Hall of Fame Cases

For the first time since the Fingers Hall of Fame was established there is no clear cut inductee. But there are a strong group of players with great accomplishments. We have a two guys with 200+ wins, another two with 500+ home runs and three others with 300+ saves.

Hardball Dynasty's

Quilvio Mesa

Quilvio Mesa didn't accomplish any of that. He finished his career with a stellar record of 188-97. Of the seven pitchers up for nomination with 180+ wins Mesa has the lowest OAV, OBP, SLG, WHIP and ERA.  The kicker for me though was that during the three World Series runs by the Tobacco Beetles Mesa was 8-0 in 14 playoff starts.

Hardball Dynasty's

James Yamaguchi

I believe Yamaguchi is the only Hall of Fame candidate to receive an automatic nomination this season; He won four Fireman of the Year awards (a league record). The four other closers with 200+ saves that are Hall eligible combined to win only three Fireman awards.

Full Disclosure: Yamaguchi was the closer on two of my New Orleans Flashers teams that went to the World Series. He was a combined 13 for 14 in save opportunities during those two playoff runs.

Position Players
I don't think there will be a position player that makes it to the Hall. I'd be surprised if one did. Kyle Lee's stats jump off the page a bit. He finished his career with 300 HR and 300 SB. He also had a couple 30/30 seasons. But he only made 2 all-star games and his four seasons in Seattle kept his offensive numbers from being Hall-worthy.

Season 17 CHAMPS

The Tucson Saguaros have won the Finger League's 17th World Series title! They defeated the Moterrey Gringos 4 games to 1.

The Tucson franchise had 11 straight seasons of playoff baseball and no World Series appearances with mcbain10 at the helm. This season RLeone took over and pulled a Jon Gruden. He took over Tony Dungy's team and led them to an elusive championship. Congratulations!

PLAYOFFS MVP:

Hardball Dynasty's

Santos Lopez

"The So-Cal Kid" crushed playoff opponents on the road to his 4th World Series title. He hit .400 with 8 home runs and 21 RBIs (all career playoff highs) in 50 at bats. His signature moment came in Game 5 of the World Series. With his team down 5-3 in the bottom of the 10th he hit a game-tying, 2-run home run off of former MAPS teammate Carlos Nunez. Tuscon scored in the bottom of the 11th to clinch the series.

FINGERS SEASON 17

My apologies for the such long delay between blog posts. Real life gets complicated sometimes. 

PLAYOFFS

American League
1. Milwaukee Brewmasters 108-54 (REIGNING CHAMPS; 7th straight playoff appearance)
2. Tucson Saguaros 101-61 (12th straight playoff appearance)
3. Boston Brawlers 90-72 (3rd straight playoff apperance)
4. El Paso Federales 86-76 (7th straight playoff appearance)
5. San Juan T.E.M.A.P.S 89-73 (13th playoff appearance in 14 seasons)
6. Portland Fog 88-74 (1st playoff appearnace since Season 7)

National League
1. Monterrey Gringos 100-62 (2nd playoff appearance ever)
2. Trenton Capitols 99-63 (17th straight playoff appearance - League Record)
3. Colorado Springs Rainbow Trout 99-63 (6th playoff appearance in 7 seasons)
4. Rochester Spirit of Ontario 90-72 (2nd straight playoff appearance)
5. Charleston Men of Risk 91-71 (9th playoff appearance in 12 seasons)
6. Mexico City Banditos Yanquis 91-71 (3rd straight playoff appearance)

Good luck to all 12 teams. I'll be praying for a NL team to finally end this awful streak. themehl won the first 3 league titles and the NL has lost every World Series since. :(

YOUR LOUIE MA UPDATE

Louie Ma won his 4th AL Batting Title this past season. He is the only player in Fingers history to win more than three batting titles. Ma also hit his 400th career HR. The numbers he has put up during his 10-year career are as impressive as any player in League history.

Bonk Blake became the 2nd position player to enter the Fingers HOF. Like Ma, he primarily played second base. Blake was voted as the best second baseman in the Fingers Leauge's first decade. So it leads me to the question... Who is better?

HITTING
BLAKE-
2292GP/.324BA/.427OBP/.559SLG/2591H/1642R/438HR/1512RBI/952XBH/1411BB
MA-
1414GP/.333BA/.427OBP/.648SLG/1792H/1142R/402HR/1267RBI/829XBH/848BB

FIELDING @ 2B
BLAKE-
1037GS/.981FLD%/2337PO/3653A/118E/815DP/10+/37-/6.31RF
MA-
1095GS/.981FLD%/2076PO/3261A/103E/698DP/25+/14-/5.18RF