October 29, 1999

1999 Playoffs Preview

The fantasy baseball gods have never been kind to me. Truth be told, my franchises have always seemed to suffer from a terrible curse. By now, you've all heard of the "Curse of the Bambino," that tired old phrase invented by Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe which provides an excuse to every frustrated Red Sox fan who suffers through disappointment and heartache on an annual basis. Well today, I'm going to tell you a tale of a real curse. This curse has inflicted every one of my fantasy baseball teams since I first began this hobby more than 12 years ago. It is the "Curse of the Barbarino."

I began playing fantasy baseball in 1987. That year, I formed a league called the "CBL" which included the likes of Paul Marazita, Phil Geisel and Billy Romaniello. It was a league formed in high school where games were simmed on my trusty Commodore-64 using SSI's creatively-named "Computer Baseball" software. Because I had to sim every game myself on my own machine (as I was the only one in our group who owned such a highly-advanced technical gizmo), our "seasons" contained only about twelve to twenty games each and lasted only a month or two. I won one championship out of the first three seasons we played and all was right with the world.

All was right out in Hollywood as well. During the time of my team's brief success, John Travolta was busy churning out one box-office bomb after another, from "Urban Cowboy" to "Two of a Kind" to "Staying Alive." These two factors - my team's success and Travolta's failure - worked beautifully hand-in-hand. Like yin and yang, inflation rates and interest rates, Yankees and Red Sox. True harmony at work.

Then, in 1989, Travolta somehow managed to star in a giant box office success called "Look Who's Talking" and reality as I knew it turned upside-down. With Travolta's unexpected success, my beloved team faltered. The CBL lasted three more seasons after "Look Who's Talking." My team finished in first-place for two of those seasons, yet lost both World Series in heart-breaking fashion. The curse had been established.

Eventually, in 1991, I gave up on computer simulations in search of a more realistic pastime. Naturally, my search led me to rotisserie baseball - a game based in reality. I won three championships in three different leagues that year and another championship the following year. Meanwhile, Travolta had reverted back to his old ways of making one bad movie after another. His two biggest hits were two pathetic attempts to recapture the success of "Look Who's Talking." But in 1994, Travolta inexplicably became a mainstream box office draw thanks to the success of a highly overrated film called "Pulp Fiction." Since that time, you can't swing a dead cat in a movie theater without hitting a Travolta cut-out. He's rattled off a series of box office winners including "Get Shorty," "Broken Arrow," "Face/Off" and "A Civil Action." All the while, my fantasy baseball teams have suffered. I've owned eight different teams since then and I've won just one championship (a lopsided competition against less-knowledgeable office co-workers.)

Just as the Red Sox have suffered from unusual circumstances due to their curse, my fantasy teams have equally suffered under our curse. I lost one CBL World Series when rival manager Paul Marazita called for a double-steal with two outs and runners on the corners in a tie game in the ninth inning of the fifth and final game of the series. (Well, that wasn't so much of a curse as it was cheating and treachery, but that's another topic.) I lost another World Series when my team - which dominated the competition with a 20-4 record during the regular season - inexplicably collapsed in the post-season at the hands of Marazita's Zoots. The "Round Mound of the Pitching Mound", Teddy Higuera, completed an easy three-game sweep of my team in that series by tossing eight innings of one-hit shutout ball in the final game of that series.

Finally, fed up with my team underperforming year after year, I executed a near-complete swap of teams in a 27-player trade with a team called the Ballbusters. The following season, I lost the World Series for the fifth time in nine seasons. The team that beat me that season? Yep, you guessed it: the Ballbusters. I had just been beaten by my own team.

Rotisserie baseball wasn't much kinder to me. Year after year I suffered from devastating injuries or unexpectedly poor performances. In the BDBL, the curse has seemingly continued with the devastating injuries to Matt Morris, Tim Salmon and Todd Stottlemyre and the unexpectedly poor (in MLB 1999, Tim, not BDBL 1999) performances by Greg Maddux, Darren Dreifort, Carlos Febles, Robb Nen and others.

Need more proof? As you know, Travolta is a big believer in numerology (at least I think he is - he believes a lot of weird stuff.) So let me run some numbers by you. My two favorite numbers are 9 and 15, since my favorite players growing up were Graig Nettles and Thurman Munson. Watch how these two numbers eerily intertwine with facts about Travolta and his first big breakthrough hit, "Welcome Back Kotter":

-- "Welcome Back Kotter" went on the air September 9, 1975. Or 9/9.
-- The show went off the air in August of 1979 - nine days after Munson died.
-- The Sweathogs went to Buchanan High. Buchanan was the 15th president of the U.S..
-- Travolta was born on 2/18/54. 18 divided by two is 9 and 5 plus 4 equals 9.
-- "Barbarino" has nine letters.
-- There were four Sweathogs and five members of the CBL. Add them up and you get - yep - nine.

