Hitter vs Pitchers-2000's --Congrats to.......

Games played for each team: 114
Hitter centric versus pitching centric: 360 games

Hitters: 192 wins 53% (last update 56%)
Pitchers: 168 wins 47%

The pitching teams had another good week closing the gap by another 3%.

One of the hallmarks of this format is the the competitiveness of the race for the playoffs. Only two games separate the first place team from 4th place teams in both the East (hitting) and Central (mixed) divisional races.

East:

Lee300's Flatbush Stumble Ponies are now tied for the divisional lead--the Stumble Ponies are 60-54 (+83). Fench33's Beaver Pelts are also 60-54 (+60) while Drabb9529's Bat Attitude (-42) and JJB92s Rock The Nation (+20) are two games off the pace with a record of 58-56.

Central:

The two hitting centric teams--Juiced JC's Roid Raging Bombers (+12) and The BC Manager's BC's Boundless Bats 2000 (+11) are 59-55 which is good for a 1 game lead over pitching centric Bigjimed's Manchester High Cheese 58-56 (+20) and a 2 game lead over Falcon29's Rubber Arm Dune Rats who are 57-57(-19).

West

Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders continue to set the pace with a league best record of 68-46(+90). The Wonders hold an 11 game lead over Leo Carter's Halifax Hurlers who are 57-57 (-22). Piloneaus382's Busch Banditos are 47-67 (-117) while BurleyNorseman's Highway Hellraisers are 43-71 (-96)


Team Stats:

Hitting---the extremes

Run Scored---The Roid Raging Bombers continue to lead the league in runs scored with 796—an average of 6.98 runs per game.
Home Runs---The Roid Raging Bombers have bashed 332 home runs--exactly 100 more than second place the Flatbush Stumble Ponies. The Bombers average just under 3 home runs a game (2.91).

Pitching

Runs allowed: Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders have only allowed 434 runs--(402 earned)---allowing just 3.80 runs per game
Team WHIP: Batless Boy Wonders are still at 1.16 at this point of the season

If offense is your thing, you’ll enjoy a game involving the Roid Raging Bombers. Not only do they lead the league in runs scored, they have club have allowed a league high 784 runs--an average of 6.87 per ga

Interesting statistics--players

The number of hitters with OPS of 1.000 or more declined to 14 from the previous weeks count of 16.

Top 3 OPS--

Barry Bonds (Juiced JC’s Roid Raging Bombers) continued his assault on pitching--he now has the best OPS at 1.357. Barry is at .315/.506/.851.
Barry’s teammate Sammy Sosa is at second with a 1.275 OPS (.328/.419/.856)
Carlos Delgado (JJB92’s Rock The Nation) is third with an OPS of 1.204 (.358/.474/.730)

Home Run leaders: Sammy Sosa continues his bashing---he’s hit 69 home runs to lead the league. Barry Bonds continues in second place with 54 home runs.

Runs Batted In: Sammy has driven in 147 runs, 27 more than Alex Rodriguez (Bat Attitude) who have driven in 120.

Batting average: Nomar Garciaparra (BC’s Boundless Bats 2000) continues leading the league--he's now at .376. Carlos Delgado is second at .358. David Wright (Beaver Pelts) is now in 3rd place at .354. Top batting average from a pitching centric team? Robinson Cano from Falcon's Rubber Arm Dune Rats is at .315.

On Base Percentage: Barry Bonds sets the pace at. 506 while Carlos Delgado is next at .474 . David Wright is now third at .432.

Pitching—

Roger Clemens had a good week going 4-0 for the week and now leads the league ERA.
Roger Clemens--Leo Carter's Halifax Hurlers (West): 12-9, ERA of 2.51, WHIP 1.15
Pedro Martinez-Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders (West) 16-8 ERA 2.68, WHIP 1.02
John Burkett (The BC Manager’s BC’s Boundless Bats 2000 is 13-4 3.16, 1.22 WHIP

Strikeouts-no changes in the order
Pedro Martinez-284 in 224 innings Bigdinkent’s Batless Boy Wonders
Tim Lincecum-256 in 235 innings --Tim is part of Falcon29's Rubber Arm Dune Rats (Central)

Saves:
Jason Isringhausen (Batless Boy Wonders) leads with 26 saves--Mariano Rivera (Busch Banditos) is second wiht 23.

