MLB Showdown Cards

Real Game Thursday

                We love leagues around here and we want to spot light one for you guys. This was a 2011 5 man league (which sadly turned into a 4 man league mid-way through). This is a relatively small league with really talented teams across the board. When you have 600 possible cards and only 100 in use the competition isn’t too fierce. Now on to a quick summary of the league.

Manager	W	L	Runs	HR	SB	BA	ERA	K	WHIP
@jgmoney0	22	14	189	22	50	.287	4.04	329	1.38
Sal	22	14	156	23	31	.245	3.98	274	1.33
Drew	16	17	135	24	10	.281	4.67	254	1.17
Colin	12	18	131	10	18	.272	4.87	268	1.42
Steve	3	12	44	6	23	.242	6.09	80	1.72

                @jgmoney seems like he had the best team in the league despite being in a tie with Sal there at the top with a 22 wins in 36 games. Jason sported a speed line-up with Bourn, Bonifacio, Upton, Kemp, Jeter and Morgan. No shock he also had more triples than anyone which adds to some of his power. This was not just a small ball line-up. This was small ball principals mixed with as much power as anyone else in the league. Easy to see why he outscored everyone. Sal had a similar idea with McCutchen, Phillips, Pujols, Braun and Granderson. The difference was the elite speed +20’s that @jgmoney had.  Here are the offensive League Leaders

Player	Team	BA	Player	Team	OBP	Player	Team	Runs
Billy Butler	Drew	.386	Matt Kemp	Jason	.463	Emilio Bonifacio	Jason	31
Todd Helton	Jason	.373	Todd Helton	Jason	.458	Matt Kemp	Jason	30
Matt Kemp	Jason	.383	Billy Butler	Drew	.440	Justin Upton	Jason	28
Justin Upton	Jason	.333	Adrian Gonzalez	Colin	.425	Andrew McCutchen	Sal	26
Ryan Braun	Sal	.321	Andrew McCutchen	Sal	.422	Ryan Braun	Sal	26
Adrian Gonzalez	Colin	.318	Ryan Braun	Sal	.415	Michael Bourn	Jason	25
Michael Young	Colin	.311	Chase Headley	Colin	.407	Curtis Granderson	Sal	23
Henry Blanco	Sal	.308	Justin Upton	Jason	.405	Jacoby Ellsbury	Colin	21
Jhonny Peralta	Drew	.306	Michael Young	Colin	.402	Albert Pujols	Sal	21
Robinson Cano	Jason	.303	Casey Kotchman	Drew	.337	Adrian Gonzalez	Colin	20

                Butler won the batting title with an impressive .386 average. The odd part of this is he is only a 9 with a small but no crazy small walk. Of course there is a level of luck involved with winning the batting title in leagues. Where Kemp is a much more obvious OBP champ. Jason having 3 of the top run scorers is a good omen to have. Drew didn’t get his name on this board too much.

Player	Team	HR	Player	Team	RBI	Player	Team	SB
Matt Kemp	Jason	8	Matt Kemp	Jason	34	Michael Bourn	Jason	20
Curtis Granderson	Sal	8	Justin Upton	Jason	34	Emilio Bonifacio	Jason	11
Josh Hamilton	Drew	7	Robinson Cano	Jason	32	Jacoby Ellsbury	Colin	11
Robinson Cano	Jason	7	Curtis Granderson	Sal	26	Franklin Gutierrez	Sal	11
Albert Pujols	Sal	6	Giancarlo Stanton	Drew	26	Andrew McCutchen	Sal	10
Justin Upton	Jason	5	Ryan Braun	Sal	26	Nyjer Morgan	Jason	9
Adrian Beltre	Drew	5	Albert Pujols	Sal	23	Ryan Braun	Sal	5
Mike Stanton	Drew	5	Adrian Gonzalez	Colin	23	Dexter Fowler	Colin	5
Alex Gordon	Colin	4	Henry Blanco	Sal	23	Matt Kemp	Jason	4
4 tied		3	Alex Gordon	Colin	21	Jemile Weeks	Drew	4

                Jason again seems to be dominating the offensive leader board here. Kemp with 8 homers, 34 RBI and 4 steals only adds to his MVP case. The shocker here is Adrian Beltre as a 7 being on the home run leader board with 5 for only 200 points. By far the cheapest player on that list. Bourn dominated steals almost doubling the rest of the league. Jason with 3, 30+ RBI guys is a product of that team speed, Henry Blanco with 23 RBI is a great plus for Sal and may be the reason he tied Jason.

