BaseballGB Fantasy League – Week Twenty Six

Welcome to our weekly round-up of the BaseballGB Fantasy League competition.  This is a mixed Head-2-Head league involving BGB writers and readers.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
 

 
We begin with the Championship final, which saw my Isotopes roar back from 7-4 down at the halfway stage to defeat the Sox 9-2 for my first-ever playoff title. It wasn’t a fix, I promise!

The score may make it look like a fairly convincing win, but it was far from it, as there were several categories which easily could have gone the other way and I had to use plenty of my left over moves to fight back.

My team also had to deal with injuries to Miguel Cabrera, Martin Prado and Huston Street, but the pitching staff came to the rescue, winning all six categories. Spot starts from Blanton and Bumgarner helped, as did a great couple of weeks from Oswalt, Billingsley and Haren.

The move to drop Street from Clay Hensley was a risk, but it paid off with the Marlins reliever collecting two saves and a hold. Werth, McGehee, Stanton, Ethier and Hart also picked up the slack offensively.

The Sox were hurt by injury to Mauer and Beltre leaving the Red Sox early for the birth of his child. Cargo, Wells and Granderson were productive with the bat, but most of the pitching staff had tough fortnights, leading to the high ERA and WHIP.

Getting to the final in your first-ever fantasy season is quite an achievement, especially after putting up such a long winning streak (eight in a row before the final), so Kev deserves a lot of credit for making it look so easy. 

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THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF

 
JJ’s Beck ‘Nams may have missed out on a chance of winning it all, but finished a very impressive season in third after defeating the Vendors 9-3.

The Beck ‘Nams bats did a lot of damage thanks to Pujols, Weeks, Cruz and Ichiro, while Verlander, Daniel Hudson and Bruce Chen (who knew?) helped the pitching staff put up great numbers.

The Vendors did well to come back from 11-0 down at the halfway point, and will feel hard done by not to have won more pitching categories after putting up such good numbers thanks to Price, Chacin and Westbrook. Alvarez, Choo and Holliday were all hot with the bats, but couldn’t quite do enough to come all the way back.

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CONSOLATION FINAL

 
In the consolation final, the Chasers fought back from 11-1 down but could not defeat SWAT, who ran out 7-5 winners. Juan Pierre was the star SWAT hitter, scoring 13 runs and stealing 10 bases all by himself, while Bautista and Posey provided power. Soria, Uehara and Capps did great work in the 9th inning too.

The Chasers had nice matchups from Gregerson and Feliz in the bullpen, and Ubaldo Jiminez racked up plenty of Ks, but aside from McCutchen none of the hitters had particularly big fortnights.

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THE BATTLE FOR NINTH

 
The Waves held on to take ninth place after seeing a 10-2 lead shrink to a 7-5 win against the Angels. Boston had the better offensive production thanks to Johnson, Votto and Murphy, while the bullpen of Bell, Papelbon, Perez and Adams put up great save and hold totals.

The Angels had plenty of outstanding pitching from Lackey, Sanchez, Lowe and Halladay, but apart from Bruce not many hitters had great fortnights.

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So this concludes the 2010 BaseballGB league. It has certainly been home to the best fantasy playoff race I have ever seen, and it was great to see so many teams staying competitive, whether they were managed by fantasy veterans or rookies.

I hope you have enjoyed playing in the league this year – or if you have been reading about the league each week, hopefully it will have encouraged you to take part next season.