2021 IBC Champions

[Guardians]

That definitely feels good to type. As with most seasons, I went into the playoffs with a feeling I would underachieve. I have won six straight division titles and seven out of eight years. And despite winning 110+ games multiple times, it just seems I've had tons of postseason issues, from having to replay a series I already won because a player was injured in MLB, to losing a key player for the playoffs in the last week of the regular season, to coming an out away from winning a title when 1.89 ERA-projected Andrew Miller give up back-to-back hits to Todd Frazier and Jonathan Villar to lose a game 7.

While I felt confident in my 105-win team with a trio of aces at the top, I certainly wasn't confident it would carry me through the playoffs. Having JB's entire team fall to injury, particularly toward the end of the regular season definitely made the path a little clearer. And knowing Trout was out on the NL side made this year's playoffs feel less like there were juggernauts at every stage. It felt winnable, but certainly not expected.

(Spoiler alert: The next few paragraphs are about...wait for it...trades)

The prep work started way before last season, but last offseason the team really started to take shape. A 10-player deal last December with Nate that netted me Raisel Iglesias, JD Martinez, and Kyle Hendricks really helped solidify my team in a lot of ways. While I gave up a lot of young talent in that deal, the gamble that JD would bounce back was spot-on, and Iglesias was an absolute stud in real life and for me in IBC. With Roberto Osuna not signing anywhere, having a stud closer was definitely necessary. Hendricks wasn't great, but he logged some solid innings throughout the year.

JP did me a solid in April when we swapped Chris Archer for Eduardo Escobar. Unfortunately, Archer got hurt shortly after and had another rough season. Escobar had an All-Star season in MLB and played a solid second base for much of the season for me.

Best deal of the year: Roismar Quintana to Philadelphia for Kike Hernandez. Kike was a utility guy with below average D and only success against lefties at this point in April. It wasn't until the second half that he apparently turned into a stud.

Short-sighted deal of the year: Kike Hernandez, Ryan Pepiot, Luis Angel Acuna to Milwaukee for Jean Segura, Craig Stammen, David Robertson. With Seager hurt and not sure when he'd return, I thought I needed a better bat in the lineup. In reality, I probably could have survived without Segura and kept Pepiot and Acuna (both of whom I knew would rise in the prospect rankings). Stammen and Robertson both logged big innings for me all year and Segura was good, so I can't complain, but I miss Pepiot and Acuna.

I ended up trading for, away, and back for Marco Gonzales and he was amazing in the playoffs. He ultimately picked up a big win each in the ALCS and World Series. Justin Turner is an old favorite and even though I really had no use for him, I knew he would get big hits and he hit .344 after July in the regular season. Closing out the trade deadline, getting Zack Greinke and James Karinchak really bolstered my pitching and put me in a position to have a lot of options in the playoffs. I essentially had 6-7 starting pitching options and many bullpen options for all series and never had a situation where I had gassed pitchers. That made a huge difference.

Rafael Devers was my offensive MVP, hitting .283/.341/.488 with 28 HR, 97 RBI, and 99 RBI. Diego Castillo was the AL Cy Young, tossing a 1.36 ERA over 132.1 IP in 22 starts and 6 relief appearances. I really don't think he had a poor start, but as I gained SP depth, I tried to reduce his innings and keep him rested by putting him in the bullpen.

The playoffs were challenging, as expected. In the first round, I knew facing Cole twice was going to make a short series difficult. The total five-game series ended with a difference of only three runs. Game 1 was decided in the bottom of the 11th and no game was decided by more than two runs. A pinch hit single by Castellanos and a HR by Astudillo in the 9th inning of Game 5 was the difference there.

Lining up to face JB, I had a good feeling. The many injuries (namely Darvish, Lemahieu, Paddack) meant JB was running on fumes in his rotation with basically Max Scherzer and duct tape. But he still has a Murder's Row of hitters. There aren't many weak spots. I expected to lose Game 1 to Max, but I took a gamble on Gonzales in Game 2 because the Yankees had extreme splits against lefties vs. righties and given the short porch in right field that wouldn't help Yelich, Olson, Harper as much against a lefty, I rolled the dice. It worked out well, as he limited the damage to three runs in 6 innings. That expanded my rotation even further, allowing me to use Giolito, Greinke, and Berrios at home and not have to head back to New York. JB was definitely disadvantaged. With Darvish and Paddack, I'm not sure how the series would turn out.

By this point, I felt pretty good whether I faced Nick or JP. It seems like half of Nick's team has come through me (Freeman, Stanton, Pham, Garcia, Hand), so I was pretty familiar with the team. He has good, but not great pitching, and, like JB, great hitting. I didn't expect a Game 1 blown save to be the difference, but I wasn't too worried at that point. Picking up Game 2 got things back on track. I turned to Marco again in a pivotal Game 3 and he delivered 7 innings, striking out 8 and giving up 1 run. Berrios gave me 2 scoreless in an easy Game 3 win. Greinke imploded in Game 4, but I was able to turn back to Giolito/Buehler in 5 and 6 and that's all I needed. Giolito tossed 8 innings, 10 k, 1 ER in Game 5 and Buehler struck out 9 in 7 innings, giving up 2 ER in Game 6.

I saw a Hangouts message pop up Sunday night and rather than check it, went to the website to see what happened. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Turning to Marco for a season-deciding game was not something I was excited to do, so I was happy to close it out in 6, decided by, you guessed it, an Astudillo home run. La Tortuga is one of the season's unsung heroes, hitting .299 with 22 HR and 97 RBI in the regular season and getting game-winning home runs in 2 of the 3 playoff series.

The offseason is here, but 2021 will forever remain a championship season, the culmination of a lot of time spent on drafting, trades, countless hours of online banter, and roster management in this fake baseball league we have loved for nearly 20 years.

[Athletics]

Congrats to the computer for playing a better series than you ever could!