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2011 DTBL All-Stars

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Jose Bautista highlights a loaded American roster.

Sorry I’m a few days late with this, but I’m finally ready to announce the 2011 DTBL All-Stars. The 18th annual DTBL All-Star Game is tentatively scheduled for next Friday, July 15 at 10 p.m. EDT, 7 p.m. PDT. As mentioned a few days ago, the game will be live video-streamed here.

For the second straight year, the American Division will be managed by Nick while Dave will call the shots for the National Division. Perhaps there will be a little extra drama involved in this matchup as Nick and Dave try to claim final bragging rights from their championship tie a year ago. They broke all ties in voting and chose the 23rd player for their rosters. For the first time in league history, there was a team without any representation on the initial All-Star roster. Therefore, Nick was forced to use his 23rd player slot to make sure the Gators received a bid. He chose third baseman Johnny Peralta, who wasn’t even on the All-Star ballot (also a first). Peralta had fewer at bats than Danny Valencia at the time I created the list, which kept him off the ballot. Dave was able to use his 23rd slot with a more conventional pick, David Ortiz.

The American Division appears to have the stronger roster, which is not surprising considering they hold four of the top five spots in the standings. Their rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jered Weaver, Felix Hernandez and Dan Haren is about as good as you can get (all but Haren were Jackalope a year ago). Meanwhile, the National team is loaded with Kings. 10 of the 23 players are from the Kings roster, which isn’t terribly surprising since they are the division’s lone contender so far this year.

Here are the 2011 DTBL All-Stars:

American Division

Starters:

P – Roy Halladay, Jackalope
C – Brian McCann, Jackalope
1B – Prince Fielder, Moonshiners
2B – Rickie Weeks, Naturals
3B – Adrian Beltre, Choppers
SS – Asdrubal Cabrera, Naturals
OF – Jose Bautista, Choppers
OF – Ryan Braun, Jackalope
OF – Curtis Granderson, Choppers

Reserves:

C – Victor Martinez, Naturals
1B – Paul Konerko, Moonshiners
3B – Johnny Peralta, Gators
SS – Troy Tulowitzki, Naturals
OF – Hunter Pence, Jackalope
OF – Justin Upton, Naturals
P – Cliff Lee, Jackalope
P – Jered Weaver, Moonshiners
P – Felix Hernandez, Jackalope
P – Dan Haren, Moonshiners
RP – Craig Kimbrel, Choppers
RP – Heath Bell, Jackalope
RP – Mariano Rivera, Choppers
RP – Drew Storen, Moonshiners

National Division

Starters:

P – Justin Verlander, Kings
C – Miguel Montero, Kings
1B – Adrian Gonzalez, Darkhorses
2B – Robinson Cano, Kings
3B – Alex Rodriguez, Kings
SS – Jose Reyes, Kings
OF – Matt Kemp, Demigods
OF – Carlos Gonzalez, Kings
OF – Jacoby Ellsbury, Darkhorses

Reserves:

C – Carlos Santana, Mavericks
1B – Mark Teixeira, Cougars
1B – David Ortiz, Demigods
2B – Brandon Phillips, Cougars
OF – Jay Bruce, Kings
OF – Matt Holliday, Darkhorses
P – Cole Hamels, Demigods
P – James Shields, Darkhorses
P – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
P – Tommy Hanson, Kings
RP – Joel Hanrahan, Cougars
RP – Francisco Cordero, Kings
RP – Brian Wilson, Darkhorses
RP – J.J. Putz, Kings

Click here to view the full voting results.

Posted in All-Star Game, Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Gators, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

Pujols-less Jackalope Keep Rolling

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Injured Jackalope Star Albert Pujols

One of the big stories of the 2011 season has been the rash of injuries to corner infielders, particular for the top contending teams. Perhaps the biggest blow came last week when the Jackalope lost their All-World first baseman Albert Pujols to a fractured forearm. This injury will probably put him on the shelf until sometime in August. In the mean time, the Jackalope’s strong hold on first place will be put to the test.

