Hit v Pitchers 90s -Playoff results

Games played: 153

Games played between pitching and hitting centric team: 450

Pitching centric wins: 199—win percentage 44%
Hitting centric wins: 251 win percentage 56%

The hitters will win the season series and have won 52 more games against their pitching counterparts.

Davesodue and his 70s Style Pitching and Defense club reasserted their best in league record as the teams returned to division play. Davesodu’s club is now 92-61 and are on a 9 game winning streak.
BurleyNorseman and his Skyrockets in Flight—who have now scored 1,006 runs—have the best run differential at +100.

East—hitting centric teams

KaiserWill4 and his Modern Day Cowboys still lead the very competitive division where all teams are 3 or more games over .500.


Modern Day Cowboys: KaiserWill4 87-66 (10-11 for the week) +79
Skyrockets in Flight: Burley Norseman: 84-69 (13-8) for the week) Run differential +100
Frostbite Falls Tormentors: NewGuy1912 81-72 69-63 (12-9 )—+58
Supernatural Slayers: Nol15736 78-75 (7-14) -12

Central—mixed

LM Bombers and the Charley Brown All Stars continue to dominate division play and raced out to a 7 game lead with just 9 to play.


Charlie Brown All Stars: LM Bombers 81-72 (14-7) +55 Hitting
Blueprint for Armageddon II: JJB92 74-79 (7-14) -85 Pitching
90s All In Hitters: Cabrera24 74-79 (12-9) -23 Hitting
Offenseless Outlaws: Drabb9529 70-83 (9-12) -86 Pitching


West—Pitching

Davesodu and his 70s Style Pitching and Defense club continue to dominate division play and have a 21 game lead.

70s Style Pitching and Defense Davesodu 92-61 (15-6) +64
Houston Fireballers YCBil 2 71-82 (9-12) -21
Mookie Blaylock MemphisJohn 70-83 (10-11) -29
PED Enhanced Pitchers DWG 56-97 (8-13) -100

Wild card: The wild card will come from the hitter centric east. Burley Norseman and his Skyrockets in Flight club hold a 3 game lead over NewGuy1912 and his Frostbite Falls Tormentors club and a 6 game lead over Nol15736 and his Supernatural Slayers

A look at some statistical results:

Number of hitters with OPS over 1.000: 7

Rafael Palmiero from Skyrockets in Flight had a great week and once again leads the league in OPS at 1.054

Three teams—Charley Brown All Stars (Fred McGriff 1.023, Brian Giles 1.002), Skyrockets in Flight (Rafael Palmeiro and Jose Canseco (1.015) and Supernatural Slayers (Manny Ramirez 1.032 and Jason Giambi 1.028) have two players with OPS of over 1.00. Tim Salmon from the Modern Day Cowboys rounds out the over 1.000 group at 1.006


Pitchers with ERA under 3: Remains at 6
Best ERA—starters: Greg Maddux 70s Style Pitching and Defense: 1.89
Kevin Brown Houston Fireballers 2.66
Curt Schilling 70s Style Pitching and Defense 2.95


Best ERA-relievers: Jeff Montgomery PED 164 innings pitched—ERA of 1.69
Bryan Harvey Houston Fireballers 168 innings pitched—ERA 1.71

Team home runs:
Skyrockets in Flight: 366
Supernatural Slayers: 270
Charley Brown All Stars: 266

Highest scoring team: Skyrockets in Flight 1,006 average 6.58

Lowest team ERA

70s Style Pitching and Defense: 3.07 WHIP 1.15
Mookie Blaylock: 3.37 1.22
Houston Fireballers: 3.37 1.27

Highest ERA: Supernatural Slayers--5.78/1.63

An interesting point highlighted by LM Bombers regarding the division leaders——The Modern Day Cowboys have led the East for much of the season. However, the Cowboys are only 30-33 against division rivals but have a very impressive record of 57-33 outside of the division. LM Bombers and his Charley Brown All Stars are a dominant 41-22 within division but 40-50 outside of the division. The 70s Style club which won the west is 44-19 in division and 48-42 outside of the division.

