At Last....

I can hear the music now, Etta James singing each word.

"At last my love has come along
My lonely days are over and life is like a song, oh yeah
At last the skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up clover the night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to, "

I have finally won my fantasy baseball championship. I celebrate this moment with my son Kevin, my co manager, my baseball guru, my friend.  Kevin, we have finally done it.


My son christened this franchise "Elephants on Acid", and I must admit it took mea long time to get used to that acronym, but it stuck, and I grew to like it.

Here is how it played out. First off we had to play our way into the World Series, we had to defeat a mighty warrior, winner of many championships.

 
Standings, Pitching            W   L   pct.  GB   ERA  CG ShO  RS  Sv   IP     R   ER   H   BA   BB   K  WP
 4  Elephants on Acid           4   0 1.000  -    2.49  0   0  4.8  3   47     14  13   51 .270  19   53  0
 8  Rainy Day Women             0   4  .000  4    3.60  0   0  3.5  0   45     19  18   48 .267  18   57  1
 
    AB    R    H   D   T  HR  RBI  BB   K   BA  OBA  SlgA  SH  F SF GDP  SB  CS  LOB  OP  DP  E  OSB OCS PB
 4  180   19   48  10  0   9   19  18   57 .267 .333 .472   2  1  0   4   0   0   46   0   4   2   1   1  0
 8  189   14   51  10  0   5   13  19   53 .270 .337 .402   0  0  0   4   1   1   53   3   4   3   0   0  1

 4  Jim McCullough            4-0:  @8 3-2, @8 6-5(18), 8 6-4, 8 4-3(11).
 8  Glen Dundas               0-4:  4 2-3, 4 5-6(18), @4 4-6, @4 3-4(11)

then having slayed the dragon, 

Standings, Pitching            W   L   pct.  GB   ERA  CG ShO  RS  Sv   IP     R   ER   H   BA   BB   K  WP
 4  Elephants on Acid           4   2  .667  -    3.79  0   0  6.0  3   57     26  24   62 .264  22   66  2
 5  One Night Stanton           2   4  .333  2    5.30  0   0  4.3  1   56     36  33   62 .278  19   52  1
 
    AB    R    H   D   T  HR  RBI  BB   K   BA  OBA  SlgA  SH  F SF GDP  SB  CS  LOB  OP  DP  E  OSB OCS PB
 4  223   36   62  10  0  14   36  19   52 .278 .331 .511   0  0  3   7   0   0   41   1   2   6   3   0  1
 5  235   26   62  11  1  11   26  22   66 .264 .326 .460   1  0  1   2   3   0   62   5   7   3   0   0  1

 4  Jim McCullough            4-2:  @5 3-4(13), @5 7-4, 5 4-5, 5 3-2, 5 10-4, @5 9-7.
 5  Bruce Luebke              2-4:  4 4-3(13), 4 4-7, @4 5-4, @4 2-3, @4 4-10, 4 7-9.

The true hero is my son, Kevin, who I promised 7 or 8 years ago, that we would win the title,

and keeping me to my promise, with encouragement and love. 

For without his encouragement, I would have thrown in the towel years ago. 

We were close but no cigar many times, then lean years, then ultimately a trade in June 

and the emergence of a young rookie Yordan Alvarez, with the Houston Astros, who appeared on 

the stage like a lightening bolt. 

I have no photographic evidence of the players, but I will post a few pictures of some of

the stars of the season.

Gerrit Cole won 15 regular season games then won twice in post season play.

Jose Altuve, acquired in a mid season trade, led the way with 31 home runs and his usual stellar defense.

Lucas Giolito, the difference maker, broke onto the scene with
a spectacular season, winning 11 games before an injury in mid September cut short his season.

Andrew Benintendi, the rocket in left field with his defensive wizardry, and his efforts on the basepaths.

Young Cavan Biggio emerged as a steady bat off the bench, thereby enabling us to platoon him with other players.

Miguel Sano, who was an off season addition. I decided that we needed another big bat, so I took a chance in trading for Sano, he didn't disappoint,  giving me 34 home runs during the season.

Young Vladimir Guerrero jr, who was brought along slowly in the organization, then vaulted to stardom in late April.

 Yordan Alvarez, the true hero of the season, his contributions, his 23 home runs and .313 batting average in late June made the run possible. His massive home runs were without a doubt more majestic than others.  Well done Yordan.




Well, all I can say is , we'll be back in March redrafting again the balance of the team, ready to defend the championship.
Now, it's back to focusing on the real playoffs and real games.  Next blog, let us savor this victory for a time.