Round Two: Lake County 4, Mohawk Valley 1

Game recaps from the Strat box scores. In this round two matchup, the No. 5 Mohawk Valley Lions (93-69) met the No. 8 Lake County Nighthawks (88-74).

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Game One
Nighthawks 4, Lions1

Starters: Sonny Gray @ Stephen Strasburg

Sonny Gray delivered 8 solid innings at The Lion's Den where the Lake County Nighthawks beat the Mohawk Valley Lions by the score of 4 to 1.

Lake County scored 2 runs in the 5th inning with the help of 3 hits. It was enough to earn the victory.  Wade Davis pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 1st save.

Gray (1-0) got the win allowing 1 run in 8 innings. Joe Smith (0-1) was given the loss in relief. He gave up 1 run and 1 hit in 1 2/3 innings.

Round Two: Spokane 4, Death Valley 2

Game recaps from the Strat box scores. In this round two matchup, the No. 2 Death Valley Drivers (103-59) met the No. 3 Spokane Hooded Crows (99-63).

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Game One
Crows 6, Drivers 3

Starters: Clayton Kershaw @ Gerrit Cole

Alex Rodriguez slammed a home run as the Spokane Hooded Crows defeated the Death Valley Drivers by a score of 6 to 3 at Drivers Stadium.

Spokane scored the decisive runs in a big 8th inning with 2 runs on 3 hits. Chris Colabello got things going when he lofted a solo-blast downtown. After an out was recorded, Danny Valencia came to the plate and lined a one-base hit. Kyle Blanks then reached on an error. Jose Iglesias stepped in and he banged out a single scoring the final run of the inning. Spokane banged out 12 hits on the night.

Clayton Kershaw (1-2) was the winner allowing 3 runs in 7 innings. Roberto Osuna got the save, his 1st.  Clay Buchholz (0-1) absorbed the loss in relief. He surrendered 2 runs and 4 hits in 1 1/3 innings. 

Round One: Lake County 4, Goldenrod 1

Game recaps from the Strat box scores. In this round one matchup, the No. 1 Goldenrod Gators (108-54) met the No. 8 Lake County Nighthawks (88-74).

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Game One
Nighthawks 3, Gators 1

Starters: Sonny Gray @ Dallas Keuchel

Second baseman Jose Altuve had 2 base hits and Sonny Gray went the distance as the Lake County Nighthawks defeated the Goldenrod Gators by a score of 3 to 1 at Gator Grounds.

Lake County delivered all the runs required in the 5th inning when they scored 3 runs on 3 hits. The key at-bat was by Adonis Garcia who silenced the stadium when he ripped a one-base hit scoring two baserunners. The Goldenrod batters didn't put up a fight in the bottom of the 9th.

The winning pitcher was Gray (1-0), who allowed 1 run for the game. Dallas Keuchel (0-1) was the losing pitcher. He gave up 3 runs and 6 hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Round One: Spokane 4, St. Louis 3

Game recaps from the Strat box scores. In this round one matchup, the No. 3 Spokane Hooded Crows (96-63) met the No. 6 St. Louis Maulers (93-69).

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Game One
Crows 4, Maulers 0

Starters: Jacob deGrom @ Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke took a no-hitter into the 6th inning at The Crows Nest where the Spokane Hooded Crows beat the St. Louis Maulers 4 to 0.

Greinke (1-0) was indeed brilliant as he hand-cuffed the St. Louis offense. He didn't allow much, just 2 hits and 1 walk in 7 innings. Greinke whiffed an impressive total of 8 St. Louis batters.  The right-handed Greinke lost his chance for a no-hitter when Nick Hundley singled with nobody out in the 6th inning. Both teams' bats went to sleep after the 3rd inning, with no runs scored after that point.

Jacob deGrom (0-1) absorbed the loss. He pitched 7 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 walks.

Round One: Death Valley 4, Cape Cod 2

Game recaps from the Strat box scores. In this round one matchup, the No. 2 Death Valley Drivers (103-59) met the No. 7 Cape Cod Breakers (93-69).