Player	Team	ERA	Player	Team	K	Player	Team	Whip
Justin Verlander	Sal	1.35	Cliff Lee	Colin	90	John Axford	Sal	0.99
John Axford	Sal	1.55	Justin Verlander	Sal	73	Justin Verlander	Sal	1.04
Jeremy Hellickson	Sal	1.67	Tim Lincecum	Drew	73	Jesse Crain	Jason	1.10
Cliff Lee	Colin	2.15	Brandon Beachy	Jason	68	Jeremy Hellickson	Sal	1.10
Jesse Crain	Jason	2.63	Roy Halladay	Drew	67	Cliff Lee	Colin	1.10
Scott Baker	Jason	2.86	Brandon Morrow	Jason	67	Randy Wolf	Drew	1.10
Roy Halladay	Drew	3.22	Chris Carpenter	Colin	63	Roy Halladay	Drew	1.11
Chris Carpenter	Colin	3.32	Yovani Gallardo	Jason	61	Chris Carpenter	Colin	1.12
Brandon Beachy	Jason	3.70	John Axford	Sal	54	Dan Haren	Drew	1.21
Rickey Romero	Sal	3.95	Ricky Romero	Sal	54	Clayton Kershaw	Steve	1.25

                Sal had an impressive 3 headed monster with Verlander as the ERA leader (no surprise), Hellickson as the next best pitcher (both under 2.00 ERA) and the only other pitcher with 20 innings to have an ERA under 2 was their reliever John Axford. Cliff Lee for Colin looks to have had a great year (which he can do if you have the guts to pick a 3, 1-18). Jesse Crain and Scott Baker for Jason were surprises for me to both finish ahead of Halladay.

Player	Team	Wins	Player	Team	IP		Team	Saves
Jeremy Hellickson	Sal	7	Justin Verlander	Sal	73.3	Eric O’Flaherty	Sal	6
Justin Verlander	Sal	6	Roy Halladay	Drew	72.7	Rafael Betancourt	Jason	6
Chris Carpenter	Colin	5	Jeremy Hellickson	Sal	70.0	Antonio Bastardo	Colin	3
Brandon Beachy	Jason	5	Ricky Romero	Sal	68.3	Jesse Crain	Jason	2
Yovanni Gallardo	Jason	5	Yovani Gallardo	Jason	63.3	Sean Marshall	Steve	1
John Axford	Sal	4	Scott Baker	Jason	63.0	Joel Hanrahan	Sal	1
Randy Wolf	Drew	4	Cliff Lee	Colin	62.7	David Hernandez	Jason	1
Tim Lincecum	Drew	4	Chris Carpenter	Colin	62.3	Daniel McCutchen	FA	1
John Lackey	Colin	4	Tim Lincecum	Drew	60.7	Shawn Camp	Colin	1
3 Tied		3	Dan Haren	Drew	59.3	Casey Janssen	Steve	1

                Jeremy Hellickson for Sal lead the league in maybe the most important category, Wins with 7. Follow that up with O’Flaherty having a league leading 6 saves (tied with Jason’s Rafael Betancourt). The surprise winner is John Lackey with 4 wins for his mere 30 points (with a 12.00 ERA). Justin Verlander was the horse of the year with 73.3 innings with Halladay with 72.7 innings. Verlander has to be the pitching MVP right over Hellickson? Ether way Sal had all the pitching winners despite not leading the league in ERA as a team.

                Great league with a bunch of great teams. I hear this year’s version they want to be bigger and put more pressure on the managers to draft solid strategies. I these guys would have had a tighter league in a longer season. This was our first league and we would love to spotlight your league. Contact us and send us your stats so we can mine them as best we can.