There you have it. Irrefutable proof that the "Curse of the Barbarino" exists. My theory on this is that when one highly-unlikely event occurs somewhere in the universe, an equally-unlikely event must occur somewhere else to balance it all out. Thus, if Travolta enjoys box office success, my team must not win. This year, Travolta's one major feature, "General's Daughter" was a mild box office bomb (in relative terms for a big star such as himself.) But next summer, Travolta stars in a flick called "Battlefield: Earth" which is supposed to be a big hit. So the way I look at it is: if I'm going to have any chance to win, it will have to be this year.

Llllllet's Get Ready to Rumblllllle!

Yes, it's playoff time. And to get ready for the big month ahead, I've compiled a rundown of all four match-ups in order to get a handle on what to expect. I think we'll see some very exciting games between some very evenly-matched teams with different styles and approaches to the game. Best of luck to everyone involved, and I hope the rest of you tune in from time to time and stay involved over the long, cold winter.

OL Division Series: Salem vs. Stamford

If you thought the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry was heated, you ain't seen nothin' yet. The Salem/Stamford rivalry doesn't go back nearly as far as 1903, but it does have a history as intense as Yankees/Red Sox. Stamford owner Paul Marazita and I battled several times in the old CBL - twice in the post-season. And twice, Marazita's Zoots took the crown away from my beloved "DT's."

This rivalry was established in 1988 when Marazita exploited a flaw in "Earl Weaver Baseball" by calling for that legendary double-steal I mentioned above (note: the flaw was that this play worked EVERY time, since the catcher would unavoidably throw through to second each and every time and the runner on third would easily score on the play.) The rivalry intensified when Marazita's ace, Higuera, tossed that ill-fated one-hitter in the final game of our series against an inexplicably-overmatched DT's offense the following year.

This year, the rivalry has been rekindled. For the most part, Salem has dominated Stamford to the tune of eight wins in twelve games. The Zoots' first victory over Salem this year was due to an inexplicably bad outing by Salem ace Greg Maddux. Maddux allowed ten hits and seven runs in three innings that game as the Zoots rolled to a 10-0 victory. Their second victory came in the final series between these two teams when Robb Nen blew a three-run lead in the ninth. Stamford then closed out their season with two more wins which proved to be costly. In Game Three of their final series, Kevin Brown tossed seven innings of one-run ball. However, unbeknownst to Marazita, Brown only had 6 1/3 innings left in him this season. In Game Four, Rolando Arrojo pitched seven innings of one-hit ball. Arrojo, however, only had one inning left this season. In order for both pitchers to qualify for the playoffs, Stamford will have to pay a million-dollar penalty. It's a steep price to pay next season for a chance to win this season, and with big plans for Stamford in 2000, this will be a tough decision to make.

Offensively, Salem led the Ozzie League in runs scored with 853 - 112 runs more than Stamford. Salem also led the league in on-base percentage at .356 and was third in slugging percentage at .427 and homers at 175. Conversely, Stamford was ninth in the OL in scoring and next-to-last in getting on base. Salem also enjoyed far greater success on the base paths, stealing 164 bases (third in the league) in 238 attempts - a 69-percent success rate. Stamford's success rate, on the other hand, was a paltry .567. Salem's explosive offense resulted in an OL-leading 18 games in which they scored ten runs or more. They set a BDBL record early in the season by scoring 19 times in one game, then broke that record one chapter later by scoring 21 times. They also scored 18 runs in one game this season - against the Zoots.

Salem's offense was built around the first three positions in the batting order, and no one has gotten the job done better than Shannon Stewart, Quilvio Veras and John Olerud. Stewart was undeniably the best leadoff hitter in either league this year. He not only finished with an astounding 126 runs scored (tied for fourth in the OL) and lead the league in stolen bases with 74, but he also smashed 21 homers on the year and finished with a .451 slugging percentage. Veras was second on the team in runs scored (tied for seventh in the OL) with 119. His .390 on-base percentage was second only to Olerud on the Salem team. He also stole 45 bases in 63 attempts. Olerud, the Ozzie League's batting champion at .359, is a major candidate for the OL MVP and Babe Ruth awards. He finished with 40 doubles, 5 triples, 22 homers, 111 runs scored, 131 RBI's, 213 hits and 130 walks. His .474 on-base percentage topped the league and his .554 slugging percentage was fifth. These three players have torn apart Ozzie League pitching all year and have been the foundation upon which this team's league-leading 853 runs was built. After the top three, Salem has the disappointing Tim Salmon (.263/.383/.433) and three players who finished the season with 18-21 homers (Ellis Burks, Gary Gaetti and Terry Steinbach.)

