed going 6-2 v his competitors. This means that the Fire Sharks with take on Donny Donowitz's Boys, with Donny hosting Game 1 and then the Fire Sharks hosting Games 2-3 (if necessary).
From there the playoffs will be (best of seven - 2-3-2 with travel day):
#2 Whose Line is It Anyway v #3 GitRekt
#1 Tyrannosaurus Rexes v #4 Play-In Winner
For the things to look out for in the playoffs:
Pitching wise Elarton and Johnston appear on 3 of the 5 teams, while Smoltz, Brocail (JEFF!), Embree, and Myers appear on 2.
Batting wise Shumpert and Stocker appear on 3 of the 5 teams, while Jenkins, Rolen, Gonzalez, Sanders, Bragg, and Castillo appear on 2.
Top story lines:
High stakes play-in game. In Game 1, there will be no DH with Donny hosting at his NL stadium.
For the Fire Sharks, Hammonds has been a vital bat for them, can he continue to rake? Ventura got hot late and helped secure the post-season birth, can he relive his 00 Mets post-season heroics 20 years later?
For Donny, Brady Anderson was a beast the last four series, hitting over six home runs (two multi-home run games). Will the hot bat continue? Now that Young has been mentioned as an overachieving card, can he live up to the hype?
For GitRekt, Helton and Cameron were solid parts of the line up. Both served as power bats in their different parts. Can they continue this in the post-season?
For Whose Line, the bottom four guys were solid all year, contributing runs and knocking guys in (Diaz even had a game where he hit three home runs). Can these guys continue to thrive in the roles?
Lastly, for our number one seed Rexes, can the team with the smallest bullpen make the splash and avoid being exploited? Sanders and Gonzalez have been incredible pieces for the offense, can they continue their surge into the postseason?
Thanks for everyone who has participated and good luck to the playoff teams.
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