Round One: Spokane 4, Rosehill 1

Game recaps from the Strat-generated box scores. In this Round One matchup, the No. 3 Rosehill Hornets (101-61) had home-field advantage versus the No. 6 Spokane Hooded Crows (88-74).

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Game One
Crows 4, Hornets 1

Starters: Zack Greinke @ Jason Hammel

Zack Greinke went 8 strong innings as the Spokane Hooded Crows outscored the Rosehill Hornets 4 to 1.

Spokane scored the winning runs in the top of the 9th inning with 3 runs on 3 hits. James Loney got things going when he stroked a base-hit. Zach Walters stepped up to the plate and he popped a two-run clout over the fence. Martin Maldonado then doubled. D.J. Lemahieu came up and he laid down a sacrifice bunt. Zack Cozart stepped into the box and hit a deep fly. Overall Spokane out-hit Rosehill 9 to 4.

Greinke (1-0) got credit for the victory, pitching 8 innings and allowing 1 run. Greinke got relief help from Tony Sipp who gained credit for his 1st save. Jason Hammel (0-1) suffered the loss. He allowed 2 runs and 7 hits in 8 innings.

Round One: Mohawk Valley 4, Rochester 2

Game recaps from the Strat-generated box scores. In this Round One matchup, the No. 2 Mohawk Valley Lions (113-49) had home-field advantage versus the No. 7 Rochester Pilots (86-76).

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Game One
Pilots 2, Lions 1

Starters: Jake Arrieta @ Garrett Richards

In a thriller the Rochester Pilots staged a dramatic comeback then held on to win over the Mohawk Valley Lions by a score of 2 to 1 at The Lion's Den.

Rochester scored the decisive runs in a big 9th inning with 2 runs utilizing 2 base hits. After an out was recorded, Matt Adams began the Rochester spurt when he doubled. Devin Mesoraco came to the plate and bombed a two-run dinger. Both teams totaled 6 hits on the night. 

Jordan Walden (1-0) picked up the victory, allowing no runs in 1 inning. Walden got relief help from Joaquin Benoit who gained credit for his 1st save. Joe Smith(0-1) suffered the loss in relief. He surrendered 2 runs and 2 hits in 1 inning.

2015 Wrap: Award Winners & League Leaders

A recap collecting important—or at least interesting—tidbits from the recently-concluded 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	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS
A. McCutchen	Lions	579	46	5	31	100	.325	112	138	12	0	.441	.582	1.023
M. Trout	Dodgers	649	36	12	41	119	.288	82	220	7	1	.373	.570	.943
A. Jones	Stars	676	35	2	34	124	.291	28	150	6	0	.324	.500	.824
B. Dozier	Stars	615	32	3	24	83	.224	103	132	19	3	.344	.403	.748
G. Stanton	Irish	593	33	1	51	137	.263	87	177	2	4	.360	.580	.940

McCutchen led the league in on-base percentage (.441), slugging (.582), walks (112) and runs scored (124). He ranked fourth in the batting race (.325). He previously won the MVP award in 2013, when he hit .296 with 45 homers and 118 RBIs.

CY YOUNG
Pitchers	Team	W	L	ERA	GS	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	HR	H9	BB9	SO9	HR9
D. Price	Lions	20	8	3.16	33	0	233	214	38	234	27	8.3	1.5	9.0	1.0
S. Strasburg	Lions	19	9	2.61	33	0	231	181	43	257	31	7.1	1.7	10.0	1.2
J. Smith	Lions	3	4	2.15	0	47	71	39	15	63	4	4.9	1.9	8.0	0.5
C. Kimbrel	Stars	3	2	1.66	0	42	65	29	21	90	6	4.0	2.9	12.5	0.8
C. Kershaw	Crows	19	6	1.95	29	0	217	157	45	232	10	6.5	1.9	9.6	0.4

Price pretty clearly wasn't the best candidate to win this award. He tied for the league lead with 20 wins and placed fifth with 234 strikeouts, but teammate Strasburg offers a more well-rounded résumé. He went 19-9 with a 2.61 ERA (fifth in the league), 257 strikeouts (third), 1.7 walks per nine innings (eighth), a .209 opponent average (fourth) and 5.9 SO/BB ratio (third).

