Tuesday, October 4, 2011

SBL Champions List

ALL-TIME SBL CHAMPIONS
(5-Team League)
1983 - Gil Hulse
(6-team League)
1984 - Gil Hulse
1985 - Steve Dilbeck
(12-Team League, Division Play)
1986 - Mike Davis (defeated Gregg Patton)
1987 - Gregg Patton
1988 - Jeff Lane
1989 - Steve Dilbeck
1990 - Steve Dilbeck
1991 - Mike Davis (def. Steve Dilbeck, 14-12)
1992 - Vic West
1993 - Gregg Patton (def. Mike Davis, 18-8)
1994 - Dan Evans (def. Gregg Patton, 10-9; strike-shortened season)
1995 - Paul Oberjuerge (def. Steve Dilbeck, 14-9; strike-shortened season)
1996 - Mike Davis (def. Steve Dilbeck, 17-9)
1997 - Vic West d. Dan Evans, 13-13 (8-3 in tiebreaker)
1998 - Gregg Patton (def. Mike Davis, 14-12)
1999 - Mike Davis (def. Damian Secore, 16-10)
2000 - Brian Goff (def. Gregg Patton, 14-12)
2001 - Mike Davis (def. Gregg Patton, 17-9)
2002 - Brian Goff (def. Vic West, 14-12)
2003 - Dan Evans (def. Brian Goff, 15-11)
2004 - Vic West (def. Mike Davis, 14-12)
2005 - Brian Goff (def. Dan Evans, 17-9)
2006 - Brian Goff (def. Paul Oberjuerge, 17-9); Playoffs: Brian Goff d. Steve Dilbeck, 18-8; Paul Oberjuerge d. Vic West, 13-13 (7-4 in tiebreaker)
2007 - Mike Davis (def. Brian Goff, 15-11); Playoffs: Mike Davis d. Steve Dilbeck , 16-10; Brian Goff d. Dan Evans, 14-12
2008 - Mike Davis (def. Brian Goff, 18-8); Playoffs: Mike Davis d. Damian Secore, 20-6; Brian Goff d. Gregg Patton, 14-12
2009 - Paul Oberjuerge (def. Andy Baggerly, 14-12); Playoffs: Paul Oberjuerge d. JP Hoornstra, 20-6; Andy Baggerly d. Dan Evans, 15-11
2010 - Mike Davis (def. Damian Secore, 15-11); Playoffs: Mike Davis d. Gregg Patton, 17-9; Damian Secore d. Paul Oberjuerge, 13-13 (6-5 in tiebreaker)
2011 - Dan Evans (def. Paul Oberjuerge, 14-12); Playoffs: Dan Evans d. Mike Davis, 14-12; Paul Oberjuerge d. Derek Rich, 13-13 (7-4 in tiebreaker)

SBL Series 2011

BOMBERS 14, ZERO'S 12
Week 1: Dan 8, Paul 3; Week 2: Paul 7, Dan 4; Week 3: Dan 7, Paul 4; Week 4: Paul 8, Dan 3; Week 5: Paul 8.5, Dan 2.5; Week 6: Dan 8, Paul 3; Week 7: Paul 9, Dan 2; Week 8: Dan 7, Paul 4; Week 9: Paul 9, Dan 2; Week 10: Dan 8, Paul 3; Week 11: Dan 6, Paul 5; Week 12: Paul 7, Dan 4; Week 13: Dan 6, Paul 5; Week 14: Paul 6, Dan 5; Week 15: Paul 6, Dan 5; Week 16: Paul 6, Dan 5; Week 17: Paul 6, Dan 5; Week 18: Paul 6.5, Dan 4.5; Week 19: Dan 7, Paul 4; Week 20: Dan 6, Paul 5; Week 21: Dan 7, Paul 4; Week 22: Dan 6.5, Paul 4.5; Week 23: Dan 6.5, Paul 4.5; Week 24: Dan 9, Paul 2; Week 25: Paul 9, Dan 2; Week 26: Dan 9, Paul 2.

