The Finals

Ladies and Gentlemen: the 2008 Champion of the California Penal League… Snot on the Ball. And it’s a good thing for him too. Snot started making plans for this season back in July 07 (Blog don’t know if the date’s accurate, Blog doesn’t care, so don’t bother correcting it if it’s wrong Snot). He started accumulating draft picks and upgrading his keepers, all with the hopes that it would lead to this, and, much to the chagrin of the rest of the league (especially the author), it worked. Granted there were a lot of moves (281!!) and luck (Mr. Carlos Quentin), but Snot pretty much went wire-to-wire this year, and well, this is Snot’s moment. Excuse Blog while he throws up in his mouth.

Snot on the Ball DEF Legends 7-3

Blog doesn’t remember much of the specifics from this matchup. This is what happens when you celebrate your own 3rd place finish a bit too much, then wait 2 weeks to write the review. But we’ll at least try to make some good ones up. Blog seems to remember this being fairly close most of the way. Steals and Saves were both in play late, and since Legends had secured ERA fairly early, they needed both to get to a 5-5 score. (It ended up meaning nothing, but Blog would like to point out to Legends that Blog did recommend picking up Brett Gardner. Instead, Snot grabbed him and the 2 steals he provided. The lesson for 2009? Grab Brett Gardner early people!! K/9 was also as close as could be: 9.00 vs. 8.98. Blog also advised Legends to sit Edison Volquez just before he went out and struck out everybody in sight. This would have given Legends the win in K/9. So to review, 2 moves (Gardner/Volquez) would have given Legends a 5-4 loss instead of a 7-3 loss. The point? There isn’t one. Blog’s just noting that even though some categories were close, Snot rolled through the playoffs. They finished each playoff series in nuclear fashion, using the closing weekends to secure all the categories that could have potentially swung the balance.

Legends did have a great season. They’ve graduated to the ‘CAN’ Division and ruled the ‘CAN’T’ division comfortably for most of the 2nd half. Legend has become a force at getting the to fantasy finals these past few years, first in football, now in baseball, but that championship bobblehead (like the one sitting on Blog’s bookshelf) has been elusive. Legends got to the finals using almost the exact opposite strategy that Snot used. They lost absolutely none of their 2009 value to get this far, so they should still be a legit contender in 09. They utilized the 3AM waiver wire to their full advantage, until finally forcing Snot to go to insane lengths in the early hours to out-grab key free agents.

One humorous side note that ended up being irrelevant was the performance of Jacoby Ellsbury. Owned by Snot but absolutely doing nothing, he was cut on 9/12 for Joey Votto (who had a great finals for Snot, actually). Once cut by Snot, Ellsbury embarked on a 16 game hitting streak, raising his average from .262 to .280 with 5SB, and 2 homers. He was then picked up by Legends and went: 13/2/3/2/.415 in the finals. Potential MVP #’s if the final result wasn’t so one-sided.

Five Finals Studs:

- Jose Reyes won SB for Snot: 12/2/11/6/.267
- Adrian Gonzalez: 12/4/14/0/.319
- Chase Utley: 12/2/10/2/.310
- Brad Lidge: 0/5/1.5/1.67/16.50
- Manny Ramirez: 8/3/12/0/.436

Five Finals Duds:

- A-Rod really killed Legends offense. One would think that since there was nothing to play for, that A-Rod would go off, but apparently Madonna is a big distraction: 3/1/3/1/.229
- Justin Morneau: 5/0/5/0/.189
- Randy Winn: 1/0/1/0/.238
- Salomon Torres: 1/1/1350/2.50/3.00 – may have cost Legends saves AND K/9.
- Ryan Franklin: Didn’t pitch much and did get a W, but the other numbers are SOOO bad: 1/0/27.00/4.50/0.00

So finally, Congrats to Snot. The 2008 California Penal League Champions. Bring on the 09 Draft!!! Here is the final 2008 Results:

10. The Swine Nine – Wrested last place from the jaws of…
9. BOB’Z BOYZ – Over the last 5 weeks and 2 playoff weeks, BB was 38-26-6. No, Seriously…
8. Bounty Hunters – Um, let’s pretend the season ended on week 7.
7. Karma Kameleons – Couldn’t duplicate 07 magic, but will look to rebound in CAN’T division.
6. Jobu’s Hats For Bats – a tough, tough last 8 weeks of the season.
5. Papi’s Space Cadets – Solid year, but injuries sapped the pitching and power down the stretch.
4. L.L. Longball – Just imagine if Longball knew about the minimum IP and about Stat Tracker… well, they’d still be in 4th.
3. Regulators – finished regular season strong, but not quite as strong as…
2. Legends – Legends will be paving their driveway in silver soon, because this gold belongs to…
1. Snot on the Ball - 281 moves. 132-80-8. Didn’t lose after week 16. 10 keeper lever players. Hands Down 2008 Champion.

Blog Note:
Throughout the winter, Blog will be posting team reviews, 2008 Awards, and 2009 Previews. Even though Blog took the last 3 weeks off, there will be fantasy baseball in the winter!! Tell all your friends! The fun starts after the World Series. GO SOX!!!