Season 23 Wrap Up - Helena repeats!

Helena Bighorns (AL) bluebaran View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Helena is once again your Champions in Season 23!

Helena was on a mission this postseason, and they could not be stopped, resulting in them become back-to-back champions in Kenny Powers.  After a tremendous regular season, their momentum carried on into the playoffs, defeating Wichita in 4 games, then steamrolling Seattle in 4 games in the ALCS, and finally taking out underdog St. Louis, who had defeated 2 100-win teams on their way to the World Series, in 5 games.  Helena crushed the ball in the postseason, posting a .335 team batting average with 24 Home Runs in 13 games.  While their pitching staff had a 4.50 team ERA in the playoffs, they always came up with big performances when needed and were there to support the incredibly hot offense.  It seems Helena was the team of destiny in Season 23, congrats to bluebaran on going back-to-back and earning a 4th Kenny Powers title overall.   And kudos to St. Louis on a tremendous postseason run, conquering the 2 NL powerhouse 100-win teams to get to the World Series.  A third such triumph was just too much of a task.

That's it for Season 23, see you back for Season 24 after a hopefully quick rollover!

Season 23 Awards Recap

Here's the recap of the Season 23 Award Winners!

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League - Sherman Dunston, Boise - .342 AVG 50 HR 131 RBI
After suffering a long-term injury in Season 22, Dunston bounced back in Season 23 to win his 6th MVP award, which is a new Kenny Powers record!  Dunston led the AL in Batting Average, Slugging and OPS, which was enough to sway voters to give him his record-breaking (in Kenny Powers anyway) 6th trophy.  He also won his 7th Silver Slugger award this season.  If he remains healthy, Dunston could push for the all-time Kenny Powers Home Run and RBI records, although he still has a bit of a way to go on both.

National League - Ken Ingram, Chicago - .300 AVG 65 HR 126 RBI
Ingram also accomplishes a feat that has never been done in Kenny Powers, winning back-to-back MVP's in different leagues.  Ingram won the AL MVP last season as a part of New Britain, and takes home this season's honors in the NL as part of Chicago.  His 65 Home Runs were tied for 4th most all-time in Kenny Powers, and he also led the NL in Slugging.  He won his 4th Silver Slugger and not only made his 5th All-Star team, he won the All-Star Game MVP.  What a season!  This marks Ingram's 3rd MVP win overall, as he also won AL MVP in Season 20.

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Ellis Brock, Tampa Bay - 18-8 2.82 ERA 180 K
Brock joins a very small group of hurlers to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues, after coming out with the AL Cy Young Award in a very close race.  Brock also won NL honors in Season 16.  Coincidentally, that franchise was also located in Tampa Bay. Brock led the AL in Strikeouts, while putting up solid numbers across the board elsewhere to notch his 2nd career Cy Young Award.  He also made his 6th All-Star team this season.

National League - Boomer Lange, Chicago - 26-4 2.81 ERA 237 K
Our only first time winner of the major awards this season, Chicago's Lange won the NL Cy Young Award by a substantial margin.  His 26 wins tied for the 3rd most all-time in Kenny Powers history and he also led the NL in Innings Pitched and Quality Starts.  He made his 3rd All-Star team in Season 23 as well.  At just age 25, he is one of the most talented pitchers in Kenny Powers and playing on a very good Chicago squad, should have plenty of more shots to win the Cy Young again.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
American League - Sammy Bastardo, Little Rock - 17-1 2.74 ERA 98 K
Bastardo accumulated an impressive win total as a win vulture in the back-end of a tandem starter role.  Still, his team had to win those games, so hats off to him on a most impressive 17-1 mark.  Bastardo has very solid ratings, although isn't a workhorse stamina wise, so the tandem role fits him well.  It will be interesting to see his role in Little Rock going forward, although finishing as the #1 rated team in Kenny Powers at the end of the regular season, it would be a surprise to see a major altering in their strategy.

National League - Burke Gibson, St. Louis - 11-1 2.19 ERA 71 K
It's the year of the reliever in the Rookie of the Year races, as St. Louis setup man Gibson won a close race to take home the NL honors.  Gibson appeared to have a more conventional setup role for the World Series runners up and he was certainly lights out this season in performing those duties.  His outstanding season is a slight surprise, given his minor league totals, but he certainly found the recipe that put it altogether for a stellar season in his rookie campaign.  It will certainly be intriguing to see how he follows it up in his sophomore campaign.

