Season 44 Wrap Up - Jackson Comes Out on Top!

Jackson Rebel Yell (NL) Frozenherd View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Jackson is Your Season 44 Champion!

Another season is in the books in Cobb World and after another hotly contested postseason, it's Jackson who claims the crown, making it five different champions in the last five seasons here in Cobb.  Jackson beat Cheyenne and last season's NL Champ, Omaha on their way to the NLCS, winning each series in four games.  They jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Portland in the NLCS, only to drop the next two before sealing the deal in Game 6.   In the World Series facing Cobb's best regular season team, Cleveland, they amazing jumped out to another 3-0 series lead, and this time they were able to complete the sweep, giving Jackson their first Championship in Cobb, and Frozeherd's first Championship in Hardball Dynasty.  A hearty congrats indeed!  It was pitching that led the way for Jackson, as they put up an astounding 2.15 ERA this postseason, while the offense held it's out, belting out 23 Home Runs in 18 games.

Now, here's who won the major individual awards this season!

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League - Parker Counsell, Salt Lake City - .333 AVG 49 HR 117 44 SB
Counsell won his 2nd MVP award in Season 44, mirroring the phenomenal numbers he put up in his last MVP run in Season 42.  The 24 year-old 1st baseman has a rare combination of power, speed and baserunning that makes him one of the top offensive threats in Cobb.  In addition to his stat line above, it should be noted he was only caught stealing once this season.   In addition to the MVP trophy, he also won his 3rd Silver Slugger, made his 3rd All-Star team and won the Home Run Derby. It will be exciting to see Counsell strive to be one of the all-time greats in Cobb.  He's certainly off to a very good start.

National League - Yadier Torres, Chicago - .322 AVG 52 HR 111 RBI 21 SB
Torres was a landslide winner of the NL MVP, making him the 3rd consecutive different member of Chicago to take home the MVP award in the last three seasons.  The 25 year-old left fielder put together his 2nd straight 52 home run season while anchoring the top of a solid Chicago lineup.  He made his 3rd All-Star team and won his 2nd Silver Slugger in Season 44 as well.  He certainly has the talent to win another, but seems he has a lot of competition from him own teammates, much less the rest of the NL!

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Francisley Falu, Vancouver - 19-4 2.65 ERA 170 K
It was a tight race for the AL Cy Young this season, but it was the 22 year-old hard throwing righty out of Vancouver that capture the crown, his first in his young career.  The Dominican product put up some solid numbers since coming up as 20 year-old in Season 42.  It finally came together for him this season, posting a career high total in Wins, ERA and WHIP, while making the All-Star team as well.  All signs point to him being one of the top arms in Cobb for seasons to come.

National League - Al Osoria, Portland - 17-5 1.28 ERA 201 K
Cobb's all-time ERA leader has done it once again, posting the 3rd best ERA in Cobb history (his Season 40 mark ranks 2nd) en route to his 3rd Cy Young award.  It's hard to deny him the honor with such an unbelievable stat line, including such a microscopic ERA!  He also made his 5th All-Star appearance in Season 44 as well.  The 30 year-old appears to be in no danger of slowing down any time soon.  It will be amazing to see where his career stat line and trophy total end up.

That does it for Season 44, see you back soon for Season 45!

Season 43 Wrap Up - Florida Claims the Crown!

Florida Almendares (AL) wihargo View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Florida Takes the Title in Season 43!

The Season 43 World Series is in the books, and it's the AL #2 seed, Florida, who claims the crown for the first time in 27 seasons!  Florida took on a tough Vancouver team in the ALDS, squeaking out a win in 5 games.  They went on to defeat top seeded Cleveland in 6 in the ALCS and ended up out-battling the NL's top seed, Omaha, in 5 games to claim the Season 43 title.  Florida posted a 2.94 team ERA en route to their first World Series trophy since Season 16, with both the starters and bullpen performing fairly well.  The offense didn't set the world on fire, as the team average was .237 for the playoffs, but came through with some timely power bursts, slugging 23 home runs in 16 games.  Congrats to wihargo on Cobb championship #2, and to Omaha as well on a great season, who looks to be back in the title picture now.  Will be interesting to see what happens next season with so many solid teams!  In the meantime, here's a recap of the Season 43 major award winners!

