NOTES: This was certainly a balanced year. We had not 4, not 5, not even 6, but *7* pennant winners this year. Not only that, but thanks to a 4-way tie among the last-qualifying playoff teams, we have *10* teams elligible for the post-season. And yet only 8 playoff spots. The Angry Candy, San Francisco Shriners and Toronto Towers each captured a share of the Mantle division pennant. This is the first title for the Towers as well as for the Shriners. Meanwhile, in the Koufax division, the Regulators and Rock finished tied for the season. Cincinnati repeats as division champ, while the Regulators get their first pennant in 8 years. The Coneheads repeat as Ruth division champs, while the Fish capture their first pennant in 9 years. The Somerville Sluggers captured the #1 league wildcard, while the San Diego Termites captures the RY conference wildcard. So .. 10 teams, 8 playoff spots, what to do? The San Francisco Shriners, Toronto Towers, Angry Candy and Seattle Moshers do not have clean wins against all of the other teams. Each team has at least one series win and at least one series loss. And besides, wouldn't it be terrible for a team to win a pennant and not reach the playoffs? Whatsupwiththat? Thus, we have our first ever "semi-playoff series" involving 4 teams. 2 teams will advance onto the "real" playoffs, while the losers go home as if they never had a series at all. The "semi-playoff" bracket (splits based on run margin over the season): __Angry Candy_(HFA)__(+152 run margin)__ __Shriners___________(+56 run margin)___|___PLAYOFF TEAM #1 __Towers_____________(+63 run margin)___ __Moshers_(HFA)______(+79 run margin)___|___PLAYOFF TEAM #2 To further complicate things, if the Moshers don't win this series, then one of the two playoff teams will have to play the Sluggers in a "round 0" series. If the Candy and Toronto win their series, then Toronto comes in as the Mantle division champion with its home field advantage. If the Shriners and the Towers win their series, then San Francisco comes in as the Mantle division champion. Either way, the "other team" faces the Sluggers in round 0 play. The "playoff" bracket: __Regulators (100-62)__(HFA)______________________ __Round 0_or_Sluggers (91-71)___| | |____________________ __Cincinnati Rock (100-62)________________________| | __Mantle division winner_(HFA)__| | __CFOD CHAMPS_____| __Sacramento Fish (94-68) (HFA)___________________ | __San Diego Termites (95-67)____| | | |____________________| __Bye or Moshers (89-73)__________________________| __Coneheads (108-54)__(HFA)_____| The Regulators won their season series against the Rock, and go into the playoffs as the Koufax division winner. The Rock go in as the Mantle/Koufax conference wildcard. Whew! While the pennant races were not too decisive, the record breaking was. The Paxtang Pitbulls broke a couple of marquee records, Alex Rodriguez setting a new runs record with 192 and Carlos Delgado setting a new RBI record with 181. The Angry Candy's Todd Helton set a new doubles record with 74, breaking the 8 year record set by Frank Thomas. Jason Giambi set a new league walks record with 169. The Regulators really knew how to take a base this year, setting a new team on base average high at .383, and total walks at 798. If anything proves that baseball has become a stop-and-go game this year, several new lows in hitting have been set. The slow footed Brouhaha set a new low for team triples with *8*, the Springfield 'Topes have set a new league low for stolen bases with 29 (breaking a 7 year old record), while the Carolina Lightning set a new league high for strikeouts with 1399. On the pitching side of things, Pedro Martinez set a new league record for fewest runners allowed per 9 innings, a miniscule 7.8 (Randy Johnson circa '95 had the previous record). The Cincinnati Rock also set a new league record for most strikeouts by a pitching staff with 1352, breaking the old record by Randy Johnson's 1995 Shriners. And yes, a new league low for ERA has been set by the San Francisco Piazza's, who allowed 6.05 earned runs per game this year. If there was a league record for wins by a reliever, it would have crushed this year by the Regulator's Danny Graves. Graves made 77 appearances, all in relief, and had a record of *17-1*! That was good enough to place him behind 20 game winner