PLAYOFF NOTES
This morning I’ll get the newsletter out; tonight I’ll set up the playoff schedules. I’ll ask for wildcard lineups to be in by Friday night so we can run them Saturday morning. We more or less follow the MLB format except that the wildcard round is 5 games and all others are 7. You can get a playoff rule refresher by clicking on the rules link on the top of the page.
END OF THE REGULAR SEASON!!!
National League
Top seed: Danny Wildes was being pushed hard by the Phillies but finished strong, going 5-1 including a sweep of the 91-win Cub team, and giving Atlanta the best record in either league. The late push guarantees them home field advantage for the entire playoff season…the Braves led the league in batting average at .279 and home runs with 272..team ERA was 3.71, a top-6 finish
Second seed: Ricky Wynne did not have a great finish but didn’t need it, and the Dodgers finished with 101 wins (+1 WOR) and cruised to a division win by 15 games, a victory twice as large as any other division leader. The Dodgers led the ASFBL in scoring, with more runs than the Braves, and finished with an NL-best 3.43 ERA.
Third seed: Like the Dodgers, the Cubs limped across the finish line but a season of excellence gave them the cushion they needed. Gordon Leckie had the club +8 WOR and proving what many Cub fans had been saying all year, that with better management the club has potential…91 wins is a great season by any account, and the team ERA of 3.58 was a top-4 finish; this is a team to worry about in the postseason.
Fourth seed: Adam Symonds would have won or been tied for first in any of the other 5 divisions, and this Phillie team is scary…the team ERA is identical to Atlanta at 3.71 and with 136 steals he’s got one of the faster teams in the playoffs…this is a wildcard team that looks every bit like an elite division winner.
Fifth seed: the Brewers and Padres each had 86 wins, but Chris Zewiske’s team gets the nod with a 4-3 regular-season head-to-head advantage. They dropped 2 of 3 to St. Louis — almost making Josh Clark a spoiler — but took 2 of 3 from the Cubs at home to hold serve against the Mets and DBacks and get their playoff card punched.
Sixth seed: Al Benedek got a team into the playoffs that didn’t make it in real life, and that was a feat for an actual Padre club that had a disappointing season…he finished +4 WOR and needed a 5-1 week to grab the final spot, which was accomplished with on-the-road series wins against the Chisox and Giants.
Kudos to: The Diamondbacks and Mark Druyos, who finished within a game of the over-achieving actual club, and judge got nudged by the Phillies and Padres who had impressive runs…the Rockies finished strong with a 5-1 week, and the Marlins went 6-1 and played spoiler by sweeping the Mets.
Wildcard series matchups: Padres at Cubs, Brewers at Phillies.
American League
Top seed: Tampa Bay has only been playing .500 ball over the last 30 but had such a specular start they finish with the best AL record overall, and cruised to win a really competitive division by 7 games…their 812 runs trails only Texas in the AL and their 3.44 team ERA is best in the American circuit…Ben Leckie finished +4 over a great team and this newsletter might have more views than the Rays have fans in attendance at their next playoff game.
Second seed: Jim Casey and Houston kept the gas pedal down and finished 5-1 by sweeping the Diamondbacks and taking 2 of 3 from Seattle…they led the ASFBL in ERA at 3.28 and logged 1,619 strikeouts…the team can pitch…and they have the best fielding of any team in the ASFBL playoffs.
Third seed: Tim Walsh, a Minnesota Team lifer, has kept a steady helm and won the division by 7 games despite the Guardians, Chisox, and Royals all having plus-WOR seasons…pitchers on the current active roster threw only 456 innings and have an EAR of 3.72, so Tim has pulled the team into the playoffs with a revamped pitching staff.
Fourth seed: Texas dropped 2 of 3 to the Jays in their first series but won 3 of 4 in the second set to nudge out the Jays on the first tiebreaker 4-3…they needed every win in the 5-2 week to secure the spot and although they dropped 2 of 3 to the Angels they swept Seattle, taking care of business when they had to. Welcome back to the playoffs, Ben Brockreide!
Fifth seed: Johnny Mac and the Jays tied the Rangers with 96 wins and used their 5-win week to storm into the playoffs…they took 2 of 3 from the struggling Yankees, which they had to do to stay in the hunt, and very impressively swept the Rays to secure the wildcard spot. The Jays are balanced, with both the offense and pitching finishing right around the top-10 spot.
Sixth seed: Mark Chen and Baltimore got into the playoffs, matching the accomplishment of the feel-good story of the MLB…the 5-1 week kept the competitors at bay, and the split with Washington was good enough to go along with a sweep of Boston to secure the spot…the actual club was going to be hard to match but Mark had the cards in his hand when he needed them, finishing the season on 20-10 run to secure the playoff spot.
Kudos to: Steve Skrovan and the Guardians had the best final 30 games of any AL team, finishing 21-9…Greg Acthen took the Anaheim Trainwrecks to 12 games over the actual club and even with 4 wins came up just short in the playoff race…Mike Mendoza of Kansas City and John Weerts of Oakland had massive WOR seasons, finishing first and second in the ASFBL…Leo Leckie just never gives up and never stops trying to make even small improvements and finished 3rd in the WOR overall at +14.
Wildcard matchups: Orioles at Minnesota, Jays at Texas.
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