WORLD SERIES RESULTS

Game 1: Tanner Roark held the Bosox to 1 run and the hitters got 5 runs of Bucholz while stealing 2 bases.  Robinson Cano got 2 hits batting 9th.

Game 2: Bumgarner went the distance for a shutout as angry hitters took out game 1 frustrations on Strasberg.  Holliday had 4 RBI.

Game 3: This was a hitters’ show after the 2 pitching gems; David Ortiz had a 3-run HR and Bogaerts had 2 hits off the bench.  But every Washington hitter in the 2-6 spots had a mutliple-hit game and the Nats came out on top 7-5.

Game 4: Wainwright gave up 5 runs but the Bosox got pushed to the wall by an unearned run and a 1-spot given up by Pedro Beato in the 8th…Bryce Harper homered off the bench and the Nats won a nail-biter 6-5…

Game 5: In Boston 3 pitchers cominbed to allow only 1 run and Uehara (real ERA of .29 in the second half) pitched a 2-inning save…1 RBI each by the Bosox 2-4 hitters

Game 6: Facing elimination in Washington Bumargner pitched his second consecutive complete game shutout…since going down 3-1 in the series the Boston pitchers allowed only 1 run in 18 innings

Game 7: Chris Sale got knocked around in his second start of the series and Gio Gonzalez locked down for 7 innings…Papelbon pitched the last 2….Carlos Gonzalez had 3 hits and 3 RBI, and the Nationals smacked 3 homers to win it all.

Tony Bernacchi is in his 13th season in the ASFBL and in his past 3 seasons he’s been to the World Series twice and finished 1st in WOR in the other season…he’s never had fewer than 95 wins since taking over the Bosox in 2009….he’s finished with a positive WOR every year since 2007.  Tony is one of the all-time great guys and overcame some unfortunate circumstances at the start of the season to put together a really great year.

Andy Somers is in his 4th year and hit the ground running, having made the playoffs each year he’s been in the league.  In 2011 he took a woeful Houston team and turned them around with a +34 WOR year, the 3rd-best ever in WOR…to be a World Series champ in year 4 is truly incredible.  Hail to the Champion!

We’ll be in touch about the post-season awards within the next week.

Thanks to all of you for a really fun time.  I had a blast this season!

Jon

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LCS Newsletter 2013

BOSTON TAKES DETROIT IN 7: After going up 3-1 the Bosox watched Detroit take the next 2 to force a decisive 7th game….the Bostons bats broke out in the last game as they scored 11 runs and 8 of 9 starters registered hits…Chris Sale gave up 6 runs but pitched into the 9th to take home the series…Lavarnaway hit .385 with 9 RBI…Uehara struck out 4 of 7 batters faced…Gordon has been in the league since 1994 and with Detroit since 2006…this year set all-time personal records for most wins and the +9 WOR is his 3rd best all-time…this is his 4th playoff appearnce since 2006…he adds a bunch to the league, always asks insightful questions, and the fact that he posted the best regular-season record in the ASFBL this year tells you what you need to know about how well he organizes his team.  Great season, Gordie!

WASHINGTON SWEEPS: Rick was worried about the National pitching and the Washington hurlers held the Braves to only 5 runs in 4 games…Wainwright sealed the deal with an 8-inning, 1-run performance…Robinson Cano hit .400…David Hale struck out 14 in 7 innings…I’m running out of superlatives for Rick Wynne…never had a negative WOR season…all-time WOR record holder with 323, and second-place is 155…all-time wins leader by over 100…best all-time winning percentage for anyone with more than 1 season…made the playoffs every year since 2001 and done it with 11 different teams…I’ve written every line of code for this game and I’m sure he understands it better than I do…and every year he mixes it up with a slew of trades and is welcoming to all comers…a great ASFBL player and a really good guy.

World Series lineups will be opened up for posting later tonight.  It’s Bernacchi’s Bosox vs. Somers’ Nationals for the whole pile of candy…and a classic hitting vs. pitching matchup.

