Week 23 Recap: Pujols Leads L-Trains Back to the Playoffs

High five!

Last year, Albert Pujols didn't hit a single home run in the fantasy baseball postseason. Last week, Pujols went 1 for the week as the L-Trains fell out of the playoff picture and lost their sixth straight matchup. On Sunday, Sir Albert's first inning home run was the blow that sent the L-Trains back to the playoffs where he will look to homer early and often like he did on Sunday night.

It was a tense Sunday night as my last post illustrated. In fact, none of the three teams fighting for the last 2 spots had clinched berths or been eliminated until Prado flew out to end the game. With 2 out and two on, Brian's Fellow Brian McCann was due up next. If Prado had reached base, the outcome of McCann's at bat could have knocked out any one of final three teams. A homer would have sent the L-Trains and Fellows to the playoffs, an RBI base hit would have sent the Fellows and Giant Killers to the playoffs, and an out would have sent the L-Trains and Giant Killers to the playoffs. Instead, Prado flew out to end the game and eliminated Brian's Fellows who entered the game in 4th place before Pujols took care of business in the first innning. (Note: Brooks Conrad was in the on deck circle to apparently pinch hit for McCann. If this had happened, Kev might have killed someone.)

Now the playoffs are set, and the four deserving teams (according to the Hellmuth standings) have made it. The playoff field includes all three founding fathers and The Rise of Wang who are making their first playoff appearance since leaving the Trolley Dodgers organization. The founding fathers have won every championship in the history of the league dating back to 2002, so the Wangs are looking to make history. The L-Trains are looking to pull into a three way all-time tie with the Dynasty and Giant Killers by winning their third championship. The Dynasty and Giant Killers will battle it out this week to see who will have a shot at becoming the first 4 time champion in league history in two weeks.

The L-Trains won everything in Week 23. They were the best team (at 5-1-1) and they were the Trolley Dodger Award winners (since every other game ended 6-5). They only deserved a 7-4 win. The Giant Killers had the worst week, deserving a 7-4 loss.

I will be putting out the first and second team all-fantasy teams later in the week (or maybe later tonight if I get around to it).

For now, here are your final Hellmuth Standings:

	Phil Hellmuth Standings
Team	W	L	T	PCT	GB
Dynasty	144	108	24	.565	0
Wang	132	118	26	.525	11
GKs	131	120	25	.520	12.5
L-Trains	128	123	25	.509	15.5
Fellows	123	127	26	.493	20
Hitmen	123	130	23	.487	21.5
TDs	116	133	27	.469	26.5
Ozzie	107	144	25	.433	36.5

Here are your final matchup records:

	Matchup
Team	W	L	T	PCT
Dynasty	88	61	12	.584
Wang	82	64	15	.556
GKs	82	65	14	.553
L-Trains	77	67	17	.531
Fellows	73	73	15	.500
Hitmen	72	77	12	.484
TDs	60	81	20	.435
Ozzie	50	96	15	.357

Fun fact: The Giant Killers went 5-143-13 in saves against all teams.

Average yearly totals:

	Dynasty	GKs	L-Trains	Wang
R	31.7	32.3	32.6	31.8
2B	12.3	12.4	12.0	11.7
HR	8.0	8.1	9.2	8.2
RBI	30.1	30.8	31.1	29.6
SB	5.4	5.5	4.8	4.1
AVG	.282	.289	.276	.277
W	5.4	5.8	6.0	5.4
CG	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.7
SV	3.6	0.3	2.4	4.0
K	68.4	79.4	77.2	69.3
ERA	3.13	3.67	4.18	3.56
WHIP	1.21	1.28	1.33	1.24

	Ozzie	TDs	Hitmen	Fellows
R	28.8	30.3	30.6	29.9
2B	11.7	12.5	10.6	12.2
HR	7.0	7.1	6.8	8.3
RBI	27.0	31.1	27.0	29.8
SB	3.2	2.5	5.4	4.5
AVG	.274	.285	.271	.261
W	4.7	5.6	4.2	5.8
CG	0.3	0.5	0.6	0.9
SV	4.1	1.9	5.4	3.3
K	61.6	67.9	61.8	61.9
ERA	3.78	3.75	3.50	3.90
WHIP	1.28	1.27	1.23	1.27