The 2010 IFB Champion: Sparland Hilltoppers

The playoffs in the Illinois Fantasy Baseball League have now concluded, and a champion has been declared.  After a long, dominating season that was repeated in the playoffs, the 2010 champion is:

SPARLAND HILLTOPPERS

Here are the results of the final match-ups for the season in the classification rounds:

• Championship
• Sparland Hilltoppers   9
• 2010 not a Holliday    2
• Third Place:
• JSloan    6
• BJ Penn  6
• JSloan winner based off of tiebreakers
• Fifth Place:
• BooBooCubs  10
• Most Daring    2
• Seventh Place
• Muse Academy Muses  3
• Ferris Indians                9

Congrats to every team on a successful first year in the Illinois Fantasy Baseball League.  Looking ahead to next year, here is a look at the order of the draft for the 2011 season:

1. Bushwackers
2. Quincy Dirtbags
3. Bambinos
4. Anabolic A Rods
5. Triple Crown
6. Bo Hart All Stars
7. Funky Cold Molina
8. All Balls No Strikes
9. Muse Academy Muses
10. Ferris Indians
11. Most Daring
12. BooBooCubs
13. BJ Penn
14. JSloan
15. 2010 not a Holliday
16. Sparland Hilltoppers

There also may be a possibility that some teams do not return for the next season.  If that is the case, the draft order will stay the same for all the teams in the league, and new teams will start out at the bottom.  For example:

• Bushwackers, Bambinos, and All Balls No Strikes did not return next season.  They occupy the 1, 3, and 8 slots in the draft order.  That would mean those three slots would move to the 14th, 15th, and 16th positions, and all other teams would move up in corresponding order.  That would mean Quincy Dirtbags would be first, Anabolic A Rods second, and so on.

Thanks again to everyone for a great first season, and look forward to year 2 in 2011!

IFL Week 3 Recap and Other Notes

Week 3 of the Illinois Football League is in the books.  Here's a look at the match-ups from Week 3:

• Da Win  122.42
• Romosexual Xperience  80.86

• DaBearColts  127.80
• The Grove Johnsons  77.10

• Most Daring   56.50
• Bad News Bears  92.54

• Muse Academy Muses  114.18
• ItsonlikeNdamukong  89.24

• Sparland Hilltoppers  87.32
• Rex Cooley All-Stars  106.84

• B1R    81.94
• Tim TebOwned  107.20

• Niemi No No  118.54
• The Other Side  97.84

After Week 3, there are three undefeated teams left in the league; Tim TebOwned, Bad News Bears, and Rex Cooley All-Stars.  There are also two teams at 2-1, eight teams at 1-2, and Romosexual Xperience is the only team left in the league to not taste victory.  To check out where everyone lies in the overall standings, just click the link.

And now here is a look at awards from Week 3:

• Most Points
• DaBearColts - 127.80
• Toyota Greatest Fantasy Victory
• DaBearColts - +50.70 points over The Grove Johnsons
• Hard Luck Loser of the Week
• Sparland Hilltoppers - -19.52 points behind Rex Cooley All-Stars

And now a look at the match-ups for Week 4:

• Muse Academy Muses (2-1) vs. The Other Side (1-2) - Match-up of the Week
• Da Win (1-2) vs. Bad News Bears (3-0)
• Romosexual Xperience (0-3) vs. Rex Cooley All-Stars (3-0)
• DaBearColts (1-2) vs. ItsonlikeNdamukong (1-2)
• Most Daring (2-1) vs. Niemi No No (1-2)
• Sparland Hilltoppers (1-2) vs. Tim TebOwned (3-0)
• The Grove Johnsons (1-2) vs. B1R (1-2)

The Match-up of the Week features the 2-1 Muse Academy Muses and the 1-2 The Other Side.  These two teams are the high scoring teams in the league after three weeks, with Muse Academy Muses putting up 308.76 points and The Other Side putting up 304.00 points.  The Other Side is currently 3rd in the Lincoln Division after a tough loss to Niemi No No in Week 3, while Muse Academy Muses is 2nd in the Lincoln Division after a two-game win streak.

