2019 Season Recap!

What a season!  This unpredictable season has now come to an end, and big thanks to all of you for getting the final games in on time!  This season started with a bang, with hysterical JibJab videos and a bingo ball trade that was literally a 75 to 1 shot! No surprise that this dramatic season came down to the very last games of the year.

The Caddyshack Division was a dogfight to the end but congrats to Steve Willnus and his Maine Loggers.  Steve was able to beat out the entire Carr Collusion, holding on at the very end to win the pennant.

The Naked Gun Division was not super competitive (only one team finished above .500) but you can blame Fred's Michigan Mammoth for a large part of that.   Armed with a bevy of '1' defenders and stud pitchers, the Mammoth have found a different way to excel in a power-heavy era.  Michigan finished with the best record in the league!

The Animal House Division went down to the very wire, as Chuck's Las Vegas Fremonts staged a furious rally down the end to close the gap and run neck-to-neck with Andy's Boston Bobcats.  Boston edged out the Fremonts though, leaving Las Vegas to battle Kansas City in a one-game play-in game for the wild card.

Any discussion on individual performances this year HAS to start with Mount Pleasant's Mike Trout, this season's MVP.  He put together the first Triple Crown season in Friendship League history!!!!  Trout ended up with a hefty .382 average while knocking 30 home runs and driving in 79 runners.   He also led the league in walks, runs scored, on-base percentage, and picked up a Gold Glove with his 1e0 defense!!!  Hard to argue that this may very well be the single greatest individual season in the 40-plus seasons of the Friendship League!

Funny story comparing Babe Ruth and Mike Trout

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22815467/sizing-mike-trout-sultan-swat-most-unseriously


James Shields of Maine led all hurlers with 11 wins, while Blake Snell took the ERA title at 2.16 and Justin Verlander led the league in K's with 170.  Michigan closer Blake Treinen took home the Cy Young Award with his league-leading 22 saves.  Maine's Jean Segura edged out Michigan's Whit Merrifield to win the Stolen Base Title with 28 steals.

Boston's Luis Severino pitched the only no-hitter for the season.  Fremont rookie Shohei Ohtani, Maine's Jean Segura, and Montreal's Michael Brantley all had five hit games.  Trout had the only three-homer game of this season  Wichita's C.J. Cron and Kansas City's Giancarlo Stanton both had 9 RBI games.  Maine's Tyler Glasnow had the highest single game strikeout total, whiffing 17 Bobcats in a single game.

The pre-season simulation is usually super accurate, and this year it did predict Boston, Michigan, and Las Vegas, but it also saw Kansas City take the Caddyshack Division  :-(    ....

Simulation didn't see The Rise of the Loggers!

We'll try to get the play-in and play-off games in as soon as possible, and will post the latest league records, team yearbooks,  and league encyclopedia early this week.  Thanks all for another great season!!!!!