The pitching numbers took a hit over the last month as they were pretty terrible; consequently we ended up 4th in ERA and 3rd in runs allowed. The defense was our best as far back as I can remember, Morioka and Frick gave us a keystone combo both rated at 70. Sadly, Morioka will miss the playoffs. The hitting stats:
What a year for Mario Saro in his first season as an everyday player. He's got a shot at MVP, although he did tail off some late in the season. Luis Barela rallied to put up decent numbers with a fine last two months but his 4-year reign as MVP is over. Also Alex Duran was dynamite, earning 2.8 WAR in essentially half a season's worth of at-bats. The pitching numbers:
Did not realize how good Marc Gibson was at keeping the ball in the park (only 5 HR allowed all season with a regular rotation turn); that made up for his penchant for putting runners on base. The revamped bullpen was kind of a flop, and even the high-leverage returnees (Minier and Sato) had down years. Who'd have thought Caleb Ramos would led the pen in WAR (although he did sprinkle in 4 starts)? The shaky pitching has me much less confident than normal going into the playoffs and our bid for 6 straight titles.
Playoff roster news: As predicted Jim Brophy was left off, and we went with Chris Winkler, the rookie reliever. With Morioka out, defensive wiz Josh Sprouse makes the roster; he'll likely be used as a late-inning replacement for Laboy or Davila at 2B.