FIREMAN OF THE YEAR
American League - Matty Prieto, Nashville - 3.39 ERA, 38 SV, 1st Win
National League - Rico Tejera, Salem - 4.67 ERA, 45 SV, 2nd Win

SILVER SLUGGER AWARDS
American League

DH	Angel Perez	Little Rock	1st
C	Harry Young	New Britain	1st
1B	Sherman Dunston	Boise	7th
2B	Sean Lewis	Helena	2nd
3B	Walt Silva	Boise	1st
SS	Hiroyuki Masato	Boise	1st
LF	Albert Mendoza	Wichita	1st
CF	Brett Puckett	Nashville	1st
RF	Ernest Hancock	Little Rock	1st

National League

P	Don Kojima	Oklahoma City	1st
C	Deven Hernandez	Honolulu	1st
1B	Ryan Moore	Louisville	1st
2B	Ken Ingram	White Sox	4th
3B	Dingo Price	White Sox	4th
SS	Rodrigo Toregas	Louisville	1st
LF	Diego Marin	White Sox	1st
CF	Banana Alexander	Richmond	2nd
RF	Vic Hall	Louisville	1st

GOLD GLOVE AWARDS
American League

P	Ham Sampson	Seattle	2nd
C	Mo Ohka	Boston	1st
1B	Diego Sanchez	Boston	2nd
2B	Eli Guillen	Nashville	1st
3B	Marc Towers	Seattle	1st
SS	Noah Straily	New York	1st
LF	J.O. Seanez	Charlotte	1st
CF	Rex Kennedy	Helena	4th
RF	Greg Rivers	Trenton	1st

National League

P	Jimmie Soto	Boston	2nd
C	Alfonso Estrada	Rochester	1st
1B	Gary Simmons	Syracuse	1st
2B	Noe Ortiz	New York	1st
3B	Pep Saito	Houston	1st
SS	Joaquin Ugueto	Honolulu	1st
LF	Greg Gibbons	Houston	2nd
CF	Saul Santos	New York	2nd
RF	Rogers Scott	Salem	1st

Season 23 Minimum Win Requirement Update

Our minimum win rule in Kenny Powers is 55 wins in one season (50 if you are a first season owner) and 185 wins over 3 seasons. You get 2 "strikes" against the policy, and on the third strike, you're out. If you don't earn any strikes over 3 consecutive seasons, all previous strikes are wiped out.

I'm pleased to report no strikes were earned in Season 23.  whodey17 only won 52; however, does not earn a strike as first season owners only need to win 50.  Also, hrrng_dnn's win total this season does not count against him, as he was a replacement owner in Season 23.

I'm also pleased to report that no current owner has any strikes against them at all.  Additionally, only one team needs to win more than 55 games in Season 24 to avoid a strike - breezee needs to win 58 games to reach 185 wins over three seasons.

Here is the summary through Season 23.  Good job all!

						Wins
American League					3-Season	Needed in
Team	Owner	S21	S22	S23	Win Total	S24 for 185
Boise Taters	bubbleboy	82	88	85	255
Boston SlamPigs	themarlyman	79	74	70	223
Charlotte StarLords	goodtymes31	72	78	82	232
Columbus Buckeyes	horndogs2s			73
Detroit FC Dinamo	lfkbibanul	94	82	55	231
Helena Bighorns	bluebaran	90	98	107	295
Little Rock Little Necrophiliac Nine	ab90			108
Mexico City Cerveceros	heinzkill			63
Nashville Neutron Bombs	Ghostrunner	78	75	88	241
New Britain Frothing Walruses	merott	109	106	63	278
New York Yankees	grissom97		73	81
Oakland Invaders	jnosek	81	72	58	211
Seattle SuperSonics	alogman1	87	88	93	268
Tampa Bay Sunherd	Frozenherd *	85	82	89	256
Trenton Witch Burners	themojoking		80	78
Wichita Wankers	jamesp469	82	89	95	266
						Wins
National League					3-Season	Needed in
Team	Owner	S21	S22	S23	Win Total	S24 for 185
Buffalo Tiny Chickens	AceCards	83	88	78	249
Burlington Giant Pumpkins	breezee	69	67	60	196	58
Chicago White Sox	slashtc	94	92	106	292
Durham Screwballs	oakman310	83	79	96	258
Honolulu Tiki Gods	dodgersrays	100	84	84	268
Houston Hornets	whodey17			52
Las Vegas Crap Shoot	pbsilver11	95	81	87	263
Louisville Sluggers	yanks21	82	88	87	257
New York Empire	tmfran			76
Oklahoma City Bombers	tisi29	92	84	86	262
Richmond Manamfasha	TXLnghrn	97	100	101	298
Rochester Garbage Plates	jimt14120	74	78	75	227
Salem Ducks	trimhunter99		72	79
St. Louis Gunners Er' Back	cosborn	76	84	90	250
Syracuse Blizzard	groth911	65	88	91	244
Washington D.C. Senators	hrrng_dnn

Season 23 League Leaders

Here's a recap of the Season 23 League Leaders!