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League - Jerry Johnson, Cleveland - .327 AVG 22 HR 72 RBI 53 SB
The 31 year-old on-base machine and baserunning guru edged out his teammate by one vote to take home his 2nd MVP trophy, also having won in Season 40.  He also made his 6th All-Star team and won his 6th Silver Slugger award in Season 43.  Although he didn't have out-of-this-world power numbers, he did everything else at such a high level, it allowed voters to look past it and award his tremendous efforts.

National League - Mark Jang, Chicago - .301 AVG 48 HR 121 RBI 20 SB
The Season 42 NL Rookie of the Year followed that feat up by taking home the NL MVP in his sophomore campaign.  The 22 year-old is off to an amazing start to his career, also having earned his 1st Silver Slugger award in Season 43.  Jang can just about do it all, run the bases, is an excellent fielder, has elite power, it will be interesting to see where he can go from here.

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Harry Galvis, Cleveland - 24-8 2.58 ERA 224 K
The fact that Galvis has earned his 2nd Cy Young Award at age 24, probably doesn't even properly summarize his talent.  The 3-time All-Star continued his dominance for the AL's top regular season team, Cleveland, posting an outstanding line once again.  He previous won the Cy Young in Season 41, and could have last season too, so we could have been talking about an epic 3-in-a-row run here. Something tells us this won't be the last Cy Young for this most impressive lefty.

National League - C.C. Gryboski, Omaha - 22-5 3.02 ERA 204 K
The NL Cy Young also goes to that league's best regular season team, as the 35 year-old hard-throwing righty from Omaha took home his 2nd Cy Young Award, previously having won in Season 36.  Although he has had some great seasons since, this is his first time posting more than 15 wins since his initial Cy Young campaign, which was enough to propel him slightly ahead of his competition.  He also made his 5th All-Star team in Season 43.

That does it for Season 43 - see you back soon for Season 44 after a hopefully quick rollover!

Season 42 Wrap Up - San Jose Seizes the Day!

San Jose Scorpions (NL) tomcecil View Hardball Dynasty Profile

San Jose takes the Season 42 Crown!

San Jose completed a dominate run through the playoffs by sweeping AL powerhouse Richmond to take home the franchise's first World Series title.  San Jose went 11-1 in the playoffs, suffering only a single loss in the NLCS to Trenton on their way to the crown.  Solid all-around offense and tremendous pitching was the key to their postseason success.    The pitching staff posted a 2.41 ERA in the playoffs, led by all-time Cobb ERA leader Al Osoria, who gave up only a single run in 4 starts.  Hats off to tomcecil on leading his team to one of the most dominant playoff runs in recent Cobb history.

Now, let's take a look at this season's major award winners!

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League - Parker Counsell, Salt Lake City - .278 AVG 51 HR 151 RBI 40 SB
The 22 year-old phenom out of SLC took home the AL MVP trophy by a single vote.  Counsell has a rare combination of power, speed and baserunning prowess that you don't see too often, that enabled him to put together a 50/40 season on his way to an AL MVP win.  He also won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award and also made the All-Star team.  Counsell is a rare talent, and should be in the conversation for MVP for many seasons to come.

National League - Julio Ogando, Chicago - .335 AVG 44 HR 129 RBI
The NL MVP race ended up being a blowout, with the 26 year-old Chicago Slugger, Ogando, winning in a landslide.  Ogando had his best season yet, earning career highs in multiple categories to help lead Chicago to the NL's best record.  Similar to his AL counterpart, Ogando also won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, and made the All-Star team.  This is Ogando's first MVP win.