The Jackalope currently lead the league by a comfortable 13 points. They have perfectly positioned themselves to be able to survive injuries, even this one to their most valuable player. In years past, the Jackalope almost solely relied on Pujols to carry their offense. But that has not been the case this season. They have accumulated a very solid 37 batting points despite Pujols not quite putting up his usual MVP-worthy numbers. Of course, losing him for a couple months weakens their offense, but I believe they are still in great shape.

The off-season focus on rebuilding the offense may really pay off now. With Ryan Howard and Mike Stanton on board, the Jackalope do have some other guys to turn to for some power. Those two players were the direct result of a couple bold trades which sent elite starting pitchers elsewhere. The Jackalope pitching hasn’t missed a beat though as they are currently first or second in every pitching category.

The other thing the Jackalope have going for them is that they aren’t the only contending team fighting significant injury issues. The second place Kings learned yesterday that first baseman Justin Morneau needs neck surgery, and he too will likely be out until August. They also lost a pair of starting pitchers (Tommy Hanson and Clay Buchholz) to the DL last week, although neither are expected to miss much time. The Kings have been the hottest team in the league over the past month, despite a complete lack of production from the usual power position of first base. Morneau and Adam LaRoche were supposed to anchor that position, but both were ineffective and now injured. LaRoche is out for the year and has been released. On the other side of the infield, the Kings have had a pair of third basemen spend significant time on the disabled list. Ryan Zimmerman is back, but David Freese remains out.

Third base has been an especially troubling position for the third place team, the Moonshiners. Almost every week, the Moonshiners have had to call on someone new to fill the hot corner position. Losing David Wright to an injury has been very costly as his replacements have been completely ineffective. Next in line are the Naturals, who are also missing their top third baseman, first round pick Pedro Alvarez. Like the Moonshiners, the Naturals have had a hard time trying to find a worthy player to fill that spot. With all these injuries to corner infielders, there is basically nothing left to choose from in the free agent market.

So while the Pujols injury is very significant, the Jackalope have a great chance of holding their lead since their closest competitors have equal or greater injury problems of their own. I didn’t even get to the teams lower in the standings who have been absolutely decimated by injuries. It has been a war of attrition so far this year, and the Jackalope are winning that battle.

Posted in Jackalope, Kings, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

Weaver Cruises Through April

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Moonshiners pitcher Jered Weaver

My timing isn’t very good with this post as Jered Weaver picked up his first loss of the season tonight. However, this doesn’t change the fact that he had a truly remarkable April and is the primary reason why the Moonshiners find themselves in first place one month into the 2011 season.

Weaver finished the month with a perfect 6-0 record, winning all six of his starts. He compiled a 0.99 ERA, 0.788 WHIP and 49 strike outs, all very impressive numbers. Shockingly, none of these marks were good enough to lead the league, except wins, but I’ll get to that in a bit. His six wins are two more than any other pitcher has accumulated though.

The Moonshiners acquired Weaver from the Jackalope during the first round of the draft in exchange for their first round pick. As we all knew at the time, Weaver was exactly what the Moonshiners needed: a true ace. However, I don’t think anyone expected him to come out of the gates quite this strong. He has helped lead the Moonshiners to a top two ranking in every pitching category except saves (4th). Combined with the league’s best offense to date, the Moonshiners find themselves 13 points ahead of the pack with a very impressive 87 points.

Trading Weaver hasn’t really killed the Jackalope as you much as you might think though. They still have arguably three of the top five pitchers in the league and are right behind the Moonshiners in total pitching points. If their offense, specifically Albert Pujols, picks it up a bit, the second place Jackalope will be right on the Moonshiners’ heals. Ryan Braun has carried their offense so far, with a league leading ten home runs and a .356 batting average. Braun would probably get my vote for Offensive Player of the Month. One other candidate for that title would be Darkhorses outfielder Andre Ethier. Just a couple minutes ago, he recorded a RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 28 games. Going into tonight, he led the league with a .378 average, just a few points ahead of his Dodger teammate Matt Kemp.

