Backyard Baseball League Season 10

## Season 10

The winning score from the Humongous Astros' series-clinching win over the Monsters.

## Draft

### Drafted By

2001: Seattle Fishes2003: Super-Duper Melonheads

## Awards

### MVP

AL: Henri Deschenes, RoyalsNL: Sammy Sosa, Mets
FL: Henri Deschenes, Diamondbacks
BL: Cheryl Reynolds, Braves

### Ace Wilson

AL: Frank Thomas, AstrosNL: Sonja Hagen, Mets
FL: Todd Xavier, Giants
BL: Jerry Winchell, Pirates

### Goldie Glove

AL: Derek Jeter, CardinalsNL: Marilyn McDonnell, Braves
FL: Derek Jeter, Orioles
BL: Pete Wheeler, Marlins

## Postseason

### Champions

2001: Humongous Astros2003: Mighty Rangers

### Runners-Up

2001: Green Monsters2003: Humongous Marlins

## **The Beginnings**

For the first time in the history of the Backyard Baseball League, there were significantly more than 24 signups, partly due to a large influx of members from the Backyard Baseball Online League (BBOL) community. In response to the large number of signups, the league officials decide to make two concurrent leagues, one operating on Backyard Baseball 2001 and the other operating on Backyard Baseball 2003. Coaches were allowed to participate in both leagues if they were willing. In total, there were 31 coaches split in two leagues of 22 teams each, with 13 coaches participating in both.

The 2003 League adopted the conferences of "Frontyard League" and "Backyard League" to distinguish from American League and National League. Unlike Season 9, when players were shared across both versions of the game, each league had its full roster available to be drafted.

Other than the double league setup, most of the new developments from the previous season were kept in place. See Backyard Baseball League Season 9 (Wheelie)#The Beginnings for more info.

This season was the first season with crazyei8hts as League Commissioner, replacing Yurya who held the title for the first 9 seasons.

## **Setting Up the Season**

* The Montreal Expos were originally the Houston Hornets, coached by jlund24. But jlund had to leave the server during the draft and MartianMan took over.
* The Minnesota Twins were originally the Texas Rangers, coached by Emery92, but Emery had to step away during the draft and MikeMadness took over.

The Padres were originally coached by benjaminion but he resigned after playing two games.

* The Royals were coached by arcothunder for the first 11 games, but his computer died and The CRK took over as substitute.
* The Indians were coached by c0rn for the first 10 games, but he resigned as coach and Madoc took over as substitute.
* The Cubs were coached by benjaminion for two games before he resigned and Heinz took over.

* The Red Sox were originally named the Red Hornets, coached by Emery92, but Emery had to leave during the draft. Yurya made a few draft picks for the Hornets before lillwaws26 came in and took over the team, changing their name to the Red Sox.

## **The Draft**

The description below is true of both the 2001 League draft and the 2003 League draft.

The players were assigned in a 22-team, 9-round draft. The format is known as a "scattered snake" draft, where each team gets one pick per round, but the order of each round is different in order to make each team's total draft positioning relatively even. "The Wheel" randomized the order in which coaches picked their draft slot, but they were allowed to choose any group of 9 picks as stated on the draft board.

## **The Season**

### Players of the Week

The Batter of the Week and the Pitcher of the Week awards returned for Season 10. They are given weekly to the in-game players who made the biggest impact at the plate and on the mound. The winners were as follows:

### Match of the Week

The Match of the Week started experimenting with simul-streams in Season 10, rather than always featuring two pre-recorded videos. This took a lot of stress off of our video editors!

### Final Standings

The standings are shown below. Teams in **bold** made the playoffs. Teams in *italics* accepted bids to the Consolation Tournament.

The Cardinals were the second Wild Card due to beating the Marlins during the regular season.

The Reds were the second Wild Card due to a 2-0 head-to-head tiebreaker over the Fishes in the regular season.

The Diamondbacks and Melonheads tied one game.

The Pirates were the second Wild Card due to beating the Wombats in the regular season.

### Stats

The stats were well kept throughout the season. The league leaders are listed below:

\*indicates a 9th round pick, eligible to use power ups

\*\*(ERA and WHIP are minimum 28 innings pitched)

## **The Playoffs**

### Structure

In each league, the two conferences sent four teams to the playoffs. The division winners each got an automatic berth, and then the next two best records, regardless of division, earned Wild Card bids.

# 2003 Playoff Bracket

Source: [2]
Frontyard League

* #1 Mets (11-3) vs. #4 Rangers (9-5)
* #2 Astros (11-3) vs. #3 Diamondbacks (9-4-1)

Backyard League

* #1 White Sox (11-3) vs. #4 Pirates (8-6)
* #2 Twins (9-5) vs. #3 Marlins (10-4)

## **League Awards**

The league awards were voted on by a panel of volunteer coaches. For the first time, the awards were given out by conference, rather than one award for the entire league. This had been the plan even before the two-league format was announced.

## **Aftermath**

With a growing number of rBBL participants, the two-league format seemed destined to stay.

Controversy arose in Game 5 of the 2003 League World Series, as the Marlins won 1-0 in regulation, but the Rangers ended the sixth inning tied 0-0. In extra innings, the Rangers completed a 3 run rally and won their side 3-0, giving them the win and the World Series title. However, onlookers argued that the Marlins were more deserving of the win since they beat the AI in regulation. It also brought up the point that in extra innings, the home team could only put up a maximum of +4 while the away team could win by any number of runs in the top of an inning. As a result of this controversial outcome, a rule was passed the next season that any game that goes into extra innings is automatically deemed a +0 run differential.