SBL Playoffs

BOMBERS 14, MOANERS 12
Week 1: Mike 6.5, Dan 4.5; Week 2: Mike 6.5, Dan 4.5; Week 3: Mike 8.5, Dan 2.5; Week 4: Dan 6, Mike 5; Week 5: Mike 8, Dan 3; Week 6: MIKE 5.5, Dan 5.5; Week 7: DAN 5.5, Mike 5.5; Week 8: Dan 7, Mike 4; Week 9: Dan 6, Mike 5; Week 10: Dan 7, Mike 4; Week 11: Mike 9.5, Dan 1.5; Week 12: Mike 8, Dan 3; Week 13: Dan 7.5, Mike 3.5; Week 14: Mike 8, Dan 3; Week 15: Dan 7, Mike 4; Week 16: Dan 8, Mike 3; Week 17: Mike 6.5, Dan 4.5; Week 18: Mike 6.5, Dan 4.5; Week 19: Mike 7.5, Dan 3.5; Week 20: Dan 8.5, Mike 2.5; Week 21: Dan 6, Mike 5; Week 22: Dan 8, Mike 3; Week 23: Mike 8, Dan 3; Week 24: Dan 9, Mike 2; Week 25: Dan 9, Mike 2; Week 26: Dan 7.5, Mike 3.5.

ZERO'S 13, DERELICTS 13 (Z's WIN TIEBREAKER, 7-4)
Week 1: Derek 8, Paul 3; Week 2: Paul 8, Derek 3; Week 3: Derek 8.5, Paul 2.5; Week 4: Paul 6.5, Derek 4.5; Week 5: Paul 8, Derek 3; Week 6: Derek 7, Paul 4; Week 7: Paul 8, Derek 3; Week 8: Derek 6, Paul 5; Week 9: Paul 6, Derek 5; Week 10: Derek 6, Paul 5; Week 11: Derek 6.5, Paul 4.5; Week 12: Paul 8, Derek 3; Week 13: Paul 6, Derek 5; Week 14: Paul 6.5, Derek 4.5; Week 15: Paul 7, Derek 4; Week 16: Paul 8, Derek 3; Week 17: Paul 7, Derek 4; Week 18: Paul 10, Derek 1; Week 19: Derek 6, Paul 5; Week 20: Derek 6, Paul 5; Week 21: Derek 7, Paul 4; Week 22: Derek 6.5, Paul 4.5; Week 23: Derek 6.5, Paul 4.5; Week 24: DEREK 5.5, Paul 5.5; Week 25: Paul 9.5, Derek 1.5; Week 26: Derek 7, Paul 4.

SBL Notebook, Final

Corks are popping, the sparkling cider is flowing, and fireworks fill the air . . . Skyrockets in flight . . . afternoon delight . . . sorry, got sidetracked there for a moment. . . . As we were saying, the party is in full gallop at base camp below Mount San Gorgonio, where the Cherry Valley Bombers are celebrating their 2011 SBL championship. The fast-finishing Bombers rallied in the SBL Series to defeat the Zero's, 14-12 -- after first rallying in the wild-card playoff round to beat the Moaners by the same score -- to bring home their third league title, their first since 2003 . . . and, significantly, the first by a National division franchise since the Godfathers took the whole enchilada in 2004. The CVBs didn't set the world on fire in the early and middle innings of their postseason series, but then they closed like Mariano Rivera (or, to make this more appropriately Bomber-centric, John Axford), winning six of the last seven weeks in the wild-card round after trailing the M's 11-8, and then taking seven of the last eight weeks in the Series to wipe out an 11-7 deficit against the Z's. Thus did they complete one of the greatest single-season rags-to-riches sagas in SBL history. Six weeks into the campaign, the Bombers were dead in the water, and the National division race, sitting last in the standings with a 10-28 record, 16 games behind the division-leading Inmates. Then, beginning with the first week of interleague play, they got the wind in their sails, started winning and never really stopped, going 92-32 from weeks 7 through 26. And, typical of championship teams, they were at their very best when the games counted most, down the stretch -- going an incredible 40-4 over the last seven weeks to scramble from fifth place, eight games out, to first, six games ahead of runners-up Derek’s Derelicts at the finish line. Prodigious offense, a rare and precious commodity in baseball's nascent Era of the Pitcher, was what carried the CVBs during that crucial final stretch -- they averaged 12.6 HRs, 41.6 runs, 38.1 RBIs and 32.8 TBs per week in those frantic last seven weeks, with no OBP lower than .359 (and two that topped the magic .400 barrier). Their pitching was also stunningly good during that time, with five ERAs of 3.00 or lower and none higher than 3.44. No wonder they lost only four times in 44 games -- someday the owners of the Zero's, Moaners, Vic's Godfathers and the Batfaced Barristers will be able to tell their grandchildren about the year when they were the only SBL teams to register a victory against the Bombers during one of the most amazing closing runs ever seen. The rest of the NL hardly had a chance, though to their credit the Derelicts and Godfathers kept things close right to the end, delaying the CVBs' clinching until the final week in one of the more interesting races we've had in recent years. The Double-Ds and G-Daddies entered the final week tied for the NL wild-card lead, four games behind the Bombers, but the GDs blew a gasket in a 1-5 Week 26, while the 'Licts churned out a workmanlike 4-2 to capture the first playoff berth in franchise history.

