Season 32 Wrap Up - It's a Three-Peat for Atlanta!

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Atlanta takes it all once again in Season 32!

Atlanta has done it again, completing the three-peat by winning an intense battle in the World Series against Tacoma.  After years of futility in Wichita, a move to Atlanta has paid off big time for lightman, as they have now won three straight titles.  Oh yeah, I think the stellar roster has something to do with it too!  After sweeping Rochester in the Divisional Series and San Francisco in the NLCS, Atlanta faced a tough challenge in a revamped up-and-coming Tacoma squad.  It took 7 games, but they were able to claim the crown.  A 2.55 team ERA in the playoffs was a key to the win in the ATL, along with respectable offensive numbers to boot.  Congrats to lightman on an impressive accomplishment!

Now let's see who took home the major individual awards this season.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League  - Cody Bryant, Santa Fe - .334 AVG 36 HR 115 RBI
Cody Bryant took home his first MVP award, posting outstanding numbers for Santa Fe in Season 32.  In addition to the numbers listed above, his outstanding 1.102 OPS should be mentioned as well, one of the best in the modern Cobb era.  He also made the All-Star team and won a Silver Slugger award this season.  Even though he plays in hitter-friendly Santa Fe, it's hard to argue against Bryant taking home the hardware with such an impressive season.

National League - Tony Koh, Omaha -.327 AVG 61 HR 129 RBI
After many seasons of racking up All-Star appearances and Silver Slugger awards, Koh finally takes home his first MVP trophy in Season 32.  His numbers for Season 32 were out of this world.  Coincidentally, he also put up an 1.102 OPS in a park where it's much more difficult to hit.  He also won the Home Run derby, made the All-Star team, and took home another Silver Slugger.  It's difficult to come up with enough superlatives to describe Koh's season, the MVP was certainly well deserved.

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Alex Calderone, Santa Fe - 20-4 3.22 ERA 117 K
Well, winning a Cy Young award in Santa Fe is certainly impressive and that's exactly what Alex Calderone did.  Avoiding the dangers of pitching in Santa Fe, Calderone was a reliable starter who accumulated 20 wins and kept his ERA at 3.22 in leading Santa Fe to the best record in the AL.  Calderone also made the All-Star team this season.  He had never won any awards or made the All-Star team prior to this season.  Pretty impressive feat by the 33 year-old hurler indeed.

National League - Midre Diaz, Rochester - 20-2 1.17 ERA 166 K
No, that's not a typo, Midre Diaz finished with a new Cobb record low 1.17 ERA.  Diaz capped off his record breaking season with his 2nd Cy Young Award, he also won in Season 26.  Diaz was nearly unhittable this season and its hard to imagine the Cy Young award going to anyone else.  Diaz also made the All-Star team.  All of the accolades are well deserved in what was a season for the ages. 

That concludes our Season 32 Wrap Up, see you back for Season 33!

Season 31 Wrap Up - Atlanta goes back-to-back!

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Atlanta goes back-to-back with Season 31 title win!

After a wild, back and forth World Series in Season 31, Atlanta managed to come out on top, making them the back-to-back World Champions.  It was not an easy road, however, as they had a tough 5-game series in the Divisional Series Round against Charleston.  After a sweep of San Francisco in the NLCS, they headed to the World Series against fellow top seed, Santa Fe.  After Atlanta took game 1 by a 13-4 margin, Santa Fe stuck back in Game 2 with an 18-7 shellacking of their own.  Atlanta took 2 out of 3 on their home field to go up 3-2 and took a 5-run lead into the 9th inning of game 6, only to see it evaporate with a 6-run rally from Santa Fe to take the series to a Game 7.  In Game 7, the lead changed hands several time throughout the game, with Santa Fe leading 9-7 after 7 innings, only to surrender 2 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th without any answer from their own squad, giving Atlanta the 4-3 series win.  What an incredible series it was, congratulations to both teams on great seasons, it's shame either team had to lose.

Here's a quick run down of this season's award winners:

Most Valuable Player
American League - Randy Adams, San Juan -.313 AVG 60 HR 179 RBI
Adams took home the AL MVP by a fairly wide margin by putting up amazing power numbers and driving in an insane amount of runs.   This is his 1st MVP win, and he also took home his first Silver Slugger award this season as well.  It's a surprise he hasn't won more awards with his elite bat, although being a DH may have hurt him there.  Nonetheless, the award is well deserved for putting up one of the best offensive seasons in recent Cobb World history. 