Major personnel moves:

As we've highlighted in the weekly update, Randy Johnson was a significant disappointment for Burley Norseman's Highway Hellraisers. After 22 starts, Randy was 5-14 with an ERA of 7.00 with a home stadium of Safeco Field. Burley had enough and released Randy using the money to improve his offense.

Bigdinkent saw an opportunity and made a series of personnel changes which freed up sufficient cash to acquire Randy Johnson. Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders now have both Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson along with Chris Carpenter, Jason Schmidt and Al Leiter. Randy threw a complete game shutout in his first game with the Boy Wonders. However, Randy is now 2-2 with an ERA of 4.21/WHIP of 1.36 with his new team.

Other moves of interest:

Leo Carter's Halifax Hurlers released Curt Schilling (29 GS, 7-11, ERA of 5.87, WHIP of 1.41)

Juiced JC released Daniel Cabrera---Daniel's numbers? 5 starts----ERA of 14.40 and a WHIP of 2.60 so his release was not too surprising. However, what was surprising is that Daniel was 3-2. Daniel's 3 wins are the same number of wins for first round selection Johan Santana (Busch Banditos/Piloneaus382)--Johan is 3-9 after 22 starts---Johan has an ERA of 5.54/WHIP of 1.36

Tom Glavine was released--again. Tom was first dropped by the Hellraisers (9 games started--3-4, ERA 6.02/WHIP of 1.54. Falcon29 had to believe that Tom couldn't be THAT bad--his performance was much much worse than his worst year. Tom was just released by the Dune Rats---his numbers? 8 starts---3-3---ERA of 6.50/WHIP of 1.58. It's highly unlikely anyone else will be seeking Tom's services this season.

Travis Haffner was picked up by the Stumble Ponies to replace Jason Giambi. Earlier this week, Travis launched 2 home runs in 4 consecutive games and in the next game, hit another home run making it 9 home runs in 5 games. He was 12-21 in the 5 games drove in 14 runs. Travis has contributed 24 home runs in just 224 at bats--good move by Lee300 making that change!

Games played for each team: 138
Hitter centric versus pitching centric: 426 games

Hitters: 225 wins 53% (last update 53%)
Pitchers: 201 wins 47%

No significant movement—the gap remains at 6% as we return to division play to conclude the season. It will be tough for the pitching teams to catch the hitters in the season series.

The East (hitting) and Central (mixed) remain close with only 4 games separating first place from last place in both divisions. All 8 teams are .500 or better.


East:
Fench33’s Beaver Pelts reclaimed the top spot with a record of 73-65 good for a 2 game lead over Drabb9529’s Bat Attitude club. The Pelts are a +42 while Bat Attitudes is at -48. Lee300s’s Flatbush Stumble Ponies are at 69-69 despite a +61. JJB92’s Rock The Nation are also 69-69 (-11)

Central:

The BC Manager’s BC’s Boundless Bats are now in first place (73-65, +68. Juiced JC's Roid Raging Bombers (+22) trail by 2 games. Falcon29's Rubber Arm Dune Rats are 70-68 (0) while Bigjimed’s Manchester High Cheese are 69-69(+13).

West
In the only race not in doubt,Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders continue to set the pace with a league best record of 85-53. (+90). The Wonders hold an 11 game lead over Leo Carter's Halifax Hurlers who are 69-69 (-22). Piloneaus382's Busch Banditos are 47-67 (-117) while BurleyNorseman's Highway Hellraisers are 43-71 (-96)

Wild card race: Defending champion Drabb9529 and offense happy Juiced JC’s Roid Raging Bombers are tied for the wild card with records of 71-67. Falcon 29’s Rubber Arm Dune Rats are just one game behind while BigJimed’s Manchester High Cheese, Leo Carter’s Halifax Hurlers and JJB92’s Rock The Nation trail the post season by 2 games.


Team Stats:

Hitting---the extremes

Run Scored---The Roid Raging Bombers continue to lead the league in runs scored with 992—an average of 7.03 runs per game.
Home Runs---The Roid Raging Bombers have launched 419 home runs—an astonishing 137 more than second place the Rock The Nation. The Bombers average just under 3 home runs a game (2.97).

Pitching

Runs allowed: Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders have only allowed 512 runs--(475 earned)---allowing just 3.63 runs per game
Team WHIP: Batless Boy Wonders improved to 1.14 with 21 games to go.