Weaver wasn’t the only pitcher who compiled ridiculous statistics in April. Amazingly, Gators pitcher Josh Johnson has him beat in both ERA and WHIP. Johnson has a 0.88 ERA and 0.707 WHIP. Some bad luck has kept his win total at just three though. Johnson has carried the Gators to the third most pitching points in the league, however a putrid offense has kept them near the bottom of the league standings. The third pitcher who deserves special mention is Weaver’s Moonshiners and Angels teammate Dan Haren. Haren has a 1.23 ERA and a 0.750 WHIP with four wins. At one point, Weaver and Haren combined for eight wins in eight starts.

There is one other big news item tonight. Mariano Rivera became the DTBL’s all-time saves leader with the save he picked up against the Tigers this evening. This is deserving of a separate blog post though, so I will go into more detail about Rivera later this week.

Posted in Darkhorses, Gators, Jackalope, Moonshiners | No Comments »

Pujols Wins MVP Again

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

Years from now after his career is over, we will have to give serious consideration to renaming the award for the league’s best player to the Albert Pujols Award. Every single year, he puts up the kind of numbers you would expect for the recipient of such an award. Never once has he had a bad season. And now, for the fourth time in his career, Jackalope first baseman Albert Pujols has won the DTBL Most Valuable Player award.

Has there ever been a more predictable player in terms of fantasy production? Every season is the same for Pujols. His numbers this year (.312 average, 42 home runs, 118 RBIs, 115 runs, 14 stolen bases) are basically identical to every other season of his career. Shockingly, that batting average was a career worst. Not too many guys win the MVP in their worst season in terms of batting average. Basically, all of his numbers were right in line with his career averages. Nothing spectacular, but only by his standards. Pujols led the DTBL in home runs and runs. He came in third in RBIs and tenth in batting average. Even the stolen base numbers were pretty respectable.

This is Pujols’ fourth MVP award. It is the second time he has won the award in consecutive seasons. He did so in 2003 and 2004 and now again in 2009 and 2010. There were some pretty darn good seasons in between as well. Pujols has essentially carried the Jackalope offense ever since they made him their first round pick back in 2002. He is the franchise career leader in home runs (369), RBIs (1095) and runs (1069). He broke the 1,000 milestone in RBIs and runs this season and will reach 400 DTBL home runs sometime next season. It won’t be long before we see him near the top of the all-time league leaders. He already ranks second in career batting average (.331).

Pujols did not win this award easily. In fact, I was a little surprised he won it at all. Four other players had similarly fantastic seasons and this award could have gone to any of them. Those players are Kings outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, Cougars outfielder Josh Hamilton and Naturals first basemen Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto. Cabrera and Votto may have hurt each others chances of winning this award, although Cabrera had a slight edge on Votto in every category except stolen bases.

Pujols won the award with just three of the ten first place votes. He placed second on four ballots and third on the other three for a total of 73 points. This bested Gonzalez by just six points. Gonzalez, the league’s Rookie of the Year, also garnered three first place votes. Cabrera finished third with a pair of first place votes and 47 points. He led the league in RBIs and also had a higher average than Pujols. Somehow, he did not make the top five on one ballot. Next came the guy who will probably beat out Pujols for the NL MVP, Joey Votto. The MLB team success will be the primary factor in the NL MVP vote, which doesn’t apply here, although Votto did play for the co-champion Naturals. He received one first place vote and 40 total points. Finally, Josh Hamilton finished fifth, but even he received a first place vote. His chances of winning this award were derailed by missing most of the final month with a rib injury though. These five guys had tremendous seasons in a year otherwise dominated by pitching. With the exception of Hamilton, the rest of them kept their DTBL teams in championship contention right until the last week of the season.

So the Jackalope claimed two of the three post-season awards with the other going to the Kings. Neither of the co-champions had an award winner, but I’m sure the Naturals and Darkhorses prefer the championship plaque anyway.

Click here to view the full MVP voting results.

That’s all for now, but a lot more is coming soon. Next up, the roster cut deadline is quickly approaching. Each team will need to cut down to 16 players by the end of November. More to come on that soon.

