The playoffs are here, and once again, I'm on the outside looking in.
It has been a rough second half of the summer for my team in particular. I waited for a few players to come up that never did and I had a star first baseman get sent down despite his .300 average.
That first baseman, Nate Lowe, finally got a ticket back to the big leagues thanks to the September call-ups, and he promptly homered.
But I digress. This isn't a Jargon about the Jargon.
It's about how no matter how upset I am about my failure to just make the playoffs, it's probably a blessing.
The Dude would have killed me.
And he may roll through everyone.
He is the JLB's version of a Category 5 hurricane. He is the Perfect Storm without a Wahlberg. He is an all-out favorite to win the 2019 JLB World Series.
Right about now, he is swearing up a storm because he fears this is a Sports Illustrated curse in the making.
But I have to talk about this.
The team he has assembled for 2019 is quite remarkable. It not only cruised to a National League title in a division that essentially belonged to Jim Vaughn in March; it put up numbers that made everyone else look like a bunch of freaking amateurs.
It was truly impressive. He became the first in JLB history to sweep the hitting and batting awards since the award was put in place. He posted 107.5 roto points on the batting side, and 93.5 points on the pitching side.
The Dude batted .284 with a League-best 986 singles and 893 RBIs. On the pitching side, his staff went 125-88 with 1,822 strikeouts, 72 saves, 48 holds, 3.66 ERA and 1.133 WHIP. The latter two figures were league-bests.
So much came together to make this happen. Cody Bellinger, Jeff McNeil and Rafael Devers all had breakout years, Michael Brantley somehow fell to No. 7 in the draft, and Yordan Alvarez's rose to be one of the greatest rookies ever until he had to hold Aristides Aquino's beer.
Add in the fact that some goofball traded him Alex Bregman and you have and offense that is just raking.
On the pitching side, the Dude knew he could count on Patrick Corbin and Gerritt Cole, but the surprise seasons from Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5, 2.35 ERA), Ryan Yarbrough (11-3, 3.36 ERA) and Yonny Chirinos (9-5, 3.62 ERA) have been paramount in his run to a National League division title.
Now, he gets to sit around and wait seven days to see who he faces in the NLCS.
The defending World Series champion Cheese Steaks will take on Quad Eh in his first playoff appearance. He enters the playoffs with a lineup that just crushes the ball. He absolutely demolished the JLB regular-season record with 306 homers.
No one has ever cracked 300 in a season. So, JV will certainly have his hands full in the NLDS.
In the American League, Breakfast earned the bye for the third straight year and he'll look to get back to the World Series where he lost to the Steaks two years ago.
He'll face the winner of the great Choo vs. Parker ALDS.
Believe it or not, the two have never met in the playoffs. In the instances that they both made the top three in the American League, one was always the No. 1 seed and the other lost in the ALDS.
So more JLB history starts tomorrow!
It has been a rough second half of the summer for my team in particular. I waited for a few players to come up that never did and I had a star first baseman get sent down despite his .300 average.
That first baseman, Nate Lowe, finally got a ticket back to the big leagues thanks to the September call-ups, and he promptly homered.
But I digress. This isn't a Jargon about the Jargon.
It's about how no matter how upset I am about my failure to just make the playoffs, it's probably a blessing.
The Dude would have killed me.
And he may roll through everyone.
He is the JLB's version of a Category 5 hurricane. He is the Perfect Storm without a Wahlberg. He is an all-out favorite to win the 2019 JLB World Series.
Right about now, he is swearing up a storm because he fears this is a Sports Illustrated curse in the making.
But I have to talk about this.
It was truly impressive. He became the first in JLB history to sweep the hitting and batting awards since the award was put in place. He posted 107.5 roto points on the batting side, and 93.5 points on the pitching side.
The Dude batted .284 with a League-best 986 singles and 893 RBIs. On the pitching side, his staff went 125-88 with 1,822 strikeouts, 72 saves, 48 holds, 3.66 ERA and 1.133 WHIP. The latter two figures were league-bests.
So much came together to make this happen. Cody Bellinger, Jeff McNeil and Rafael Devers all had breakout years, Michael Brantley somehow fell to No. 7 in the draft, and Yordan Alvarez's rose to be one of the greatest rookies ever until he had to hold Aristides Aquino's beer.
Add in the fact that some goofball traded him Alex Bregman and you have and offense that is just raking.
On the pitching side, the Dude knew he could count on Patrick Corbin and Gerritt Cole, but the surprise seasons from Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5, 2.35 ERA), Ryan Yarbrough (11-3, 3.36 ERA) and Yonny Chirinos (9-5, 3.62 ERA) have been paramount in his run to a National League division title.
Now, he gets to sit around and wait seven days to see who he faces in the NLCS.
The defending World Series champion Cheese Steaks will take on Quad Eh in his first playoff appearance. He enters the playoffs with a lineup that just crushes the ball. He absolutely demolished the JLB regular-season record with 306 homers.
No one has ever cracked 300 in a season. So, JV will certainly have his hands full in the NLDS.
In the American League, Breakfast earned the bye for the third straight year and he'll look to get back to the World Series where he lost to the Steaks two years ago.
He'll face the winner of the great Choo vs. Parker ALDS.
Believe it or not, the two have never met in the playoffs. In the instances that they both made the top three in the American League, one was always the No. 1 seed and the other lost in the ALDS.
So more JLB history starts tomorrow!
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