And here are some other news and notes from around the various Illinois Fantasy Leagues:

• The second week in the championship matches are underway in the Illinois Fantasy Baseball League.  As of Tuesday afternoon, Sparland Hilltoppers held a 7-3-2 lead over 2010 not a Holliday in the championship match.  In the thirds place match, JSloan leads BJ Penn 6-5-1.  In the 5th place match, BooBooCubs leads Most Daring 7-3-2.  And in the 7th place match, Ferris Indians leads Muse Academy Muses 9-2-1.
• The Illinois Baskeball League is currently in the process of signing up teams for the 2010-11 season.  So far 6 teams have signed up.  The draft is October 24th at 7:00 P.M. CDT.
• This blog will also be keeping tabs on the Mid-American Hockey League.  The league was only able to obtain 5 teams for the season, and held its draft last evening.
• Another name change has occurred.  In the Illinois Football League, first 'n ten has changed its name to ItsonlikeNdamukong.

IFL Weeks 1 and 2 Recap

The inaugural season of the Illinois Football League is well underway with two weeks already in the books.  The league is playing about even right now, with each division have two 2-0 teams, three 1-1 teams, and two 0-2 teams.  The season is still young though.

First, here is a look at results from Weeks 1 and 2:

Week 1

• Da Win  71.58
• B1R  79.52

• Romosexual Xperience  53.18
• Bad News Bears  97.98

• DaBearColts  104.18
• Rex Cooley All-Stars  104.82

• Most Daring  83.02
• Sparland Hilltoppers  40.86

• Muse Academy Muses  77.72
• Tim TebOwned  78.12

• The Grove Johnsons  94.82
• The Other Side  84.18

• first 'n ten  111.22
• Niemi No No  59.54

Plenty of exciting action in Week 1, with two match-ups being decided by less than a point.

Week 2

• Da Win  107.10
• Sparland Hilltoppers  131.22

• Romosexual Xperience  89.86
• Most Daring  126.82

• DaBearColts  65.06
• Tim TebOwned 107.26

• Muse Academy Muses  116.86
• The Grove Johnson  87.10

• Bad News Bears  93.66
• Niemi No No  60.90

• Rex Cooley All-Stars  78.72
• B1R  71.84

• first 'n ten  84.00
• The Other Side  121.98

And now with the results complete, here is a look at the standings after Week 2.  A note about the standings though.  Beginning today, there will be an experiment to see if the standings would work better as a PDF, with a link provided.

Week 2 Standings

And now here is a look at the various awards from Weeks 1 and 2:

• Week 1
• Most points: first 'n ten (111.22)
• Toyota Greatest Fantasy Victor: first 'n ten (+51.68 points over Niemi No No)
• Hard Luck Loser: Muse Academy Muses (-0.4 points behind Tim TebOwned)
• Week 2
• Most points: Sparland Hilltoppers (131.22)
• Toyota Greatest Fantasy Victor: Tim TebOwned (+42.20 points over DaBearColts)
• Hard Luck Loser: B1R (-6.88 points behind Rex Cooley All-Stars)

That will wrap up the summaries for Weeks 1 and 2.  A couple notes before the end that regards the match-ups.

On Yahoo!, members of the league have two options they can do when viewing individual match-ups.  The first option is talking smack to your opponent for that week from the match-up window.  You can also vote on every match-up to let it be known who you think will win that week.  A few teams have already taken advantage of both those options.

The IFB Championship!: (1) Sparland Hilltoppers vs. (7) 2010 not a Holliday

After 24 exciting weeks of action, the Illinois Fantasy Baseball League has reached the penultimate match-up.  The 2010 championship will feature the Sparland Hilltoppers against 2010 not a Holliday.  A dominate run throughout the regular season that saw them capture the Reagan Division and the top record in the league continued into the playoffs.  A very cold end to the season for 2010 not a Holliday did not deter them from the championship round.  Here is how the two teams got to this point:

• (1) Sparland Hilltopers
• Regular season: 165-79-20
• Reagan Division Champion
• Defeated (8) Most Daring, 8-3-1, in the quarterfinals
• Defeated (4) BJ Penn, 7-4-1, in the semifinals

• (7) 2010 not a Holliday
• Regular season: 131-115-18
• Defeated (2) BooBooCubs, 7-4-1, in the quarterfinals
• Defeated (3) JSloan, 6-5-1, in the semifinals

• Previous match-ups:
• Week 12: Sparland Hilltoppers won 8-4

Sparland Hilltoppers will be a tough out in the championship round, but a getting hot 2010 not a Holliday could be the team to do it.