The individual components that coalesced into championship fusion for the Bombers were, as these things often tend to be, quite impressive. Drafting out of the No. 10 spot, Dan nailed his first pick, Miguel Cabrera, who delivered a typical Miggy year (great OBP, boatloads of doubles and homers, triple-digits in runs and ribbies). Second-round pick Dan Uggla did what he was paid to do (hit home runs, 36 of them), and fourth-round selection Adrian Beltre exceeded expectations with, at age 32, the second-best year of his career -- 32 HRs, 105 BI, 33 doubles despite a six-week DL stint that limited him to 497 ABs. But, as also is often the case, it was the later picks, the sleepers, that put the CVBs over the top. Dan no doubt wishes he could’ve had do-overs on Jayson Werth (36th overall) and Alex Rios (63rd) – but did those minor drafting missteps even matter in the grand scheme? Jacoby Ellsbury (89th) did the work of two OFs, putting together a preposterously good six-category season (119 R, 105 BI, 32 HR, 46 2B, 39 SB, .376 OBP) that made him the Bombers' MVP and a serious contender for the real-world AL MVP. Alex Gordon had a breakthrough season (23 HR, 45 2Bs, 101 runs, 87 BI, 23 HR, 17 SBs) that far outstripped anything he’d done previously, and supplemental pickup Lance Berkman proved he had one more big year left in him at age 35 (31 HRs, 94 BI, 90 runs, .412 OBP in only 488 ABs) . . . and with an Ellsbury-Gordon-Berkman outfield, who the hell needed Jayson Werth, Alex Rios or Bobby Abreu (128th) anyway? Berkman wasn’t Dan’s only difference-making supplemental pick, either. Using the advantageous draft positions afforded by his team’s lackluster start, he added a 30-HR, 80-BI shortstop in J.J. Hardy, a solid fourth outfielder in Matt Joyce (19 HRs, 75 BI, 32 2Bs) and a serviceable DH in Carlos Pena, a Zero’s castoff who finished with 28 HRs and 80 BI. But perhaps the savviest pick Dan made -- the kind of pick that separates men from boys and champions from also-rans -- was his stealth selection of SP Javier Vazquez after Week 20. At the time of that draft the 35-year-old journeyman right-hander was 7-11 with a 4.67 ERA. But, as apparently no one but the Bombers GM noticed, Vazquez had strung together a month’s worth of solid outings; he’d just been pitching in hard luck. So Dan took a flier on him, and all Vazquez did in seven starts in CVB togs was go 6-0 with a 1.04 ERA, .71 BR and 1.02 K-rate – a significant statistical payoff that just happened to coincide with the Bombers’ season-ending hot streak. Vazquez’s excellent work rounded out a strong rotation anchored by NL Cy Young favorite Clayton Kershaw (21-5, 2.28 ERA, 1.06 K-rate, .98 WHIP) and AL rookie-of-the-year candidate Jeremy Hellickson (13-10, 2.95). The Bombers’ bullpen was more pedestrian, but the aforementioned Axford (46 saves, 1.95 ERA, 1.17 K-rate) kept them reasonably competitive in the RP-influenced stats. Put it all together and you have a complete, well-rounded team that was the SBL’s best . . . though, it should be said, not by all that much. The Zero’s nursed the league’s best record from Week 14 to season’s end (they finished with 105 wins, three more than the Bombers) -- they just couldn’t maintain that pace quite long enough, flattening out once they hit the “Heartbreak Hill” portion of the SBL marathon and going 28-22 the last seven weeks, giving the CVBs an opening they did not squander. And the Derelicts -- who also drafted very well and assembled a roster with many strengths and no glaring weaknesses -- were right there with both division champions, chasing the Bombers to the wire and then taking the Zero’s to overtime in the first round of the playoffs. Their series ended in a 13-13 tie, necessitating use of the old school mega-tiebreaker – one big ol’ game based on cumulative season totals in each of the 11 SBL stats . . . the method we used to determine the SBL champion before 1991. Paul won that 7-4 to advance to the Series.