Newsletter for DCS games

DETROIT OVER BALTIMORE IN 6 GAMES: The Orioles held the Tigers to 1 run in their 2 victories, but Detroit gutted out 3-2 wins in games 1 and 6 to take the series.  Cabrera hit a homer and Verlander needed 4 innings out of the bullpen but they were up to the task.  Cabrera hit 4 HR in the series.  Mark Chen is in his 11th season, all with Baltimore.  This is his 3rd playoff appearance and between 2004 and 2008 he had an incredible string of WOR finishes…Mark spent time in the hospital week, so he was performing while on a rehab assignment…he’s had a great year and gets our congratulations.

BOSTON OVER TEXAS IN 5: Bosox pitchers only allowed 16 runs in the 5 games, under an average of 4 per, and there was enough hitting to do the rest.  David Ortiz hit .450 with 9 RBI…Scott Treffer is an ASFBLer who goes back to the days of called-in lineups and snail mail results…he’s won his division 8 times, made the World Series in 2007 and finished as the WOR runner-up in 2008.  He spent an astounding 19 seasons with Atlanta before jumping to the Rangers where he has again made the playoffs.  Kudos to Scott for another fine year.

WASHINGTON TAKES SAINT LOUIS IN 5: Washington pitchers held the Cards to just 8 runs in their 4 wins….but the Cards would not go down easy and took the 5th game to 12 innings in St. Louis…Jeremy Moore has turned in 15 ASFBL seasons and has taken on 8 teams, including the Nationals…His efforts have been rewarded in this, his first playoff appearance…he held the top spot in one of the toughest divisions out there and finished with the 2d-best NL record…thanks for another great run, Jeremy!

ATLANTA OVER SAN FRANCISCO IN 5: After Brave pitchers shut them out for the first 18 innings, the Giants scored 13 runs in the next 3 games but Atlanta piled on 16 runs in the last 2 events to take the series…Gattis had 4 RBI and 2 XBH in the deciding game…he had 10 RBI in the series…Davide Hale had double-digit strikeouts in 2 starts….Veteran Jim Casey started his run in 1995 and this season caps off 5 straight seasons of making the playoffs, including a World Series title in 2011.  He was also the WOR champion in 2000 with the Cubs…Jim always brings a clever comment and usually leads the league in trades.

The NL East claimed both LCS spots…in the AL, the #1 and #2 seeds are holding steady.

Wild card results

Two 5-game series, two series decided on 1-run games in the 5th game of the match.  Not only was there no room for error, there was barely room to breathe.  Great weekend!

AL — BALTIMORE IN 5…After taking a 6-0 drubbing in game 1, the Orioles bounced back and took games 2 and 4 6-5 before sealing the wildcard spot with a 2-1 victory in a decisive 5th game.  They were shut out twice and only managed 2 runs on the match point — in fact, they were outscored 18-14 in the series — but 4 pitchers combined to allow 1 run and Chris Davis homered with the season on the line.

Congrats to John Weerts on an inspiring season, including an 11-game winning streak going into game 2 of the wildcard round.  This is John’s 4th season in the league, all with Oakland, and his 3rd positive-WOR finish.  All that good, young pitching makes next season look even brighter.

NL — WASHINGTON IN 5 — In 10 chances, only once did either team score more than 4 runs….games 2 through 5 were ALL decided by 1 run, and game 3 took 14 innings to decide…game 4 was a walk-off, bottom-of-the 9th win for the Nationals…Adam Wainwright pitching 7  innings of 5-hit ball to seal the series.

Danny Wildes has been in the ASFBL since 2006 and it’s his first year with the Pirates.  His 92 wins this year are his most since 2007 with the Padres, when he made it to the LCS.  That’s 4 playoff appearances in 8 years.  Congrats on a great run!

We will post the DCS matchups later today and ask that lineups be submitted by tomorrow night.  We should have our LCS set by Friday and will tentatively seek to finish the world series by end of the weekend.

Sudden-Death AL wildcard result & wildcard lineup announcement

After getting into the playoffs with a no-hitter on the last game of the season, Jarrod Parker threw 8 1/3 innings of 1-hit ball.  Zach Stewart was nearly perfect for the Jays, allowing only 4 hits over all 9 innings, but in the 4th Brandon Moss walked, and Napoli and Vogt put together back-to-back hits to get across the game’s only run.  Oakland has now won 10 straight and advances into the AL wildcard round.