Here is a look at the other match-ups for positioning:

• 3rd place: (3) JSloan vs (4) BJ Penn
• 5th place: (2) BooBooCubs vs. (8) Most Daring
• 7th place: (5) Ferris Indians vs. (6) Muse Academy Muses

One note about the championship round: instead of the weekly contests, the championship round will take TWO weeks to finish.

Good luck to everyone in the last match-ups of the year!

IFB Semifinals Preview

A day late and a dollar short, but better late than never.  Let's get to it.

The semi-final round is set in the Illinois Fantasy Baseball League after a thrilling quarterfinal round.  Two of the matches went down to the wire, with one ending up in a tie, along with an upset.  Here is a look at the results:

• (1) Sparland Hilltoppers 8
• (8) Most Daring 3

• (4) BJ Penn 5
• (5) Ferris Indians 5

• (3) JSloan 7
• (6) Muse Academy Muses 5

• (2) BooBooCubs 4
• (7) 2010 not a Holliday 7

(Note: BJ Penn advanced on the tiebreaker of previous season match-up)

With those results, here is a look at the semi-final match-ups:

• (1) Sparland Hilltoppers vs (4) BJ Penn
• Previous match-up: Week 13 - Sparland Hilltoppers won 7-5
• (3) JSloan vs (7) 2010 not a Holliday
• Previous match-up: Week 10- JSloan won 6-5

Only 4 teams remain in the playoffs.  Who will take home the title?

Blog Update Delay Apology

Life is overtaking me at the moment, and too stressed right now to come up with proper posts.  IFB semi preview and IFL Week One recap posts will come today, just not sure when.

IFB 2010 Season: The Final Numbers

An exciting regular season in the first year of the Illinois Fantasy Baseball League came to a close last evening.  16 teams competed to see who would be the best of the best, with 8 of them now fighting for the title in the playoffs.  Some teams showed utter dominance in their divisions and the league, while other teams could not seem to get it going.  And now this season wrap-up blog post will take a look at some of the final numbers from 2010.

First, the final overall standings:

1. Sparland Hilltoppers (165-79-20)
2. BooBooCubs (144-102-18)
3. JSloan (142-101-21)
4. BJ Penn (140-109-15)
5. Ferris Indians (132-108-24)
6. Muse Academy Muses (132-114-18)
7. 2010 not a Holliday (131-115-18)
8. Most Daring (128-122-14)
9. All Balls No Strikes (123-117-24)
10. Funky Cold Molina (122-126-16)
11. Bo Hart All Stars (105-135-24)
12. Triple Crown (109-141-14)
13. Anabolic A Rods (99-135-30)
14. Bambinos (97-146-21)
15. Quincy Dirtbags (99-152-13)
16. Bushwackers (90-156-18)

And this season's four division champions are:

• Reagan - Sparland Hilltoppers
• Lincoln - BooBooCubs
• Obama - JSloan
• Grant - BJ Penn

And now a look at who performed the best in each statistical category.  First off, the teams with the best records in each stat:

• Runs - Sparland Hilltoppers (18-3-1)
• Hits - Sparland Hilltoppers (19-3-0)
• HRs - Most Daring (14-6-2)
• RBIs - Sparland Hilltoppers (16-5-1)
• SBs - Sparland Hilltoppers (15-3-4)
• AVG - Sparland Hilltoppers (15-6-1)
• Wins - Bo Hart All Stars (16-4-2)
• Losses - Bushwackers (15-5-2)
• Saves - Ferris Indians/Bambinos (16-3-3)
• BBs - BooBooCubs (19-3-0)
• Ks - Muse Academy Muses (18-4-0)
• ERA - Bo Hart All Stars (17-5-0)

And since best record in a stat did not necessarily mean the highest or best number in that category, here is who was tops in each category:

• Runs - Sparland Hilltoppers (818)
• Hits - Sparland Hilltoppers (1614)
• HRs - Most Daring (202)
• RBIs - Sparland Hilltoppers (786)
• SBs - Muse Academy Muses (163)
• AVG - Funky Cold Molina (.284)
• Wins - Bo Hart All Stars (97)
• Losses - Funky Cold Molina (35)
• Saves - Bambinos (100)
• BBs - Funky Cold Molina (200)
• Ks - Bo Hart All Stars (1141)
• ERA - Bo Hart All Stars (2.89)