Unlike Salem's lineup, Stamford manager Paul Marazita has filled out a new lineup card for nearly every game this year in an attempt to find a combination that works. This problem was caused by the inexplicably horrendous season by this team's only true leadoff hitter, Omar Vizquel. Vizquel, who hit .288 in the big leagues in 1998 with an OPS of .730, hit just .223 with the Zoots this season with an ugly OPS of just .589. To put that in perspective, Salem shortstop Rey Sanchez (.654 OPS) was a much better offensive shortstop and his lowly backup Kevin Stocker (.560 OPS) wasn't much worse with the stick than Vizquel. With Vizquel struggling, he was often moved to the bottom of the order by Marazita. That robbed this team of its only source of speed at the top of the order (a team-high 51 stolen bases, 41 more than the next-highest total on the team by catcher Brad Ausmus.) Luis Alicea (.180/.271/.262) and even Ausmus (.280/.356/.391) were given try-outs as leadoff hitters, but this team needs Vizquel to snap out of his slump in order to generate some runs. The heart of the order has always been effective. Rafael Palmeiro led the team in homers (37), runs scored (111) and RBI's (120) while slugging .546 (seventh-best in the OL.) Jim Edmonds, despite being constantly ridiculed by his manager as an underperformer, was second on the team in homers with 27, runs scored with 97 and RBI's with 93. The biggest surprise of all is Edgardo Alfonzo, who finished fourth in the league in batting at .332 and compiled a lofty .404 on-base percentage and 18 home runs while driving in 82. Eric Davis, who came to the team just before the deadline, may be a huge factor in the playoffs. Davis hit .358 with a 1.028 OPS after his arrival from the Akron Ryche. He is a powerful right-handed bat in the middle of lefties Palmeiro and Edmonds.

The one area where the Zoots shined head and shoulders above the Cowtippers offensively was grounding into double plays. Salem grounded into more double plays than all but two teams in the Ozzie League while Stamford grounded into the fewest number of double plays in the league. This will be an especially interesting facet of this series, since Salem's pitching staff was second in the league in inducing ground ball double plays (134) while Stamford's pitching staff tied the league lead for the fewest (99). Sort of like the immovable object versus the irresistible force.

The pitching staffs for these two teams finished one and two in the league in ERA, although the Zoots staff topped the Cowtippers staff by nearly a third of a run less. Stamford led the league not only in ERA, but in fewest hits allowed and most strikeouts as well. They allowed FIFTY less runs than any other team in the Ozzie League. Despite their team ERA, Salem's pitchers yielded an astounding number of hits (9.1 per game) and issued more walks than all but three Ozzie League teams. Salem's greatest asset was its ability to keep the ball in the park, with a league-best 114 longballs allowed (two less than Stamford.)

A major difference between these two staffs is how they use their bullpens. With Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson, the Zoots don't necessarily have to go to their bullpen at all on the days when those two are pitching. The Zoots' 22 complete games this year lead the league by a wide margin (the next-highest total was just 14.) Salem, on the other hand, had just nine complete games all year. Salem relies upon Derek Lowe, Graeme Lloyd and (unfortunately) Robb Nen to get the ball to Doug Brocail in the ninth. The Zoots' bullpen, led by John Wetteland and setup men Dan Miceli, Dennis Cook and C.J. Nitkowski, was second in the OL this year in save percentage at 39-percent. They blew just four seventh-inning leads all year and allowed only 27.2 percent of inherited base runners to score (second in the league.) Salem's bullpen (with no help from Nen) blew seven seventh-inning leads and had 16 blown saves to Stamford's 9.

Assuming Stamford pays the penalty and keeps Brown and Arrojo on their playoff roster, the pitching matchups will be Cy Young candidates Greg Maddux vs. Kevin Brown in Game One, sometimes-dominating (sometimes not) lefties Omar Daal vs. Randy Johnson in Game Two, a pair of streaky righties Darren Dreifort vs. Rolando Arrojo in Game Three and a possible matchup of Matt Morris vs. Mark Clark in Game Four.

Defensively, the Zoots finished the season with the best fielding percentage in the league. They committed just 77 errors all season (20 less than any other team) and allowed just 50 unearned runs (also best in the league.) In contrast, only four teams in the OL finished with more unearned runs allowed than Salem. Salem's aggravating defense finished fifth in the league in fielding percentage. They did, however, lead the league in total chances and finished second in double plays (thanks in part to an all ground-ball pitching staff.) Palmeiro and Vizquel led their positions in fielding percentage in the OL (Palmeiro finished just one percentage point above Olerud and the cat-like first baseman for the Litchfield Lightning, Edgar Martinez) while Salem boasted the league leader in fielding at third in the ageless Gaetti. Salem's outfield was far superior to Stamford's in throwing out runners. Salem's outfielders combined for 64 assists on the year while Stamford's outfield totaled just 46. Behind the plate, Ausmus was merely average in terms of throwing out base stealers despite his "Vg" arm. In games where Ausmus caught the entire game, he tossed out just 32-percent of base stealers - one percent below league average. His backup, Mike DiFelice, was significantly better in this area as he gunned down a league-leading 51-percent of stealers. However, DiFelice will be lost to the Division Series due to overuse. Despite their "Av" arms, Salem's catching corps of Steinbach and Mike MacFarlane were well below average this year. Steinbach tossed out just 27-percent of potential base stealers (6th-worst in the OL) while MacFarlane led the league in ineffectiveness at 19-percent (behind such cannon-arms as Chris Hoiles and Mike Piazza.)