The closely-contested postseason (two 14-12 series and one 13-13) was a fitting climax to one of the most competitively balanced seasons we’ve had in recent years, a season that saw seven teams remain in legitimate playoff contention into mid-September. And the fact that the National division pennant-winner emerged as champion . . . well, that seems somehow appropriate too. This was the season of the NL’s renaissance, when the senior circuit ended years of AL domination with a decisive 169-119 victory in the eight weeks of interleague play. Four NL teams – the Bombers, Derelicts, Godfathers and Inmates -- finished with winning records, and a fifth, DamianUnited, kept its nose above .500 until the final two weeks. Contrast this to the AL, where four of the six teams staggered home with losing records (when was the last time that happened . . . ever?) -- the Zero’s and Moaners combining for 203 victories, the rest of the division for 246. The level of competition was simply higher in the NL this year, meaning the Bombers and Derelicts probably survived a more intense crucible for their 102 and 96 wins, respectively, than the Z’s and M’s did for their 105 and 98. . . . Until last year, and DamU advanced to the championship round, the NL had not won a postseason series since we added the wild-card round before the 2006 season. But that worm, clearly, has turned. So, give it up for the NL.

Before we put the -30- on this season (for the whippersnappers in the audience, dash-30-dash is an archaic print-journalism term, dating from the days of hot type, meaning “end of story”), we offer our sincere thanks, as always, to statkeepers Paul Oberjuerge, Gregg Patton and Dan Evans for their dedicated, professional service, and to draftmeister Derek Rich, who orchestrated the 12 biweekly free-agent lotteries with the ease and assurance of a veteran (even if it was only his second year). And, of course, thanks to all for playing, and helping to maintain the spirit and tradition of one of the nation's oldest continuing fantasy baseball enterprises -- and (it can’t be said often enough), in our educated view the best game ever invented! Have a great off-season, and we'll see you, in person or via Skype, in March for the 2012 SBL draft.

Week 26 standings (Final)

AMERICAN DIVISION
Team, LW..................W....L....PCT....GB

Zero's (4-2)...............105...57....648....--
Moaners (4-2).............98...64....605.....7
Badgers (6-0).............78...84....481....27
Bammers (0-6)...........78...84....481....27
Barristers (1-5)...........52..110....321....53
Puny Pontiffs (3-3).......38..124....235....67
NATIONAL DIVISION
Team, LW..................W....L....PCT....GB

Bombers (6-0)............102...60....630....--
Derelicts (4-2).............96...66....593.....6
Godfathers (1-5)..........93...69....574.....9
Inmates (3-3).............83...79....512....19
DamianUnited (0-6)......76...86....469....26
Whiteskins (4-2)..........73...89....451....29