And now, looking ahead to the 2011 season, here is a look at the draft order for next year:

1. Bushwackers
2. Quincy Dirtbags
3. Bambinos
4. Anabolic A Rods
5. Triple Crown
6. Bo Hart All Stars
7. Funky Cold Molina
8. All Balls No Strikes
9. (Consolation 8th place)
10. (Consolation 7th place)
11. (Consolation 6th place)
12. (Consolation 5th place)
13. (Playoffs 4th place)
14. (Playoffs 3rd place)
15. (Playoffs Runner-up)
16. (Playoffs Champion)

Congrats to everyone on a great first season, and looking forward to many more!

IFB Quarterfinal #4: (2) BooBooCubs vs. (7) 2010 not a Holliday

(2) BooBooCubs

• Record - 144-102-18
• Series record - 16-5-1
• Lincoln Division Champion, 46-23-3 (best divisional record in league)
• 7-4 series record vs. playoff teams, 69-56-7
• Has not lost a series since Week 13

(7) 2010 not a Holliday

• Record -  131-115-18
• Series record - 9-10-3
• Wild card
• 1-7-2 series record vs. playoff teams, 43-67-10 game record
• Was formerly known as 7 heaven

Previous match-ups:

• Week 6 - BooBooCubs won 7-5
• Week 21 - BooBooCubs won 9-1

This has the potential to be one of the most lopsided match-ups this week.  BooBooCubs comes in as one of the hottest teams in the league, going 35-10-2 in the final four weeks of the season.  2010 not a Holliday  comes in as one of the coldest teams in the league right now, posting a 12-32-4 record in the final four weeks of the season.  Anything can still happen, but it would not be a surprise if this one was out-of-hand Sunday evening.

IFB Quarterfinal #3: (3) JSloan vs. (6) Muse Academy Muses

(3) JSloan

• Record - 142-101-21
• Series record - 15-4-3
• Obama Division Champion, 44-21-7 (best division record)
• 4-1-2 series record vs. playoff teams, 41-34-9 game record
• Did not lose a series from Weeks 5-19

(6) Muse Academy Muses

• Record - 132-114-18
• Series record - 11-7-4
• Wild card
• 30-35-7 Reagan Division record
• 3-5-2 series record vs. playoff teams, 55-56-9 game record

Previous match-ups:

• Week 11 - 6-6 tie

This is another match-up that could go either way.  Both team played around .500 in the last 4 weeks of the season; JSloan with a 25-19-4 record and Muse Academy Muses with a 22-23-3 record.  The key to this match-up may be which Muse Academy Muses team shows up.  While JSloan pulled off an impressive streak from Weeks 5-19 that helped them win the Obama Division by 17.5 games, the same can not be said for the Muse Academy Muses.  Consistency has been a problem all year for the Muses, having series winning or losing streak last no longer than 3 weeks.

IFB Quarterfinal #2: (4) BJ Penn vs (5) Ferris Indians

(4) BJ Penn

• Record - 140-109-15
• Series record - 14-6-2
• Grant Division Champion, 39-30-3 Division record
• 3-4-1 series record vs. playoff teams, 43-45-8 game record

(5) Ferris Indians

• Record - 132-108-24
• Series record - 13-7-2
• Wild card
• 29-28-3 Lincoln Division record
• 4-6 series record vs. playoff teams, 48-63-9 game record

Previous match-ups:

• Week 11 - BJ Penn won 6-4

This is a match-up that could go either way.  Both teams finished out strong in the last month of the season, with one slip-up each.  BJ Penn took a loss in Week 22 to Most Daring, 8-4, that helped put Most Daring in the playoffs, yet still finished the last four weeks with a 27-21 record.  Ferris Indians' finished below .500 in the last four weeks of the year, with a 21-22-5 record.  But take away an 1-11 beating in Week 19 by Sparland Hilltoppers, and that record is 20-11-5.  BJ Penn won in the previous match-up, but that was in Week 11 and times have changed.  This match-up could go down to Sunday before it's decided.