Champs League is Full - Good Luck Fellas!

[kaviksdad]

I knew it was bad, but didn't realize it was that bad. Jeeezz...

I don't want it to sound like I'm making excuses, but I really wish I would have had more time to concentrate on this league. Unfortunately for me, real life has knocked me around a bit lately. While I do wish I would have done better for myself, I also wish I could have been more of an opponent to the rest of you.

[MARCPELLETIER]

Hopefully, the season ending will give you something to cheer for.

We've seen teams in the past covering 7 games back for a wild card as late as this stage of the game.

Oh, and thanks for taking 3 from spicki!! :wink:

[stevep107]

[quote:55fbec2106]RIP Davis.

Your team went 7-22 behind his arm. So you played .500 without him. [/quote:55fbec2106]

Actually, I think Davis is an excellent SP. I think you've just been unlucky with him.

[MARCPELLETIER]

I've put a trade offer on the table for you. hopefully you see this before 10 PM eastern time.

[cummings2]

As we near turning towards the final week of season play here's a recap of my record vs the entire league:

[i:b7a4fcad1c]Vs. Eastern teams[/i:b7a4fcad1c]:

Vs. Monkeys 6-6
Vs. Perdedores 7-5
Vs All Over Again 3-9
Vs. Bombers 3-6

[i:b7a4fcad1c]Vs. Western Teams[/i:b7a4fcad1c]

Vs. Poutine 4-8
Vs. Producers 7-5
Vs. Snoweagles 6-3
Vs. Numero Tres 4-8

[i:b7a4fcad1c]Vs. Central Teams[/i:b7a4fcad1c]

Vs. Hounds 11-7
Vs. Skalds 13-5
Vs Machine 11-7

hmmm... tough league.

[MARCPELLETIER]

Well, no trade after all. I was discussing with several teams, and even though I put Pedro on the table, I couldn't get what I was looking for--that is, get better vs lhp.

Hopefully, McCann and Beltre will hit some homeruns when I face stevep or mcsoupy in the upcoming playoffs, so I can look like a genius!!

Good luck to Cummings and Maligned...because I don't want to face Bombers in the playoffs!!! I don't worry too much, though, because I still believe that Bombers is too vulnerable inside his division, so my prediction is that he won't be able to capture the wild card. If I bet two dollars, it would be on cummings' team. He looks to have a fine record inside his division.

Monday, I will travel out of the country for a week; I will have limited access if at all to internet. So let me congratulate stevep for his excellent season. He was right, and I was wrong, all the way. He is quietly surfing towards the 95 wins he thought he could have. He's getting an on-base of .352, and he allows an on-base of about .320. Teams usually win when they dominate this stat.

In my division, well, it's not over yet, a major collapse can arise at any time, but I should have sufficient talent left to play .500, which is only what i need to get over my magic number. It's hard to figure out how come spicki didn't dominate the division, especially considering that he is likely to finish first in era despite playing in a homerun stadium!! But I don't remember a team losing so many close games. Part of it is pure bad luck, but I think spicki was perhaps overconfident in not forseeing a defensive first baseman for Lecroy (4e25, who lost several games due to his poor fielding) or a defensive catcher (Stinnett lost a couple of games by throwing the ball in centerfield--> he leads the league with 28 errors). Heilman (who is not a C6) lost many games in the ninth inning. Julio (0.50M reliever) came in too many important games. Escobar would have greatly improved had the team gone with 6-men rotation (incredibly, Escobar--the greatest 9R in this set-- only pitched in 2 of the 6 series vs the producers so far, a team that had but only right-handed hitters in its lineup). But ultimately, I think the greatest reason for spicki's unsuccess is the lack of on-base of his offense, which prevented him from making the necessary rallyes when his team trailed behind non-Clemens pitchers. Perhaps the best evidence of this is that Tejada, despite hitting clean-up vs rhp, is not even likely to get 80 rbis!!! Or Chavez's 38 rbis!! Gee, even Jack Wilson has more rbis.

As for kavisdad, well, his team relied on reverse lhp, and they were badly hit in this league.

[spicki17]

lucky, ive been thinking about it since i read your post and im not really sure why my team broke down like it did. like you said, maybe it was bad luck, maybe it was too much slugging and too little obp, maybe it was poor defense, maybe it was all of them. they all sound like logic reasons!

i can tell you this. over the last 2 months, my winning pct dropped from like 538 to 524. i really have just felt like recently i lost my touch for the 2006 game. the saddest part is that this was one of my favorite teams. but oh well. it wouldve been nice to make playoffs or win, but making 2 tour finals in 2 years i have played the tour is a pretty darn good accomplishment in itself.

i can justify to myself that the i had a worse record than i expect and that i lost the close games because of the elite group of managers i was up against, but i guess the one thing that confused me most was heilmans record. he's probably been my used player this entire season, and ive really never seen him worse than like a 600 winning pct. not really sure how to justify that one.

anyways, that being said, good luck to those who are moving on, and hopefully ill see you guys all again next year at this point, but ill be singing a different tune!

[stevep107]

Marcus - thank you for your kind words above.

Well, with 12 games to go in the season, I'd like to share some pre-playoffs thoughts.

Matchups for the post-season are by no means decided yet.

The main questions are:

1. Can either LMB or maligned catch C2 for the wildcard?
and
2. Can mcsoupy hold onto the lead and win the central?


Assuming that the answers to the above are no and yes, then I will meet C2 in one semi, while marcus meets mcsoupy in the other. This would seem to be the most likely outcome at the moment (but I am not writing off LMB or maligned).

My regular season record against the three most likely playoff teams was not great:

Hounds 4-5
1^4 9-3
Poutine 5-7

although in the playoffs, anything can (and will) happen. The regular season record against each team doesn't mean much in the playoffs.

I'm grateful that I've made it to the playoffs in this league. It is a great feeling. I have no expectations for the playoffs (although I have to admit that I'd love to see that SOM trophy get shipped to Australia!).

I will be away for the next six days (back just in time for the start of the semis) - so I want to wish everyone who makes the playoffs good luck. And those who don't make the playoffs, I look forward to playing in leagues with you next year and getting to know you better.

Kind regards,
Steve

[mcsoupy]

My team has not faired well lately vs the machine... and he has all of his reverse righties to pitch against my lefties... If I roll on his card a lot tonight, it could be another long night vs the Machine.

I also have not played well vs C2. He has a much better record against me and I still have to play him.

At this point, all I'm trying to do is to hold on to a 1 game lead, or really a 5 game lead in the wild card.

Although to be honest, I think that my team matches up better vs Poutine than it does against SteveP, although it is close....

Anyway, here is to the last 12 games, and whomever makes the playoffs, good luck to them.

[qksilver69]

Some very impressive managing here, kudos to all the teams that are headed for the playoffs or still competing for a slot.

Chuck, I winced when I saw that 13-5 stat above. You absolutely owned me in this league. I did not fare well within div or at home, and those are not good recipes for success. Nice job.

Steve P, congrats on an excellent season. However, I have to ask, do you wanna revisit your view on Valentin? I think you would have won 100 gms if you had him on your team rather than Mauer - Mauer in a hitter park managed just a .684 OPS to date vs. Valentin's .735 in a pitcher park. Sorry I still can't get over the "Mauer is MUCH better than Valentin" comment you made, but then I do tend to get frustrated when people reject trades that would clearly benefit them. That said, I can't really complain about Martinez' production since joining my squad. :wink:

Anyone from the top finishers who wants to take me up on my offer of free 2006 credits to cmpete again, just send me an email to the address in my profile. Great Tour season fellas!