Brewmasters Kill the Keg in 2012

Congratulations to the Brewmasters, and owner Chris "Cribs" Jenkins, a notorious Town of Poughkeepsie mafioso, for capturing the 2012 PicketLine Production Fantasy Baseball League championship.

The Brewmasters took over first place about 3/4 of the way through the season (I think), and were able hang on to the $1000 first place prize.  The team looked doomed after their #3 hitter, Melky Cabrera was susupended for PEDs, but that turned to the be point when the Brewmasters took off.  Led by Dustin Pedroia, Jose Reyes, and Allen Craig, the drunken squad put up points across the board, while pitchers Craig Kimbrell and Joel Peralta shut the door in the late innings.  Hiroki Kuroda, Anibal Sanchez, and Tim Hudson logged plenty of Quality Starts, while Kris Medlen gave the pitching staff an incredible late season boost.  Jenkins' shrewdest move of the year, may have been the decision to trade away Mariano Rivera, just a day before his season-ending knee injury.  This was Jenkins' second PicketLine championship (2005).  Also, a historic note.... the Brewmasters' 171 points is the lowest total ever to win the league.

In possibly the greatest pennant race in PicketLine history, which included five teams that had a legitimate shot at first place, Dave Prince and AllFlashNoCash narrowly escaped with the $400 second place prize.  Prince's success was simple to understand.... he had #1 overall pick, Miguel Cabrera.  The rest of his offense was a bunch of strikeout artists, like Dan Uggla, Chris Davis, and Mark Trumbo.  He also pulled a miracle by getting a good season out of Alex Rios!  Yadier Molina, Coco Crisp, and Elvis Andrus helped correct the incredible amount of whiffs, while A.J. Burnett and Adam Wainwright led the team in Quality Starts.  The Jonathan Papelbon / Joel Hanrahan closer duo certainly helped as well.

Chirag Amin's Chumps have now finished in 3rd place for the 3rd consecutive season.  The Chumps always compete for the top spot and this year they were led by Chase Headley (114 RBI), Joe Mauer, Corey Hart, and Josh Reddick.  Chirag's starting rotation was loaded with guys like Justin Verlander, Yovani Gallardo, Gio Gonzalez, and Stephen Strasburg.  However, the Chumps struggled at the back end of games.  J.J. Putz and Frank Francisco split the closer duties and Chirag searched all year for someone that could consistently produce Holds.

The NY Metroponzians won their first cash prize ($200) in the nine year history of the PicketLine league.  Sean Comerford's squad looked like they were going to run away with the league early on, but the dog days of summer caught up to his team of money launderers.  Edwin Encarnacion captained the NY offense, driving in 110 runs.  Adam Jones and Jason Kubel put up monster first halves, before Kubel cooled off and Jones was dealt for Johnny Cueto.  Justin Upton had a solid season, and Ben Revere chipped in 29 SBs.  Despite getting excellent seasons out of Zack Greinke, Chris Sale, and Cliff Lee, the pitching staff was doomed by their bullpen.  An early season trade for Mariano Rivera, just one day before he blew out his knee, put Sean deep in the hole.  He decided to punt the Saves category, and ultimately his lack of a closer may have doomed his season.

PicketLine rookie, Dan Slate, earned his money back by leading Fister? Just met her to a 5th place finish.  Slate talked a lot of trash to go with a team that led the PicketLine in ERA.  The five-man rotation of Felix Hernandez, Ryan Vogelsong, Jeremy Hellickson, Ian Kennedy, and of course, Doug Fister, put the offense on their backs all summer long.  Papa Grande (Jose Valverde) and Glen "the Percolator" Perkins shut the door in the 9th inning, while David Roberston racked up Holds.  Offensively, it was a struggle at times.  First round pick, Jacoby Ellsbury barely played all year due to injury.  Brandon Phillips led the team in both RBI (86) and Runs(77), and Ian Desmond led in Total Bases (257).  Slate traded for Albert Pujols for the stretch run, but it wasn't enough to put this team into first place.

And pulling the up the rear was Ken Koller's Madres squad, who infamously motherfucked anyone who plays fantasy sports.  The Madres final total of 61.5 points is the second lowest of all-time.  The worst team in PicketLine history was last year's Winning! team owned by Justin Bastinelli, who managed just 53 points!

There was great league activity this year, with the vast majority of teams making moves until the final few days.  Great season, see you next year!