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Arismendy Trinidad, Seattle - 20-4 2.57 ERA 142 K
Similar to the MVP voting, the AL Cy Young Award was decided by a single vote and it was Seattle's Trinidad that came out on top.  After coming over from Chicago two seasons again, Trinidad had made a home for himself in Seattle with back-to-back outstanding seasons.  The righty from the Dominican doesn't throw a lot of heat, but knows how to get batters out with outstanding control and pitch command.  This is Trinidad's first Cy Young win.

National League - Ismael Campos, Chicago - 22-5 3.22 ERA 206 K
The 22 year-old hard throwing righty out of Chicago edged out all-time ERA leader Osoria to bring him the Cy Young Award, his first win.  After a solid rookie campaign, Campos came back for his 2nd season even better, anchoring Chicago's solid pitching staff that helped the team reach 103 wins. Campos has pretty outstanding ratings across the board, so he should be in contention to get a 2nd trophy, although the NL is filled with solid hurlers for sure.  Campos also made the All-Star team this season.

That's a wrap for Season 42, thanks to all for playing, see you back soon for Season 43!

Season 41 Wrap Up - San Francisco Wins it All!

San Francisco Earthquakes (NL) Sipe View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Your Season 41 Champions - San Francisco

It was an unlikely run as the NL 6-seed, but San Francisco turned it up in the postseason to capture their 2nd title in three seasons, defeating a stout Seattle team in the World Series 4 games to 1.  It was Arismendy Espinoza leading the San Francisco offense throughout the postseason, crushing 12 homers in 16 games.  The long ball was prevalent for San Francisco as a whole, as they slugged 39 long balls in 20 playoff games.  The pitching was solid for San Francisco as well throughout the postseason, putting up a 3.51 team ERA.  The bullpen was excellent at shutting the door, converting on 9 of 10 save opportunities and they got some nice starting pitching appearances as well.  It was a great run and a case of a team getting hot at the right time.  It just goes to sure you, once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen.  Congrats to Sipe on his 2nd Cobb championship!

Now, let's take a look at this season's major award winners!

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League -  Charles Walton, Detroit - .318 AVG 33 HR 122 RBI
The smooth swinging Center Fielder from Detroit captured his first MVP trophy in Season 41 at age 31.  He's had several impressive seasons in the past, as evidenced by the fact he is a 6-time All-Star and 5-time Silver Slugger (both accomplishments which he also achieved in Season 41), but this was the season he finally got the big MVP win.

National League - Hunter West, Kansas City - .335 AVG 23 HR 98 RBI 54 SB
The Kansas City 1st Baseman put together an amazing season, getting on base at a .470 clip, swiping 54 bases and crossing the plate to score 121 times to earn his 1st MVP award.  Overcoming a weakness vs. LHP, the Season 39 Rookie of the Year did it all in Season 41, earning his 1st All-Star appearance and 1st Silver Slugger award as well.  It will be interesting to see where the 27 year-old West goes from here, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the stellar performances continue.

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Harry Galvis, Cleveland - 23-7 2.38 ERA 245 K
Also a Season 39 Rookie of the Year, the 22 year-old Galvis truly broke out in Season 41, mowing down hitters at an impressive pace.  Galvis may sport the most impressive ratings out of any pitcher in Cobb and he lived up to the billing, also making his 2nd All-Star appearance.  There's little doubt that this youngster will be in the Cy Young Award conversation for many seasons to come and it wouldn't be shocking to see him break a few records along the way.

National League -
Bernard Spencer, San Jose - 19-6 2.10 ERA 193 K
Fausto Posada, Chicago - 22-5 2.83 ERA 193 K
Voters couldn't decide between these two impressive veteran righties, so there ended up being Co-Cy Young winners in the NL this season.  This is the 1st Cy Young win for both hurlers.  Each were All-Stars in Season 41, Spencer for the 4th time, Posada for the 6th.  Neither guy is a flame thrower but both are extremely effective in getting out in other ways, as their stat lines show.  It wouldn't be a surprise to see either back in contention next season for a solo win, given their impressive track records.

That's it for the Season 41 Wrap Up, looking forward to a great Season 42!