MMDA League Averages

Just a couple tables spelling out the run-scoring and outcome differences for our 20-team Strat league compared with Major League Baseball.

MMDA Batting • League Averages, 2002-15

Year	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	HR	SB	BB%	SO%	ISO	R/G	MLB	Diff
2002	.264	.335	.442	.777	4,111	2,488	8.2%	16.9%	.177	5.03	4.78	+0.25
2003	.266	.336	.438	.774	3,960	1,837	8.2%	16.1%	.172	5.04	4.62	+0.42
2004	.269	.338	.441	.778	3,923	1,686	8.2%	15.9%	.172	5.07	4.73	+0.34
2005	.262	.333	.435	.768	3,930	1,956	8.1%	16.6%	.173	4.92	4.81	+0.11
2006	.258	.326	.415	.741	3,341	1,844	7.8%	15.9%	.157	4.51	4.59	-0.08
2007	.270	.337	.443	.781	3,908	2,045	8.0%	16.6%	.174	5.06	4.86	+0.20
2008	.267	.335	.431	.766	3,565	2,012	8.1%	16.9%	.164	4.93	4.80	+0.13
2009	.268	.338	.431	.769	3,535	2,175	8.3%	17.1%	.163	4.91	4.65	+0.26
2010	.264	.336	.420	.756	3,259	2,262	8.5%	18.0%	.156	4.71	4.61	+0.10
2011	.257	.327	.408	.735	3,214	2,109	8.1%	18.3%	.151	4.47	4.38	+0.09
2012	.259	.326	.413	.739	3,313	2,094	7.7%	18.0%	.154	4.54	4.28	+0.26
2013	.257	.322	.420	.742	3,561	1,795	7.6%	19.1%	.162	4.56	4.32	+0.24
2014	.253	.319	.400	.719	3,242	1,426	7.6%	19.3%	.147	4.26	4.17	+0.09
2015	.251	.315	.393	.708	3,042	1,616	7.3%	19.6%	.143	4.12

Bold type indicates the best total/rate for the sample. Batter BB% computed without intentional walks.

Final Power Ranking For 2015

An attempt to rank the league's best teams for the 2015 season. Teams sorted by wins, then by run differential.

Note that this is not the official tie-breaking method for playoff seeding or draft order. Also, OPS+ and ERA+ are not adjusted for ballpark context—at least not during the season.

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	Northwest	117	45	.722	Pacific	4.96	110	3.17	134	.703	+289
2	Mohawk Valley	113	49	.698	Atlantic	4.54	113	3.19	129	.664	+219
3	Rosehill	101	61	.623	Central	4.47	106	3.62	115	.600	+137
4	Northeast	94	68	.580	Northeast	4.45	107	4.05	102	.545	+65
5	Miami	90	72	.556	Northeast	4.27	110	3.72	109	.566	+89
6	Spokane	88	74	.543	Pacific	3.22	79	3.02	144	.531	+33
7	Rochester	86	76	.531	Atlantic	4.10	102	3.49	116	.578	+100
8	Brooklyn	85	77	.525	Pacific	4.90	115	4.35	93	.557	+89
9	Goldenrod	84	78	.519	Central	3.93	93	3.76	105	.522	+28
	California	84	78	.519	Pacific	4.30	103	4.15	102	.518	+25
11	St. Louis	82	80	.506	Central	4.04	96	3.99	101	.505	+7
12	Fighting Irish	81	81	.500	Northeast	4.70	115	4.43	95	.529	+45
13	West Side	80	82	.494	Northeast	4.54	110	4.58	89	.495	–7
14	Jersey	77	85	.475	Atlantic	3.94	98	4.29	98	.459	–57
15	Death Valley	75	87	.463	Atlantic	4.05	102	4.22	98	.481	–27
16	Lake County	72	90	.444	Central	4.31	104	4.54	92	.475	–37
17	Wilmington	60	102	.370	Atlantic	3.44	86	4.39	93	.385	–153
	Elysian Fields	60	102	.370	Pacific	3.31	84	4.58	90	.348	–206
19	Cape Cod	46	116	.284	Northeast	3.43	82	5.49	75	.287	–334
20	Little Rock	45	117	.278	Central	3.41	83	5.29	75	.300	–305

MMDA Power Ranking After Block Five

An attempt to rank the league's best teams after block five (138 games). Teams sorted by wins, then by run differential.