All-Time Top 5 Performances in Season 23
Stolen Bases - Manuel Paez, Trenton - 109 - 3rd All-Time
Wins - Boomer Lange, Chicago - 26 - Tied for 3rd All-Time
Home Runs - Ken Ingram, Chicago - 65 - 4th All-Time
WHIP - Justin Jordan, Salem - 0.89 - Tied for 4th All-Time

Multiple Category Leaders
Boomer Lange, Chicago (NL) - 3 - W, IP, QS
Sherman Dunston, Boise (AL) - 3 - AVG, SLG, OPS
Ham Sampson, Seattle (AL) - 3 - IP, CG, Shutouts
Ken Ingram, Chicago (NL) - 2 - HR, SLG
Justin Jordan, Salem (NL) - 2 - ERA, WHIP
Deven Fielder, Wichita (AL) - 2 - ERA, WHIP
Ollie Keppel, Burlington (NL) - 2 - CG, Shutouts
George McCartin, Seattle (AL) - 2 - QS, Shutouts

LEAGUE LEADERS

Offense
American League
Batting Average	Sherman Dunston	Boise	.342
Home Runs	Brett Leach	Seattle	55
RBI	Sean Lewis	Helena	140
Stolen Bases	Manuel Paez	Trenton	109
Hits	Clint Champion	Columbus	207
Runs	Ernest Hancock	Little Rock	131
OBP	Luis Guerrero	Little Rock	.424
SLG	Sherman Dunston	Boise	.655
OPS	Sherman Dunston	Boise	1.072
National League
Batting Average	Sean Hollins	Richmond	.340
Home Runs	Ken Ingram	Chicago	65
RBI	Rodrigo Toregas	Louisville	145
Stolen Bases	Howie Hooper	Burlington	78
Hits	J.C. Ganzel	Honolulu	212
Runs	Vic Hall	Louisville	128
OBP	Jimmy Fox	Syracuse	.412
SLG	Ken Ingram	Chicago	.678
OPS	Julio Park	Durham	1.007
Pitching
American League
ERA	Deven Fielder	Wichita	2.59
Wins	Everth Almanzar	Helena	20
Strikeouts	Ellis Brock	Tampa Bay	180
Saves	Gregg Clifton	New York	40
WHIP	Deven Fielder	Wichita	1.01
Innings Pitched	Ham Sampson	Seattle	268.2
Quality Starts	George McCartin	Seattle	29
Complete Games	Ham Sampson	Seattle	6
Shutouts	7 Tied		1
National League
ERA	Justin Jordan	Salem	1.98
Wins	Boomer Lange	Chicago	26
Strikeouts	Nicholas Gil	Las Vegas	244
Saves	Rijo Tejera	Salem	45
WHIP	Justin Jordan	Salem	0.89
Innings Pitched	Boomer Lange	Chicago	265.2
Quality Starts	Boomer Lange	Chicago	30
Complete Games	Ollie Keppel	Burlington	8
Shutouts	Ollie Keppel	Burlington	3

Season 23 Final Power Rankings

The regular season is over and the playoffs are under way in Season 23, so the look back at regular season begins with the final power rankings!  And on top, it's Little Rock, completing an amazing regular season that saw their win total increase by 53 from the previous owner.  Just behind them are defending champion Helena and Chicago at the 2 and 3 spots, you really can't say anything bad about their regular seasons either.  The 4th 100 win team, Richmond checks in at #4, and Seattle surges into the top 5 with a surge of offense down the stretch, to go with the world's top pitching staff this season.  Now for the biggest climbers and biggest falls since the last rankings!

Biggest Climbers: #5 Seattle (+5), #17 New York (NL) (+5), #12 St. Louis (+4), #20 Columbus (+4)

Biggest Falls: #24 New York (AL) (-4), #27 New Britain (-4), #10 Syracuse (-3), #32 Oakland (-3)

It will be an interesting postseason for sure.  Will the powerhouses prevail, or will one of the other teams in the mix pull through with a surprise run?  Good luck to the playoff teams, here are the complete final rankings for Season 23!

