Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Your 2005 Champions:

Alomar Division: Thunderbirds
Barfield Division: Schroedinger's Bat
Carter Division: Pohnpei Papayas

ALOMAR DIVISION

The #2-seeded Thunderbirds defeated the #4 Horse Field Hammers 9-3-0 to win the coveted Alomar Division title. In two prior years, the T-Birds had never finished the regular season higher than 10th, but in 2005 they dominated the second half of the season and continued their newfound strength through the playoffs. The Hammers were down only 5-6-1 going into Sunday but lost leads in ERA and WHIP plus a tie in OBP on the final day. The Thunderbirds set the tone with offense, batting .293/.361/.532 with 94 runs and 98 RBI over the two-week final. Despite their loss, the Hammers completed an impressive two-year climb; after finishing dead last in 2003 (when the BBFL had only one division), they jumped to 7th in 2004 (including a Consolation Bracket championship) and 2nd in 2005.

In the battle for third, Rosterite and fourth-seeded Austin Senators overcame Box-founder and #1 Toronto Walrus 9-3-0. After another tremendous regular season, the Walrus just tired out, losing both playoff matches by large margins. Like the Thunderbirds, the Senators hit well (.302/.382/.503, 90 runs) and won all the rate categories in pitching to combat the Walrus’s high-inning attack. The Walrus has never finished worse than fourth in the three years of the BBFL, while the Senators have a title and a third-place finish to their credit.

The Consolation championship goes to the #9 Eastern Shore Birds, who held off the #11 Chatsworth Halos 7-5-0. The match provided an interesting contrast in styles, as the Birds won all six rate categories and the Halos took five of the “counting” stats. The difference maker proved to be the unheralded Jose Valverde, whose seven saves propelled the Birds to a victory in that category.

#7 Reykjavik Fish Candy defeated #8 Mebion Glyndwyr for ninth place by a 9-3-0 margin. The Candy earns the highest placement in its history, while Glyndwyr has never finished lower than eighth.

BARFIELD DIVISION

Schroedinger’s Bat completed an amazing playoff run by defeating Jay’s Ehs 8-4-0 for the Barfield Championship. By doing so, the fifth-seeded Bat earns promotion to the Alomar Division. WAMCO, the third-place team in the regular season, must try again next year. The margin was closer than it appeared; Bat won the innings category by a scant one-third of an inning and WHIP by 0.06. The Ehs can take solace in the guarantee of placement in the Alomar Division next season.

#3 WAMCO triumphed over the #1 Mighty Midgets 8-3-1 for third place. Strong hitting from Manny Ramirez and a heap of free-agent pitchers provided the difference. Both teams improved immensely from last year, when the Midgets finished dead last and WAMCO 17th.

In a another battle of Rosterites, #8 European Wannabe beat #7 Pistol Nine 9-3-0 for the Consolation Championship. Too many of the Nine hitters took an early vacation, while Wannabe enjoyed the manic finishes of David Ortiz and Travis Hafner.

#11 Monkeymen Cubed trounced #12 Jick’s Rays 9-3-0 for ninth place. The Cubed swept the hitting categories and threw in three more in pitching. They also won last year’s Consolation final.

CARTER DIVISION

The #3 Pohnpei Papayas wouldn’t settle for back-door entry to the Barfield Division, defeating #1 Baseball North 9-3-0 for the Carter Division title. North endured two weeks of weak offense and couldn’t get quite enough pitching to overcome it. Meanwhile, the Papayas rode the aforementioned Manny Ramirez and a stellar finish by Tom Glavine to victory. Baseball North will join the Papayas in Barfield in 2006 along with Magic 9.

#2 Magic 9 turned back #5 Three Bucks On A Hun 8-4-0 for third place. The contest was tighter than it seemed fro the score. Magic eked out a two-run margin in runs and .007 in slugging, and Hun won the ERA category by a mere 0.10.

In the Dungeons and Dragons Division, the #9 Garth Iorg Gremlins dismissed the #7 Angry Gnomes 8-4-0 for the Consolation Championship in yet another deceptively close matchup. The Gremlins won runs by two, batting average by .004, slugging by .004 and ERA by 0.10.

#10 @$$kickers beat #8 Team Balla 8-4-0 for ninth place.

BBFL Playoff Roundup | 5 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
A - Monday, October 03 2005 @ 11:12 AM EDT (#129500) #
Cat, Bat...Whatever.

(The typo's at the very top)
koanhead - Monday, October 03 2005 @ 11:37 AM EDT (#129508) #
Just want to note that I (Schroedinger's Bat) was the 19th place team in Barfield in 2004.
Jay - Monday, October 03 2005 @ 12:29 PM EDT (#129519) #
Well done to Schroedinger's! I must say I wasn't entirely motivated for the championship given the guaranteed berth into Alomar next year but I played the lineup as I would have any other week in the regular season. Schroedinger won fair and square and definitely deserves his promotion next year.

Nice to see 3 of the top 4 Barfield finishers have such strong turn arounds this year. I can't recall exact placings but I think I was 7th or 8th in the regular season last year and in the top 4 after the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if any of the lower placed teams this year can replicate the success experienced by the Midgets, WAMCO and Schroedinger given the new relegation possibilities. My gut says somebody might do it but I would not expect a handful like this year.

Good season all. Thanks especially to Scott for taking the time to lead and provide all the relevant data on a weekly basis.
jeff - Monday, October 03 2005 @ 07:47 PM EDT (#129567) #
I just want to thank Scott for all the work he put into the season. It was my best fantasy baseball experience and your work had a lot to do with it.

Jeff (Pohnpei Papayas)
Four Seamer - Monday, October 03 2005 @ 09:09 PM EDT (#129569) #
Let me add my voice to the chorus - many thanks to Scott for his excellent work. The Gremlins never fully recovered from their slow start and couldn't really get anything going against consistently strong opposition, but a consolation championship was a nice note to end on.

Let me know where to send the fees.
BBFL Playoff Roundup | 5 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.