Monday, January 31, 2011

Divisional Play-in series wrapups

Buffalo v. Arizona: Despite not having big bopper Lew Evans due to a low health % or an active owner, Buffalo absolutely ran through the Sun Dogs pitching staff.  Gotta be a tough pill to swallow for 40_Dog as even though he was the lower seed, Arizona had a better record.

 Syracuse v. Montgomery:  What a series!!! Syracuse wins a thriller in 5.  Against all odds the Pyschos rallied from 5 down with 7 runs huge runs with two outs in the bottom of the 8th to steal the series from Montgomery.  Credit RF Ronnie Rapp for the go ahead 3-run homer. My oh my!!!

Iowa City v. Tacoma: The Rounders young pitching staff rose to the occasion by dispatching of holer and his Downriggers.  Bruce Mullens 3-hit shutout for Iowa's first game was the highlight of the series.

Burlington v. New Orleans: Frank Robbins doesn't show up, but no worries for the Pelicans as Emil Cabeza and Darwin Moreno were monsters.  There will be no 6th World Series title for tmantom3285's once dominant franchise.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Playoff Preview


AL 1st Round

(4) Buffalo Lebowskis v. (5) Arizona Sun Dogs:  Despite owner kickdrum1218’s declaration back on 12/31/10 of “that is my final game ever on whatifsports” Buffalo won 9 of their last 14 to hold off Montreal Blame Canada and the Fargo Flockers to lock up the AL North.  Buffalo is led on offense by the monster that is Lew Evans and young star Jaime Byrne.  Veteran Mark Martin anchors a young, talented staff.  The Sun Dogs despite being the lower seed had a better regular season record than Buffalo.  Arizona’s potent offense is led by future 1st ballot Hall of Famers Omar Castillo and breakout star Mariano Torrealba and their staff is anchored by Cy Young candidate Sean Shea.  Prediction: Arizona in 4.

(3) Syracuse Psychos v. (6) Montgomery Minute Men:  Syracuse had its 12 season streak of playoff appearances snapped last year, but owner gydk would not be denied this year with his 12th AL East Divisional title.  Led by Arod legends Roy Bell, Jack Redmond and the best staff in the AL this year Syracuse promises to be a tough out.  The Minute Men limped into the wild card playing .500 ball over their last 20 games; however any team that can put Carlos Valdes, Jaret Walters and Jeremy James in the heart of their lineup is scary.  Prediction: Syracuse in 5.

NL 1st Round

(4) Iowa City Rounders v. (5) Tacoma Downriggers:  Iowa owner Ahsowhat makes his 2nd straight playoff appearance on the back of excellent team defense and a uber-talented young pitching staff led by future Cy Young winner Gio Hernandez and young guns Clinton Puffer, Bruce Mullens and Paul Merrick.  That said, in Tacoma, Iowa is facing arguably the finest defensive team in the league as holer makes a triumphant return to the ARod world after seeing his franchise mishandled by a forever to be forgotten owner.  Tacoma will go as far as its defense and pitching can take them.  Prediction: Iowa in 4.

(3) Burlington Booya v. (6) New Orleans Pelicans: We’ve got a classic battle of pitching/defense (103 + plays for Burlington) v. offense (N.O.) as tmantom3285 makes his first playoff appears since joining the world in season 14.  He’s got big shoes to fill as this franchise won 5 of the first 7 World Series titles here!!  $28.8 million dollar man J.D. Schneider headlines a deep staff for the Booya.  The Pelicans makes their 7th straight post-season appearance riding the stick of probably NL MVP Frank Robbins.  Can gjd13 add another WS title too his trophy case?  Prediction:  New Orleans in 5.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

MVP Races

There is no doubt that any discussion about MVP for season 17 in ARod needs to start with the AL.  The AL is loaded with guys putting up great seasons; so much so that there are guys who can't even make the WIS AL top 5 list who might be the favorites to win the MVP if they were in the NL!!  With the season near complete lets take a look at a few of the candidates.

In the AL, its bigparb's opinion that the MVP discussion begins and ends with Houston Oiler 2B Ralph Kydd .  Kydd is the catalyst for Houston.  Not only is Mr. Kydd putting up great all-around numbers: BA-.336; OBP-.400, 139 runs scored, 217 hits, 33 doubles, 22 bombs, 100 RBI's and 53 SB's; he's also led Houston to the 2nd best record in the AL.  After Kydd there are a slew of candidates to include 2-time MVP Omar Castillo, Carlos Valdes, Jorge Arias, Napoleon Musial ,3-time MVP Roy Bell  , Desi Gomez  , 3-time MVP Pedro Bonilla, Jamie Byrne and Lew Evans.

The NL picture is much more murky with no clear MVP candidate coming from the juggernauts that are the Chicago Blagos and the St. Louis Red Birds .   With that said, it is impossible to ignore the season being put together by the former season 10 NL Rookie of the Year  Frank Robbins who appears to be in a class of his own compared to the rest of the NL candidates.  Robbins is hitting .352 with a .430 OBP, 40 bombs, 128 RBI's and over 200 hits.  Other potential candidates inlcude Eugene Moreno, Josias Vega , Ted AndersonGary Girardi, Pablo Marquez   and Season 16 NL MVP Jason Swann .

The season is ending soon and the the leagues will award their respective MVP trophies, but that won't stop bigparb from naming  Ralph Kydd as the Season 17 ARod HBD blog ML MVP!!!