CFBL 2011, Year #22

Casuals Notch Back-to-Back Titles;

Their 5th Overall

New Rules:  Our previous Internet provider, Total Quality Sports, went bankrupt, and we replaced them with CBS Sports, requiring us to alter some pitching rules.  Previously, pitching stats (for ERA and strikeouts) were computed based on all pitchers; this was not possible on the CBS site.  Ergo, with CBS, every pitcher received points based entirely on their own ERA and K/9.  The main complication this gave us was team owners (for several years now) still not understanding that a pitcher's ERA points each week were cumulative, not based on EVERY game a pitcher pitched.

DRAFT (1st round pick)

     Dogs:   Pujols

     Rats:   Adrian Gonzalez

     CASUALS:   Halladay ($10)

     Clubbers:   Votto ($5)

     Young Guns:   Tulowitzki

     Devil Rays:   Hanley Ramirez

     Belichicks:   Feliz Hernandez

     Cactus Scouts:   Carlos Gonzalez

Regular Season: The Casuals got off to a good start, then punctuated their regular season with a 7-0 finishing week to beat out the second place Devil Rays by 9 games.  Both moved to the Final Five.  But the drama of the year unfolded in week #10 over a trade between the Cactus Scouts and his son-in-law, Belichicks.  The Young Guns took exception to the trade (under the rules, trades are not subject to review by the commissioner or other owners).  Eventually, it led to the Guns retiring from the league after the season.

Regular Season Standings:

     75-37   Casuals

     66-46   dRays

     61.5-50.5   Guns

     58-54   Rats

     57-55   Scouts

     54-58   Clubbers

     53-59   Dogs

     23.5-88.5   Belichicks

Post-season:  With the Casuals and dRays already in the Final Five, the Guns and Scouts joined them after the first week of the playoffs; it took the Rats an extra week to qualify.  The Final Five now consisted of the year's top 5 teams

The dRays got off to a 4-0 start, but the Casuals hung tough at 3-1.  The Scouts faltered to 0-4, and they never recovered, finishing 0-12.  The Rats put up a 4-0 week in the 2nd week, tying the Casuals at 6-2 going into the last week.  The Guns were finally heard from, but their 4-0 3rd week was not enough to be a factor.  The Rats choked with a 1-3 week, allowing the dRays (3-1) to tie the Casuals (2-2), forcing a one-week playoff, won by 12 points by the #1 seeded Casuals.  The dRays, once again, proved to be the bridesmaid.

Post-season Standings:

     8-4   Casuals (won in a one-week extra playoff week)

     8-4   dRays

     7-5   Rats & Guns

    0-12  Scouts

Opening Day, AT&T Park; the Giants celebrate their first World Series Championship in San Francisco