One of the challenges facing the hitting centric teams was the requirement to have a range score of 8 or more for their second base, shortstop and center field positions. Also, their catchers cannot have a negative arm strength while the pitching centric teams are not under any restrictions. Here's a (near) final look at how each club did on the defensive side—the first number reflected results after game 69 and the second group of results are after game 153.

Skyrockets in Flight: Key players: Sammy Sosa (CF), Craig Biggio and Cal Ripken Jr.:
2b: 81.8 66 chances 84.03 out conversion/144 chances
SS: 78.6% 84 chances 80.6 in 201 chances
CF: 50% 32 chances 44.3% in 79 chances

Catchers: Javier Lopez/Tony Eusibio/Matt Nokes : 89 stolen bases allowed/34 caught stealing-72.3% success rate against

Supernatural Slayers: Greg Jeffries/Julio Franco/Eric Young; Tony Fernandez/Ricky Gutierrez; Alex Rodriguez; Ray Lankford

2B: 43.4% 76 chances 53.6% in 153
SS: 81.3% 102 chances 80.1 in 206
CF: 80% 30 chances 87% in 77

Catchers: Chris Hoiles/Greg Zaun/Lance Parrish: 55/17 120/45 72.8%

Modern Day Cowboys: Paul Molitor/John Valentin/Ken Griffey Jr.
2B: 62.8% 70 chances 68.8 in 157
SS: 57.7% 116 chances 61.8% in 199
CF: 96.7% 30 chances 95.6% in 68 chances

Catchers: Jorge Posada/Mickey Tettleton/Junior Ortiz; Todd Hundley 27/14 61/31 66.3

Frostbite Falls Tormentors:Ryne Sandberg/Roberto Alomar/ Chipper Jones/Larry Walker/Willie McGee

2B: 86.3%. 88 chances 90.2%/184 chances
SS: 60%. 75 chances 65.3 in 173 chances
CF: 80% 35 chances 75.8% in 66 chances

Catchers: Jason Kendall/Joe Oliver 35/17 73/47 60.8

90s All in Hitters: Jeff Cirillo/Lou Whitaker/Jose Offerman; Derek Jeter;/Edgardo Alfonso Raul Mondesi/Ellis Burks/Eric Davis

2B: 76% 63 chances 73.9% in 179
SS: 76% 88 chances 72.7% in 194
CF: 54.8% 31 chances 62.1% in 66

Catchers: Mike Piazza/Ed Taubensee/Mike Macfarlane: 63/16 151/64 70.2%

Charley Brown All Stars: Jeff Kent/Steve Sax; Normar Garciaparra; Brian Giles
2B: 69.1% 68 chances 70% in 170 chances
SS: 76.7% 86 chances 75.5 in 184 chances
CF: 73.5% 34 chances 72.6% in 84 chances

Catchers: Mike Stanley/Don Slaught/Mike Macfarlane/ Todd Pratt. 35/18 117/45 72.2%

Blueprint for Armegeddon: Damian Easley/Mickey Morandini/Harold Reynolds/Jose Lind/Mike Bordick/Jose Hernandez/Alex Gonzalez; Lance Johnson/Mike Devereaux/Gerald Williams

2B:87.5% 64 chances 73.5%/151 chances
SS: 87% 79 chances 81.6%/179 chances
CF: 76.8% 30 chances 84% in 81 chances

Catchers: Benito Santiago/Ron Karkovice/BJ Surhoff. 35/17 68/34 66.67%

Offenseless Outlaws: Jeff Frye/Mark Grudzielanek; Alan Trammell/Royce Clayton/Brian McRae/Stan Javier/Turner Ward

2B: 77.9% 68 chances 75.6% in 143 chances
SS: 60.4% 91 chances 66.1% in 189 chances
CF:76% 46 chances 77.3$ in 75 chances

Catchers: Jim Leyritz/Brad Ausmus/Terry Steinbach: 47/15 92/38 70.8%

Mookie Blaylock: Jody Reed/Quilvio Veres/Shawon Dunston/Rey Ordenez; Chuck Carr/Derek Bell
2B: 83.8% 74 chances 81.1% in 164 chances
SS: 76.3% 80 chances 80.1% in 171 chances
CF: 95% 41 chances 91.2% in 91 chances

