Elysian Fields Wins 2018 World Series

Here are the Strat game recaps from the 2018 World Series, in which the No. 1 Elysian Fields Dutchmen defeated the No. 2 Mohawk Valley Lions four games to none.

Game One
Dutchmen 5, Lions 4
Zack Greinke @ Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer retired 10 batters on strikeouts at Elysian Fields as the Elysian Fields Flying Dutchmen beat the Mohawk Valley Lions by the count of 5 to 4.

Scherzer (3-2) delivered a fine performance for Elysian Fields. He went 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 3 walks. Mohawk Valley made it exciting in the 9th, but they were unable to push the needed runs across.

Scherzer got help from Roberto Osuna who earned his 3rd save. The loss was charged to Andrew Miller (0-1) in relief.

Active MMDA Manager Register 2018

A complete statistical record for the MMDA goes back to 1995. That's the line of demarcation I used to create our league's all-time managerial register.

Managers are ranked by Fibonacci win points. This concept was introduced by Bill James in his book Whatever Happened To The Hall Of Fame? It balances teams' win totals with their winning percentage to arrive at one pleasing number.

The formula is simply wins (times) winning percentage (plus) wins (minus) losses. So rather than rank managers by total wins or by winning percentage, I chose to rank them by Fibonacci win points to balance quality (winning percentage) and quantity (career wins).

Note the return of Jeff Olson and subtraction of Mike Johnson in this year's register. Jeff previously managed in the MMDA from 2002 to 2004 and from 2007 to 2012 before returning in 2018 with a playoff team.  

No	Manager	W	L	Pct	Yrs	Playoff	HighW	HighL	Fibonacci
1	John Tresca	2221	1667	.571	24	17	120	124	1823
2	Ray Ross	2183	1705	.561	24	20	117	92	1704
3	Steven Tresca	2123	1765	.546	24	18	108	123	1517
4	James Bailey	2047	1841	.526	24	13	105	102	1284
5	Matt Eddy	1420	1334	.516	17	10	113	113	818
6	Steve Frediani	1855	2033	.477	24	9	106	116	707
7	John Lamanna	815	643	.559	9	7	108	85	628
8	Jim Baker	1787	2101	.460	24	2	112	117	507
9	Tim Ednoff	615	519	.542	7	4	99	89	430
10	Jim Derer	611	523	.539	7	3	101	87	417
11	Mike Siddon	1347	1569	.462	18	2	98	103	400
12	George O'Connor	591	543	.521	7	4	103	95	356
13	Jeff Olson	771	849	.476	10	4	109	118	289
14	Clyde Elkins	488	484	.502	6	3	113	102	249
15	Ryan McCabe	620	676	.478	8	2	93	108	241
16	Tom Edwards	468	504	.481	6	1	90	105	189
17	Jim Gruttadauria	532	602	.469	7	1	87	98	180
18	Dave Jones	569	727	.439	8	1	88	106	92
19	Kevin Kasunich	180	306	.370	3	0	65	111	-59
20	Mike Renick	198	450	.306	4	0	62	124	-192

Remember, this data covers the 1995 through 2018 seasons.

James Bailey won his 2,000th game in 2018. Matt Eddy can reach 1,500 by winning at least 80 games in 2019.
 
In the sample period, John Tresca has won the most division titles with 10. Next on the list are Matt Eddy and Ray Ross (seven each), James Bailey (five), John Lamanna (four) and Steve Frediani and Jeff Olson (three each).

Draft Order For 2019

With the 2018 World Series complete, we know the order of selection for the first round of the 2019 draft. The top three picks were determined by a lottery system.

Ties are indicated with an asterisk (*). Explanation of tiebreakers is included at the end.

1. West Side Bluejays
2. Cape Cod Breakers
3. Little Rock Scorpions
4. Sudbury Snappers
5. Spokane Hooded Crows *
6. Lake County Nighthawks *
7. Rochester Pilots
8. Miami Hustlers **
9. Northeast Huskies **
10. Goldenrod Gators
11. California Roadrunners
12. Wilmington Razorbacks
13. Northwest Stars
14. Fighting Irish
15. Brooklyn Dodgers
16. Death Valley Drivers (held by Spokane)
17. Yankee Clippers (held by Northwest)
18. Rosehill Hornets
19. Mohawk Valley Lions (held by Rochester)
20. Elysian Fields Flying Dutchmen (held by West Side)

Note that the draft order will revert to reverse order of finish for the second round and all subsequent rounds. That means the 103-loss Breakers will lead off the second round, followed by the Scorpions (100 losses) and Bluejays (98 losses).

* Teams went 3-3 in head-to-head play. Spokane went 21-51 inside its division, and Lake County went 32-40.

** Northeast went 11-7 against division rival Miami.

Final Power Ranking For 2018

The final poll for the 2018 season. Teams sorted by wins. Ties broken by run differential.