There has been a change in the team allowing the most runs---Rock The Nation have allowed 962 runs—one more than the Roid Raging Bombers. Rock have allowed over 6.8 runs per game. The current staff of 11 have had 22 other pitchers take the mound this season.

Team stolen bases:

Bat Attitude have stolen 209 bases lead by Carl Crawford (62), Ichhiro (49) and Magglio Ordenez (22).

With just 21 games to go, here are some interesting individual player stats

The number of hitters with OPS of 1.000 or more declined to 13 from the previous weeks count of 14.
Doubles: Brian Roberts (Beaver Pelts) 52
Triples: Carl Crawford (Bat Attitude) 14
Home Runs: Sammy Sosa (Roid Raging Bombers) 82
RBI’s: Sammy Sosa 173
Batting Average: Nomar Garciaparra (BC’s Boundless Bats) .369
On Base Percentage: Barry Bonds (Roid Raging Bombers) .513
Slugging Percentage: Barry Bonds 1.410
Hitting Streak: Derek Jeter (Flatbush Stumble Ponies) 29 games
Stolen Bases: Scott Podsednik (Busch Banditos) 62
Errors: Troy Glaus (Flatbush Stumble Ponies ) 24
Opponent Steals: Mike Piazza (Rod Raging Bombers) 150

Pitching stats:

Wins: Pedro Martinez (Batless Boy Wonders) 20
ERA: Roger Clemens (Halifax Hurlers) 2.33
Shutouts: Rogers Clemens 4
Strikeouts: Pedro Martinez 348
Walks: Carlos Zambrano (Manchester High Cheese) 166
Complete Games-Tim Lincecum (Rubber Arm Dune Rats) 18
Saves: Jason Isringhausen-(Manchester High Cheese) 35
Losses: Mike Mussina (Manchester High Cheese), Roy Halladay (Manchester High Cheese) and Randy Johnson (Now with Batless Boy Wonders) all have 17 losses

Double Plays—team: Beaver Pelts have turned 188
Errors: Roid Raging Bombers have made 99 errors
Don’t run on the outfield of Bat Attitude---46 assists

Games played for each team: 159
Hitter centric versus pitching centric: 456 games (season series concluded)

Hitters: 244 wins 54% (previous update 53%)
Pitchers: 212 wins 46%

The season series between hitters and pitchers has concluded. The hitters never trailed in the season series and won the season series.

Previous results:

70s: Pitchers 232 (51%) Pitching team won championship
Hitters 224 (49%)

80s: Hitters 274 (60%) Pitching team won championship
Pitchers 182 (40%)

90s: Hitters 251 (55%) Hitting team won championship
Pitchers 205 (45%)



East:

This has been one crazy division—the line chart tracking results requires a magnifying glass to keep up with the movement. Lee300s Flatbush Stumble Ponies (82-77 +106) reclaimed the lead heading into the final series—the Ponies have a one game lead over Fench33’s Beaver Pelts (+44) who spent much of the season in the lead and JJB92’s Rock The Nation. (-11) Drabb9529’s Bat Attitude are 80-79
-95). The Ponies/Pelts play tonight and it’s possible there will be a 3 way tie for first with 3 teams ending the regular season with records of 83-79.


Central:

The two hitting centric teams battle tonight for the division title. BC’s Boundless Bats are 85-74 (+78) one game better than Juiced JC’s Roid Raging Bombers (+43). The Bats have had the better of the season series between the two teams—the Bats are 16-5 against the Bombers so the Bombers need a sweep in order to win the division.

The two pitching teams had a tough week and fell out of contention for the division and playoffs. Both the Manchester High Cheese (-6) (Bigjimed) and Rubber Arms Dune Rats (-12) (Falcon29) are 78-81. The Cheese did not match up well against the Bombers—the Bombers were an impressive 19-5 against their division rival.



West
Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders almost went wire to wire and have the leagues best record at 97-62 (+140). The Wonders hold an 12 game lead over Leo Carter's Halifax Hurlers who are 85-74 (+7). Piloneaus382's Busch Banditos are 67-92 (-147) while BurleyNorseman's Highway Hellraisers are likely glad to see this season end 56-103 (-147)

Wild card race: The close races between the hitting teams opened the door for Leo Carter’s Halifax Hurlers (85-74--+7)who are riding a well times 6 game winning streak and now lead the Roid Raging Bombers by 1 game. The Hurlers face the Hellraisers while the Bombers play division leading Boundless Bats. The Hurlers control their own destiny—if they win out, they will win the wild card. The Hurlers were 28-45 after game 73 and 60-63 after 123 games. Since then, they have gone an impressive 25-11 and give inspiration to those owners hovering around .500 at the 120 game mark.