Greg Maddux and 19 game winner Pedro Martinez. Playoff (and semi-playoff) info and schedules to follow shortly. CFOD Standings -- CFOD - Cyber Field of Dreams Regular season Team W L Pct GB L10 Strk Recent RF RA Mgn Mgc Mantle 2000 Angry Candy 89 73 .549 - 4-6 W1 wllwwwllll 853 701 152 1 2000 San Francisco Shriners 89 73 .549 - 6-4 W1 wlwwwwlllw 788 732 56 1 2000 Toronto Towers 89 73 .549 - 3-7 L1 lwlllwlwll 832 769 63 1 2000 Charlottesville Squids 85 77 .525 4 5-5 W1 wlwllwlwlw 847 842 5 2000 Springfield 'Topes 79 83 .488 10 5-5 L1 lwwlwlwwll 734 787 -53 2000 Mechan Syndicate 58 104 .358 31 2-8 L1 lwlwllllll 762 993 -231 Koufax 2000 Hillsborough Regulators 100 62 .617 - 9-1 W7 wwwwwwwlww 1028 823 205 1 2000 Cincinnati Rock 100 62 .617 - 6-4 L2 llwwwwwllw 877 749 128 1 2000 Somerville Sluggers 91 71 .562 9 2-8 W2 wwllllllll 833 818 15 2000 Oregon Wet Sox 79 83 .488 21 3-7 W1 wlllllllww 755 722 33 2000 Zippys 69 93 .426 31 2-8 L7 lllllllwwl 785 928 -143 2000 Boston Brewins 49 113 .302 51 7-3 L1 lwwwwwwlwl 609 855 -246 Ruth 2000 California Coneheads 108 54 .667 - 8-2 L1 lwwwwwlwww 973 674 299 0 2000 San Diego Termites 95 67 .586 13 4-6 L1 lwlwllwwll 981 813 168 2000 Paxtang Pitbulls 83 79 .512 25 4-6 W1 wlllwlwlwl 973 955 18 2000 Carolina Lightning 76 86 .469 32 6-4 W1 wlwllwwwwl 849 930 -81 2000 Topeka MooseDogs 76 86 .469 32 5-5 L2 llwlwllwww 758 841 -83 2000 Miami Mangos 71 91 .438 37 5-5 W2 wwlwlwllwl 773 823 -50 Young 2000 Sacramento Fish 94 68 .580 - 4-6 L2 llwlwlwwll 951 838 113 0 2000 Seattle Moshers 89 73 .549 5 8-2 W2 wwlwlwwwww 860 781 79 2000 Brookfield Brouhaha 88 74 .543 6 8-2 W1 wlwwwwwwlw 839 764 75 2000 Park City Climbers 81 81 .500 13 5-5 L1 lwwlwllwwl 808 768 40 2000 Arizona Thunder 54 108 .333 40 4-6 W1 wlllllwlww 739 996 -257 2000 San Francisco Piazza's 52 110 .321 42 5-5 L1 lwllwlwwlw 754 1059 -305 Team City Home Road Grass Turf vsLHP vsRHP Div CAL00 California 62-19 46-35 102-52 6-2 25-16 83-38 40-20 SAC00 Sacramento 52-29 42-39 89-65 5-3 23-13 71-55 33-27 SEA00 Seattle 51-30 38-43 85-69 4-4 21-22 68-51 39-21 TOP00 Topeka 44-37 32-49 73-81 3-5 17-24 59-62 22-38 CHA00 Charlottesville 45-36 40-41 75-67 10-10 14-18 71-59 28-32 HIL00 Hillsborough 51-30 49-32 37-29 63-33 20-14 80-48 38-22 PKC00 Park City 41-40 40-41 77-77 4-4 20-20 61-61 36-24 TOR00 Toronto 49-32 40-41 78-62 11-11 15-20 74-53 34-26 CIN00 Cincinnati 51-30 49-32 88-53 12-9 19-10 81-52 35-25 MEC00 Mechan 36-45 22-59 19-46 39-58 10-32 48-72 20-40 PAX00 Paxtang 42-39 41-40 78-76 5-3 24-21 59-58 30-30 SFS00 San Francisco 51-30 38-43 80-60 9-13 16-20 73-53 35-25 BRK00 Brookfield 47-34 41-40 84-70 4-4 20-17 68-57 35-25 SDT00 San Diego 46-35 49-32 90-64 5-3 24-18 71-49 35-25 ANG00 Angry Candy 47-34 42-39 35-32 54-41 25-17 64-56 38-22 ZIP00 Zippys 35-46 34-47 31-35 38-58 15-22 54-71 27-33 SPR00 Springfield 42-39 37-44 70-72 9-11 20-20 59-63 25-35 SOM00 Somerville 43-38 48-33 79-62 12-9 15-23 76-48 33-27 ORE00 Oregon 39-42 40-41 66-75 13-8 17-18 62-65 31-29 MIA00 Miami 41-40 30-51 68-86 3-5 21-27 50-64 27-33 ARZ00 Arizona 30-51 24-57 52-102 2-6 14-25 40-83 19-41 CAR00 Carolina 43-38 33-48 72-82 4-4 23-18 53-68 26-34 SFP00 San Francisco 23-58 29-52 49-105 3-5 8-24 44-86 18-42 BSB00 Boston 30-51 19-62 43-98 6-15 8-24 41-89 16-44 CFOD Standings -- CFOD - Cyber Field of Dreams Regular season Team City Lead7 Tied7 Trail7 1-run Extra CAL00 California 89-6 10-5 9-43 21-15 5-4 SAC00 Sacramento 73-5 11-9 10-54 29-19 11-5 SEA00 Seattle 75-6 8-3 6-64 24-27 5-2 TOP00 Topeka 59-5 12-8 5-73 26-25 9-8 CHA00 Charlottesville 66-6 8-11 11-60 20-24 7-8 HIL00 Hillsborough 73-7 12-8 15-47 18-22 9-5 PKC00 Park City 68-7 7-12 6-62 23-29 5-7 TOR00 Toronto 72-8 11-7 6-58 27-20 10-8 CIN00 Cincinnati 78-9 8-6 14-47 34-14 7-7 MEC00 Mechan 43-5 4-12 11-87 15-20 10-6 PAX00 Paxtang 67-8 6-8 10-63 23-23 6-10 SFS00 San Francisco 75-9 6-8 8-56 25-20 9-9 BRK00 Brookfield 74-9 8-4 6-61 25-18 5-9 SDT00 San Diego 80-10 9-8 6-49 17-15 6-8 ANG00 Angry Candy 71-9 8-9 10-55 20-26 8-8 ZIP00 Zippys 60-8 7-9 2-76 23-22 6-11 SPR00 Springfield 59-8 12-5 8-70 32-22 11-7 SOM00 Somerville 68-10 11-8 12-53 33-18 8-9 ORE00 Oregon 66-10 7-12 6-61 27-29 6-7 MIA00 Miami 57-10 8-8 6-73 28-35 9-7 ARZ00 Arizona 39-8 7-10 8-90 18-29 9-11 CAR00 Carolina 57-13 5-9 14-64 24-28 14-12 SFP00 San Francisco 42-11 5-9 5-90 13-26 2-6 BSB00 Boston 38-12 6-8 5-93 17-36 5-8