Monday, April 13, 2015

Season 26 Wrap-Up - Atlanta Takes the Title!


Atlanta is your Season 26 Champion!

After a string of hard luck playoff losses the past few seasons, Atlanta's talented squad finally brought home a World Series crown in Season 26.  After finishing #1 in the power rankings in Seasons 23, 24 and 25, Atlanta couldn't cash in on their regular season success in the playoffs.  Oddly enough, Texas passed Atlanta in the final regular season power rankings of Season 26, so perhaps the top spot holds a playoff curse.  Atlanta swept St. Louis, outlasted Texas in a tough six game series in the ALCS, and defeated Florida in the World Series in 5 games to win it all.  Their #2 ranked pitching staff in the regular season showed they are tops in the postseason, posting a phenomenal 2.02 ERA during their postseason run, to go with solid offense.  Congrats to ekoontz on his 2nd Cobbfather title, his Expos also took it all in Season 10.

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

Most Valuable Player
American League - Vic Crowe, Colorado Springs - .320 AVG 51 HR 133 RBI
Crowe certainly flourished in his return to Colorado Springs, taking home his 1st MVP award with career highs in multiple offensive categories.  Crowe also made his 3rd All-Star team and won his 2nd Silver Slugger award during his most impressive campaign.  He certainly earned ever dollar of his $20,000,001 salary this season, even that extra dollar!

National League - Ahmed Ratliff, Philadelphia - .326 AVG 62 HR 154 RBI
It's rare to see a rookie take the MVP trophy, but Ratliff did just that.  Putting up ridiculous numbers for the Philly squad, Ratliff was a landslide winner in the NL MVP Race.  Ratliff took home more hardware this season than most players earn their entire career.  In addition to winning the MVP, he was the NL Rookie of the Year, made the All-Star team, won the Home Run Derby and took home a Silver Slugger award.  At just 21 years old, it will be interesting to see what Ratliff does the rest of his career.

Cy Young Award
American League - Thomas Hutchinson, Atlanta - 22-3 2.35 ERA 181 K
Hutchinson won the battle of best Atlanta pitcher, also known as the AL Cy Young Award.  It was likely his microscopic ERA that gave him the edge.  Notching another tremendous season, Hutchinson takes home his 3rd Cy Young Award, also winning in Seasons 21 and 24.  He also made his 5th All-Star team this season.  At just 30 years old next season, and on a stacked Atlanta team, it will be exciting to see how he continues to build his Hall of Fame resume in the next phase of his career.

National League - Norman LaPorta, Houston - 18-7 2.61 ERA 230 K
The 37 year-old hurler has yet to lose a step as LaPorta took home the NL Cy Young by a significant margin this season.  He has reached rarefied air winning the Cy Young for an amazing 5th time, a feat that has only been done by one other player in Cobbfather history, James Haselman, who has won six Cy Youngs.  He also reached double digit All-Star appearances this season, making his 10th All-Star team.  LaPorta continues to build on an amazing Hall of Fame career.

That concludes this season's blog coverage, see you soon for Season 27!

Season 26 Final Power Rankings






Offense Pitching Last 40

Team  W L PREV Rank Rank W  L
1 Texas 110 52 2 1 7 26 14
2 Atlanta  111 51 1 4 2 24 16
3 Florida 104 58 3 7 4 26 14
4 Colorado Springs 101 61 4 2 13 25 15
5 Los Angeles 95 67 7 26 1 25 15
6 Houston 92 70 14 6 17 25 15
7 New York (AL) 95 67 5 23 3 20 20
8 Boston  85 77 15 3 14 25 15
9 Las Vegas 88 74 9 20 6 22 18
10 Salt Lake City 84 78 11 5 18 22 18
11 Buffalo  86 76 12 22 5 21 19
12 Philadelphia 90 72 6 15 8 16 24
13 Arizona 83 79 8 7 10 14 26
14 St. Louis 85 77 16 27 9 23 17
15 Seattle  76 86 21 20 10 23 17
16 Charlotte  80 82 10 12 16 17 23
17 Trenton 80 82 18 15 10 21 19
18 Pawtucket 78 84 23 9 25 24 16
19 Jacksonville 76 86 26 17 20 22 18
20 Cleveland 77 85 22 18 19 22 18
21 Tampa Bay  80 82 24 13 24 21 19
22 Dover 75 87 25 25 21 21 19
23 Santa Fe 83 79 13 10 27 17 23
24 Austin  76 86 20 29 15 16 24
25 Salem 78 84 17 14 26 18 22
26 Syracuse  70 92 19 11 23 18 22
27 San Francisco 65 97 27 28 22 20 20
28 Cincinnati 69 93 28 18 29 19 21
29 Cheyenne 59 103 30 32 28 14 26
30 Durham  55 107 29 24 31 11 29
31 El Paso 55 107 31 31 30 12 28
32 New York (NL) 51 111 32 30 32 10 30