Since the season ends tonight (Sunday), the individual player stats will be covered in the next update.

Team stats:

Both the Roid Raging Bombers and Rock The Nation have passed the 1,100 run mark for the season—the Bombers have scored 1,105 runs while The Nation have scored 1,102 runs. The Stumble Ponies have score 1,049 runs while the Boundless Bats have scored 1,039 runs.

Rock The Nation has allowed 1,113 runs—the most in the league. The Bombers have allowed 1,062 runs while Bat Attitude have watched 1,057 runners to cross home plate.

On the pitching front, the Batless Boy Wonders have only allowed 566 runs—over 100 run fewer then the next best result. The Hurlers have allowed 673 runs.

The two teams with the fewest runs scored have been the Highway Hellraisers (646) and the Busch Bandito’s (635).

Roster moves:

Stumble Ponies: 12 pitchers released 2 hitters
Beaver Pelts: 1 pitcher released; 4 hitters
Rock The Nation: 22 pitchers released; 6 hitters
Bat Attitude: 7 pitchers released; 2 hitters

Boundless Bats: 24 pitchers/6 hitters (Most in the league)
Raging Bombers: 16/1
High Cheese: 2/1 (Fewest in the league)
Dune Rats: 3/5

Batless Wonders: 3 pitchers/11 hitters
Hurlers: 5/12
Banditos: 2/10
Hellraisers: 10/18

Outstanding recaps, JB. Having done these sorts of recaps myself nearly 20 years ago, I know how time consuming it is to conceive, edit, and proof. Your love for this game shows through clearly. I love reading these. Appreciate your work!

1st Command,

Thanks for reading and the kind words--I appreciate the feedback and I'm glad you enjoy following the leagues progress.

Hope to see you in an upcoming league.......

layoffs:

With two of the three divisions coming down to the final series, here's the outcome of the regular season.

East:

Fench33's Beaver Pelts and Lee300's Flatbush Stumble Ponies met in the final series of the season---the Ponies held a slim one game lead over the Pelts. The Pelts won the first two games to take a one game lead in the division. Kevin Appier (8-8)took the mound for the Ponies while Joel Pineiro (9-10) pitched game 162 for the Pelts. The Ponies jumped on Joel and had a 9-2 lead going after batting in the 5th inning. The Ponies won 13-4 which meant both teams ended the season with 83-79 records.

Meanwhile, defending champ Drabb9529's Bat Attitude battled JJB92's Rock The Nation--Bat Attitude lost the first game 18-8 but won the next two by scores of 12-11 and 9-7. In game 161, Bat Attitude took an 8-2 lead into the 9th only to see The Nation rally to score 9 runs to take an 11-9 lead. With two outs and the bases loaded, Mark Teixeira launched a grand slam clearing the bases and effectively knocking The Nation out of the division race. Both teams finished one game behind with records of 82-80. All 4 team finished above .500.

The Ponies and Pelts were tied in the season series at 12-12--the Pelts made the playoffs based on a better run differential.

Central:

The BC Manager's Boundless Bats held a one game lead over Juiced JC's Roid Raging Bombers going into the final series. The Bats won the first game clinching the division since they held a commanding season series lead (18-6) over the Bombers. The Bombers had a chance with two men on trailing 5-4 with Barry Bonds at the plate---Barry had launched 79 home runs and had an OPS of 1.386. However, he struck out to end the game. The Bats finished 87-75, the Bombers 85-77. The two pitching teams--Falcon29's Rubber Arm Dune Rats finished 80-82 while BigJimEd's Manchester High Cheese finished 79-83.

West:

While the division race was never really in doubt--Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders almost lead wire to wire and won the division with a record of 100-62--Leo Carter's Halifax Hurlers put on an impressive run to win the wild card with a record of 87-75. The Busch Banditos led by Piloneaus382 finished 67-95. It was a very tough season for Burley Noreseman's Highway Hellraisers. Burley who finished the three previous seasons in the middle of the playoff races, finished 57-105.

