CMSL
The CMSL is comprised of 44 games running from mid-June to early August. At the end of the season, the top four teams from the two divisions proceeded to the playoffs.
At the end of the season, the standings looked like this:
The East won the All Star Game (held on July 7th in Hyannis) 8-6.
The playoffs are detailed below, with Hyannis taking the title in a three game Championship series:
Pitcher of the Year went to Braedon Duder of NJIT, who spent the summer with Wareham. He went 2-0 with a 1.07 ERA and 58 Ks in 50.1 innings pitched. Duder, who is a junior, also won MVP. The Reliever of the Year was won by Eli Verdi and New Mexico/Chatham. The Lobo senior went 1-0 with five saves and an ERA of 0.00 in 20.2 innings of work.
The season saw one no-hitter, throw in late June by Steve Walton of Hyannis against Chatham. He walked four and struck out four on June 29th.
MLB
The Atlanta Braves claimed their first World Series title since 1995, beating Cleveland in five games. Despite winning their first AL pennant since 2016, the Indians were no match for Atlanta.
Kyle Tucker (Houston- .314, 37 HR) claimed AL Rookie of the Year. Pete Alonso (New York- .308, 38 HR) claimed the NL counterpart. And I just want to say, I have run 2019 in this game a lot and I don’t think I have ever seen Pete Alonso come anywhere close to his real life home run total. Congrats to Alonso for breaking the rookie home run record though. Blake Snell (Tampa Bay- 16-8, 2.94 ERA, 236 Ks) retained his AL Cy Young award. Walker Buehler (Los Angeles- 14-5, 2.25 ERA, 223Ks) collected the NL award. Mike Trout (Los Angeles- .326, 45 HR) collected his third AL MVP award while Bryce Harper (Philadelphia- .302, 45 HR). Harper’s win marks the first by a Philly since Jimmy Rollins in 2007.
11 players hung up their cleats at the end of the season- Jeff Mathis, Brandon Phillips, David Freese, Rich Hill, Francisco Liriano, Albert Pujols, Brian Duensing, Curtis Granderson, Matt Kemp, Dustin Pedroia, Brian McCann.
And a whole bunch of players found a new home throughout the season (checked on December 31st, 2019):
Via trade:
-Steve Pearce is now a White Sock
-Andrew McCutchen is now a Cardinal
-Nelson Cruz is now a Met
-David Peralta is now a Marlin
-Robinson Cano is now an Indian
-Roberto Osuna is now an Angel
-Jake Odorizzi is now a Cardinal
-Jose Quintana is now a Dodger
-Dansby Swanson is now a Red Sock
Via free agency:
-Didi Gregorius is now a Red Sock
-Xander Bogaerts is now a Yankee
-Yasmani Grandal is now a Rockie
-Josh Donaldson is now an Angel
-Rick Porcello is now a Philly
-Khris Davis is now a Diamondback
-JD Martinez is now a Philly
-Zack Wheeler is now a Cub
-Yasiel Puig is now a Red Sox
(If you want to know about a specific player I haven’t listed, just hit me up or leave a comment)
Of note- Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Zack Grienke, and Cole Hamels all passed 2500 career strikeouts while Chris Sale passed 2000. Jay Bruce and Justin Upton passed 300 home runs while Kenley Jansen passed 300 saves.
Four men received the Call to the Hall- Derek Jeter, Barry Bonds, Todd Helton, and Curt Shilling.
Draft Watch
Draft Watch does return. Each season, we look at the first overall pick, the highest overall pick from our custom league, and the picks from previous years.
This year, we only look at the first overall pick. As expected, Baltimore took catcher Adley Rutschman from Oregon State. In 33 games for the low-A Aberdeen Ironbirds, Rutschman hit .232 with two home runs and fifteen RBIs. His OPS was .663 and his defensive efficiency was 1.081.
The 2020 season will be up on
September 30th.