End of the season recap!

The 2022 season brings an end to a long championship drought, with Steve Willnus and his Maine Loggers winning their first title in almost 30 years!!!  

Steve Willnus, won the Manager of the Year award, in addition to his World Series trophy.  The Loggers were a classic "whole is greater than the sum of their parts" team.   They had very nice but not particularly gaudy team stats (3.17 ERA, 85 HRs, just over 4 runs a game, and a somewhat dismal. 223 team batting average).  Shrewd managing and clutch performances made this a season to remember for Maine.  

Adolis Garcia clubbed 16 homers and J.D. Martnez added 15.  They had two starters who DID put up gaudy numbers:  Jose "Squidward" Urquidy went  10-2 with a 2.84 ERA and Martin Perez went 10-5 with a 3.44 ERA.   Luis Castillo had limited innings this year, but made the most of them, going 5-1 with a microscopic 0.69 ERA!  The bullpen was excellent for Maine, led by closer Jason Adam (7-1, 19 saves, 21 hits allowed n 38 innings).  Jose "The Ouija Board" Quijada and Diego Castillo also had sub 2.00 ERAs, and Gavin Jax was not far from that himself. 

Congrats to Steve for a terrifc season and a well-deserved title!

Steve Willnus, right after the last dice
roll and before the Gatorade shower!

Excited Maine-iacs enjoying the Logger's title!

High quality merchandise available
in the Logger Team Store

In other significant results for the season, Jose Ramirez (LAS) edged out Aaron Judge (TOR) for the MVP Award

Closer Jason Adam (MAI) won the Cy Young Award as well as the Rolaids Relief Award

Luis Arreaz (PIT) had one of the highest batting averages in the computer only era (2008 through this season).  His .353 average was only bested by four others batters

Aaron Judge (TOR) had a very slow start but ended up where he should have, leading the league with 29 home runs.  

Rafael Devers (PIT) edged Judge for the most RBIs, 63 to 62.  

On the pitching side, Dylan Cease (WIC) led all hurlers with 11 wins.   He also topped everyone with 150 strikeouts.  Only Jose Urquidy (MAI), Martin Perez (MAI) and Alek Manoah (MTL) earned 10 wins.   Manoah won the ERA Crown, delivering the second lowest ERA in the league since 2008

The Grizzlies had another top pitcher as well, as Emmanuel Clase led the league with 22 saves.  

WHAT'S THE 411?  MONSTER GAME ON 4/11/2022

Seth Brown (MTP) put up a truly legendary game early in the year against Boston.  The Train Wreck rolled to a 24-2 victory, setting the following season highs in the process....

Most runs in one game (MTP wth 24)

Most combined runs in one game (MTP and BOS with 26 total runs)

Most hits by one batter in one game - Seth Brown with 6

Most homers in one game - Seth Brown with 3

Most RBIs in one game - Vlad Guerrero Jr. with 7 (tied by MIC's Oscar Gonzalez)

 

Box score from the crazy MTP - BOS game, Seth
 Brown with the video game stat line of 6-6-6-6

Seth Brown with a game for the ages.  Six for six, 
six runs, six RBIs, and three HRs!!! He had more
than 10% of his hits for the whole season in the
 one game (ended up with 59 hits for the year)

Team Yearbooks, League History, and a fully updated League Encylopedia (with more than 125 reports) are avaiable in the links on the right side of the page.   Geeking out on those stats should keep you busy, at least until the new cards arrive! 

For those of you keeping score at home, that is three years in a row for a Willnus to win the title.  They are starting to make the Harbaugh brothers look like underacehivers. :-)  World Series at Craft Breww City was a great way to end a great season, and now we can start looking ahead for the 2023 draft!!!