Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - BBFL: Let The Playoffs Begin

And then there were six. OK, twelve. Actually, because of first-round byes, only eight of 20 teams will be in action this week, as the inaugural regular season of the Batter's Box Fantasy League is complete. Snellville Jones' Gashouse Gorillas took command in early May and never looked back -- congratulations!

With a poor prediction after leaping to a premature conclusion, I "awarded" second to Baird Brain last week, only to have Jurgen admonish me for jinxing him. Oops. I figured he couldn't get blanked (he did lose 8-4 to Jicks Rays) and someone would need to be perfect to catch him. Someone was; Billies Bashers rode a 12-0 week against Geoff's Grumpy Group into the runner-up spot and a bye.

The league's best team down the stretch, the Thunderbirds, also enjoyed a 12-0 week, whipping the Fish Candy, but Justin will have to settle for a bye in the consolation round. My staggering Toronto Walrus did not completely collapse, beating Garces_not_on roids 9-3 to hang on to the final spot in the championship bracket. Scott Lucas and his Nation Builders finished fourth, with Gwyn Price's Mebion Glyndwr fifth; both teams enter the playoffs on a roll, winning 10-1 and 11-0, respectively. The winner of their first-round battle could go all the way, with the coveted Ricciardi/Tosca autographed T-shirt up for grabs this month.

Here are the final regular-season standings.

 #  Team                        W-L-T       Win %    GB
 1  gashouse gorillas         152-100-12    .598     -- 
 2  Billies Bashers           143-108-13    .566     8.5 
 3  Baird Brain               141-108-15    .563     9.5 
 4  Nation Builders           142-112-10    .557    11 
 5  Mebion Glyndwr            141-115-8     .549    13 
 6  Toronto Walrus            139-114-11    .547    13.5 
 7  Thunderbirds              136-118-10    .534    17 
 8  Jicks Rays                130-120-14    .519    21 
 9  Chatsworth Halos          128-124-12    .508    24 
10  K-Town Mashers            127-127-10    .500    26 
11  Red Mosquitos             124-125-15    .498    26.5 
12  Eastern Shore Birds       125-128-11    .494    27.5 
13  Sub-Urban Shockers        121-127-16    .489    29 
14  AGF                       118-132-14    .473    33 
15  Springfield Isotopes      118-132-14    .473    33 
16  Moscow Rats               114-135-15    .460    36.5 
17  Reykjavik Fish Candy      112-138-14    .451    39 
18  masssuckage               107-143-14    .432    44 
19  Garces_not_on_roids       105-145-14    .424    46 
20  Geoffs Grumpy Group        89-161-14    .364    62

If he has any hard feelings about me "jinxing" him, Jurgen will be able to settle this privately, as our teams meet in a sudden-death match this week. I think our paths were supposed to cross; we bumped into each other last week at the Cumberland theatre, where rodent and I took in the very satisfying American Splendour. Paul Giamatti is brilliant as Harvey Pekar, but I digress.

It will take plenty of good luck for me to beat Baird Brain, who is unlikely to have two poor weeks in a row. Losing Mike Lowell could really hurt the Walrus; we will need another huge week from Carlos Delgado to stay alive. I don't think I'll start David Wells today against the Jays, since I'm hoping they knock Boomer all over the Dome.

In addition to the T-Birds, Jicks Rays earned a bye in the consolation round. Red Mosquitos take on K-Town Mashers in one elimination matchup, with Chatsworth Halos facing Eastern Shore Birds in the other. Condolences to those on the sidelines, and best of luck to all the playoff teams. We'll continue the weekly updates, and will address the offseason trading issue before the playoffs are over.

Posted by Coach on Monday, September 01 2003 @ 08:54 AM EDT.

BBFL: Let The Playoffs Begin | 12 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

_Jurgen - Monday, September 01 2003 @ 01:09 PM EDT (#13895) #

Yes, Coach. Schmidt and Huff square off against their former teams. It's the only way it had to be. I spent much of the season trying to catch you for second place, and when I got it, my Schmidtless couldn't hold on to it by the end.

As much as I miss my bye (Geoff, you couldn't have scored one measely point?!!), part of me is relieved because my team has been playing so poorly in August that I was afraid I'd have a great week when everybody was on the bench--and then promptly revert back to suckiness when it counted.

I'm hoping for a big week from Matsui. After showing a lot of promise back in June and July, he's reverted back to his early season suckiness. I frankly don't know if he's keeper material.

