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.

Draft Order For 2018

Now that the World Series is complete, we have a complete order for the first round of the 2018 draft. The top four picks this year were determined by a lottery system.

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

Note that the draft order will revert to reverse order of standing for the second round and all subsequent rounds. That means the 109-loss Scorpions will lead off the second round, followed by the Snappers (98 losses), Nighthawks (95) and Maulers (95).

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Active MMDA Manager Register 2017

Northwest manager Ray Ross traces his MMDA roots back to 1989 and has thus managed a league game in each of the past four decades. Next time you converse with Ray, congratulate him on finishing his 29th season in the league in 2017.

Five other MMDA managers joined up in the 1990s and remain active to this day: James Bailey, Jim Baker, Steve Frediani, John Tresca and Steven Tresca. However, a complete statistical record for the MMDA goes back only to 1995, so that's where I drew the line when creating our league's all-time managerial register.

A new wrinkle added this year is Fibonacci win points. This concept was introduced by Bill James in his book Whatever Happened To The Hall Of Fame?, and 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—or W * PCT + W - L. So rather than rank managers by total wins or by winning percentage, I chose to rank them by Fibonacci win points to balance quality and quantity.

No	Manager	W	L	Pct	Yrs	Playoff	HighW	HighL	Fibonacci
1	John Tresca	2145	1581	.576	23	17	120	124	1799
2	Ray Ross	2098	1628	.563	23	19	117	92	1651
3	Steven Tresca	2064	1662	.554	23	18	108	123	1545
4	James Bailey	1973	1753	.530	23	13	105	102	1265
5	Matt Eddy	1318	1274	.508	16	9	113	113	714
6	Steve Frediani	1788	1938	.480	23	9	106	116	708
7	John Lamanna	738	558	.569	8	7	108	78	600
8	Mike Johnson	898	884	.504	11	5	97	97	467
9	Jim Baker	1705	2021	.458	23	2	112	117	464
10	Mike Siddon	1266	1488	.460	17	2	98	103	360
11	Tim Ednoff	518	454	.533	6	3	99	89	340
12	Jim Derer	514	458	.529	6	2	101	87	328
13	G. O'Connor	491	481	.505	6	3	103	95	258
14	J. Gruttadauria	468	504	.481	6	1	87	94	189
15	Ryan McCabe	534	600	.471	7	1	93	108	185
16	Tom Edwards	392	418	.484	5	1	90	105	164
17	Clyde Elkins	375	435	.463	5	2	94	102	114
18	Dave Jones	502	632	.443	7	1	88	106	92
19	Kevin Kasunich	115	209	.355	2	0	64	111	-53
20	Mike Renick	136	350	.280	3	0	53	124	-176

Remember, this data covers the 1995 through 2017 seasons.

Steven Tresca won his 2,000th game in 2017. James Bailey will join the 2,000-win pantheon in 2018.

Drivers Prevail In Dramatic 2017 World Series

GAME 1
Gators 4, Drivers 0
Aaron Sanchez was masterful for the Gators, throwing a compete-game two-hitter. Wilmer Flores tagged Brandon Finnegan for two homers, driving in three of the Gators' four runs.

GAME 2
Drivers 5, Gators 3
The Drivers scratched together a run in the first inning and Goldenrod tied it up in the third. Each team threw up a two-spot in the fourth. Things settled down for the next three innings until the eight when Todd Frazier dropped a bloop single into left field, scoring Yoenis Cespedes and Jedd Gyorko. The Death Valley bullpen of Alex Wood, Chris Devenski and Kelvin Herrera locked down the last three inning to help get the W for the Drivers.

GAME 3
Drivers 2, Gators 1
This was another surprising pitcher's duel. The Gators were able to get to Aaron Nola in the fifth for a run when Jarrod Dyson plated Russell Martin. It looked like that was all the Gators would need as they entered the bottom of the ninth, but then Randal Grichuk stepped to the plate and dumped a home run into the right field seats. Todd Frazier came in to pinch-hit and singled, followed by a Adeiny Hechavarria single. With two on and one out, Welington Castillo shot a grounder up the middle to plate Frazier, and the exuberant Driver faithful celebrated the walk-off and a 2-1 series lead.

2017 Wrap: Award Winners & League Leaders

A recap collecting important—or at least interesting—tidbits from the just-concluded 2017 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
B.Dozier	Stars	659	34	6	49	125	.255	45	158	8	.313	.548
R.Cano	Huskies	671	36	3	36	92	.319	40	104	0	.362	.542
D.Oritz	Huskies	565	68	1	40	122	.327	69	85	0	.403	.664
K.Seager	Stars	641	34	4	41	110	.309	52	116	3	.365	.566
F.Freeman	R'backs	637	41	7	41	121	.298	64	188	2	.366	.578

Voters went heavy for home runs and RBIs this season, selecting Northwest second baseman Brian Dozier as MVP after his 49 and 125 led the MMDA in both categories. He also ranked seventh in runs scored (108), eighth in X-percentage at second base (.838) and ninth in slugging (.548). The gap between Dozier and MVP runner-up Robinson Cano, the Northeast second baseman, was narrow at 372 points to 368.

The best offensive season probably belongs to Northeast DH David Ortiz, who finished fourth in the batting race (.327), first in doubles (68), seventh in home runs (40), second in RBIs (122), first in slugging (.664), fourth in on-base percentage (.403) and first in total bases (375).