Posted in Awards, Jackalope | No Comments »

Halladay Earns Cy Young Award

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Roy Halladay

2010 was the best season for pitchers in DTBL history. The countless number of dominating pitching performances was unprecedented. A man responsible for two of the season’s best moments easily won the 2010 DTBL Cy Young Award. That pitcher is Jackalope right-hander Roy Halladay.

Halladay got his first Phillies and National League season off to a bang with a bunch of impressive starts in the first two months, capped off by throwing the 20th perfect game in MLB history in late May. He wasn’t done with historic outings though. In October, he threw just the second no-hitter in post-season history against Cincinnati Reds in the NLDS. Of course, that performance did not count towards his DTBL accomplishments, but was a nice footnote to an incredible season.

The Jackalope had the best pitching staff in the league and arguably one of the top starting rotations in DTBL history. However, there was no question who the ace of the staff was. Halladay tied for the league lead in wins with 21. His 2.44 ERA and 1.041 WHIP were both the third lowest among qualified pitchers. He finished fifth in strike outs with 219. The win and strike out totals were career bests.

Halladay has had a remarkably consistent career with the Jackalope. This was the third time he reached the 20 win plateau and he is almost always near the top of the league in ERA and WHIP as well. The Jackalope stole him in the fourth round of the 2002 draft and have reaped the rewards ever since. Halladay has 146 wins for the Jackalope with a career ERA barely over 3.00. Only one pitcher on a DTBL roster this season has more DTBL career wins (Andy Pettitte). He ranks in the league’s all-time top 10 in wins, ERA and WHIP. Although he has been a dominating force in the league for nearly a decade, this is his first DTBL Cy Young Award. He finished third in the voting in both 2003 and 2008.

As stated up front, this was a truly remarkable year for pitchers. Although Halladay ran away with the award, the rest of the voting showed just how many deserving candidates there were for the award. Halladay received nine of the ten first place votes for a total of 97 points. 12 other pitchers received top five votes. Usually disbursement like that is saved for the other two awards more so than Cy Young. Cougars pitcher Adam Wainwright finished second, receiving the other first place vote and five seconds for 54 points. Wainwright also won 20 games, and even had a slightly lower ERA than Halladay. Felix Hernandez was a test case in how people value wins. Arguably, he had the most impressive stats of any pitcher if you ignore that he only had 13 wins. He led the league in ERA and finished second in strike outs. His 30 points ranked him third in the award voting, but four people didn’t put him on their ballot. Next came Gators lefty C.C. Sabathia with 23 points. Sabathia tied Halladay for the league lead with 21 wins. Coming in fifth with 20 points was another Gators pitcher, Ubaldo Jimenez. Early in the season, it appeared he would run away with this award. He cooled off in the second half, but still finished with what would be Cy Young worthy numbers most years. Even outside of the top five were a couple of pitchers who could have won in other years, like David Price and strike out champion Jered Weaver. Not to mention a bunch of closers who received some token votes.

Click here to view the full voting results.

So far, Carlos Gonzalez and Roy Halladay have cruised to victories in the first two awards that have been named. I can assure you though that the voting for Most Valuable Player was much, much closer. Stay tuned for that tomorrow evening.

Posted in Awards, Jackalope | No Comments »

A Real Pennant Race

Monday, September 20th, 2010

After three years of Darkhorses domination, it appears we finally have an exciting race on our hands. With two weeks remaining in the season, the championship is very much up for grabs. Of course, the three time defending champs are one of the top contenders, but they are not running away with it like they have the last three years. Through Sunday, the Darkhorses find themselves one point out of first, trailing the Naturals. Those two have swapped the top spot several times the last couple weeks with neither team holding more than a couple point edge.

The Naturals currently hold the top spot thanks to an incredible offense that leads the league in all five batting categories. No team has ever come close to doing that before, so that will be an interesting thing to watch down the stretch. They just may need to hang onto those 50 points to win the league because their pitching staff has been a little disappointing. Their current 27 pitching points would be the lowest total ever for a league champion.

