Mighty Moose gets his wish for a repeat Barnstormers Champ!

Prior to the start of the Finals in the 2017 Barnstormers Tour, tournament maven Rick Johnson said "It would be nice to retire finally having a 2-time tournament winner."

It didn't happen that season, but it will happen now, as for the first time in BSers history, two former champions, the Last Druid (who won as Petrosian in 2008) and cristano1, the defending champ, square off in the 2018 Finals starting Saturday night, April 20.

Both The Last Druid and cristano1 are arguably the best BSers tour players ever. Both have made numerous appearances in the Finals, with cristano1 riding a current streak of at least 7 consecutive Finals appearances (dating at least back to 2012, which is the oldest season for which links to the Barnstormers Tour are available. If there is a record for consecutive Finals appearances, cristano1 probably holds it. Maybe Mighty Moose can give us the number of times each have been in the Finals.) The Last Druid is from the online SOM old guard, having begun play near the beginning of the online SOM ATG era, which was hosted by the Sporting News, while cristano1 began playing a few years later.

While both players have respect for the abilities of the other, it is quickly and readily apparent from reading BSers forum posts that there is no love lost between them. The ongoing dialogue between them, which is very entertaining, informative and a must read, causes one to harken back to the days of the Muhammad Ali - Joe Frazier rivalry for the heavyweight boxing crown, which regardless of the outcome, was good for boxing. The same can be said for The Last Druid - cristano1 rivalry, as it generates interest in the BSers Tourney and the SOM online ATG game.

It's too bad members of the online community aren't privy to their dialogue in the Finals league mail, as I'm sure it would be engrossing. Maybe someone from the league can post it here, or better yet, maybe The Last Druid or cristano1 can start a new discussion here.

The winner gets bragging/taunting rights over the other for the next year in what has become an annual epic battle which likely will continue as long as there is a BSers tournament.

Good luck gentlemen. May the best team win!

"The Last Druid is from the online SOM old guard, having begun play near the beginning of the online SOM ATG era, which was hosted by the Sporting News,"

When did Strat begin on Sporting News? Just how far back does this go?

When did Strat begin on Sporting News? Just how far back does this go?

Regular SOM I believe started with 2001 (in 2002) but ATG I don't think started until 2004 or 2005 with ATG1.

I remember organizing the first LIVE - IN PERSON - draft at TSN's office back in 2003

When did Strat begin on Sporting News? Just how far back does this go?

Regular SOM I believe started with 2001 (in 2002) but ATG I don't think started until 2004 or 2005 with ATG1.

I remember organizing the first LIVE - IN PERSON - draft at TSN's office back in 2003

Thanks for your great question Steve, and thanks to Pacoboy as well for a great answer giving previously unknown to me details about the origins of the online ATG game.

I joined my first TSN online SOM league in January, 2009. It's hard to believe that I've been playing the online game for 10 years. Here's a link to my first team/league, which won a league leading 98 games in an ATG 4 Post WWII league, but in typical fashion, lost in the Semis in what was then a 5 game series:

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/170440
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/62900

As far as I can tell, of the managers in that league, only jet40, carr20 and I still participate in online SOM on a regular basis.

SOM took over the online game from TSN in August, 2012.

Grand post Bernie. And I totally agree that both Druid and Cristano are the best of the best of the BS tournament players.

There have been others that have shone and continue to do so, but, got to give the golden earring to these two.

Heck, I recall a couple of years ago when I last played in the tournament, that I won a game against both of them in the same year. A game, not a series. Amazing feat.

And finally a big shout out to Moose for taking the time to run this puppy each year. Thank you.

Kinda figured the finals would end up this way.

I thought ATG1 was the debut SOM online game. Hosted on The Sporting News site of course. I was there too.

I didnt think any other variation of SOM online game came until years later, when the 200x game came along ?

If you guys only knew...

Cristano and I exchanged 56 private messages back and forth during the current finals season.

We did have a very contentious history that we finally aired out publicly last year on the Barnstormers boards. His public assessment was "best trash talking thread ever."

That relationship has now privately evolved. I would say it is now characterized by great candor, open dialogue and mutual respect.

That said, time to rip each others throats out.

Last year I beat him 8-4 in the regular season but he demolished me in five games in the playoffs. This year he reversed the season series results, beating me 8-4 after sweeping the first 6 games. So I am hoping that presages a short finals with me winning 4-1. Probably won't happen that way, he has the home field advantage and the teams were clearly the two best teams in the league this time. He was rooting for me to win my semi and I was rooting for him to win his. He benefited from a relatively weaker division, although as he correctly pointed out, Mesquiton's team was no push over. I was in the division from hell with 4 of the top 6 finishers in the BS regular season and also with 3 of the 4 semifinalists from last year.

Like Sauron licking his wounds while gathering his strength, I vowed to myself to not fall victim again to the four aces strategy. I tested numerous antidotes over the next year, and Jet40, Mesquiton and I had very good results with some of the antidotes I vetted. I chose Hilltop with that in mind, and despite Hallerose and Lab going small and myself and Mesquiton going righty (which Cristano had posted several years ago about not being an optimal strategy and that lefty oriented teams and small ball were simply more successful in the BS finals than righty teams) I tied for first in the division from hell, with the second best run differential in the league.

I will note that Cristano and I both thought djmacb had the best draft and was likely to have the best record in the league, particularly in view of the division alignments. Neither of us initially saw Dougess or Jet40 in the playoffs. I personally thought it would be me, djmacb, Cristano and Hallerose. Cristano thought Mesquiton might get the WC and thought the East would be between me and Lab. I thought Lab's team had some serious flaws and was actually surprised he finished as high as he did.

I have to give Cristano about a 53% chance to win the finals, largely because of the home field advantage. But I would be remiss in not acknowledging how brilliantly he crafted his team to avoid being taken advantage of by lefty pitchers, a difficult feat to pull off in Dunn, while still being very viable against right handed pitchers. I chose my staff with him in mind, although I also had to find a way to get through my division. No mean feat that. So he will see Hammaker and Pfeister in all four games in his park, and he will see Schmidt, Henry and Pineiro in mine, where all his lefty hitters save Ott have a serious power shortage. His signature calling card, 4 aces, is both a great strength that should keep him in most games, but also a potential Achilles heel, they may find themselves chased, particularly in my park, with no bullpen to speak of to bail them out.

I look forward to a great series!

For the record, as I told Petro privately, my hatred for him is in a Yankees/Redsox or Bama/Clemson type way. Certainly not as a human being. As a lifelong Sox fan, I can attest that Strat needs this same type of hatred. What fun is Strat without a lot of trash talk?