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Game One
Drivers 6, Breakers 2

Starters: Colby Lewis @ Gerrit Cole

The Death Valley Drivers bested the Cape Cod Breakers by a 6 to 2 score at Drivers Stadium.

Gerrit Cole (1-0) had a solid outing for Death Valley. He went 6 innings surrendering 4 hits and 1 walk. Death Valley had 11 hits for the game and Cape Cod had 8.

Cole got help from Clay Buchholz who was credited with his 1st save. Colby Lewis (0-1) took the loss. He was touched for 8 hits and 2 walks in 5 1/3 innings. 

Round One: Mohawk Valley 4, Elysian Fields 2

Game recaps from the Strat box scores. In this round one matchup, the No. 4 Elysian Fields Flying Dutchmen (94-68) met the No. 5 Mohawk Valley Lions (93-69).

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Game One
Dutchmen 4, Lions 0

Starters: David Price @ Jake Arrieta

Jake Arrieta came through with a solid 8 innings at Elysian Fields where the Elysian Fields Flying Dutchmen beat the Mohawk Valley Lions 4 to 0.

Arrieta (1-0) was indeed brilliant as he hand-cuffed the Mohawk Valley offense. He surrendered only 2 hits and 1 walk in 8 innings. Elysian Fields finished with 8 hits while Mohawk Valley ended up with 4.

Arrieta got help from Trevor Rosenthal who earned his 1st save. David Price (0-1) was the losing pitcher. He pitched 5 innings and surrendered 4 hits and 1 walk.

Final Power Ranking For 2016

The final poll for the 2016 season. Teams sorted by wins. Ties broken by run differential.

For the first time, OPS+ and ERA+ are adjusted for ballpark context.

RD stands for run differential and Pyth for Pythagorean winning percentage. BB% and SO/BB ratio do not include intentional walks.

Power Ranking 

No	Team	W	L	PCT	Division	R/G	OPS+	RA/G	ERA+	Pyth	RD
1	Goldenrod	108	54	.667	Central	4.62	124	3.12	119	.671	+243
2	Death Valley	103	59	.636	Atlantic	5.20	116	4.19	105	.597	+164
3	Spokane	99	63	.611	Pacific	3.75	93	3.13	131	.581	+100
4	Elysian Fields	94	68	.580	Pacific	4.89	116	4.23	99	.565	+106
5	Mohawk Valley	93	69	.574	Atlantic	4.75	117	3.74	105	.607	+164
	St. Louis	93	69	.574	Central	3.80	86	3.10	141	.591	+113
	Cape Cod	93	69	.574	Northeast	4.73	126	4.14	94	.560	+96
8	Miami	90	72	.556	Northeast	4.15	96	3.99	106	.517	+25
9	Lake County	88	74	.543	Central	4.40	110	4.14	102	.528	+43
10	Brooklyn	82	80	.506	Pacific	3.97	91	4.04	105	.492	–11
11	Wilmington	79	83	.488	Atlantic	4.45	105	4.32	94	.513	+21
12	Fighting Irish	77	85	.475	Northeast	4.27	98	4.59	101	.467	–52
13	Rosehill	75	87	.463	Central	4.12	92	4.14	104	.499	–2
14	Northwest	74	88	.457	Pacific	3.71	82	4.10	107	.454	–64
15	West Side	73	89	.451	Northeast	4.59	98	5.32	87	.434	–118
16	Rochester	72	90	.444	Atlantic	3.79	94	4.07	100	.467	–46
17	Northeast	70	92	.432	Northeast	3.97	96	4.68	89	.426	–115
18	California	68	94	.420	Pacific	3.74	95	4.37	93	.430	–102
19	Sudbury	51	111	.315	Atlantic	3.83	91	5.12	83	.371	–210
20	Little Rock	38	124	.235	Central	3.43	75	5.62	78	.290	–355

Ballpark-Adjusted Team Statistics For 2016

Note: I updated this file with a corrected calculation for ERA+ (March 18, 2017).

We have a complete record of game-by-game line scores for the 2016 season, and that enables me to compute comprehensive park factors for all teams.