Note that this is not the official tie-breaking method for playoff seeding or draft order. Also, OPS+ and ERA+ are not adjusted for ballpark context—at least not during the season.

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	Northwest	98	40	.710	Pacific	4.86	109	3.29	130	.671	+216
2	Mohawk Valley	95	43	.688	Atlantic	4.60	115	3.20	128	.661	+194
3	Rosehill	85	53	.616	Central	4.46	105	3.58	116	.599	+121
4	Brooklyn	79	59	.572	Pacific	5.24	119	4.32	94	.587	+127
	Northeast	79	59	.572	Northeast	4.43	107	4.14	101	.532	+41
6	Rochester	75	63	.543	Atlantic	4.16	103	3.33	120	.600	+114
	Miami	75	63	.543	Northeast	4.19	109	3.72	110	.554	+65
	Spokane	75	63	.543	Pacific	3.28	80	3.02	143	.538	+36
9	Goldenrod	73	65	.529	Central	3.88	91	3.66	108	.526	+30
10	Fighting Irish	71	67	.514	Northeast	4.78	116	4.47	93	.531	+43
	California	71	67	.514	Pacific	4.41	104	4.22	99	.519	+25
12	St. Louis	69	69	.500	Central	3.91	95	3.92	104	.499	–1
13	West Side	65	73	.471	Northeast	4.40	106	4.48	91	.492	–11
	Death Valley	65	73	.471	Atlantic	4.07	104	4.18	99	.487	–16
15	Jersey	64	74	.464	Atlantic	3.78	98	4.35	95	.436	–79
16	Lake County	59	79	.428	Central	4.13	101	4.49	93	.462	–50
17	Wilmington	52	86	.377	Atlantic	3.41	85	4.36	93	.390	–131
18	Elysian Fields	51	87	.370	Pacific	3.41	85	4.67	88	.360	–174
19	Cape Cod	41	97	.297	Northeast	3.46	83	5.49	75	.301	–280
20	Little Rock	38	100	.275	Central	3.43	84	5.39	74	.305	–270

MMDA Power Ranking After Block Four

An attempt to rank the league's best teams after block four (108 games). Teams sorted by wins, then by run differential.

Note that this is not the official tie-breaking method for playoff seeding or draft order. Also, OPS+ and ERA+ are not adjusted for ballpark context—at least not during the season.

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	Northwest	76	32	.704	Pacific	4.65	108	3.21	130	.663	+155
2	Mohawk Valley	71	37	.657	Atlantic	4.54	113	3.23	128	.650	+141
3	Rosehill	66	42	.611	Central	4.42	104	3.42	119	.615	+108
4	Northeast	64	44	.593	Northeast	4.34	108	4.01	102	.536	+36
5	Brooklyn	63	45	.583	Pacific	5.36	120	4.34	93	.595	+110
6	Miami	62	46	.574	Northeast	4.51	114	3.62	113	.599	+96
7	Rochester	59	49	.546	Atlantic	4.11	102	3.31	122	.597	+86
	Spokane	59	49	.546	Pacific	3.26	78	3.13	141	.519	+14
9	St. Louis	57	51	.528	Central	4.03	99	3.88	104	.517	+16
10	Goldenrod	55	53	.509	Central	3.85	91	3.65	108	.525	+22
	Fighting Irish	55	53	.509	Northeast	4.75	117	4.56	90	.518	+20
12	California	53	55	.491	Pacific	4.31	102	4.28	97	.503	+3
13	West Side	52	56	.481	Northeast	4.44	108	4.44	92	.500	0
14	Death Valley	51	57	.472	Atlantic	3.90	99	4.03	102	.485	–14
15	Jersey	48	60	.444	Atlantic	3.56	93	4.39	95	.406	–89
16	Lake County	46	62	.426	Central	4.16	101	4.47	93	.467	–34
17	Wilmington	42	66	.389	Atlantic	3.30	85	4.17	97	.394	–94
18	Elysian Fields	39	69	.361	Pacific	3.35	82	4.68	87	.352	–143
19	Little Rock	34	74	.315	Central	3.56	91	5.32	74	.323	–191
20	Cape Cod	28	80	.259	Northeast	3.45	84	5.69	71	.286	–242