CY YOUNG
Pitcher	Team	W	L	ERA	GS	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	HR	AVG	BB9	SO9
R.Porcello	Stars	20	7	2.60	34	0	243	219	39	179	24	.239	1.4	6.6
M.Scherzer	Dutchmen	17	10	3.01	34	0	239	174	69	270	39	.198	2.6	10.2
K.Jansen	Breakers	2	0	1.26	0	39	50	26	5	83	5	.152	0.9	14.9
C.Kimbrel	Stars	3	1	2.65	0	38	51	34	28	76	4	.186	4.9	13.4
A.Miller	Lions	1	1	1.72	0	47	68	45	15	106	5	.182	2.0	14.0

Northwest righthander Rick Porcello claimed the Cy Young Award, giving the Stars a clean sweep of the major postseason hardware. Voters valued his effectiveness and durability. Porcello led the MMDA in wins (20) and walk rate per nine innings (1.45), while ranking second in ERA (2.60), innings (243), complete games (eight) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.59). He placed third in winning percentage (.741).

Final Power Ranking For 2017

The final poll for the 2017 season. Teams sorted by wins. Ties broken by run differential.

OPS+ and ERA+ are adjusted for ballpark context.

RD stands for run differential and PF for park factor multiplier. BB% and SO/BB ratio do not include intentional walks.

Power Ranking 

No	Team	W	L	PCT	Division	R/G	OPS+	RA/G	ERA+	PF	RD
1	Northeast	98	64	.605	Northeast	5.20	111	4.75	99	1.046	73
2	Goldenrod	96	66	.593	Central	5.20	108	4.69	100	1.036	84
3	Northwest	95	67	.586	Pacific	5.34	104	4.18	117	1.072	188
4	Brooklyn	94	68	.580	Pacific	4.65	97	4.08	114	1.027	93
5	Elysian Fields	92	70	.568	Pacific	4.83	107	3.93	115	1.009	145
6	Death Valley	92	70	.568	Atlantic	4.46	93	4.08	111	1.027	61
7	Wilmington	91	71	.562	Atlantic	4.93	113	4.10	105	0.977	135
8	Cape Cod	88	74	.543	Northeast	4.31	106	4.27	97	0.925	6
9	Rosehill	86	76	.531	Central	4.08	89	4.19	107	0.999	-17
10	Rochester	82	80	.506	Atlantic	4.92	105	4.47	104	1.033	73
11	Spokane	80	82	.494	Pacific	3.80	84	3.94	108	0.922	-22
12	West Side	80	82	.494	Northeast	4.94	105	5.38	91	1.084	-71
13	Mohawk Valley	79	83	.488	Atlantic	3.68	98	3.94	102	0.886	-42
14	Miami	75	87	.463	Northeast	4.73	108	4.98	90	1.009	-40
15	California	73	89	.451	Pacific	4.45	102	4.64	92	0.936	-31
16	Fighting Irish	68	94	.420	Northeast	4.57	99	5.27	82	0.997	-113
17	St. Louis	67	95	.414	Central	3.58	84	4.09	108	0.989	-82
18	Lake County	67	95	.414	Central	4.24	100	5.20	81	0.957	-155
19	Sudbury	64	98	.395	Atlantic	4.42	93	5.10	93	1.028	-110
20	Little Rock	53	109	.327	Central	4.33	92	5.41	82	1.032	-175

2017 MMDA Draft Supplemental Rounds

Results for the supplemental rounds—this year the eighth through 13th rounds—of the 2017 MMDA draft are as follows. For the first seven rounds—the "regulation" phase—visit the 2017 Draft Results.

EIGHTH ROUND

Gators eighth-rounder Roman Quinn

141 Roadrunners Robbie Ross, lhp, Red Sox
142 Huskies Sammy Solis, lhp, Nationals
143 Bluejays Nick Wittgren, rhp, Marlins
144 Irish Daniel Hudson, rhp, D-backs
145 Dodgers Jett Bandy, c, Angels
146 Manatees Aaron Blair, rhp, Braves
147 Breakers Jhoulys Chacin, rhp, Angels
148 Maulers Jake Thompson, rhp, Phillies
149 Dutchmen Jerry Blevins, lhp, Mets
150 Gators Roman Quinn, of, Phillies
151 Lions Brock Stewart, rhp, Dodgers
152 Drivers Nate Karns, rhp, Mariners
153 Crows Tommy Pham, of, Cardinals
154 Nighthawks Daniel Coulombe, lhp, Athletics

NINTH ROUND

155 Roadrunners Dan Jennings, lhp, White Sox
156 Huskies Adam Libertore, lhp, Dodgers
157 Bluejays Daniel Descalso, 2b, Rockies
158 Irish Ariel Miranda, lhp, Mariners
159 Dodgers Ezequiel Carrera, of, Blue Jays
160 Breakers Alec Asher, rhp, Phillies
161 Maulers Tyler Saladino, 3b, White Sox
162 Gators Jake Barrett, rhp, D-backs
163 Lions Ronald Torreyes, 2b, Yankees
164 Drivers Ian Krol, lhp, Braves
165 Crows Chris Coghlan, of, Cubs
166 Nighthawks Adam Rosales, 2b, Padres