Having just been beaten senseless by Jicks, I'll again say that the consolation bracket has some really good teams squaring off.

_R Billie - Monday, September 01 2003 @ 01:28 PM EDT (#13896) #

Mulder being down with injury was probably the difference for me as a start or two from him would have broken up a perfect week. The stats were solid but hardly those that you'd associate with a 12-0 week, so a healthy dose of luck continues to follow the Bashers around most weeks.

Question...are we using these standings to determine draft order or the final standings including playoff weeks?

Coach - Monday, September 01 2003 @ 02:10 PM EDT (#13897) #

R Billie, luck evens out -- well done. These are the standings we'll use; Geoff picks first next year and you're 19th.

_Spicol - Monday, September 01 2003 @ 02:20 PM EDT (#13898) #

Scott, was your performance this week a record in any way? Frankly, the Mosquitos were great this week. But you STILL beat me 10-1 and I almost missed the consolation round because of it. All the deadline trading went for naught and I could be relegation bound in 2005! Better hire me a Keith Law.

Congrats to Snellville.

MVP for the Week: Tim Worrell had 4 saves and a 0.00 ERA to allow me to win or tie my only two cats. Frank Catalanotto was on fire, hitting 643/706/1214 but it was moot as I got swept in hitting.

The "You Suck, Go Home" Award: Desi Relaford. 2 for 18. Methinks he's getting tired, not having played this much in 5 years.

_Scott Lucas / N - Monday, September 01 2003 @ 03:12 PM EDT (#13899) #

Spicol, out of 440 team-weeks of play, yours was the 37th best of the season. Mine just happened to be the best (at least in the way I calculate it). 53 runs, 52 RBI, 9 SB, .317/.398/.579, 82 IP, 7 wins, 6 saves, 2.85 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 3.59 K/BB. Just one of those weeks when everything went right. Hope I didn't use up all my magic right before the playoffs.

I have every team's win-loss-tie by category and a couple of other stats on my web site. It's just thrown out there for the moment; I'll make it prettier later and post some more stats.

_Jordan - Monday, September 01 2003 @ 07:00 PM EDT (#13900) #

0 and 11. I've never been shut out before, and my intrepid squad saved its worst performance of the season for the most crucial time possible. There'll be changes in Suburbia this off-season, I can assure you; no more broken windows in the high street, those roaming suburban boys listening to the sirens wail. I have six potential keepers -- Carlos Beltran, Richard Hidalgo, Juan Pierre, Morgan Ensberg, Mark Prior and Brett Myers -- and I'll listen to offers during the postseason trade window of a blow-away 2-for-1 deal featuring a superstar player.

For now, though, it's time to start planning for next season, as well as trying to win my remaining roto league (currently 2nd in an ESPN contest). Congrats to the playoff teams and good luck in the finals.

_Jicks Rays - Tuesday, September 02 2003 @ 08:29 AM EDT (#13901) #

Excellent first year everyone(I know it's not over yet!!). Congrats to Snellville and the other playoff teams for there great seasons. I am looking forward to kicking butt in the playoffs(hurry back Reyes) and doing some trading this winter. I would also like to say that coming first in the overall stats meant squat, it's how you play each week in comparison to your competition that really matters. Good luck in the playoffs, Rick.

_Jonny German - Tuesday, September 02 2003 @ 05:11 PM EDT (#13902) #

Gentlemen, Sorry for the delay in posting the final Roto stats. The spreadsheet is stored on my work computer, and we were shut down today with a virus.

_Jonny German - Wednesday, September 03 2003 @ 01:29 PM EDT (#13903) #

Roto Summary - Week 22

Going on memory rather than a calculation, I'm going to have to agree with Scott that his Week 22 was the best week of the entire BBFL season: The Nation Builders ranked 1st in 8 categories, and no lower than 3rd in any category. Incroyable! The sum of his 12 category ranks was 18, with next-best Mebion totaling 71. Builders vs. Glyndwr this week is the marquee matchup of the playoffs: Not only are they both red-hot, they finished 1st and 3rd in the overall Roto standings.

