BGB Fantasy League Week 25: Finals

The final of the 2013 BaseballGB Fantasy League brought together the top two teams from the regular season. Would the first-placed SWAT complete a perfect season by taking the title, or would second-placed Norwich No II make a late charge and take the honours? Read on to find out.

Championship Finals

It was No II that finished up as the Number One team in 2013 with a 9-3 victory. A three-homer week by Oakland’s Brandon Moss was added to with multi-homer weeks by Jayson Werth and Chris Davis as Norwich’s offence grabbed all of the offensive categories aside from stolen bases, which went the way of SWAT through a stolen base apiece by four different players.

SWAT managed to rack up a hugely impressive 97 strike-outs as the team added a host of available pitchers through the week; however their combined efforts could only add Saves to the strike-out category victory. Norwich No II’s pitching staff was led by a pair of Cleveland Indians as Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir combined for 31 K’s and two wins, whilst Tommy Hunter’s solitary Hold was enough to add one more category to No II’s collection.

SWAT produced an incredible regular season and comprehensively won the league competition, but the playoffs are all down to what happens in the week at hand.  Norwich No II had a very strong season of their own and were able to win the match-up when it mattered the most to take the title.

Iron Men completed the medal table by winning the third-placed final against Weston-Super-Sox.

Iron Men’s offence was helped by players who were key to securing playoff spots for their Major League teams.  Nick Swisher, Evan Longoria and Matt Holliday all hit two homers on the week, with Longoria amassing nine RBI. The Super-Sox’s efforts meanwhile were hindered by the unavoidable problem of playoff-bound players being given some rest in the final week. Both Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez had been key contributors over the season for the Super-Sox were didn’t add much to the cause in this match-up.

The six pitching categories were split evenly between the two teams. Drew Smyly and Robbie Ross combined for five holds and seven strike-outs for the Super-Sox and wins for Kris Medlen, Clay Buchholz and Ian Kennedy proved useful too. For Iron Men, Max Scherzer led the way with a win and 10 K’s, whilst Trevor Rosenthal and Jim Henderson combined for five saves.

Consolation round

There were match-up victories for the Orpington Isotopes and Beck’Nams in the Consolation round.

BaseballGB’s Mark George finished the season in style as his Isotopes took a 10-1 win over Batteries Essential to claim a fifth-placed finish. Orpington’s offence swept the board despite the continued absence of Jose Bautista and Wilin Rosario not providing any contribution from the catching position. Five separate players – Matt Adams, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Beltran, Yasiel Puig and Todd Frazier – hit home runs and all will be heading on to the MLB playoffs. Jason Kipnis will also suit up in October for Cleveland and he added two stolen bases and six runs to the cause.

Batteries Essential’s pitching staff was able to combine to take the ERA category to avoid a shutout, with Hyun-Jin Ryu adding a win and 10 strikeouts to the team’s total. However, the Isotopes took four pitching categories to complete a comprehensive victory. Adam Wainwright added two wins and 10 strike-outs as he guided the St. Louis Cardinals to the NL’s best record, whilst Sergio Romo and Steve Cishek added two saves each to the Isotopes’ tally.

Finally, Beck’Nams and the Wright Stuff played out a competitve match-up for the seventh-place game, with Beck’Nams coming out on top by a score of 7-4.

The two teams shared out the six offensive categories.  Jedd Gyorko’s three homers and 10 RBI went a long way towards Beck’Nams taking those categories, whilst Jonathan Lucroy’s three stolen bases proved decisive in the stealing stakes. Wright Stuff’s biggest run scorer on the week was Texas’ Ian Kinsler with nine, whilst he, David Ortiz, Pedro Alvarez, Wil Myers and Justin Upton all helped batting average and OPS go the Wright Stuff’s way.

It was to be the pitching staffs that separated the teams and Beck’Nams got the advantage there, four categories to one. Wright Stuff did secure a category win with two Wins combined by rookies Sonny Gray and Gerrit Cole, but three saves by Greg Holland and 22 K’s by Justin Verlander set Beck’Nams up to win enough categories to take the match-up.

Another great year

It was another great fantasy league season, even if my team finished bottom of the pile (the only way is up, I guess!). Thanks to Mark George for organizing it all, thanks to everyone for playing and here’s to doing it again in 2014.