The Darkhorses are a much more balanced team. They rank third in the league in both batting and pitching points. However, their total of 76 points is quite a bit below the pace they set the last few years. The last team to win the league with fewer than 80 points was the Mavericks in 2006, but that could be the case this year.

While mostly a two team race, the Jackalope and Kings are technically still alive as well. The Kings were the story of the league in August, moving from the bottom half of the standings all the way up to second place at one point. They did so thanks to a resurgent pitching staff. They have fallen back a bit the last couple weeks and are currently 11 1/2 points out of first. No matter how things turn out, this will be a successful season for the once proud franchise that finished dead last a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Jackalope are keeping hope alive in their quest for a first DTBL championship. They are in third place, 8 1/2 points behind. However, close inspection of the standings shows several categories where they have an opportunity to pick up points. It will take an incredible two week run and will probably require the top two teams to fall back a bit, but the Jackalope are certainly still in the running.

Looking at the different categories, both the Naturals and Darkhorses are in pretty good shape with few worries about losing ground. There aren’t a lot of points to be gained either though, so I would be very surprised if either team shifted more than a couple points up or down. So with the current margin being just a single point, this is almost certainly going to wind up being one of the closest races in league history. The Jackalope have several categories where they have an opportunity to pick up points, so it will be very interesting to see if this turns into a three team sprint to the finish.

Perhaps not as exciting, the race is equally tight at the bottom of the standings. The Cougars currently sit in last place, but just one half point behind the Demigods. Meanwhile, the Mavericks, playing with barely more than half a roster, are four points out of last. The Choppers have put on a nice late season run to move up to 7th place.

Will the Darkhorses make it four in a row and tie the Kings for the most titles in league history? Will the underdog Naturals hang on to win their second championship? Or will the Jackalope put on a furious run to win their first title? Stay tuned!

Posted in Darkhorses, Jackalope, Kings, Naturals | No Comments »

A Flurry of Trades

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

The most active trade deadline in DTBL history saw five deals completed in the final two weeks before the August 15 deadline. From what I heard, many other deals were discussed as well. Some of the deals were made by the top three teams who are in an extremely tight race for the league championship. Others were made by teams looking to the future.

The activity began a little more than a week prior to the deadline. On August 9, the three time defending champion Darkhorses completed a pair of trades. First, they acquired catcher Ryan Doumit from the Kings for starting pitcher Ervin Santana. The Darkhorses ran into a bit of a problem right before the deadline as both of their regular catchers suffered injuries (Russell Martin and Geovany Soto). Martin’s injury was especially problematic because he will miss the remainder of the season. Doumit took Martin’s spot in the Darkhorses lineup. The Darkhorses released Martin who was a key member of their three championships. Doumit has been mostly disappointing following a third round selection by the Kings. He was recently replaced in the Pirates and Kings lineups by Chris Snyder. He is getting time at other positions though, so he does have some fantasy value. Meanwhile, Santana gives the Kings a little more depth to a starting rotation that has been mostly disappointing this season. For now, Santana is on their bench, but the Kings had little to lose in this deal since Doumit was no longer part of their plans.

The Darkhorses second deal on the 9th was a minor one. They acquired second baseman Alberto Callaspo and a 10th round pick in exchange for a 9th round pick to the Mavericks. The Mavericks had little use for Callaspo once Brian Roberts returned from the disabled list. so they were happy to move up a round for next year’s draft. Callaspo does have value for the Darkhorses though. Injuries to Martin Prado and Rafael Furcal have left the Darkhorses a little short handed in the middle infield. In fact, all of the deals made by the Darkhorses were primarily to shore up spots vacated by injuries. So far, they are still hanging on at the top of the standings, but their lead is tenuous at best.