OPS+ and ERA+ are adjusted for ballpark context.

RD run differential
PF park factor multiplier
BB% does not include intentional walks
SPD speed score
BABIP is a rough estimate of team defensive efficiency

Power Ranking 

No	Team	W	L	PCT	Division	R/G	OPS+	RA/G	ERA+	PF	RD
1	Elysian Fields	113	49	.698	Pacific	5.72	124	3.44	121	0.932	+369
2	Mohawk Valley	102	60	.630	Atlantic	5.16	110	4.01	113	0.980	+186
3	Death Valley	100	62	.617	Atlantic	5.91	111	4.27	116	1.086	+265
4	Brooklyn	97	65	.599	Pacific	5.48	111	4.35	108	1.033	+183
5	Rosehill	97	65	.599	Central	5.06	116	4.41	98	0.904	+105
6	Yankee	90	72	.556	Central	4.82	96	4.28	116	1.077	+87
7	Fighting	86	76	.531	Northeast	5.42	108	5.04	101	1.050	+62
8	Northwest	85	77	.525	Pacific	4.54	94	4.27	109	0.974	+44
9	Wilmington	82	80	.506	Atlantic	5.21	106	5.38	88	1.025	–28
10	California	81	81	.500	Pacific	4.35	105	4.33	105	0.917	+2
11	Goldenrod	77	85	.475	Central	4.35	88	4.65	110	1.090	–49
12	Northeast	76	86	.469	Northeast	4.17	92	4.62	94	0.909	–73
13	Miami	76	86	.469	Northeast	4.02	87	5.06	92	0.991	–168
14	Rochester	74	88	.457	Atlantic	5.01	108	5.42	82	0.979	–66
15	Lake County	67	95	.414	Central	4.54	96	4.86	101	1.043	–51
16	Spokane	67	95	.414	Pacific	3.49	81	4.87	85	0.905	–224
17	Sudbury	65	97	.401	Atlantic	4.51	83	5.22	103	1.143	–115
18	West Side	64	98	.395	Northeast	4.75	92	5.55	99	1.135	–130
19	Little Rock	62	100	.383	Central	4.92	97	5.91	78	1.031	–161
20	Cape Cod	59	103	.364	Northeast	3.57	89	5.04	79	0.854	–238

2018 Wrap: Award Winners & League Leaders

A recap collecting important—or at least interesting—tidbits from the 2018 season.

Postseason Awards

Here are the MMDA end-of-season award winners, as selected by the Strat-O-Matic game engine. 

MVP
Player	Team	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	BB	SO	SB	OBP	SLG
G.Stanton	Dutchmen	634	40	3	71	169	.312	89	167	2	.404	.721
M.Scherzer	Dutchmen	See Cy Young Voting
A.Judge	Hornets	560	23	3	44	111	.271	44	158	2	.422	.559
B.Dozier	Dutchmen	657	36	0	31	94	.254	64	141	6	.328	.451
J.Martinez	Lions	473	32	6	48	109	.304	78	138	1	.400	.702

Dutchmen right fielder Giancarlo Stanton led the MMDA with 71 home runs, 169 RBIs, 153 runs and a .721 slugging percentage. He placed seventh in the batting race (.312) and ranked seventh with 89 walks and fifth with a .404 on-base percentage.

Stanton's prodigious power display in terms of homers and RBIs rank him among the best in league history since 2002, which is as far back as I have comprehensive records. His 71 homers ranks second only to Barry Bonds, who hit 82 for Rochester in 2002. Bonds also drove in 180 runs that season, which is the highest total on record. Stanton's 169 RBIs this year ranks fifth since 2002.

CY YOUNG
Pitcher	Team	W	L	ERA	GS	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	HR	AVG	BB9	SO9
M.Scherzer	Dutchmen	20	5	2.60	31	0	215	116	66	272	36	.157	2.8	11.4
S.Strasburg	Lions	18	4	2.72	30	0	195	127	34	212	22	.182	1.6	9.8
J.Verlander	Lions	20	7	3.68	33	0	215	189	78	237	25	.231	9.9	3.3
R.Ray	Dutchmen	14	3	3.61	27	0	175	112	65	215	22	.181	3.3	11.1
Z.Greinke	Lions	17	10	3.49	31	0	222	167	63	223	24	.206	2.6	9.0

Dutchmen righthander Max Scherzer led the MMDA with 20 wins and a .157 opponent average. He placed second to Miami's Corey Kluber with a 2.60 ERA and third to Kluber and Elysian Fields teammate Chris Sale with 272 strikeouts.

The Lions placed three pitchers among the Cy Young Award finalists and had a fourth starter record 200 strikeouts. Righthander Yu Darvish went 12-11 with a 3.93 ERA and 215 strikeouts in 204 innings.