Catchers: Dave Nilsson/Brian Harper. 56/19 101/42 70.6%

70s Style Pitching and Hitting: Fernando Vina/Mariano Duncan; Ozzie Smith/Greg Gagne/Mariano Duncan; Ruben Rivera/Chad Curtis/Dave Martinez

2B:80.2% 76 chances 78.1% in 169 chances
SS:82.8% 64 chances 72.6% in 164 chances
CF: 83.3% 30 chances 85% in 80 chances

Catchers: MIke Lieberthal; Eddie Perez/Ron Karkovice/Terry Steinbach: 38/21 66/32 67.4%

Houston Fireballers: Delino Deshields; Steve Buechele; Edgar Renteria; Johnny Damon/Darryl Hamilton/Dave Henderson

2B: 62.3% 61 chances 60.7% in 168 chances
SS: 76.5% 81 chances 77.6% in 201 chances
CF:70%: 40 chances 77.9% in 77 chances

Catchers: Rick Wilkins; Scott Hatteberg. 48/16 94/40 70.1%

PED Enhanced Pitchers: Carlos Baerga; Brett Barberie/Ray Durham/ Mark Loretta; Dick Schofield/Devon White

2B: 71.7 60 chances 66.9% in 127 chances
SS: 86.1 72 chances 83.8% in 185 chances
CF: 85.3% 41 chances 88.1% in 76 chances

Catchers: Sandy Alomar Jr./Dan Wilson: 27/21 62/44 58.5% success rate

Overall observations/interesting facts:

Hitters
Average chances for 2B-164--highest Frostbite Falls 184; Lowest: Skyrockets 144.
Average conversion to outs: 74% Best: Frostbite: 90% Lowest: Supernatural: 54%

Average chances for SS: 190--highest: Modern Day Cowboys: 206 Lowest Frostbite: 173
Average conversion to outs: 73% Highest: Skyrockets: 83% Lowest: Modern Day: 61%%

Average chances for CF: 73---highest Charley: 84; Lowest Frostbite/All In tied at 66
Average conversion to outs: 53%. Highest: Modern Day: 96% Lowest: Skyrockets: 44%

Pitchers:

Average chances for 2B: 153--highest 70s style: 169; Lowest PED Enhanced 127
Average conversion to outs: 73%: Highest:: 81.1 Mookie. Lowest: Houston: 61%

Average chances for SS: 182---highest: Houston 201; Lowest: 70s style 164
Average conversion to outs: 77% Highest: PED 84%% Lowest: 66% Offenseless

Average chances for CF: 80---highest: Mookie 91 Lowest 75: Offenseless
Average conversion to outs: 84% Mookie: 91%; Lowest: Offenseless 77%

Games played: 162

Games played between pitching and hitting centric team: 456

Pitching centric wins: 200—win percentage 44%
Hitting centric wins: 256 win percentage 56%

The hitters won the season series—at least this year, great hitting overwhelmed excellent pitching. Interestingly, all hitting centric teams finished at .500 or better while just one pitching centric team accomplished that feat.

Davesodue and his 70s Style Pitching and Defense club finished with the best in record in the league finishing at 95-67.
BurleyNorseman and his Skyrockets in Flight—who scored 1,080 runs—finished with the best run differential at +97

Playoff race—while the 3 division leaders were clinched, the battle for the wild card race came down to a three game series between BurleyNorseman and his Skyrockets in Flight and the late closing Frostbite Falls Tormentors led by NewGuy1912. The Tormentors were mired in last place in the east and were 27-35 after game 62. However, the team caught fire going 61-39 the remainder of the season. After winning the first game in the series, Frostbite Falls was down 11-5 after 8 innings and a 5 run deficit going into the bottom of the 9th. Closer Mitch Williams was on the mound but could not find the strike zone walking Jason Kendall, Shannon Stewart and Denny Hocking (!!) who was subbing for an injured Robby Alomar. Stan Belinda came in to quiet the rally but singles by Mark Grace and Larry Walker cut the deficit to 3 runs. After Chipper Jones lined out, Carlos Delgado hit a sacrifice fly cutting the deficit to 2 runs. Matt Williams came to the plate and launched a 3 run home run completing the comeback and propelling the Tormentors to the playoffs.