This Division Series pits two very similar teams. Both teams have stifling pitching and defense, and both teams have offenses that could explode at any given time. This one could be a BDBL classic. It's a shame it'll last for only five games max.

OL Division Series: Los Altos vs. Litchfield

Until about a week ago, this was a highly-anticipated matchup between two evenly-matched division rivals. Unfortunately for Litchfield, the Antioch Angels and all of the BDBL, it was discovered that Litchfield made the post-season at least in part due to flagrant overuse of eight key players. Now, the matchup between these two teams hardly seems fair, as Litchfield will be playing without its ace David Cone, its top RBI-man Scott Brosius, its number-three pitcher and top-ten ERA finisher Hideki Irabu, its top lefty setup man (and arguably best reliever) Arthur Rhodes, their leadoff hitter Eric Young and valuable role players Marquis Grissom (23 stolen bases), Armando Reynoso (3.94 ERA) and Jimmy Key (4.44 ERA.) What once was a highly-anticipated matchup has degenerated into a league-wide embarassment. And all because Litchfield owner Phil Geisel was too busy building that collossal architectural monument (and official Eighth Wonder of the World) better known as Billy's back porch to spend any time browsing the stats for his own team. Geisel is to fantasy baseball ownership what Ted Turner is to film preservation.

The question now is: what's left for Litchfield? Offensively, without Brosius, the Lightning would probably be best served by switching Edgar Martinez over to third and installing J.T. Snow at first. They'll have to sacrifice a little defense with this move, since Martinez was one of the best at his position this year, but Snow should be able to fill in for Brosius somewhat. In center field, Brady Anderson should be able to step into Grissom's shoes without any problem. At second, Bip Roberts could step in for Young. Although he doesn't have Young's speed, he should be an adequate leadoff man nonetheless.

One important factor in this series is the fact that all four of Los Altos' starters are right-handed, and Litchfield tends to hit righties (.280 avg., .347 OBP, .434 SLG) much better than lefties (.272/.352/.396). Brady Anderson (.273/.400/.432 vs. righties) is far superior to Grissom (.279/.303/.383) against righties, Roberts (.345/.412/.402) is better than Young (.254/.319/.375) and Snow (.306/.389/.468) is comparable to Brosius (.306/.384/.488).

The biggest problem facing Litchfield is replacing Cone and Irabu in the rotation. Litchfield had two pitchers finish in the top-ten in ERA and both will be missing from the post-season rotation. Cone finished third behind Brown and Maddux at 2.69 and Irabu finished seventh with an ERA of 3.38. Denny Neagle will most likely become the ace of the staff now. Neagle, 12-11, barely missed the cut for the top-ten ERA leaders at 3.97. He allowed more hits (237) than innings (224.1), but so did nearly every other starter in the league. Pete Harnisch (7-8 with a 4.34 ERA) was surprisingly bad this year, but is capable of pitching a big game. After those two, the Lightning have no other choice but to go with Jeff Juden. Juden is one of the best pitchers in the game as long as he's facing the Salem Cowtippers. But when he's not, he's godawful. Juden's 5.60 ERA was much higher than any other pitcher on the team who finished with more than 15 innings pitched. He did, however, finish the season with a 7-4 record and allowed just 120 hits in 115.2 innings. If the Lightning should somehow survive all the way to Game Three, they could opt to pitch Neagle and Harnisch on three days rest to close out the series. They might have to, since there are no other viable options. With Mo Vaughn and Larry Walker in the Los Altos lineup, Key would have been the perfect Game Four starter. But that won't happen now.

Los Altos has been the one of the most intriguing stories of the year in the BDBL. They came into the season with low expectations and finished the season with the best record in the Ozzie League (tied with Salem.) The main reason for the low expectations was a starting pitching staff which included Chan Ho Park, Tom Candiotti, Mike Remlinger, Jeremi Gonzalez and Tim Worrell. But thanks to an amazingly-effective bullpen and timely offense, this team got off to a fast start and was in position to add some key players for the stretch run. While Litchfield sat idle for an entire year without making one roster move, Los Altos was busy adding ammunition for the stretch run. Ismael Valdes was acquired from the Chicago Black Sox in exchange for Michael Barrett and others. Valdes went 6-6 for the Undertakers with a 4.10 ERA. And just prior to the Chapter Five trading deadline, Los Altos GM Jeff Paulson added Ramon Martinez (1-3, 3.40) and Mo Vaughn (.318/.399/.605) to the attack. Mike Lansing was also added to shore up the middle defense.