									
		R	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	Hitting	
1	Nation	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	
2	Mebion	2	3	7	4	7	2	2	
3	Toronto	5	4	10	2	6	6	4	
4	Red Mos	3	14	5	4	3	11	6	
5	Chatsw.	9	8	2	7	10	7	8	
6	K-Town	3	13	2	3	1	3	2	
7	Jicks	5	2	10	8	5	4	5	
8	Moscow	5	5	16	15	11	12	10	
9	Hannib.	18	19	7	10	11	17	15	
10	Billie	9	6	13	14	9	13	10	
11	Thunder	13	10	2	16	13	15	13	
12	AGF	15	16	16	19	17	18	18	
13	Baird	8	10	5	6	4	9	7	
14	Eastern	11	7	13	12	16	5	10	
14	Spring.	13	8	7	9	7	7	9	
16	Sub-Urb	11	14	13	10	15	10	14	
17	Garces	20	17	16	20	20	20	20	
17	Gashous	16	10	16	13	18	14	16	
19	Geoffs	17	18	16	17	19	16	19	
20	Reykjav	19	19	10	17	14	19	17

									
		IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/BB	Pitchng	
1	Nation	2	1	1	3	3	1	1	
2	Mebion	10	11	5	5	1	14	7	
3	Toronto	7	3	13	7	10	3	6	
4	Red Mos	9	8	1	2	8	10	4	
5	Chatsw.	4	3	4	8	6	13	4	
6	K-Town	3	7	9	15	15	17	13	
7	Jicks	8	11	5	13	12	10	12	
8	Moscow	6	3	13	14	5	12	9	
9	Hannib.	11	3	17	1	2	2	3	
10	Billie	16	8	9	10	6	6	11	
11	Thunder	5	11	5	11	14	7	9	
12	AGF	1	1	3	6	9	5	2	
13	Baird	19	8	13	19	19	19	19	
14	Eastern	12	11	17	16	11	15	15	
14	Spring.	18	16	17	9	17	18	18	
16	Sub-Urb	13	16	5	18	18	16	16	
17	Garces	14	16	9	4	4	4	8	
17	Gashous	20	11	13	12	12	9	14	
19	Geoffs	17	16	17	17	15	8	17	
20	Reykjav	15	20	9	20	20	20	20

_Jonny German - Wednesday, September 03 2003 @ 01:32 PM EDT (#13904) #

Final Roto Standings

Congratulations to Scott Lucas and his Nation Builders, the inaugural winners of the completely meaningless title of BBFL Roto Stat Champs.

									
Roto		R	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	Hitting	
1	Nation	2	5	6	3	8	9	2	
2	Jicks	7	6	19	5	3	4	5	
3	Mebion	8	3	17	2	4	1	3	
4	Baird	1	4	11	10	12	6	5	
5	Gashous	4	1	1	8	15	2	1	
6	Red Mos	11	16	2	15	6	19	10	
6	Toronto	5	2	15	9	5	12	7	
8	Billie	6	7	17	7	9	3	8	
9	Thunder	14	18	5	20	17	18	19	
10	Chatsw.	10	8	11	13	20	17	15	
11	Sub-Urb	3	10	3	4	7	8	3	
12	AGF	9	9	8	16	19	14	13	
12	K-Town	12	14	4	14	14	16	12	
14	Hannib.	20	20	7	19	18	20	20	
15	Moscow	15	12	13	11	11	11	11	
16	Geoffs	19	19	20	12	2	13	18	
17	Garces	18	15	16	6	10	15	16	
18	Reykjav	13	17	13	1	1	5	9	
19	Eastern	17	13	9	17	13	7	14	
20	Spring.	16	11	10	18	16	10	17

									
		IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/BB	Pitchng	
1	Nation	15	7	10	5	1	1	4	
2	Jicks	2	2	2	8	6	9	1	
3	Mebion	13	3	8	4	5	19	7	
4	Baird	10	16	13	1	2	3	6	
5	Gashous	20	20	6	3	13	8	13	
6	Red Mos	4	9	4	6	8	6	2	
6	Toronto	8	19	2	16	9	4	9	
8	Billie	16	13	1	9	16	16	14	
9	Thunder	1	1	16	11	7	2	3	
10	Chatsw.	3	4	5	15	12	14	8	
11	Sub-Urb	19	10	19	17	19	18	19	
12	AGF	6	6	13	14	14	13	11	
12	K-Town	5	8	7	18	17	12	12	
14	Hannib.	10	5	12	2	3	7	4	
15	Moscow	7	14	11	13	11	15	14	
16	Geoffs	18	11	20	7	4	5	10	
17	Garces	14	12	17	12	10	11	16	
18	Reykjav	12	17	18	20	20	20	20	
19	Eastern	17	17	8	10	15	17	17	
20	Spring.	9	14	15	19	18	10	18

I'll take this opportunity to arbitrarily hand out some more meaningless titles:

Manager of The Year
Greg O's Fan had the second-worst team according to the Roto stats, but parlayed that into a 12th place finish for his Eastern Shore Birds, outstripping his Rotorean Projection by a league-leading 7 spots in the standings that matter. Honourable mention to R Billie and his Billie's Bashers, 6 spots better in the H2H world than in the Roto world.