The point of this exercise is to (1) highlight the ways in which various parks affect run scoring, and (2) to create Baseball-Reference-style index metrics, specifically OPS+ and ERA+.

Please see this page to learn more about how the calculations are made. Teams are sorted here in descending order of park factor, where 100 is average.

No	Team	Home R/G	Road R/G	Park Factor	Multiplier
1	Little Rock	9.68	8.43	115	1.074
2	Fighting Irish	9.46	8.27	114	1.072
3	Death Valley	9.99	8.78	114	1.069
4	Rosehill	8.74	7.78	112	1.062
5	St. Louis	7.25	6.57	110	1.052
6	West Side	10.36	9.47	109	1.047
7	Northwest	8.15	7.48	109	1.045
8	Miami	8.48	7.80	109	1.044
9	Brooklyn	8.28	7.73	107	1.036
10	Sudbury	9.16	8.74	105	1.024
11	Lake County	8.63	8.44	102	1.011
12	Northeast	8.53	8.77	97	0.987
13	Wilmingotn	8.59	8.95	96	0.980
14	Rochester	7.59	8.14	93	0.967
15	Elysian Fields	8.79	9.46	93	0.965
	Spokane	6.63	7.12	93	0.965
17	California	7.74	8.48	91	0.956
18	Mohawk Valley	7.77	9.22	84	0.921
19	Cape Cod	7.85	9.88	80	0.898
20	Goldenrod	6.65	8.81	75	0.877

Little Rock played as the most hitter-friendly park in the league with a factor of 115. This means that Scorpions home games featured 15 percent more runs than Scorpions in road games. At the other end of the spectrum, Goldenrod played in a park featuring a factor of 75, meaning that Gators home games saw 25 percent fewer runs than Gators road games.

2016 Wrap: Award Winners & League Leaders

A recap collecting important—or at least interesting—tidbits from the just-concluded 2016 season.

Postseason Awards

Here are the MMDA end-of-season award winners, as selected by the Strat-O-Matic game engine. The wins above replacement (WAR) metric is generated by the game engine, too, and though it exists in every computer version of the game I own, I just noticed it for the first time this year.

MVP
Player	Team	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	BB	SO	SB	OBP	SLG	WAR
C.Kershaw	Crows	See Cy Young Award table below
B.Harper	Dutchmen	556	31	0	44	119	.324	117	128	5	.443	.617	9.6
A.McCutchen	Lions	617	32	8	28	82	.246	100	152	8	.365	.460	7.6
M.Trout	Dodgers	592	28	9	37	93	.285	66	177	2	.366	.551	8.5
J.Votto	N'hawks	558	25	4	29	83	.276	136	133	3	.421	.491	6.4

Elysian Fields right fielder Bryce Harper, the top position player in MVP balloting, led the MMDA in home runs (44), RBIs (119), on-base percentage (.443) slugging percentage (.617) and runs scored (119). He narrowly lost the batting title to Rochester's Christian Yelich, who out-hit him by a count of .327 to .324. Harper also walked 117 times, which ranked second in the league only to Lake County's Joey Votto and his 136 free passes.

CY YOUNG
Pitchers	Team	W	L	ERA	GS	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	HR	H9	BB9	SO9	WAR
C.Kershaw	Crows	22	4	1.94	32	0	251	157	61	315	14	5.6	2.2	11.3	10.8
J.deGrom	Maulers	21	4	2.38	31	0	185	131	49	201	15	6.4	2.4	9.8	6.7
D.Keuchel	Gators	19	6	2.48	36	0	254	192	65	228	20	6.8	2.3	8.1	8.4
J.Lackey	Gators	23	8	2.92	37	0	240	225	54	167	16	8.4	2.0	6.3	6.2
Z.Greinke	Crows	17	6	1.51	31	0	244	162	55	209	13	6.0	2.0	7.7	12.4

Spokane lefthander Clayton Kershaw led the MMDA in strikeouts (315), winning percentage (.846) and shutouts (eight), but he cemented his Cy Young and MVP candidacy by finishing runner-up in five other important categories: wins (22), ERA (1.94), innings (251), strikeout rate per nine innings (11.31) and opponent average (.176).