But by far, the biggest surprise on the Los Altos team was ageless wonder Tom "Knucksie" Candiotti, who finished his 1999 campaign with a record of 18-7 and an ERA of 4.09. Playing half his games in a ballpark modeled after Dodger Stadium probably helped the Candy Man become a BDBL legend, but 18 wins is impressive no matter what park you pitch in.

Of course, the main asset to this team has always been - and remains to be - the bullpen. The Undertakers bullpen was simply dominating this season. Led by Trevor Hoffman (who finished the season with 51 saves and a 1.37 ERA) and setup men Scott Elarton (2.86 ERA), Kelvim Escobar (3.10), Chad Bradford (2.73) and John Rocker (4.41), the Los Altos bullpen blew just five seventh-inning leads all year, led the OL in saves with 57, blew just 9-percent of their save opportunities (second in the league behind Stamford) and allowed only 28-percent of inherited runs to score (fourth in the league.) Los Altos' record in one-run games (34-14) is not only a testament to their bullpen, but it led to league-wide debate on Bill James' Pythagorian Theory. As a team, the Undertakers scored only 63 more runs than they allowed, yet they finished with a .619 winning percentage. Los Altos played in a league-high nineteen extra-inning games and escaped from those situations with fifteen wins. Timely hitting and stifling pitching: that's what the Los Altos Undertakers are all about.

On the other side of the diamond, Litchfield had the worst bullpen in the league this year. They led the league with 30 blown saves and blew a mind-numbing NINETEEN games where they were leading after the seventh inning. "Closer" Jeff Shaw finished the season with 37 saves, but also blew ten saves. 52 runners were on base when Jeff Shaw entered games this year and 23 of those runners scored. That's not a fireman. That's a fire-starter. Eric Plunk, who seems to be the main setup man on this team, blew seven saves and finished with an ugly 4.70 ERA. Rhodes was the top lefty setup man, but with him out of the picture that job goes to Scott Radinsky, who compiled a 4.44 ERA this year. Aside from those three, the only other relief pitcher to make an appearance this year - who isn't suspended from the OLDS - is Jim Pittsley. Would the Lightning waste a roster spot on a pitcher with a 7.00-plus ERA? They might have no choice.

Offensively, Los Altos finished fourth in the league in runs scored thanks to three monster mashers in the middle of their lineup. Going from the cozy confines of Coors to the wide open plains of the Graveyard had little effect on Larry Walker, who finished second in the league in batting at .339, fourth in OBP at .450, slugged .533 and scored 120 times in less than 500 at-bats. Providing protection for Walker, Albert Belle simply crushed opposing pitching this year. Belle, who also showed no ill effects from moving from Camden to the Graveyard, finished seventh in the league in hitting (.339), eighth in OBP (.418), second in slugging (.632), second in home runs (50) and first with an astounding 162 runs batted in. As if he even needed protection, Paulson added another big bat in Vaughn, who managed 13 dingers in less than 200 at-bats after he was acquired. The rest of the lineup is filled with role players who all seemed to benefit from a "trickle-down" effect caused by the middle three. Bill Mueller (98) and Darryl Hamilton (94) both scored more than 90 runs batting at the top of the order. Aside from the Big Three, only Mueller (12) finished with double-digits in homers.

It's silly to even begin comparing the numbers for Litchfield and Los Altos, since Los Altos won't be facing the same Litchfield team which "won" a spot in the playoffs to begin with. For instance, Litchfield led the league in stolen bases with 208 and finished second in on-base percentage at .353, but without Brosius, Grissom and Young those numbers don't mean anything. These two teams played each other well during the regular season, with Los Altos gaining a 9-7 edge over Litchfield. But again, the circumstances were far different than they are now.

This series basically boils down to two things: a) can what's left of Litchfield's starting pitching staff keep Walker, Belle and Vaughn at bay?, and b) can Litchfield's watered-down offense score enough runs off Los Altos' starter before the two bullpens come into play? I think the answer to both questions is a resounding "NO", but I've been wrong before. It's a shame it had to end this way. If Los Altos were facing a full-capacity Litchfield team, or if Los Altos were facing a more-deserving Antioch team, this would have been an exciting series. Miracles sometimes seem to happen in baseball, so one can never be too sure about anything. But this one looks like a no-brainer.

