The ambiguity about whether my team name is singular or plural was deliberate. I'm the guy who suggested Miami Humidity when they had a contest to name the Marlins, just because it would have been so much fun to say "The Heat isn't so bad, but the Humidity is brutal."
My players may be Walruses, Walri or even Walrera (think opus) but I am the Toronto Walrus, 2004 champion of the BBFL Alomar Division. Led by a slew of free agent pitchers who outperformed expectations, my club defeated Lars Kvale’s AGF 9-3 in the two-week final. The jubilation I was feeling on the weekend is muted today, and fantasy baseball seems trivial indeed, but it was a satisfying finish to a successful year, in which I took over the lead in Week 2 and never looked back.
Mebion Glyndwr, a solid second in the regular season for Gwyn Price, won the third-place battle 8-4 over the Chatsworth Halos. The Consolation crown goes to Geoff North’s Horse Field Hammers, who tied 6-6 with Baird Brain but won the ERA tiebreaker. The defending champion Austin Senators will have to settle for ninth place this year after beating Hannibal’s Cannibals 8-4 in the only other match.
Before the final, I feared the AGF pitching staff. Knowing Randy Johnson would get three starts and my ace Curt Schilling likely only two made me even more nervous. I doubted I could win without capturing at least five hitting categories, because SV was the only pitching stat where I had an advantage. Taking a page from Brad's book, I decided to focus on IP at the possible expense of my ratios, but the collapse of Mark Mulder and a mediocre Barry Zito cost Lars (who is an A’s fan, so it must have hurt twice as much) and opened the door for my revolving-door staff to clinch the title in the second week. Unlikely Walrus heroes included Mark Hendrickson, Jason Jennings and Brian Anderson, guys I wouldn’t have touched all season but picked up for spot starts. They provided the IP difference and to my delight, actually helped my ratios. A little luck never hurts.
My hitters disappointed, as Carlos Delgado cooled off a bit and Jim Thome got hurt, but Bobby Abreu and Placido Polanco picked up the slack, while midseason FA pickups Coco Crisp and Craig Monroe continued to pay dividends. AGF got great efforts from Marcus Giles and Hideki Matsui, but they weren’t enough to compensate for brutal slumps by Paul LoDuca, Scott Hatteberg and Corey Patterson.
In a league this competitive, I will wear the championship jersey with great pride. Kudos to Lars for a fine campaign. Congratulations and welcome to the Barfield winners who will be joining us next year. Many thanks to Commissioner Mike Moffatt, Webmaster and statistician Scott Lucas and all the owners who made the BBFL's second season so much fun.
My players may be Walruses, Walri or even Walrera (think opus) but I am the Toronto Walrus, 2004 champion of the BBFL Alomar Division. Led by a slew of free agent pitchers who outperformed expectations, my club defeated Lars Kvale’s AGF 9-3 in the two-week final. The jubilation I was feeling on the weekend is muted today, and fantasy baseball seems trivial indeed, but it was a satisfying finish to a successful year, in which I took over the lead in Week 2 and never looked back.
Mebion Glyndwr, a solid second in the regular season for Gwyn Price, won the third-place battle 8-4 over the Chatsworth Halos. The Consolation crown goes to Geoff North’s Horse Field Hammers, who tied 6-6 with Baird Brain but won the ERA tiebreaker. The defending champion Austin Senators will have to settle for ninth place this year after beating Hannibal’s Cannibals 8-4 in the only other match.
Before the final, I feared the AGF pitching staff. Knowing Randy Johnson would get three starts and my ace Curt Schilling likely only two made me even more nervous. I doubted I could win without capturing at least five hitting categories, because SV was the only pitching stat where I had an advantage. Taking a page from Brad's book, I decided to focus on IP at the possible expense of my ratios, but the collapse of Mark Mulder and a mediocre Barry Zito cost Lars (who is an A’s fan, so it must have hurt twice as much) and opened the door for my revolving-door staff to clinch the title in the second week. Unlikely Walrus heroes included Mark Hendrickson, Jason Jennings and Brian Anderson, guys I wouldn’t have touched all season but picked up for spot starts. They provided the IP difference and to my delight, actually helped my ratios. A little luck never hurts.
My hitters disappointed, as Carlos Delgado cooled off a bit and Jim Thome got hurt, but Bobby Abreu and Placido Polanco picked up the slack, while midseason FA pickups Coco Crisp and Craig Monroe continued to pay dividends. AGF got great efforts from Marcus Giles and Hideki Matsui, but they weren’t enough to compensate for brutal slumps by Paul LoDuca, Scott Hatteberg and Corey Patterson.
In a league this competitive, I will wear the championship jersey with great pride. Kudos to Lars for a fine campaign. Congratulations and welcome to the Barfield winners who will be joining us next year. Many thanks to Commissioner Mike Moffatt, Webmaster and statistician Scott Lucas and all the owners who made the BBFL's second season so much fun.
