Friday, December 1, 2017

Season 26 Wrap Up - Durham Wins it All!

Durham
Durham Screwballs (NL)
oakman310
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Durham is your Season 26 Champion!

It was another eventful postseason in Kenny Powers that ended with Durham at the top of the heap, defeating Nashville in the World Series 4 games to 2.  Durham had an impressive run to end the regular season that shot them up to #2 in the Final Regular Season rankings.  That momentum carried on into the postseason as they took out Rochester in 4 games in the Divisional round and a tough Chicago team in the NLCS in just 5 games. Julio Park once again led the offense for Durham, posting a 1.025 postseason OPS, while a solid bullpen made up for the fact that their top Starting Pitcher had a less than stellar playoff run.

Nashville deserves a lot of credit as well for a solid postseason run, making it to the World Series as the 6 seed in the AL.  After two tough match-ups against New Britain and Helena, it was the battle of the underdogs in the ALCS as they faced Chicago, who knocked off defending champ and regular season powerhouse Little Rock, in which they prevailed in a back-and-forth 6-game series.  They pushed Durham hard in the World Series, but came up just short.  Still, hats off to them for a very nice playoff run.

This is Durham's and oakman310's first Kenny Powers title and for oakman310's 5th championship overall.  Congrats!

That's it for Season 26, hope to see you back for Season 27 soon!

Season 26 Awards Recap

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League - Jimmie Alou, New Britain - .290 AVG 44 HR 115 RBI 29 SB
The 22 year-old rookie right fielder came out of the gates swinging in his rookie campaign (Alou had not played a Major League game prior to this season), winning the AL MVP, garnering half of the votes in play.  The future is obviously bright for Alou, as very few players win the MVP their rookie season.  Alou was also an All-Star starter, won a Silver Slugger and led the AL in Slugging and OPS. It pretty much doesn't get any better than that.

National League - Jordan Lee, Las Vegas - .309 AVG 41 HR 117 RBI
It was an incredibly tight race for NL MVP, but in the end, the 31 year-old Las Vegas 1st Baseman took home the win.  It's an incredible comeback story, as Lee played sparingly last season, even spending some time in the minors.  It seems he finally found his way in Las Vegas, putting up career best numbers, and taking home a Silver Slugger award as well.  Very nice breakthrough for Lee in Season 26 indeed.

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Guy Maybin, Helena - 20-3 1.90 ERA 161 K
The 27 year-old hard-throwing righty out of Helena was a runaway winner of the AL Cy Young, and looking as his numbers it's easy to see why.  Maybin led the AL in ERA and tied for the lead in Quality Starts.  He also made his 1st All-Star appearance in Season 26 and posted a career high 20 wins.  This is another nice breakthrough story, although taking a glance at his ratings, it's not really all that unexpected.  

National League - Tim Blair, Syracuse - 15-4 2.03 ERA 227 K
The votes for NL Cy Young were split among several candidates, allowing Blair to take the honors for the 3rd consecutive season and for the 4th time overall with just 10 votes.  Blair didn't post the impressive Win total he has the past two seasons, but did take home his 3rd straight ERA title and made his 7th All-Star appearance.  Blair is the 3rd ever pitcher in Kenny Powers history to win 4 Cy Young Awards, and the 2nd to win it in 3 consecutive seasons.  Blair, already cemented as an all-time Kenny Powers great, could reach legendary status if he is able to win yet again next season.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
American League - Jimmie Alou, New Britain - .290 AVG 44 HR 115 RBI 29 SB
Alou also won the AL Rookie of the Year, by one vote, over a candidate that was also nominated for MVP, who received 14 less votes than Alou in that race.  Bizarre voting patterns for sure!

National League - Nicholas Rothschild, Rochester - .300 AVG 18 HR 62 RBI
The 21 year-old catcher was named NL Rookie of the Year by a landslide vote.  Rothschild also won a Silver Slugger award this season.  He has impressive durability (started all 162 games behind the plate), is fairly solid defensively, and is an OBP machine at the plate, with an elite batting eye and great contact and splits.  He has some pop, but won't hit a ton of home runs.  That aside, he should be one of the best catchers in Kenny Powers for many seasons to come.

FIREMAN OF THE YEAR
American League - Butch Gray, New York - 2.29 ERA, 40 SV - 2nd Win
National League - Livan Marin, Rochester - 5.04 ERA, 40 SV - 1st Win

SILVER SLUGGER AWARDS
American League
DH Nick Spence Helena 2nd
C Javier Martis Boise 1st
1B Jimmie Alou New Britain 1st
2B Nerio Skinner Louisville 1st
3B Albie Latos Nashville 2nd
SS Sean Lewis Helena 4th
LF Albert Mendoza Chicago 2nd
CF Addison Cortes Monterrey 1st
RF Ernest Hancock Little Rock 4th

National League
P Hector Montero Atlanta 1st
C Nicholas Rothschild Rochester 1st
1B Jordan Lee Las Vegas 1st
2B Abraham O'Neill Las Vegas 1st
3B Gary Castillo Rochester 1st
SS Edgardo Serra Chicago 1st
LF Patrick Grieve Syracuse 2nd
CF Ken Ingram Chicago 6th
RF Christopher Hamilton Rochester 2nd

GOLD GLOVE AWARDS
American League
P Crash Prades Chicago 1st
C Darrin Lawson Seattle 1st
1B Felipe Fuentes Boise 1st
2B Weldon Kendrick Little Rock 1st
3B Willy Trammell Louisville 1st
SS Ross Moran New Britain 1st
LF David Molina Nashville 1st
CF Pablo Arredondo New Britain 1st
RF Brett Puckett Nashville 1st

National League
P Oswaldo Campos Burlington 1st
C Yoslan Moreno Salt Lake City 1st
1B B.C. Philips Salt Lake City 1st
2B Fausto Espinosa Atlanta 1st
3B Pep Saito Salt Lake City 2nd
SS Johnny Osborne Atlanta 1st
LF Brendan O'Neil Chicago 3rd
CF Ken Ingram Chicago 5th
RF Darryl Matthews New York 2nd