While the National League pennant races came down to the wire, another league saw both the American League and National League have playoff spots decided in the last week. I’m talking, of course, about the Kings League, a Scoresheet league with teams run by many of our friends and fellow writers throughout the nation.
National League
Here were the standings heading into the final week:
Clemente_Standings,_Pitching___W___L___pct.__GB
7 J Passan & M Pesavento 95 61 .609 -
10 B Murphy & I Lefkowitz 87 69 .558 8
1 J Sterger 78 78 .500 17
4 J Sheehan 78 78 .500 17
Mays_Standings,_Pitching_______W___L___pct.__GB
11 J Levin & S Ehrenberg 90 66 .577 -
8 M Siano & C Schwartz 67 89 .429 23
2 J Ma & R Wilkins 66 90 .423 24
5 J Perrotto 64 92 .410 26
Williams_Standings,_Pitching___W___L___pct.__GB
6 M Ferrin & D Kaplan 91 65 .583 -
12 R Jazayerli 90 66 .577 1
3 W Leitch 74 82 .474 17
9 AFOP 56 100 .359 35
With a week full of six games left to be played, Jeff Passan and Josh Levin had clinched their respective divisions. The standings in the Williams division were much tighter, where Mike Ferrin and Dave Kaplan’s squad led Rany Jazayerli by one game. In the wild card race, Rany’s team led my team by three games. Rany would play Joe’s team in the first series of the week. Unfortunately for Rany, Joe Sheehan never misses a chance to play spoiler and won two of three. Simultaneously, Ferrin and Kaplin lost two of three to Jeff Ma’s club, while I swept Jeff Passan. Ferrin and Kaplin were still leading Rany by one, while Rany’s wildcard lead over me had shrunk to just one game—Rany and I would go head to head for the last playoff spot.
The finish between us was one of those heroic/tragic endings that make baseball so special; the Mets have nothing on Rany’s club, which dropped three straight to my team to not only lose the wildcard, but also any chance of overtaking Ferrin/Kaplan for the Williams Division title. Rany went home empty-handed, with only his medical practice to console him, while I became the idol of mill—of thousa—of my dog. Baseball is the game that will break your heart.
After my team managed an undefeated week to take the final playoff spot in a relatively evenly matched field, the final regular season standings in the Kings National League are:
Clemente_Standings,_Pitching___W___L___pct.__GB
7 J Passan & M Pesavento 97 65 .599 -
10 B Murphy & I Lefkowitz 93 69 .574 4
4 J Sheehan 82 80 .506 15
1 J Sterger 80 82 .494 17
Mays_Standings,_Pitching_______W___L___pct.__GB
11 J Levin & S Ehrenberg 94 68 .580 -
8 M Siano & C Schwartz 70 92 .432 24
2 J Ma & R Wilkins 69 93 .426 25
5 J Perrotto 67 95 .414 27
Williams_Standings,_Pitching___W___L___pct.__GB
6 M Ferrin & D Kaplan 94 68 .580 -
12 R Jazayerli 91 71 .562 3
3 W Leitch 78 84 .481 16
9 AFOP 57 105 .352 37
American League
Here were the standings heading into the final week:
Kaline_Standings,_Pitching_____W___L___pct.__GB
7 N Silver 102 54 .654 -
4 S Goldman & A Baharlias 88 68 .564 14
10 S Walker & N DiFino 70 86 .449 32
1 K Goldstein 68 88 .436 34
Fox_Standings,_Pitching________W___L___pct.__GB
5 R Neyer 81 75 .519 -
2 J Erickson 81 75 .519 -
11 P King 76 80 .487 5
8 D Cokin 74 82 .474 7
Ruth_Standings,_Pitching_______W___L___pct.__GB
3 K Kaufman & R Granick 89 67 .571 -
9 R Brogna 82 74 .526 7
6 J Luft & A Chen 71 85 .455 18
12 E Karabell 54 102 .346 35
In the Kaline division, Nate Silver has the title wrapped up. He’s had the best record since the second or third week of the season and coasted to the playoffs. In the Ruth division, King Kaufman’s Bears had a comfortable lead, and since the last week features 6 games per team, they had clinched their playoff spot. Additionally, the squad managed by Steven Goldman and Andrew Baharlias had a comfortable lead in the wild card race. Though they hadn’t technically clinched, they would have to go winless and Rico Brogna go undefeated to force a playoff.
It fell to the Fox division to provide some stretch-run excitement. With one week to play, things were all tied up between Rob Neyer and Jeff Erickson. Jeff had three games against Jacob Luft and Albert Chen’s team, and three games against the Goldman/Baharlias team that was going for the wildcard. Meanwhile, Neyer was scheduled for three against Dave Cokin and then three against King Kaufman. To start the week, Jeff Erickson’s team managed to sweep Luft/Chen, outscoring their opponent 22-5 in the series. Incredibly, Neyer’s team also swept their first opponent, outscoring Cokin by a 28-6 margin.
Both Erickson and Neyer then took their first two games against their final opponents. Both teams had run their record for the week to 5-0; heading into the last game of the season, the race was still tied. The match between Erickson and Goldman/Baharlias was an incredible fake game that would have had fans jumping off of tall buildings… if it had occurred in reality. Erickson started Kei Igawa with the season on the line, against Nate Robertson. Igawa went 6 innings, allowing only one run. Adrian Beltre hit a two-run double off of Robertson in the sixth inning to give Erickson a 2-0 lead, but in a gesture of bullpen seppuku that would have appalled even Joe Torre, Erickson brought in former Yankees playoff menace Jay Witasick. Witasick gave up a hit, made an error on the pickoff, gave up a single to tie the game, gave up a stolen base with another throwing error, and then, with the game on the line, allowed Kenji Johjima to bloop the game winning hit into right.
Simultaneously, Neyer’s team, completely out of pitchers, went up against King Kaufman’s Kenny Rogers (which sounds like a chain of restaurants selling fried country singers, but isn’t). Fortunately for Rob, his “Pitcher AAA” was able to contribute three solid innings. In the bottom of the third, Neyer’s team exploded for seven runs, including a three-run home run by Rondell White in his final fantasy game. But Kaufman would not go quietly. With the score 8-5 in Neyer’s favor going to the bottom of the ninth, With two outs, “Pitcher AAA” allowed a home run to Mike Piazza making it 8-6. With the tying run on deck, Neyer brought in Rafael Perez, who got Brandon Inge to ground out to clinch a perfect week and the division championship.
The final regular season standings in the Kings American League are:
Kaline_Standings,_Pitching_____W___L___pct.__GB_
7 N Silver 103 59 .636 -
4 S Goldman & A Baharlias 90 72 .556 13
1 S Walker & N DiFino 73 89 .451 30
10 K Goldstein 73 89 .451 30
Fox_Standings,_Pitching________W___L___pct.__GB_
5 R Neyer 87 75 .537 -
2 J Erickson 86 76 .531 1
11 P King 81 81 .500 6
8 D Cokin 74 88 .457 13
Ruth_Standings,_Pitching_______W___L___pct.__GB_
3 K Kaufman & R Granick 90 72 .556 -
9 R Brogna 86 76 .531 4
6 J Luft & A Chen 71 91 .438 19
12 E Karabell 58 104 .358 32
Hopefully the Kings League playoffs can live up to the hype that the end of the regular season generated. We’ll bring you the results in this space soon, along with a few words on the winner’s charity.
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