National League - Hank Sherman, Columbus -.340 AVG 37 HR 88 RBI 28 SB
The former #1 overall pick of the Season 26 draft has lived up to the expectations involved with being the top choice, by delivering with an MVP award in his first full season in the majors.  He has elite hitting skills, which should keep him in the running for many more awards for seasons to come, especially since he is only 23 years old. 

Cy Young Award
American League - Pat Nakajima, Tacoma -19-9 3.05 ERA 183 K
The 22 year-old Japanese hurler took the AL Cy Young by taking the mound for 42 starts this season, and putting up quality numbers.  This is also Nakajima's first full season in the Majors after an early call-up last season, and his 1st Cy Young win.  Nakajima was signed for a whopping $40.1 million bonus in Season 27, and has shown that he was worth the large investment. 

National League -  Gill Cochrane, Atlanta - 23-8 2.71 ERA 266 K
Cochrane took home the Cy Young award by a sizable margin in the NL, and looking at his numbers it's not hard to see why.  Putting up 23 wins for the World Champions will usually get you some votes.  Cochrane signed a 5 year, $110 million contract with Atlanta this past offseason and it was obviously well worth it.  Winning the Cy Young is an every 4 seasons ordeal for Cochrane, as he took home a pair of AL Cy Youngs in Seasons 23 and 27, making this his 3rd win.  I'm sure Atlanta is hoping for another win before Season 35 though!

Congrats to all the owners with award winners, and again to Atlanta and Santa Fe for putting on a great show in the World Series.  Thanks to everyone for making Season 31 great, see you back for Season 32 after a hopefully very quick rollover!  Don't forget to renew if you haven't already!

Season 30 Wrap Up - Atlanta is the Champion!

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Atlanta wins it all in Season 30! 

28 seasons, 4 NL pennants, but no World Series titles.   That was the history of Lightman's Cobb journey headed into Season 30, the season in which it all paid off with the franchise's first World Series title.  Lightman finally found a formula that worked, defeating the Durham Bulls in a tough seven game series to win the crown.   Atlanta came into the playoffs as the #5 seed in the NL, unable to pass Rochester for the NL East title.  After taking down sub .500 Charleston in the opening round, they had the daunting task of facing 7-time champion and #1 seed Omaha.  Edging out Omaha 3-2 seemed to seal their destiny, but it wouldn't be easy, winning a tough NLCS against Burlington in 6, and then Durham in the World Series in 7.  Congrats to Lightman on the title, it's good to see an owner who has put in so many seasons into the world without winning one, finally take it home!

Here were season 30's award winners:
Most Valuable Player
American League -  Don Nation, Baltimore - .327 AVG 49 HR 133 RBI
Another amazing season at the plate earns Nation his 2nd MVP award in 3 seasons.  Arguably the premiere hitter in Cobb right now, he made his 2nd All-Star team and won his 3rd Silver Slugger award this season as well.  At just 28 going into Season 31, he could have a couple of more trophies by the end of his run. 

National League -  Harry Tracy, Atlanta - .321 AVG 62 HR 148 RBI
In addition to a World Series ring, Tracy took home the NL MVP award as well, his first.  Looking at his stat line, it's not hard to figure out why.  The young slugger also made the All-Star team in Season 30, and looks to have many more tremendous seasons ahead of him. 

Cy Young Award
American League -  Juan Romano, Durham - 19-8 3.71 ERA 162 K
The 36 year-old hurler showed in Season 30 that he's still got something left, taking home the AL Cy Young Award while helping Durham make it to the World Series.  Pretty unusual to see a player take home their first Cy Young at age 36, but his incredibly solid numbers in a hitter's heaven ballpark got the job done.  He also made his 4th All-Star team in Season 30.  

National League -  Harvey Diaz, Omaha - 19-8 2.53 ERA 166 K
Diaz took home his 3rd Cy Young award in Season 30 for the top regular season team, Omaha.  Yet another impressive season for Diaz saw him make his 4th All-Star team.  At age 32 going into Season 31, he certainly has a chance to enter the elite group of 4-time Cy Young winners, but the question is will it be with Omaha or another team?  

That does it for Season 30, looking forward to another great season for #31 after a hopefully quick rollover!