EL Division Series: Southern Cal vs. Massillon

How fitting would it be for the Southern California Slyme to be the first-ever BDBL champion? Fitting because the Slyme's owner, Bob Sylvester, actually saved this league back in January when he agreed to take the team less than 24 hours before our second live draft day. (For more about this, stay tuned for my year-end wrap-up.) To say the Slyme have dominated the Eck League this year would be about as much of an understatement as saying the Yankees have dominated baseball during the last century. The Slyme finished the season with 105 wins - SEVENTEEN wins more than any other EL team. Performances such as this are somewhat less unusual in established leagues where teams have been able to stockpile young talent and build upon that talent for years and years. But to win 105 games in the inaugural season of a brand new league is very unusual - and very impressive.

How did the Slyme do it? In one word: pitching. The Slyme were the only team in either league to allow less than 600 runs this year. Their team ERA was 12-percent lower than any other team in the Eck League. They allowed the fewest number of hits and home runs in the league and only one team finished with less walks allowed than Southern Cal. Slyme pitchers held batters to a .245 average, a .308 on-base percentage and a .370 slugging percentage - all league lows. Sixty-percent of games started by Slyme pitchers were so-called "quality starts."

To guage the Slyme's success, look no further than their starting rotation. Tom Glavine, who came to the Slyme at the beginning of Chapter Four in a brilliant trade in exchange for Jeremi Giambi, started fifteen games for the Slyme and earned the win in fourteen of them. Glavine, pitching half his games in pitcher-friendly Slyme Stadium (modeled after Shea Stadium), compiled a microscopic 2.06 ERA with the Slyme and finished the season as the league leader in wins and second in ERA at 2.61. The Slyme's number-two pitcher, David Wells, compiled a disappointing 12-10 record for a first-round draft pick, but his 2.95 ERA in 223 innings kept the Slyme in a lot of ballgames. Wells averaged a respectable 4.4 runs of support per game, but somehow found a way to lead the team in losses nonetheless. Number three pitcher, Bartolo Colon, had similar stats to Wells, finishing with an 11-9 record and a 2.99 ERA in 205 innings.

Another trade which worked out very well for Sylvester and Southern Cal was the mid-season acquisition of Carlos Perez, Greg Vaughn and Jim Corsi from the Delafield Ogres in exchange for Geoff Jenkins, Chris Peters, Rich Loiselle and others. Perez went 11-3 with a 3.75 ERA in 115 innings for the Slyme, Vaughn clubbed an amazing 33 homers in just 270 at-bats (or about one every eight at-bats) and Corsi racked up 19-plus innings of effective middle relief, posting a 1.86 ERA. With the trades for Glavine, Vaughn, Perez and Corsi, the Slyme went from being a good team in Chapter Three to an outstanding team in Chapter Four. In fact, the Slyme won nearly three out of every four games they played after these trades were made. They compiled a 47-33 (.587) record before Chapter Four and went 58-22 (.725) after.

The Slyme's dominating pitching doesn't end with the starting staff. The bullpen was equally impressive, led by Tom Gordon who was perhaps the best reliever in either league this year. Gordon finished the 1999 season with a record of 7-2, an ERA of 1.15 and just 39 hits allowed in 70 innings. He saved 39 games on the year in 42 chances and held batters to a .160 batting average. Setup men for Gordon are Corsi, Stan Belinda (3.80 ERA), Mike Myers (3.48), Donne Wall (3.78) and John Wasdin (2.45). Of the twenty pitchers who pitched for the Slyme this year, only five of them compiled an ERA above 3.80.

Offensively, the Slyme was a little less impressive. Southern Cal finished 11th in the Eck League in batting at .261, 10th in OBP at .332, 8th in slugging at .416 and 6th in runs scored. Like most Eck League teams, the Slyme did well on the base paths, stealing 178 bases in 248 attempts (72-percent.) Like the Atlanta Braves, who also feature strong pitching, the Slyme's offense relies heavily upon Chipper Jones. Jones finished 8th in the EL in on-base percentage at .398 and led the team in home runs (34), runs scored (102) and RBI (100.) Vaughn was a tremendous acquisition for the Slyme, as he provided valuable protection for Jones down the stretch. Kenny Lofton did a decent job at leadoff, compiling a .361 on-base average, scoring 90 runs and leading the league in stolen bases with 75. Lofton was caught only 17 times all season (an 82-percent success rate.) Tino Martinez (.278/.357/.447), Brian McRae (.279/.383/.457) and Luis Gonzalez (.281/.347/.440) provided solid filler for the rest of the lineup, as did late-comer Travis Fryman, who slugged .523 over the final two chapters of the season.

Defensively, the Slyme finished third in the league in fielding percentage. Their catching platoon of Brian Johnson and Kelly Stinnett allowed only one passed ball all season, but gunned down only 22- and 31-percent of base-stealers this year, respectively. In the outfield, right fielder McRae finished fifth in the league in assists with 22.