Playoffs:
BC's Boundless Bats versus Halifax Hurlers

Game 1: The Bats defeated the Hurlers 5-2. Nelson Cruz (the pitching version) was the star--Nelson Cruz(1-0) pitched a solid game. He allowed 3 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings. Cruz recorded 7 strikeouts. BC's Boundless had 14 hits for the afternoon while Halifax had 4.

Cruz was helped out by Mike Remlinger who recorded his 1st save. Javier Vazquez(0-1) was the loser. He allowed a few too many baserunners giving up 12 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings.

Game 2: The Bats took a 2-0 lead after defeating Roger Clemens and the Hurlers 9-3.

Game 3: The Bats took a commanding 3-0 lead behind Nate Robertson by winning 13-3.

Game 4: The Hurlers staved off elimination behind Roy Oswalt. The Hurlers won by a score of 6-4.

Game 5: The Bats made their reservation in the finals with a 7-6 victory. Albert Pujols hit .364 for the series.

Flatbush Stumble Ponies versus Batless Boy Wonders

Game 1: The Wonders took a 2-0 lead into the 9th. Pedro dominated the Ponies only allowing 2 hits but no runs before giving way to save leader Jason Isringhausen. The Ponies rallied for 3 runs. However, the Wonders rallied for 2 runs in the bottom on the 9th and won when Travis Fryman launched his second homer of the game.

Game 2: The Wonders took a 2-0 lead behind Chris Carpenter who tossed a shutout. The Wonders won 5-0.

Game 3: The Wonders took a 3-0 lead behind Randy Johnson winning 8-4.

Game 4: The Ponies avoided elimination winning 6-2.

Game 5: The Ponies faced Pedro Martinez but once again lived to fight another day when they won 4-3 in extra innings.

Game 6 is tonight.

When we last checked in, Bigdinkent's Batless Boy Wonders held a 3-2 lead over Lee300s' Flatbush Stumble Ponies--pitching centric the Wonders with Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson won 100 games in the regular season and had won the first 3 games of the series. Chris Carpenter was on the mound for the Wonders for game 6. Chris dominated the first 8 innings allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk. The Wonders led 2-0 and the game was turned over to Jason Isringhausen who led the league in saves with 42 and had a save percentage of 86%.

The inning began with a walk to Ryan Braun but Troy Glaus struck out leaving the Wonders just two outs from a battle with The BC Managers Boundless Bats. A single by Derek Jeter brought Travis Haffner to the plate. Travis was an in season pickup--Lee300 dropped Jason Giambi and picked up Travis as a replacement. Travis launched a dramatic 3 run home run propelling the Ponies into the lead. The Ponies weren't done, batting around and scoring 7 runs off of Jason. The Wonders went down in the 9th meaning game 7 would settle the series.

The Ponies sent Jerome Williams to the mound while the Wonders had Randy Johnson lined up for game 7.

A Derek Jeter double was followed by a Brett Boone single brining Jim Edmonds to the plate. Jim launched a three run home run giving the Ponies an early lead. The Wonders scored single runs in the first and the third inning but that was it in terms of offense. The Ponies completed an impressive comeback winning 4 straight.

Championship series:

The Boundless Bats faced the Flatbush Stumble Ponies---during the regular season, the Ponies held a 8-4 advantage in the season series.

Game 1: The Boundless Bats trailed 7-5 going into the bottom of the 9th. The Bats produced 5 consecutive hits and won the game 8-7 after David Ortiz singled in Albert Pujols.

Game 2: The Bats trailed 4-3 going into the bottom of the 8th inning. With the bases loaded, Tori Hunter cleared the bases with a double. He then scored on a sacrifice fly propelling the Bats to a 2-0 series lead. The Bats lost RF JD Drew to a one game injury in the 4th.

Game 3: The Ponies won their first game in the series behind Rick Reed -winning 4-3. The Ponies lost Travis Haffner to an injury--he would miss game 4.

Game 4: The Bats took a 3-1 series lead with a convincing 11-2 victory. Jeff Fassero won his 4th game of the post season--Jeff only allowed one run and lowered his postseason ERA to .87. One negative for the Bats? Albert Pujols was injured for the remainder of the series.