Sorry 'Bout Your Luck
An 8th place finish is respectable, but Rick has reason to be annoyed that his Jick's Rays didn't finish higher, ranking 2nd in the Roto realm. Or he could just take that as a ray of hope for next year. Honourable mention to Spicol and his Red Mosquitos, who finished 5 spots lower than the Roto stats predicted. It'll take more than that to make me feel sympathetic to mosquitoes, especially since I'm currently trying to swat them in the first round of the consolation playoffs.

Straight Shooter
Coach's Toronto Walrus were the only team to give exactly one bang to the buck, finishing 6th no matter how you slice it. Baird Brain, Chatsworth Halos, Moscow Rats, and Reykjavik Fish Candy all finished one spot off from their Roto performance.

Pitch Softly And Swing A Big Stick
Also known as the Toronto Blue Jay Emulation Award: Jordan assembled the 3rd best offense in the league, but the price his Sub-Urban Shockers paid for this was that their pitching ranked 19th. This made them the BBFL's most offense-heavy club by a wide margin (next was Gashouse with a 1:13 split) and added up to a 13th place finish in the standings that count.

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense
Unfortunately for Justin B and dp, that's a hockey cliche and we were playing baseball. The Thunderbird pitching staff was flying high (3rd in the league), but the hitters didn't make much noise, ranking 19th. It added up to a 7th place finish, much to the relief of the championship round teams - As has been documented by Scott and Coach, the Thunderbirds also had a ridiculous first half-second half split. Meanwhile, it appears that the masssuckage pitchers ate their own hitters, as the team formerly known as Hannibal's Cannibals tallied a 20:4 hitting:pitching split. To drive home the point that these spurious awards are completely irrelevant, consider that the two teams sharing this award finished 11 spots apart in the standings.

Ya Gotta Be GOOD At Something
My K-Town Mashers (12:12) and Jason's Garces_not_on_roids (16:16) both managed to keep offense and defense balanced, but finishing 10th and 19th means we'll be trying something different next year.

Punt This
Several owners looked down their noses at Steals and Saves, but none more than Geoff North. The Grumpy Group crawled to 39 SBs on the season, with runner-up Jick's speeding by with 62. Meanwhile, the Bullpen-by-Group managed just 6 Saves on the season, a shocking total which was more than doubled (13) by the next-worst Sub-Urbans. (Early season favourite Reykjavik finished well back with 17, as Yo-Yo Kim spent significant time in the Boston Pen).

_R Billie - Wednesday, September 03 2003 @ 05:02 PM EDT (#13905) #

An extreme week, whether good or bad, only affects you for that week and not the entire season. I only have to pay for Chacon giving up 10 earned runs in a game once. This is the biggest difference between roto and head-to-head. I don't think it's something you can control or take advantage of; it's largely luck. You definately do have a bigger lee-way for error in the head-to-head game assuming you have a team that has decent depth.

In roto I'd definately be dead in buried by now after losing Schilling and Piazza for long stretches earlier in the year. Similar the way the Cardigan Cleavers are dead in buried in the parallel running roto league. :)

_snellville jone - Thursday, September 04 2003 @ 04:18 PM EDT (#13906) #

Greetings from Seattle, gentlemen. Luckily my last minute plans to cross America coincided with my bye week. My final record is better than I could have asked for, but I have to be one of the weaker teams entering the playoffs as the DL continues its assault on my roster.

Thanks to everybody in the league for making this a great season. The amount of work and dedication everyone has put into managing their rosters along with the excellent roto-standing work by Jonny, the playoff updates by Scott, and the BBFL updates by our commish, Coach, has been amazing. I'm already looking forward to the winter meetings and next year's draft.

BBFL: Let The Playoffs Begin | 12 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.