Three more deals were completed in the final weekend before the deadline. The first was a pretty significant trade between two teams still in the championship hunt. The Jackalope made their first trade in years, acquiring second baseman Kelly Johnson from the Kings for starting pitcher Max Scherzer. The Jackalope have had the best pitching staff in the league all year, but their offense has kept them out of first place. Johnson has had a very good year for the Kings, but was expendable due to a log jam in their middle infield. Johnson should give the Jackalope an immediate power boost. Meanwhile, Scherzer may have been the most talented pitcher sitting on a DTBL bench for most of the season. He was stuck behind the Jackalope’s five superstar aces. The Kings have had their eye on him for quite a while. He provides them with a power arm. Until earlier this week, the Kings were buried in last place in strike outs. The Kings have a lot of ground to make up, so this trade may not be enough. However, Scherzer will probably be part of their future plans.

Perhaps the biggest trade was between two teams near the bottom of the standings. The Mavericks traded DTBL home run leader Adam Dunn and a fourth round pick to the Cougars for a first round pick in next year’s draft. So the Mavericks will have two of the first four or five picks in the draft again next year. Hopefully for their sake, those picks will pan out a little better than they did this year. On the other hand, the Cougars know exactly what they are getting in Dunn. One of the most consistent power hitters in the league, Dunn will give the Cougars a huge power boost. He clearly would have been a top five pick in the draft if he had been eligible next year, so trading the pick made sense for the Cougars.

Finally, the Mavericks weren’t done with their fire sale. The last trade before the deadline saw the Mavs deal veteran catcher Jorge Posada to the Darkhorses for relief pitcher Daniel Bard. Posada fills the other injury hole in the Darkhorses catching duo. Bard is a likely closer of the future, although if the Red Sox don’t make a decision soon on him vs. Papelbon, the Mavericks will have a difficult decision to make when roster cut time comes. This deal also leaves the Mavericks very shorthanded for the remainder of this season. They are out of free agent signings, so they will have to go with one catcher the rest of the way. On top of that, they had to activate Magglio Ordonez to fill Dunn’s spot. Ordonez probably won’t return until late September. So the Mavericks are playing two men short at the moment. Clearly, the Mavericks don’t have any particular desire to move up the standings.

So what do these deals mean as far as this year’s pennant race is concerned? The Darkhorses made a bunch of moves to cover up for injuries. They weren’t necessarily big improvement type deals, but filled needs. They are obviously still the team to beat, although they did lose their first place spot for one day earlier this week. The Jackalope held first place for that one day. It was their first taste of the top of the standings since early in the season. Johnson should give the Jackalope offense a boost, but will it be enough? The Jackalope pitching is so strong that they should be right in the running until the end. As of today, they are just two points out. The third team in serious contention is the Naturals. Although they did not make any deadline deals, they still have as good a shot as anybody. They continue to dominate the batting categories, but have some pitching issues. Essentially, they are the exact opposite of the Jackalope. Meanwhile, the Darkhorses remain strong in batting and pitching. The Kings bolstered their starting pitching, but 11 1/2 points will be difficult to make up in a month and a half. The moves they made were not just about this season though. They hope to keep their strong offense in tact, while improving the starting pitching.

The other six teams have very little hope of making a run this year, but the Cougars and Mavericks both made moves with an eye to the future. The Mavericks have suffered through a miserable year full of injuries and disappointments. With the picks they have acquired, they hope for better results next year. The Cougars gave up their first round pick for ’11, but picked up a first round caliber player in Dunn.

With three teams within four points of first place, the next month and a half should be very entertaining.

Posted in Cougars, Darkhorses, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks | No Comments »

2010 DTBL All-Stars

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Thanks to everyone for voting for the 2010 DTBL All-Stars. The 17th annual DTBL All-Star Game is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, July 18 at 9 p.m EDT / 6 p.m. PDT. Nick will be managing the American Division while Dave will be calling the shots for the National Division. The two of them were responsible for breaking all ties in the voting and for selecting the 23rd player for each roster. And now, here are your 2010 DTBL All-Stars. The final voting results are posted below the rosters.