East—hitting centric teams

KaiserWill4 and his Modern Day Cowboys won the very competitive division where all teams finished over .500.


Modern Day Cowboys: KaiserWill4 91-71 +54
Frostbite Falls Tormentors: NewGuy1912 88-74 +67
Skyrockets in Flight: Burley Norseman: 87-75 +97
Supernatural Slayers: Nol15736 82-80 +7

Central—mixed


Charlie Brown All Stars: LM Bombers 85-77 +57 Hitting
90s All In Hitters: Cabrera24 81-81 -15 Hitting
Offenseless Outlaws: Drabb9529 76-86 -76 Pitching
Blueprint for Armageddon II: JJB92 75-87 -105 Pitching

The All Stars dominated the division going 45-27.

West—Pitching


70s Style Pitching and Defense Davesodu 95-67 +58
Mookie Blaylock MemphisJohn 77-85 -10
Houston Fireballers YCBil 2 76-86 -27
PED Enhanced Pitchers DWG 59-103 -107


Playoff summary: We will cover the playoffs in more detail next week but both series are tied at 2 as of today.

A look at some statistical results:

Number of hitters with OPS over 1.000: 6
Manny Ramirez from the Supernatural Slayers finished with the league best 1.055 OPS.

Skyrockets in Flight (Rafael Palmeiro 1.033 and Jose Canseco (1.015) and Supernatural Slayers (Manny Ramirez and Jason Giambi 1.017) had two players with OPS of over 1.00. Tim Salmon from the Modern Day Cowboys finished at 1.020 while Fred McGriff (Charley Brown All Stars) finished at 1.012. Mike Piazza (90s All in Hitters) gets an honorable mention. After a slow start, Mike finished with an OPS of .999.


Pitchers with ERA under 3: Remains at 6
Best ERA—starters: Greg Maddux 70s Style Pitching and Defense: 1.82
Kevin Brown Houston Fireballers 2.59
Pedro Martinez-Blueprint for Armageddon II 2.90


Best ERA-relievers:

Bryan Harvey Houston Fireballers 182 innings pitched—ERA 1.83
Jeff Montgomery PED 1179 innings pitched—ERA of 1.91

Team home runs:
Skyrockets in Flight: 393—just short of the 400 home run goal set by Burley Norseman
Supernatural Slayers: 285
Charley Brown All Stars: 280

Highest scoring team: Skyrockets in Flight 1,080 average 6.67

Lowest team ERA

70s Style Pitching and Defense: 3.11 WHIP 1.15
Mookie Blaylock: 3.32 1.21
Houston Fireballers: 3.34 1.25

Highest ERA: Skyrockets in Flight 5.72—considering all runs, Skyrockets allowed 983 runners to cross home plate-an average of 6.08 runs per game. The Supernatural Slayers allowed 2 more runs but fewer earned runs.

A look at the team MVP, most surprising player and most disappointing player who finished the season on the active roster.

Modern Day Cowboys:

MVP: Tim Salmon .349/.427/.593. 35 home runs 115 RBI.
Most Surprising: Pete Schourek finished at 18-5 with an ERA of 3.52 while pitching in a hitting centric division:
Most Disappointing: Trevor Wilson—the highest paid pitcher on the roster was 8-6 but had an ERA of 6.57/WHIP of 1.75

Frostbite Falls Tormentors
MVP: Matt Williams .293/.335/.521 Matt led the team in home runs with 38, including the dramatic shot that propelled the team to the wild card and drove in 118.
Most Surprising: Willie McGee finished at .283//.320/.413 in 400 at bats. Willie hit 12 doubles, 12 home runs and 2 triples.
Most Disappointing: Donovan Osborne finished 8-4 which is decent but had an ERA of 6.01 and WHIP of 1.51

Skyrockets in Flight
MVP—With 4 players hitting 50 or more home runs, this was a tough choice. Craig Biggio didn’t hit 50 home runs but led the team with 149 runs scored. Craig finished at .346/.420/.513 with 53 doubles
Most Surprising: Javier Lopez hit 43 home runs, driving in 105 runs and finished at .287/.345/.599
Most Disappointing:The collective bullpen—Skyrocket relievers blew 32 saves led by Greg McMichael with 7. The bullpen struggles certainly cost the team a playoff appearance.