Drawing the unfortunate assignment of facing the Slyme in the Division Series is the Massillon Tigerstrikes. The Tigerstrikes fended off the Delafield Ogres and Ft. Lauderdale Marlins for most of the season and finished with a record of 86-74. That record is fortunate, considering the Tigerstrikes only outscored their opponents by 17 runs this year.

Massillon finished the year in the middle of the pack both offensively and on the mound. They finished 8th in average, 10th in OBP, 7th in slugging, 9th in runs and 7th in home runs. They did, however, lead the league in stolen bases with 181 thanks to Tony Womack (64), Shawn Green (46) and three other players with more than fifteen. Green was the offensive star of the team, hitting 31 doubles, 31 homers, scoring 102 runs, driving in 100 and stealing 46 bases in 58 attempts. Jose Canseco led the team in homers with 44, and knocked in 108 runs on the year, but managed just a .237 average and .314 OBP while whiffing 163 times. Massillon finished third in the league in strikeouts thanks to Canseco, Green (136) and Jose Hernandez (154). That probably will hurt them against Southern Cal, whose pitching staff finished fourth in the league in strikeouts.

Aside from Green, Canseco and Hernandez (who hit 23 homers on the year), Massillon also featured the big bats of Dante Bichette, who was acquired from New Milford in exchange for C.C. Sebathia, and Jason Giambi. Bichette hit .325/.355/.507 in 428 at-bats after he was acquired at the beginning of Chapter Three. Giambi led the team in on-base percentage at .407 and slugging at .524, clubbed 28 homers and drove in 89 runs.

Massillon's pitching staff finished fifth in the EL in ERA and third in fewest home runs allowed. Their starters compiled the third-fewest number of complete games this year as only Roger Clemens and Shane Reynolds contributed to that category. Clemens (19-6, 2.72 ERA, 264 K's in 248 innings) was the undeniable ace of the staff and a possible MVP candidate. Reynolds (14-15, 4.00) was a capable number-two pitcher who finished fifth in the league in strikeouts with 187. Brian "Sand Man" Moehler (12-9, 4.09), like Reynolds, is a control artist who walked just 60 batters in 213 2/3 innings. Moehler finished fourth in the league in inducing ground ball double plays. With Clemens likely matching up twice against Southern Cal's ace Glavine twice, Massillon might be able to stay close enough to win those games. One more win from Reynolds or Moehler and they could advance to the Championship Series.

If Massillon decides to use a fourth starter, that assignment would probably go to Tyler Green. But Green compiled an ugly 5.61 ERA over 157 1/3 innings this year, walked 105 batters and served up 30 homers in the process. The only other options are Julio Santana (5-6, 4.60) or Jarrod Washburn (1-6, 3.29) - although Washburn would be limited to five innings due to the number of innings he pitched in '98. A more viable option for Massillon may be to start Clemens and Reynolds on three days rest.

Massillon's bullpen led the leagues in saves this year. With Steve Reed (7-4, 3 SV, 3.13 ERA) setting up from the right side, Ricardo Rincon (6-4, 7, 3.36) setting up from the left, and Mariano Rivera (3-5, a league-leading 43 saves and a 2.90 ERA) closing, this bullpen was one of the reasons why Massillon's starters had so few complete games. Washburn and Greg Keagle (3.50 ERA) have also been used in middle relief.

Defensively, Massillon was third-from-last in fielding percentage with a second-worst 153 errors. No Massillon starter had less than 11 errors this year (including catcher Jeff Reed, first baseman Giambi and all three outfielders.) Even pitcher Tyler Green had seven miscues on the year. On the positive side, center fielder Shawn Green finished fourth in the EL in assists with 23.

Southern Cal and Massillon met twelve times this year and Massillon walked away with just three wins. In fact, no team in the entire BDBL can claim a series advantage over Southern Cal. The key to this series is whether Massillon's power hitters are able to connect off of Southern Cal's three aces. All it takes are one or two mistake pitches per game and Massillon is right in the thick of things. But the odds are against it.

EL Division Series: Oakville vs. Bourbannais

The Hrbek Division has been a dogfight all season long, with Oakville, Bourbannais and California swapping the division lead on a weekly basis. How appropriate, then, that these two teams should meet in the first round of the playoffs. Not only that, but Bourbannais earned their place in this series by beating California in a one-game playoff to determine the EL wild card winner.

Offensively, Oakville and Bourbannais finished with identical .270 batting averages, but that's where the similarities end. The Marauders scored 113 more runs than the Bad Boys, slugged 61 points higher, hit 114 more home runs and stole 13 more bases. Oakville was second in the EL in home runs (241) and runs scored (826) while Bourbannais was last in slugging percentage (.397), 11th in homers (127) and 11th in runs scored (713.) On the plus side for Bourbannais, they struck out fewer times than any other team in the league and were fourth in the league in on-base percentage.

