LCS newsletter

COMMENTS:

The Reds and Nats went 7….The Nationals fell back 3-1, but in Giant-like fashion came roaring back…They had to score a run in the 10th inning of game 6 to force game 7, and in an “S” aSSault, Strasburg, Storen, and Street combined to hold the Reds to 2 runs while Solano had 3 RBI…Gio Gonzales had a .52 ERA in 2 starts…Pujols hit .308…Longoria had 3 HR for the Reds, leading all LCS batters…Incredibly, Bronson Arroyo pitched a no-hitter in game 4…he needed a run in the 9th to secure the victory.

Congrats to Raphael, who had a truly great season.  He’s been in positive WOR every season he’s been in the league but one, and this is his inagural run in the playoffs.

Texas and the Angels have been beating each other up all season, but the late season momentum the Angels built up seemed to carry to the playoffs…After getting pummeled 10-2 in game 1, the Angels swept 4 straight…RA Dickey closed out game 7 with a 126-pitch effort, although the difference was 2 unearned runs..Kendrick hit .381…Napoli hit 2 HR..Hamilton hit 2 HR but only .150…Jean Segura, who the actual Angels traded by Greg Achen did not, hit .316.

What can you say about Rick Wynne?  His 1,888 wins are an ASFBL record, he has the best lifetime ASFBL win percentage of anyone to play more than a single season, his +322 WOR all-time are double the next closest, and that’s Leo, which is saying something.  Another great year, Rick.

We’ll run the world series games as soon as we hear from Andy and Greg that their lineups are in.,

Jhonatan Solano of WAS had 5 hits against CIN on 10/25/2012
Elliot Johnson of WAS had 5 hits against CIN on 10/25/2012
Yu Darvish of TEX had 10 strikeouts against LAA on 10/25/2012
Chris Iannetta of LAA struck out 4 times against TEX on 10/28/2012
Pablo Sandoval of LAA had 6 hits against TEX on 10/28/2012
Mike Napoli of TEX struck out 4 times against LAA on 10/28/2012
Gio Gonzalez of WAS had 11 strikeouts against CIN on 10/31/2012
Homer Bailey of CIN had 10 strikeouts against WAS on 11/4/2012
Sean Marshall of CIN robbed 3 hits against WAS on 11/4/2012
Gio Gonzalez of WAS had 10 strikeouts against CIN on 10/25/2012
Brad Mills of LAA had 14 strikeouts against TEX on 10/28/2012
Cameron Maybin of WAS robbed 3 hits against CIN on 10/28/2012

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DCS results

Anaheim/Boston: Anaheim wins in 6; Torii Hunter hit .478 and RA Dickey pitched 18 scoreless innings…Boston scored a combined 17 runs in games 3 and 5, but Dickey threw a 4-hit shutout to seal the deal in game 6.

Chisox/Texas: In the only series to go 7 games, the Rangers fought back from a 3-1 deficit to take the series…Edwin Jackson turned in 18 innings with 15 strikeouts and the bullpen was lights out…Ian Kinsler had 2 hits and 3 RBI in the decision game 7…Beltran hit .414 and Napoli had 3 HR

Congrats to Tony and Steve; Tony had the best league record for most of the year, and Steve held on in the most interesting race we had.  Good season, guys!

Washington/St. Louis; the Cardinals had a good season, but the National bats were just too much in the short series…Their 16 runs in the final game were the most scored by any team for any game of the DCS…Three players hit .380 or better…Ian Desmond had 3 HR.

Reds/Dodgers: After the Dodgers put up 7 runs in game 5 (more than enough for Kershaw), the Reds ended affairs in game 6 with 5 runs off of Capuano, 4 of which Ryan Ludwick was responsible for…AJ Ellis hit  HR and had 3 RBI, but Chapman struck out the side for the save.

Great season by Chuck Ballingall, who did was Donnie Baseball couldn’t, and pulled off an almost unimaginable run to win the NL west….Leo is the rock of the league, who always puts a great team on the field, and has been in the playoffs every year since 2006.

Newsletter for games through the wildcard series….10/13/2012

COMMENTS: Both wildcard rounds started 2-0, both ended 3-2.  Jered Weaver went the distance for the Halos in their decisive game, and Mike Trout had a homer and 3 RBI….Imitating reality, the Cards came back in the bottom of the 9th in the last game of the series to score 2 against Kenly Jansen….Congrats to Jim Casey and Mike Gortenberg, ASFBL staples each, who have each now been in the playoffs 4 years in a row…great season, guys…

DCS: Division leader with the best record gets the wildcard winner, unless they are from the same division, in which case they get the division leader with the lower record…the Was/LAD tie was broken by a coin toss held in my living room by my 4 year old and officiated by the 9 year old…

If you have a team in the DCS, please submit your lineup by Monday night, 10/15.  Games will run Tuesday morning.

