Monsters

The Monsters' usual logo when coached by Yurya

AL Division Champs

AL East Champs

Record: 5-9

Season 9 Runner-Up

## Overview

The Monsters are a custom team that can be selected in Backyard Baseball and Backyard Football. They are considered one of the quintessential Backyard team names by the BBL community. For their first four seasons, they were coached by Yurya

"Monsters" is one of two teams that have been chosen every season in the BBL, with the other being "Melonheads"

## Season 1

WIP

In the inaugural season the Green Monsters made themselves a fixture in the league for the next few seasons. With the 7th and 2nd to last pick in the draft they selected Tin Can Alley to be their home field, a venue that would become their regular home in the next few seasons for them.

The 2nd round of drafting (first round for players), the Monsters then selected Derek Jeter #2OA and he demonstrated what the Monsters prioritized: speed but also a strong emphasis on bats and arms.

The next pick was #15 and this time Cal Ripken Jr. was taken. He proved reliable at third and an incredibly reliable RBI man leading the league with 45 RBIs.

The third pick (and the entire third round of picks was for CUSTOM players, players generated from in game) and the Monsters had the second pick in that round and chose the speedster BARRY DEJAY he wouldn't stay with the team though as he was a big piece in the blockbuster trade of the season (8 players moved) and in his spot the Monsters received Pete's younger brother MATT WHEELER. MAT had a strong season and stole the most bases of any CUSTOM.

With the 4th pick the Monsters got perhaps the steal of the draft as Jason Kendall was still available. With the meta not yet known, especially with regards to the AI, the value of such a solid C was greatly underrated and Kendall going 39th in a shallower pool of players is definitely notable.

3 picks later (right after the Webber's got taken), the Green Monsters picked for name and selected slugger Shawn GREEN. Shawn didn't lead the team in HRs (Tin Can Alley was their home field after all), but he racked up plenty of doubles and tied the team for triples.

The last three picks were made but then the players all traded away. The Monsters selected Dante Robinson but then traded him to the DBacks for Tony Delvecchio. They then drafted Jorge Garcia and Jason Giambi, but moved both in the above mentioned blockbuster trade with BARRY DEJAY and received Marty Cordova and coach's favorite Kenny Kawaguchi.

Tony provided a strong defensive presence and his bat loved the close walls at TCA and held the team high in doubles.

Kenny Kawaguchi rocked out on the mound. He only allowed an average of one run a game, and with that hit over .600, and nearly scored on par with his teammates providing deep value to keep the big green offensive monster moving.

But the surprise of the team was Marty Cordova. He hardly seemed all that amazing at first, but ended up with the biggest offensive numbers on the team: leading the team in HRs, and slugging and lead the entire league with his 100 TB. He also, you know hit the ball out of Tin Can Alley for a Grand Slam.

The team had great success on the field. Their record was an impressive 13-1, losing only to the Little Fishes. Their AI was also fairly successful beating Gschlim's squads multiple times. This regular season success didn't fully translate to the playoffs as they stumbled through divisionals, before the Devil Rays (who the Monsters swept in the regular season) humbled the Monsters in the LCS.

## Season 5

### Lulu League

The Little Monsters were an average baseball team with above average character. Coached by JibboDaHibbo the Little Monsters missed the T1 playoffs losing to the Fishes and Jlund24. After a statistically awful regular season, Playoff Frank became a sensation with a historic Tier 2 playoff run. Ken Griffey Jr. lead the team in hitting and Matessa Sturges finished 2nd place in the Ace Wilson award. Matessa pitched 2 perfect games, a 1 hitter and a 5-2/3rds perfect game with the 1/3 inning pitched by Frank Thomas.

## Season 6

The Monsters moved to Minnesota at the choice of coach aesnop. He placed his Monsters in a so-called "Division of Doom," against fellow high-regarded coaches gmchappe, Yurya, and Nick Foles is my dad. He drafted a lot of speedsters, and won his first three games with a barrage of stolen bases.

Following a Week 4 forfeit, aesnop stepped away from the team for personal reason and newcomer BootyHunter was chosen to replace him. BootyHunter had trouble adjusting to a team with no power hitters, and the Monsters struggled for the rest of the season. They finished with a 5-9 record and missed the playoffs.

The Monsters entered the BBL Consolation Tournament and lost their two games to the Orioles and Rockies, thus ending their season.

## Season 7

After taking a season away from the squad, coach Yurya returned as coach of the Green Monsters in Season 7. They were placed in the Backyard League, a division of BBL veterans.

The Monsters started off the season with a bang, beating the heavily favored Red Sox 24-15 in their Week 1 matchup. However, the Monsters may have peaked too early, as they ended up finishing at 6-8.
The Monsters were locked in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot but had the advantage over the Mariners and Phillies in the tiebreaker games due to head-to-head record. However, after the Mariners beat the Phillies in the first tiebreaker game, they gave the Monsters the same treatment, and the Monsters had one of their worst offensive games of the season at the wrong time. They Monsters were thus eliminated from championship contention.

## Season 8

Coach Yurya returned to the helm of the Green Monsters in Season 8, and he placed them in the American League Central. The Monsters experimented a little bit with their roster construction, picking up both Star Moonbeam and Stuart Sullivan after drafting the custom catcher lock Ruby Diamond. They also drafted Todd Xavier but named Fernando Diaz as their primary pitcher.

The Monsters were in playoff contention late in the season, but a narrow loss to the division rival Tigers in Week 13 on Match of the Week eliminated them.

## Season 9

Coach Yurya returned to the helm of the Monsters for Season 9. They played in the NL West on the 2003 version of the game, with a home field of Cement Gardens. With that field in mind, Yurya sought to replicate teams that had success at the Gardens. The s7 Cubs, s8 Tigers, s8 Fishes in particular showed that good speed and a defensive leaning team you can do very well there. He looked first to grab a top defensive piece and traded up in the first round hoping to grab Pete Wheeler or Derek Jeter. The Monsters became reunited with th latter and then looked to build around the stud SS.

The Monsters had an excellent season, led by their defense, finishing 11-3 and clinching the top seed in the National League. They also zoomed through the National League playoffs, sweeping the Giants and Diamondbacks on their way to reaching coach Yurya's first career World Series.

After running into an offensive powerhouse in the Cubs, the Monsters lost 3 games to none in theSeason 9 World Series. However, this Monsters season was one of their most memorable in BBL history.

Derek Jeter won the Goldie Glove Award for his defensive effort, and award he also won in Season 1 as a member of the Green Monsters.

## Season 10

### 2001

Yurya and the Monsters returned for Season 10, playing in the 2001 league. They were in the National League East and had a home field of Playground Commons.

This season, Yurya took the theme of "Green Monsters" to the extreme, drafting every player whose name featured "green" or anything tangentially related to "green", going so far as to edit the .b file so that each of his players' last names would actually be "Green".

The Green Monsters had a successful season, going 9-5 and cruising to a division championship in the NL East.