American Division

Starters:
P – Ubaldo Jimenez, Gators
C – Mike Napoli, Moonshiners
1B – Miguel Cabrera, Naturals
2B – Rickie Weeks, Naturals
3B – David Wright, Moonshiners
SS – Elvis Andrus, Jackalope
OF – Carl Crawford, Naturals
OF – Vladimir Guerrero, Choppers
OF – Ryan Braun, Jackalope

Reserves:
C – Victor Martinez, Naturals
1B – Albert Pujols, Jackalope
1B – Paul Konerko, Moonshiners
2B – Dan Uggla, Gators
OF – Vernon Wells, Jackalope
OF – Shin-Soo Choo, Moonshiners
P – Roy Halladay, Jackalope
P – Josh Johnson, Gators
P – Yovani Gallardo, Moonshiners
P – Jon Lester, Naturals
RP – Rafael Soriano, Moonshiners
RP – Heath Bell, Jackalope
RP – Phil Hughes, Choppers
RP – Billy Wagner, Gators

National Division

Starters:
P – Adam Wainwright, Cougars
C – Joe Mauer, Demigods
1B – Justin Morneau, Kings
2B – Robinson Cano, Kings
3B – Evan Longoria, Demigods
SS – Hanley Ramirez, Darkhorses
OF – Josh Hamilton, Cougars
OF – Carlos Gonzalez, Kings
OF – Alex Rios, Kings

Reserves:
C – Jorge Posada, Mavericks
1B – Kevin Youkilis, Mavericks
2B – Dustin Pedroia, Demigods
2B – Martin Prado, Darkhorses
OF – Torii Hunter, Darkhorses
OF – Adam Dunn, Mavericks
P – Chris Carpenter, Darkhorses
P – Tim Lincecum, Darkhorses
P – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
P – Clay Buchholz, Kings
RP – Neftali Feliz, Mavericks
RP – Jonathan Broxton, Darkhorses
RP – Mariano Rivera, Mavericks
RP – Brian Wilson, Darkhorses

Players by team:
7 – Darkhorses
6 – Jackalope, Mavericks, Moonshiners
5 – Kings, Naturals
4 – Gators
3 – Demigods
2 – Choppers, Cougars

Voting Results

American Division

Catchers

10 – Mike Napoli, Moonshiners
8 – Victor Martinez, Naturals
2 – Kurt Suzuki, Gators

First Basemen/Third Basemen

10 – Miguel Cabrera, Naturals
8 – Albert Pujols, Jackalope
7 – Paul Konerko, Moonshiners
6 – David Wright, Moonshiners
5 – Joey Votto, Naturals
3 – Adrian Beltre, Choppers
1 – Scott Rolen, Naturals

Second Basemen/Shortstops

8 – Dan Uggla, Gators
8 – Rickie Weeks, Naturals
5 – Elvis Andrus, Jackalope
4 – Derek Jeter, Gators
3 – Troy Tulowitzki, Naturals
1 – Howie Kendrick, Naturals
1 – Chase Utley, Choppers

Outfielders

10 – Carl Crawford, Naturals
10 – Vladimir Guerrero, Choppers
9 – Ryan Braun, Jackalope
8 – Vernon Wells, Jackalope
5 – Shin-Soo Choo, Moonshiners
4 – Jayson Werth, Choppers
3 – Andrew McCutchen, Naturals
1 – Justin Upton, Naturals

Starting Pitchers

10 – Ubaldo Jimenez, Gators
8 – Roy Halladay, Jackalope
7 – Josh Johnson, Gators
6 – Yovani Gallardo, Moonshiners
6 – Jon Lester, Naturals
4 – Jered Weaver, Jackalope
3 – Felix Hernandez, Jackalope
3 – David Price, Naturals
2 – Cliff Lee, Jackalope
1 – C.C. Sabathia, Gators

Relief Pitchers

9 – Rafael Soriano, Moonshiners
7 – Heath Bell, Jackalope
6 – Phil Hughes, Choppers
6 – Billy Wagner, Gators
5 – Jose Valverde, Naturals
3 – Francisco Rodriguez, Moonshiners
2 – Carlos Marmol, Choppers
1 – Matt Capps, Jackalope
1 – Joakim Soria, Naturals

National Division

Catchers

9 – Joe Mauer, Demigods
7 – Jorge Posada, Mavericks
2 – John Buck, Cougars
2 – Geovany Soto, Darkhorses