Reminder: Stats continue to adjust EXCEPT for overuse stats.  Those are frozen at 10/3 levels.

You DO need to make sure your starters have enough rest; if you were a wildcard winner, the guy who started on 10/13 can’t start on 10/15.  This can be handled on the rotation change page, where you can see when your starters last pitched and when they are next eligible to pitch.

Newsletter for games through 10-3

Wild, wild, wild, wild west:

NL: The Dodgers took 2 of 3 games from the Giants to end the season in a dead tie for first place; Clayton Kershaw struck out 13 on the last day of the season.  The Dodgers get the nod by virtue of having won the seasonal head-to-head, 10 games to 8.  Colorado, meanwhile, swept Arizona to finish a paltry 1 game back of the 2 leaders.  The bad news for them was that the Cardinals took 2 of 3 from the Reds, cinching the last wildcard spot.  Congrats to Tom on a sensational rookie run, good work by both Jim and Chuck, and huge congrats to Ralph, who finished the year with the best regular season record.

AL: Texas took 2 of 3 from Oakland, Seattle took 2 of 3 from the Angels (where, freakishly, the final score of every game was 6-3)…which I believe means that Rick owes Adam Symonds his beverage of choice at their next meeting.  Texas wins the west by 1 game

The rest of the AL….Baltimore finished winning 2 of 3, but needed help they didn’t get and the Yankees finished 2 games ahead in the wildcard race…The Chisox took 2 of 3 from Cleveland, but the Kansas City sweep of the Tigers really sealed the division for the Sox…Those are congratulations to Steve Horak with a special assist from Johnny Mac…

The Cubs, Seattle, and Kansas City were the only 3 teams to finish exactly on the real team’s record…

The wildcard round: Anaheim vs. the Yankees, Cardinals vs. Giants.  We’ll ask the wildcard participants to submit their lineups by Friday, and send me an email letting me know that the lineups are complete.  Note that the computer-generated pitching rotation might not be accurate and will need to be set manually; the calendar runs continuously and your starters will need 4 days’ rest.

Final Feats and Failures:

Cliff Lee of PHI had 13 strikeouts against WAS on 10/1/2012
Max Scherzer of PIT had 11 strikeouts against ATL on 10/1/2012
Yovani Gallardo of MIL had 10 strikeouts against SDP on 10/2/2012
Ike Davis of OAK struck out 4 times against TEX on 10/3/2012
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 13 strikeouts against SFG on 10/3/2012

Newsletter for games through 9/30

COMMENTARY: We’ve played down to the last 3 games of the season, which we’ll finish up next week…Colorado posted another huge 6-1 week, and they have pulled to within 2 games of the last wildcard spot with 3 to go…they’re tied with Milwaukee, who’s +4 WOR has them in contention…The Reds have locked up the best record in the league…Three to go and the Angels and Rangers are dead tied…the runner-up has a leg up in the wildcard spot…Never say die in Detroit; the Chisox pulled an impressive 3 games ahead, but the Tigers still have a shot…Boston clinched the division, and any win in the last 3 gives them the homefield advantage through the AL playoffs…Houston and Toronto are really finishing strong in WOR…Oakland is finishing the way the actual A’s did; good week for John Weerts…Probably didn’t give enough props last week to Clayton Kershaw, who threw a no-hitter in an air-tight pennant race…there are many feats this weeks, but this one stands out: Anthony Rizzo of CHC had 9 RBI against COL on 9/26/2012

Last regular-season lineup is due next Monday!

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Yu Darvish of TEX had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 9/24/2012
Didi Gregorius of OAK struck out 4 times against TEX on 9/24/2012
Brandon Belt of KCR struck out 4 times against DET on 9/25/2012
Seth Smith of KCR struck out 4 times against DET on 9/25/2012
Steve Johnson of BAL had 18 strikeouts against TOR on 9/25/2012
Chris Iannetta of LAA robbed 3 hits against SEA on 9/27/2012
Russ Canzler of CLE robbed 3 hits against KCR on 9/28/2012
Kyle Seager of SEA robbed 3 hits against OAK on 9/30/2012