					Pitching		Offense		LAST PER
	Team	W	L	PREV	Rank	Chg	Rank	Chg	W	L
1	Little Rock	108	54	3	3	1	4	1	30	10
2	Helena	107	55	4	2	1	7	0	29	10
3	Chicago	106	56	1	5	1	1	0	27	13
4	Richmond	101	61	2	3	-2	6	0	23	17
5	Seattle	93	69	10	1	1	15	4	24	15
6	Durham	96	66	6	8	5	9	3	26	14
7	Wichita	95	67	5	12	0	8	1	24	16
8	Louisville	87	75	8	21	2	3	-1	24	15
9	Oklahoma City	86	76	9	8	0	12	-3	21	18
10	Syracuse	91	71	7	16	-1	10	-2	20	19
11	Honolulu	84	78	13	20	-3	4	0	22	18
12	St. Louis	90	72	16	6	1	27	-1	22	17
13	Tampa Bay	89	73	11	7	-2	24	1	20	20
14	Charlotte	82	80	12	13	-3	11	2	19	20
15	Boise	85	77	15	23	1	2	1	19	21
16	Nashville	88	74	14	18	-2	13	4	19	20
17	New York (NL)	81	81	22	15	3	18	5	20	20
18	Salem	79	83	18	10	1	21	3	18	21
19	Las Vegas	87	75	17	17	2	23	-4	19	21
20	Columbus	73	89	24	24	5	13	-4	20	19
21	Buffalo	78	84	19	19	1	18	-4	19	21
22	Trenton	78	84	21	11	-2	30	1	19	21
23	Rochester	75	87	25	14	7	28	-1	20	20
24	New York (AL)	76	86	20	22	-8	24	-5	15	24
25	Boston	70	92	28	26	2	26	2	18	21
26	Mexico City	63	99	27	29	-2	18	1	15	24
27	New Britain	63	99	23	27	-6	22	-4	13	26
28	Detroit	55	107	26	30	-1	16	-1	15	25
29	Burlington	60	102	32	25	0	32	0	16	23
30	Houston	52	110	31	32	0	17	-1	12	28
31	Washington	56	106	30	31	0	29	0	12	27
32	Oakland	58	104	29	28	-2	31	-1	12	28

Season 23 Power Rankings # 3

Very untimely due to the commissioner's recent heavy travel schedule, but here were the power rankings through three quarters of the season!

					Pitching		Offense		LAST PER
	Team	W	L	PREV	Rank	Chg	Rank	Chg	W	L
1	Chicago	79	43	5	6	6	1	0	33	8
2	Richmond	78	44	1	1	2	6	-5	28	13
3	Little Rock	78	44	2	4	1	5	-2	30	11
4	Helena	78	45	4	3	1	7	-1	29	13
5	Wichita	71	51	6	12	2	9	0	24	17
6	Durham	70	52	12	13	-2	12	2	24	17
7	Syracuse	71	52	3	15	-7	8	-1	22	20
8	Louisville	63	60	11	23	0	2	3	25	17
9	Oklahoma City	65	58	9	8	-3	9	3	23	19
10	Seattle	69	54	7	2	0	19	0	21	21
11	Tampa Bay	69	53	13	5	-4	25	3	23	18
12	Charlotte	63	60	16	10	6	13	-2	24	18
13	Honolulu	62	60	19	17	2	4	6	22	19
14	Nashville	69	54	18	16	2	17	9	25	17
15	Boise	66	56	15	24	3	3	1	23	18
16	St. Louis	68	55	8	7	0	26	-2	20	22
17	Las Vegas	68	54	14	19	1	19	-5	22	19
18	Salem	61	62	10	11	2	24	-3	20	22
19	Buffalo	59	63	22	20	1	14	-1	21	20
20	New York (AL)	61	62	23	14	7	19	-2	21	21
21	Trenton	59	63	25	9	0	31	-1	23	18
22	New York (NL)	61	61	17	18	-8	23	-1	19	22
23	New Britain	50	73	24	21	-6	18	1	15	27
24	Columbus	53	70	20	29	-1	9	-1	11	31
25	Rochester	55	67	21	21	-5	27	-4	15	26
26	Detroit	40	82	29	29	2	15	3	17	24
27	Mexico City	48	75	26	27	-2	19	6	14	28
28	Boston	52	71	27	28	2	28	-1	16	26
29	Oakland	46	76	30	26	3	30	-1	16	25
30	Washington	44	79	32	31	-5	29	2	17	25
31	Houston	40	82	28	32	0	16	0	8	33
32	Burlington	44	79	31	25	-1	32	0	13	29

Season 23 All-Star Coverage

This season's All-Star break is upon us, so let's see who made the teams!