Seven of the nine hitters in Oakville's lineup finished the 1999 season with more than 20 homers: Ken Griffey, Jr. (50), Javy Lopez (47), Ray Lankford (41 combined at three different stops), Todd Zeile (28), Raul Mondesi (25), Tony Clark (24) and Chuck Knoblauch (21). The Bad Boys had just two 20-homer hitters: Todd Helton (22) and Bret Boone (20). How deep is Oakville's offense? Todd Walker, Oakville's backup second baseman to all-star Knoblauch, finished second in the EL batting race at .329. And B.J. Surhoff, who was relegated to fourth outfielder status after Lankford was acquired, hit .298 on the year with an OPS of .846 and 14 home runs.

As wide as the disparity was at the plate between these two teams, it was equally as wide on the mound. Bourbannais finished third in the league in ERA at 3.71, averaged only 8.5 hits allowed per game, had the fourth-lowest number of walks issued in the league and the second-highest number of strike-outs. Oakville finished 8th in ERA at 4.40, averaged 9.5 hits per game, led the league in walks by a wide margin (42 more than the next-highest total) and struck out fewer hitters than any other pitching staff in the EL.

The ace of the Bourbannais staff was Al Leiter, who finished with a modest record of 11-7 and a league-leading 2.43 ERA. The Bad Boys' number-two starter, Kerry Wood, was limited to only 162 2/3 innings, but equaled Leiter's win total and finished sixth in ERA at 2.99. Wood allowed an average of just 5.8 hits per game while striking out an average of 12.5. Scott Erickson (14-11, 3.71) turned in a surprisingly good year as the third starter, and Dwight Gooden (12-7, 3.26) was often brilliant as the fourth starter. Gooden yielded just 118 hits in 138 innings.

Oakville's ace turned out to be Bobby Jones (of Mets fame, not Rockies.) Jones won 16 games and finished with a respectable 3.68 ERA over 205 2/3 innings. He gave up his fair share of hits (234) as well as home runs (27), but was able to work around any jams. Tim Belcher (14-11, 4.37) was effective as a number two pitcher, yielding just over a hit per inning. Mike Hampton (11-10, 5.24) had a very disappointing season despite inducing a league-leading 33 ground-ball double-plays. The number four starter in the playoffs could be either Darryl Kile (11-11, 4.92) or Dave Mlicki (3-10, 5.95).

The Oakville and Bourbannais bullpens were nearly identical. They both saved 48 games, they both blew five seventh-inning leads and Oakville's bullpen blew 17 saves to Bourbannais' 19. The one area where the Bad Boys' bullpen shined over the Marauders was in allowing inherited runners to score. Bourbannais allowed just 28.6-percent of these runners to score while Oakville finished with a league-worst 41.1-percent. Oakville employed an all-Colorado bullpen with Mike DeJean (7-5, 3 SV, 2.84 ERA) and Jerry DiPoto (4-4, 0, 3.39) setting up ace closer Chuck McElroy. McElroy was one of the more surprising players in the BDBL, finishing the year with a second-best 40 saves, an 8-2 record and a microscopic 1.01 ERA. Bourbannais' closer Billy Wagner, who was acquired from the New Milford Blazers organization before Chapter Three, was mysteriously used for only 20 1/3 innings - 17 less than he was allowed under league rules. Wagner was impressive in his short time, racking up a 1.33 ERA and 10 saves while fanning 34 batters. Terry Mulholland (10-7, 12 SV, 3.53 ERA) received the bulk of the middle innings work, with Shiggy Hasegawa (5-5, 2, 3.33) and Rich Rodriguez (1-1, 0, 5.06) filling out the rest of the pen.

Defensively, Bourbannais - who employ three "Ex" fielders in the infield - finished second in the EL in fielding percentage while Oakville finished eighth. Oakville led the league in double plays, partly because their pitchers threw so many ground balls and partly because their pitchers threw so many pitches. Behind the plate, Boubannais' catching duo of Kirt Manwaring and Matt Walbeck finished with 20- and 27-percent caught-stealing rates in games in which they played the full nine innings. Oakville's Lopez finished just above the league average at 33-percent. The outfield arms for both teams were nearly identical: 62 assists for Oakville's outfielders, 60 for Bourbannais.

With the Marauders' bullpen and power bats, they have an uncanny ability to put together big innings when they need them. Oakville came from behind 14 times in games they were losing after seven innings - more than any other team in the BDBL except Akron. The Marauders also won 14 games where they were tied after seven (second-most in the EL to Southern Cal) and won 12 of 18 extra-inning games. With McElroy in the bullpen, a starting lineup full of power bats and a bench filled with players like Todd Walker and B.J. Surhoff, the Bad Boys will need to score early and often. They've done it before. Nine times this season to be exact. This should be a very exciting and evenly-matched series pitting excellent hitting against excellent pitching and defense.