Season 23 Highlights

Philadelphia Wise Guys make it back-to-back titles by winning it all in Season 23!

With Season 24 on the horizon, it's a good time to look back at the highlights of Season 23.  opie5 led Philadelphia to back-to-back titles with a win over first time World Series participant reino4's Florida Swamp Monkeys. It was a just result, as Philadelphia dominated the regular season with a 116-46 record, 16 games better than any other team.  Toronto pushed them to a Game 7 in the NLCS, but then dominated the World Series.  Philly's offense was dominant, leading the world in most categories, and they also claimed the world's best ERA.  They look poised to come back in Season 24 to make a strong run at a three-peat.

Congrats to reino4 as well on making the World Series as a first-year owner, as a #5 seed, defeating the AL's #1 seed Scottsdale and #2 seed Baltimore on their way to the Series. 

Here are season 23's award winners:

NL MVP: Bob Cordova - Philadelphia .322 BA 40 HR 118 RBI
Cordova made his 3rd All-Star appearance and won his third silver slugger award by pounding the ball all season and helping Philly go back-to-back.

AL MVP: Sammy Rios - New Orleans .277 BA 52 HR 138 RBI
Rios didn't make the all-star team, but did win MVP and a silver slugger award.  He is only 25 and has incredible power, so it will be interesting to see how many more MVP's he can win.

NL Cy Young: Karim Fernandez - Rochester 25-6 3.36 ERA
Fernandez won his 3rd Cy Young award thanks to a stellar 25 wins on the season.  He also made his 5th all-star appearance.  It was a bit of a surprise win over Kevin Tucker whose ERA was almost a point and a half lower.  Tucker has already won 6 Cy Young awards though, so I guess it's good to spread the wealth.

AL Cy Young: Furio Mussina - New Orleans 19-5 2.93 ERA
Mussina made his 2nd all-star appearance in Season 23, and also tossed a no-hitter in his Cy Young campaign.  Interesting that New Orleans had the MVP and Cy Young winners, but missed the playoffs, albeit it was via tiebreaker that they lost their division.

NL Rookie of the Year: Ross Pall - Tampa Bay 11-7 3.77 ERA
I guess it doesn't say much for the depth of up and coming talent in the NL when a 30 year old takes the Rookie of the Year, but Pall did have a nice season after his long awaited major league debut.

AL Rookie of the Year: Miguel Lugo - Norfolk .276 BA 37 HR 113 RBI
A more conventional winner at age 23 than his NL counterpart,  Lugo also won a Silver Slugger award.  Judging by his ratings, this season may be his worst season out of the next 10, this guy is a beast.

Hope you enjoyed the recap, looking forward to starting season 24 soon!