For the second time in their history, Henry Rowengartner outlasts the competition to claim top honors in the Idle Time baseball league.
After spending most of the season in first place, thanks in large part to the bat of Jose Abreu and the legs of Billy Hamilton, Sherice’s crew relied exclusively on pitching throughout their two-week postseason. In fact, Henry Rowengartner bested Jimmy’s Choo and a Half Men in the Championship Round despite batting .193 with a paltry 18 runs and one stolen base.
Going into Sunday night’s Cardinals-Reds game, Choo held all seven batting statistics, while Rowengartner held all seven pitching stats (by the way, since 2010, Yahoo’s playoff tiebreaker is no longer ERA, but regular season record). Jay Bruce broke out of a recent slump with two homers in that nightcap, tipping the scales in favor of the eventual champs, 8-6.
Much of the credit over the last two weeks should go to a pair of un-retained, under-the-radar New York Mets pitchers. Jonathon Niese, who was drafted in the 21st round to start the 2014 season, pitched 21 innings over the last two weeks, allowing only five runs while striking out nineteen. Rookie Jacob DeGrom, who was a mid-season free agent acquisition, went fifteen innings during that same span, racking up 22 K’s against just four earned runs. Jeff Samardzija, obtained just prior to this year’s trade deadline, proved his postseason worth by pitching fifteen innings of shutout baseball to go along with sixteen strikeouts.
Henry Rowengartner becomes the third team to repeat as baseball champions, joining WHIP-Hop Honeys (2005, 2013) and Pine Tar Heroin (2006, 2008, 2010). Five of the players on this year’s championship team were also on their 2009 championship roster: Chase Utley, Brian McCann, Justin Upton, Evan Longoria, and David Price.
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