Supernatural Slayers
MVP: Manny Ramirez paced a very strong offense. Manny finished with 62 home runs, 35 doubles and drove in 139 runs.
Most Surprising: Ray Lankford was a strong contributor all year—he finished at .274/.354.549 with 38 home runs and 38 doubles.
Most Disappointing: Kevin Mitchell never really jointed the hitting party. In 301 at bats, Kevin only hit 7 home runs.

Charley Brown All Stars
MVP: Brian Giles got off to a very fast start and finished the season at .309/.411/.577 with 35 home runs, 117 RBI and 91 walks
Most Surprising: Bobby Bonilla was a mid season acquisition-Bobby’s first game was game 46 but his numbers were impressive-35 home runs, 26 doubles and 84 RBI.
Most Disappointing: The catching position was a struggle for the All Stars all year long. Don Slaught was the primary catcher but only contributed .217/.277/.330 in 244 plate appearances.

90s All in Hitters
MVP: Mike Piazza finished at .321/.375/.624 with 46 home runs, 129 runs batted in and 37 doubles
Most Surprising: Gil Heredia was a mid season acquisition—Gil finished at 9-2 with an ERA of 3.35/WHIP of 1.26
Most Disappointing: None of the players on the roster had a particularly disappointing season but Kevin Gross finished at 9-10 with an ERA of 4.96/WHIP of 1.64 in 161 innings

Offenseless Outlaws
MVP: Eddie Murray paced the offense—he finished at .276/.321/.500 with 37 home runs/107 RBI
Most Surprising: Orlando Merced was a find—Orlando had 589 plate appearances and finished at .290/.397/.384
Most Disappointing: Bret Saberhagen finished at 7-10 with 136 innings pitched and allowed 28 home runs. Brett finished with an ERA of 4.35

Blueprint for Armageddon II
MVP: Pedro Martinez led the team during their surge which brought them to the division lead before an utter team collapse. Pedro finished 24-8 with an ERA of 2.90 and 347 strikeouts in 307 innings
Most Surprising: Benito Santiago launched 35 home runs to help an anemic offense.
Most Disappointing: Tom Henke—Tom finished 2-12 (!!) and blew 9 saves. His ERA of 3.15 doesn’t tell the pain caused.

70s Style Pitching and Defense
MVP: Greg Maddux was dominant all season. Greg finished at 22-11 with an ERA of 1.82/WHIP of .87
Most Surprising: John Vander Wall contributed 24 home runs and 24 doubles in 421 plate appearances. John finished at .320/.415/.591
Most Disappointing: Catching was a challenge for the club all season. Terry Steinbach was picked up during the year but finished at .201/.255/.269 with just 2 home runs in 267 plate appearances.

Mookie Blaylock
MVP: A close call but Vince Coleman edged out Andre Dawson. Vince stole 73 bases and finished at .287/.380/.390.
Most Surprising: Joe Randa led the league with 16 triples—he finished with a solid .298/.353.454 in 512 plate appearances.
Most Disappointing:Roger Clemens had the salary of an ace but struggled all year—Roger was 11-16 with an ERA of 3.78/WHIP of 1.39

Houston Fireballers

MVP: Kevin Brown pitched like an ace all season long—he finished at 17-11 with an ERA of 2.59/WHIP of 1.12
Most Surprising: Bryan Harvey was quite a weapon—with 182 innings pitched, Bryan delivered an ERA of just 1.83/WHIP of .98
Most Disappointing: Greg Colbrunn had 372 plate appearances—Greg struggled at .193/.250/.286 with just 7 home runs.


PED Enhanced Pitchers
MVP: Jeff Montgomery was a bright light all season long—Jeff contributed 179 innings with an ERA of 1.91/WHIP of .95
Most Surprising: Rick Wilkins was a bright spot behind the plate—he launched 36 doubles and 16 home runs and led the team with 59 runs batted in.
Most Disappointing: Dennis Eckersley saved 34 games but blew 10 others. Dennis had an ERA of 4.30 WHIP of 1.24 and allowed 17 home runs in 73 innings.