Game 5: Facing another elimination game----the 5th in the playoffs---the Ponies scored 3 runs in the first. An error by back up first baseman Eli Marrero allowed the 3rd run. Amaury Telemaco, Scott Sullivan, Tim Worrell and Kevin Gregg combined to hold the Bats to 2 runs and the Ponies closed the gap to 3-2

Game 6: Kevin Appier took the mound for the Ponies facing Jose Contreras for the Bats. Kevin was on his game allowing just 3 hits and 4 walks. The Ponies scored 12 runs to win easily setting up game 7. The Ponies survived an elimination game for the 6th time.

Game 7: Brad Thompson took the mound for the Ponies facing John Burkett from the Bats. Trailing 1-0 going into the bottom of the 6th, the Bats rallied. A JD Drew double was followed by singles from Luis Gonzalez, a double by David Ortiz and a two run single from Tori Hunter to seize a 3-1 lead. Rod Beck took over in the 6th and retired the Ponies in the 7th. Rod took the mound in the 8th---Jim Edmonds led off with a double bringing up Brett Boone. Brett took Rod deep and the game was tied at 3.

The Bats went quietly in the 8th. The 9th started with Ryan Braun hitting a triple putting the lead run just 90 feet from home. Troy Glaus struck out--Santiago Casilla came in to face Derek Jeter. Derek greeted Santiago with a 2 run homer giving the Ponies a 5-3 lead.

The Bats were down by 2 with batting average champ Nomar Garciaparra leading off. He singled---Rich Ankiel was up next and walked. The tying runs were now on base. Kevin Gregg came in---Eric Chavez grounded into a force out. Robby Alomar came up next--the winning run was now at the plate. However, Kevin induced a groundout double play meaning the Ponies survived a 7th elimination game giving Lee300 the championship.

Congrats to Lee300 for a well earned championship and all of the owners who made the playoffs.

Regular season stats of interest:

League leaders: Home Runs: Sammy Sosa-92
Runs Batted In: Sammy Sosa: 195
Hits: Derek Jeter 232
Doubles: Brian Roberts 63
Runs Scored: Barry Bonds 170
Walks: Barry Bonds 182
Stolen Bases: Scott Podsednik--80
Hitting Streak: Derek Jeter--29 games
Batting Average: Nomar Garciaparra--.364
On Base Percentage: Barry Bonds .512

Opponent steals: Victor Martinez---175
Errors: Troy Glaus 24

Pitching

Wins Pedro Martinez--24
ERA: Roger Clemens 2.16
Innings pitched: Tim Lincecum--334
Saves: Jason Isringhausen 42
Complete games: Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum 19
Shutouts: Roger Clemens-6
Strikeouts: Pedro Martinez---389
Home Runs allowed: Mike Mussina--66
Losses: Mike Mussina, Roy Halladay and Randy Johnson--all lost 20

This concludes the question on if good hitting can beat good pitching--the answer for the 2000 set suggests the hitters had an advantage winning both the season series and the league championship.

Congrats to Lee3000 and a gutsy performance. We had his Stumble Ponies on the ropes until Pujols was injured, which seemed to deflate my entire team. The Ponies never gave up and are deserving champs.

Thanks to JJB for the league and the weekly recaps. I've enjoyed all 4 of these leagues. People should check out the new team-based league that JJB is starting (2 spots left). I've found his themes fun and the seasons very competitive.

Thank you Joe for all of your hard work in conceiving of, setting up and running this interesting 2000's pitching vs hitting league, as well as for the inciteful statistical analysis and recaps that you provided along the way. Your love of the SOM game, shared by all of us, comes shining through.

I was surprised to see that the Pitching teams actually did as well as they did, led by the Boy Wonders 100 win season. I would have thought that the 2000's hitter would overwhelm the pitching teams, but the pitching teams held their own, though I think they were definitely still at a disadvantage. In SOM, great pitching can occasionally stop great hitting, but the vice versa is more likely.

The team parity was amazing, with the East having 2 teams finish at 83-79 and 2 finish at 82-80, and the div winner, my Ponies, by winning game 162 to get to 83 wins, winning the div with 2nd tie breaker of run diff. And as Joe pointed out, the 2 playoff series wins by the Ponies were ridiculous, overcoming 3-0 and 3-1 series deficits, 7 consecutive elimination games in all, to win this unexpected Championship. It was definitely an enjoyable and memorable league.

Thanks!

Lee