In the American League, 40 year-old Stewart Mouton of Tampa Bay headlines the team, making his 10th All-Star team, this time as a closer! Charlotte SS Delino Santana is making his 9th appearance in the big game, continuing his success with his new team this season.  Columbus and Wichita led the way overall with 5 All-Stars each, while Helena had a respectable 4.  The roster consists of a lot of new blood, as 17 of the 30 players are 1st time All-Stars!

On the National League side, many of the old guard are missing who you see on the All-Star rosters just about every season; however, Oklahoma City's Matty Posada still managed to make the team for an incredible 13th time!  Fellow ace, Justin Jordan of Salem is making his 7th appearance.  Leading the way for most All-Stars is Richmond with a stellar total of 8!  Chicago, Louisville and Syracuse all managed to get 4 players on the team.  Despite the perceived changing of the guard, there's still only 9 first time All-Stars on the NL team.

Here are the complete rosters!

American League All-Stars
Starters

	Player	Team	Appearance
C	Carlos DeLeon	Wichita	3rd
1B	Luis Guerrero	Little Rock	4th
2B	Sean Lewis	Helena	2nd
3B	Walt Silva	Boise	1st
SS	Delino Santana	Charlotte	9th
LF	Albert Mendoza	Wichita	1st
CF	Brett Puckett	Nashville	2nd
RF	Ernest Hancock	Little Rock	1st
DH	Nate Lincoln	Columbus	1st

Pitchers

	Player	Team	Appearance
P	Stewart Mouton	Tampa Bay	10th
P	Gregg Clifton	New York	1st
P	Johan Metcalfe	Mexico City	1st
P	Matty Prieto	Nashville	1st
P	Deven Fielder	Wichita	2nd
P	Ned Perez	Helena	1st
P	Jack Jacobs	Columbus	1st
P	Ellis Brock	Tampa Bay	6th
P	George McCartin	Seattle	2nd
P	Orlando Lee	Little Rock	1st
P	Alex Wong	Helena	1st
P	Vin Lee	Nashville	2nd
P	Marshall Romero	Mexico City	1st

Reserves

	Player	Team	Appearance
C	Nipsey Watkins	Charlotte	1st
1B	John Greer	Columbus	1st
2B	Emmanuel Moya	Wichita	3rd
3B	Harry Lopez	Columbus	1st
SS	Luis Martin	Columbus	1st
LF	Al Hughes	Helena	2nd
CF	Victor Camacho	Wichita	1st
RF	Heathcliff Davis	New York	2nd

AL All-Stars by Team

Columbus	5
Wichita	5
Helena	4
Little Rock	3
Nashville	3
Charlotte	2
Mexico City	2
New York	2
Tampa Bay	2
Boise	1
Seattle	1

National League All-Stars
Starters

	Player	Team	Appearance
C	Mike Russell	Richmond	3rd
1B	Julio Park	Durham	3rd
2B	Ken Ingram	Chicago	5th
3B	Miguel Armas	Syracuse	2nd
SS	Edgar Olivares	Oklahoma City	4th
LF	Jimmy Fox	Syracuse	1st
CF	Jeanmar Pulido	Syracuse	1st
RF	Sean Hollins	Richmond	1st

Pitchers

	Player	Team	Appearance
P	Ralph Moseley	Richmond	5th
P	Boomer Lange	Chicago	3rd
P	Allan Blackley	Chicago	3rd
P	Rico Tejera	Salem	4th
P	Tim Blair	Syracuse	4th
P	Al Gonzales	Louisville	1st
P	Glen Stokes	Richmond	2nd
P	Matty Posada	Oklahoma City	13th
P	Justin Jordan	Salem	7th
P	Nathan Ross	Richmond	2nd
P	Wiki Mateo	Las Vegas	2nd
P	Nicholas Miller	Washington	5th
P	Burke Gibson	St. Louis	1st
P	Marcos Perez	St. Louis	1st

Reserves

	Player	Team	Appearance
C	Ron Bailey	New York	1st
1B	Ryan Moore	Louisville	1st
2B	Everett Barnes	Richmond	4th
3B	Dingo Price	Chicago	4th
SS	Rodrigo Toregas	Louisville	4th
LF	Scott Serrano	Richmond	3rd
CF	Banana Alexander	Richmond	1st
RF	Vic Hall	Louisville	2nd

NL All-Stars by Team

Richmond	8
Chicago	4
Louisville	4
Syracuse	4
Oklahoma City	2
Salem	2
St. Louis	2
Durham	1
Las Vegas	1
New York	1
Washington	1