The season has completed--here's a summary of the playoff results. As a reminder, here are the playoff teams.

Number one seed: Davesodu and his 70s Style Pitching and Defense club. 95-67 record+58 run differential. Key players--Greg Maddux, Curt Schiling, Kevin Appier, Billy Wagner, Cliff Floyd, John Vander Wal

Wild Card: NewGuy1912--Frostbite Falls Tormentors 88-74+67--Key players--Mark Grace, Robby Alomar, Chipper Jones, Matt Williams, Steve Trachsel

Number 2 seed: KaiserWill4--Modern Day Cowboys 91-71+54 Key players-Pete Schourek, Jeff Bagwell, Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Tim Salmon

Number 3 seed: LM Bombers-Charlie Brown All Stars---85-77---Key players: Greg Hibbard, Fred McGriff, Brian Giles, Bobby Bonilla, Albert Belle

MemphisJohn--leader of Mookie Blaylock--pointed out that the most experienced leader--LMBombers with 869 seasons--was facing the leader with the fewest seasons--KaiserWill4 with 4 seasons.

70s Style (1) vs Frostbite Falls (4)
As true Start fashion, Greg Maddux was the most dominant pitcher in the league. So, of course in game one, the Tormentors scored 7 runs and won game 1 7-5. 70s Style rebounded in game 2 winning easily 11-4. Dennis Martinez propelled 70s Style team to a 7-3 victory. In game 4, the Tormentors put up 12 runs and won 12-4 tying the series at 2. In game 5, Greg Maddux took the mound but was defeated again as the Tormentors won 5-3 to take a 3-2 lead in the series. In game 6, Cal Eldred took the mound for the Tormentors facing Curt Schilling. The Tormentors offense produced 7 runs and the Tormentors advanced to the finals winning 7-3.

Modern Day Cowboys (2) vs Charley Brown Allstars (3)

Greg Hibbard was selected to pitch game 1 for the All Stars while Pete Schourek took the mound for the Cowboys. Propelled by home runs from Moises Alou, Bobby Bonilla and Mike Stanley, the All Stars won 6-2. In game 2, the All Stars took a 2-0 lead going into the 5th. Ken Griffey Jr. launched two run home runs in the 6th and 8th inning and won 5-2 to tie the series at 1. In game 3, the All Stars won a 12-7 slugfest to take a 2-1 lead in the series. In game 4, Ken Griffey Jr. launched 3 home runs and drove in 5 runs as the Cowboys tied the series at 2. In game 5, the All Start battled back and took a 9-8 lead going into the 7th inning. Jim Thome delivered a single that drove in 2 runs to take a 10-9 lead which held up giving the Cowboys a 3-2 lead. However, the Cowboys lost their starting shortstop-John Valentin-to a 15 game injury. Game 6 was a rematch of game 1--Greg Hibbard for the All Stars versus Pete Schourek for the Cowboys. The Cowboys had a great game and won 12-2 and headed to the finals to face the Tormentors. Ken Griffey launched 7 home runs in the series.

Finals:

Modern Day Cowboys (2) vs Frostbite Falls Tormentors (4)

The Cowboys sent John Farrell to the mound to face Steve Trachsel and the Tormentors. The Cowboys prevailed in game 1 wining 4-3 with Carl Willis recording his 3rd save in the playoffs. In game 2, Bill Wegman faced Bob Welch who had out pitched Greg Maddux in the first round. Bill was on his game, tossing a shut out as the Cowboys won 5-0.

In game 3, Pete Schourek of the Cowboys outdueled Darryl Kile and the Tormentors, winning 7-4. Rickey Henderson and Paul Molitor paced the offense with each driving in 2 runs. This extended the Cowboys winning streak to 6 games in the playoffs.

In game 4, the Cowboys sent John Dopson to the mound to face Cal Eldred and the Tormentors. John was on his game and the Cowboys completed the 4 game sweep with a 4-2 victory. This gave KaiserWill4 his first Strat Mystery Game championship. Kaiser picked a great time to go on a 7 game winning streak.

So, in this version of the 90s game, the hitting centric teams were dominant winning the season series and the league championship.

Thanks for reading the weekly updates and the positive feedback on the updates. Hope to see all of you in future leagues.