First Basemen/Third Basemen

9 – Evan Longoria, Demigods
9 – Justin Morneau, Kings
7 – Adrian Gonzalez, Darkhorses
7 – Kevin Youkilis, Mavericks
4 – Alex Rodriguez, Kings
4 – Michael Young, Darkhorses

Second Basemen/Shortstops

10 – Robinson Cano, Kings
10 – Hanley Ramirez, Darkhorses
7 – Dustin Pedroia, Demigods
2 – Martin Prado, Darkhorses
1 – Rafael Furcal, Darkhorses

Outfielders

10 – Josh Hamilton, Cougars
9 – Carlos Gonzalez, Kings
9 – Alex Rios, Kings
6 – Torii Hunter, Darkhorses
4 – Adam Dunn, Mavericks
3 – Matt Kemp, Demigods
3 – Ichiro Suzuki, Demigods
2 – Andre Ethier, Darkhorses
2 – Magglio Ordonez, Mavericks
1 – Matt Holliday, Darkhorses
1 – Shane Victorino, Cougars

Starting Pitchers

10 – Chris Carpenter, Darkhorses
10 – Tim Lincecum, Darkhorses
10 – Adam Wainwright, Cougars
9 – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
8 – Clay Buchholz, Kings
2 – Justin Verlander, Kings
1 – Roy Oswalt, Darkhorses

Relief Pitchers

9 – Neftali Feliz, Mavericks
8 – Jonathan Broxton, Darkhorses
8 – Mariano Rivera, Mavericks
6 – Brian Wilson, Darkhorses
5 – Andrew Bailey, Cougars
2 – Francisco Cordero, Darkhorses
1 – Matt Lindstrom, Demigods
1 – Leo Nunez, Kings

Posted in All-Star Game, Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Gators, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

Pitcher Perfect

Monday, May 31st, 2010

The past few seasons have seen a resurgence of dominating pitching in Major League Baseball. Perhaps the most obvious sign of this is the significant number of no hitters and perfect games. In the past 11 months, there have been five no hitters and, remarkably, three perfect games. In the entire history of MLB, there have only been 20 perfect games and 15% of those have occurred in the last year. The latest addition to the list is Jackalope and Phillies ace Roy Halladay who retired every Marlins hitter he faced on Saturday evening.

Halladay’s perfect game was possibly the least surprising of all those recent performances. Since moving to the National League, he has been nearly unhittable. His perfecto was his seventh victory of the season and lowered his ERA to 1.99 and WHIP to 0.988. The only person preventing him from being the leader in the Cy Young Award race is his fellow 2010 no hitter hurler, Ubaldo Jimenez. Halladay ranks second, behind Jimenez, in wins, ERA and WHIP.

Halladay is part of a very impressive pitching staff which continues to be the DTBL’s best. Unfortunately for the Jackalope, the Darkhorses recently regained their familiar spot on top of the league standings. Through Sunday, the Darkhorses held a two point lead on the Jackalope, with the Naturals and Kings in close striking distance as well.

The no hitters and perfect games are only one sign of a pitching resurgence in baseball. You don’t have to look any further than the DTBL team stats to see more evidence. All but two teams have ERAs below 4.00. On the flip side, only two teams have batting averages over .280, which used to be a middle of the pack figure. If the current trend continues, this figures to be the lowest cumulative league batting average in DTBL history and the lowest ERA/WHIP numbers since the league expanded to ten teams.

As thrilling as having one of your pitchers throw a perfect game must be, I think it would be fair to say that was not the highlight of Jay’s weekend. On behalf of the league, I’d like to give Jay a huge congratulations on his marriage to Julie. Jay is the first of two DTBL members who will be getting married this summer. Dom and Ashley’s wedding is on the 4th of July weekend. I think it is kind of interesting and appropriate that our league’s two veterans are getting married on two holiday weekends where we, as Americans, celebrate our freedom and honor those who have served to protect our country. So a big thanks, congratulations, and best wishes to Jay and Dom!

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Posted in Jackalope | No Comments »

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