And yes, that was fantasy imitating reality:  On the same day Vogt had the only RBI in the Oakland 1-0 victory over the Tigers in real life, Vogt had the only RBI in the Oakland 1-0 victory in ASFBL.

Congrats to Hugh Brown — he’s an 8-year ASFBL vet who’s post positive WOR numbers 6 times…this year’s +16 mark ties a career-best in 2009 with the DBacks…He’s never had a negative-WOR year since jumping to the AL and taking over the Jays…in 2008 he had the best record in the NL, and this year’s 2nd-overall WOR finish is the 4th top-10 WOR finish and a career high.  Any way you look at it, he took over an actual team that was a bit of a mess and put together a great season.  Great work, Hugh!

We’ll ask the 4 remaining wildcard teams (Washington, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Oakland) to enter their lineups by today and email Leo and I when they’re done.  We hope to have all 4 lineups in today so we can post the results tomorrow.  Per league rule, it’s a 5-game series.

Enjoy the playoff baseball!

Jon

Newsletter for games through 9-29 (end of the regular season)

Big news! Tie for the last playoff spot in the AL!  Sonny Gray pitched a no-hitter on the last day of the season to give Oakland a perfect 6-0 week and tie them with the Blue Jays for the last wildcard spot…

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

Hats off to the Braves, Cardinals, and Giants who go in as Divisional winners…the Braves finished strong with a 5-2 mark, putting Ricky Wynne at +1 WOR to keep his incredible never-a-negative-WOR streak alive…they also have the best record in the NL…Washington and Pittsburgh took the wildcard spots, each going 4-2….Leo’s Marlins finished with a strong 5-1 mark, 3rd-best overall, and the Padres finished with a 6-1 mark, best in the league, and putting Jim Gerety +4 WOR…the Brewers were the last team out, but Chris Zewiske’s +14 WOR is the finishg touch on a really impressive season…

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

Detroit, Boston, and Texas are the division winners….Boston overcame a very slow first 2 weeks to get to 99 wins, Gordon Leckie finished with the best record in all of ASFBL, and Scott Treffer adjusted to the new league with a division championship and +4 mark over a team that was already pretty good…Mark Chen got Baltimore into the top wildcard spot with 91 wins…John Weertz’ Billy Beane imitation converted a 6-0 week into a 90-win season, tying him with Hugh Brown’s Blue Jays for the last wildcard spot…the Jays were 4-2…they had to take 2 of 3 from both Baltimore and the Rays to do so…Rob Perkins took the Astros and squeezed 19 additional wins out of them, finishing in the top spot for WOR.

Matchups and playoff rules will be announced on Friday morning, including an announcement about the AL wildcard playoff scenario…  Congrats to all on a great season!

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Ben Zobrist of MIA had 5 hits against PHI on 9/23/2013
David Hale of ATL had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 9/23/2013
Michael Wacha of TEX had 13 strikeouts against HOU on 9/24/2013
Justin Verlander of DET had 10 strikeouts against MIN on 9/24/2013
Starling Marte of PIT struck out 4 times against CHC on 9/25/2013
Chris Carter of HOU had 6 RBI against TEX on 9/25/2013
Brett Wallace of HOU had 6 RBI against TEX on 9/25/2013
Max Scherzer of DET had 10 strikeouts against MIN on 9/25/2013
Wilin Rosario of COL struck out 4 times against BOS on 9/25/2013
Adam LaRoche of BAL struck out 4 times against TOR on 9/26/2013
Carlos Santana of CLE struck out 4 times against MIN on 9/27/2013
David Price of TBR had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 9/28/2013
Ubaldo Jimenez of CLE had 13 strikeouts against MIN on 9/28/2013
David Hale of ATL had 15 strikeouts against PHI on 9/28/2013
Alex Cobb of TBR had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 9/29/2013
Sonny Gray of OAK had 10 strikeouts against SEA on 9/29/2013