Perfect Season

[overkill94]

Has anyone ever pulled it off? In my AL-only league I already had a pretty commanding lead and then traded for Beltre and CC. Right now I'm at 86 out of a possible 100 but the points to be gained are mostly in the pitching categories where I have CC coming back and Ubaldo coming back to life.

[revo]

My greatest fantasy baseball season was 2003, when I got 136 of 160 pts (85%) in a 16-tm redraft league. I finished top 3 in every category except for wins, and likely would've been higher had I not "sold high" on Esteban Loaiza. I hit the jackpot with so many breakouts that year -- Mark Prior, Johan Santana, Joe Borowski, Mike Lowell, Bobby Kielty, etc -- it was insane.

[The Dane]

I've done it once in my long-time NL-only, and come close twice. I got 120/120 one year, and 118 and 117 in two other years. I really hit the jackpot. My MLers really panned out, dirt-cheap Howard, Braun, Reyes, Lincecum.

[overkill94]

Wow, well done Dane. I'm actually at 87/100 right now but only a homer and 2 RBI's away from it being 89/100. It'll be tough making up 11 wins and a .14 WHIP gap, but the 58 strikeouts and .36 ERA gap seem doable. It would've been easier to reach had Pettitte not gotten hurt a couple weeks after I traded for him.

Although I thought my hitting would be weak coming out of the draft, I've been buoyed by the breakout of Trout, some fortuitous FA pick-ups (Plouffe, Moss, Dirks), and the resurgences of Dunn and Austin Jackson. All of this despite getting nothing from my $25 Carl Crawford. The pitching has been more frustrating - Verlander has been a rock and picking up Hammel has worked out great, but Shields has regressed a bit, Derek Lowe has been good for wins and little else, Porcello has been maddeningly inconsistent, Ubaldo took 2 months to get going, and the 1 start I put Justin Grimm in for was a disaster. Luckily my closers have been spectacular - Frieri was a killer FA pick-up, Jim Johnson (who I barely kept at $10) has been awesome, and Joe Nathan was great before I traded him.

[Judge Jude]

best we've ever seen is 109.5 out of 120.
the only team ever to sweep all 5 hitting categories finished SECOND overall, dragged down by a 9th place in Ratio....

[overkill94]

best we've ever seen is 109.5 out of 120.
the only team ever to sweep all 5 hitting categories finished SECOND overall, dragged down by a 9th place in Ratio....

Wow, that's tough to do - sounds like it was a true 2-horse race. Looking back at the previous 5 years our league record was 90.5 although I had a pretty dominant total the year before we switched from CBS to Yahoo (probably not 90.5 though). That champ won runs, SB, saves, K's, WHIP, and ERA (with a surprising 3.75 - this year the leader is at 3.20 and I'm 3rd at 3.56) but finished 3rd in wins and RBI and tied for 3rd in HR. That was also the biggest gap from 1st to 2nd place - 18 points. Right now I've got a 15.5 point lead although it was 18.5 points yesterday.

Once I get that extra homer and 2 RBI I'll be tops in all hitting categories as well as saves but only 4th in wins, 3rd in K's and ERA, and 5th in WHIP.

Pretty sure I've totally jinxed my team with all this championship talk

[Judge Jude]

"sounds like it was a true 2-horse race."

yes, 105.5 to 101.5 - only time a team hit 100 pts in 5x5 era but didn't win (a couple of times, no one hit 100).
we both reached 500 "active units" by the trading deadline - we have no salary cap, obviously.

I did a poll on whether we should institute one, and all the other owners - many of whom sold off parts - said it was fun to watch, actually.

[Lucky]

In the late 90's I had a three-peat, and in the middle season I missed the perfecto by half a point. Someone tied me in either Wins or Saves on the last day. So, technically, I finished first in every category, but I don't count the one in which there was a tie. I've never been anywhere close to that again. The third title was a squeaker, followed by a dry spell that lasted to 2005.

In the Boxscore league, I'm floating around 126 out of 150, but I don't think that's going to last long, unless Stanton can hit on crutches.

[Lucky]

"sounds like it was a true 2-horse race."

yes, 105.5 to 101.5 - only time a team hit 100 pts in 5x5 era but didn't win (a couple of times, no one hit 100).
we both reached 500 "active units" by the trading deadline - we have no salary cap, obviously.

I did a poll on whether we should institute one, and all the other owners - many of whom sold off parts - said it was fun to watch, actually.

I was in an AL-only league for a few years in which you could "expand" your roster starting September 1st. As many guys as you had who were actually on active MLB rosters, you could bring them up. There was a substantial cost for each "September call-up", but if you had enough guys you could post some big numbers. I remember having over 30 active players one year, and not winning. So many of the guys you could bring up were just filler, with lousy batting averages, Whips, ERAs, etc.

[dannahann]

By far the best finish ever in our 14 years was a stunning 162.5 of 168; (12T 7x7 mixed). What makes anything close especially unlikely is the yin/yang aspect of our pitching categories. The two extra cats are Losses and HR allowed and our rules only allow 3 possible RP starts. That year the champ somehow met our innings requirements (1350 floor to 1500 cap) and tied for 1st in Wins and 1st alone in Losses, and 2nd alone in both K and HR allowed. For reference I had a team and pitching staff that would've won most seasons and while I tied for 1st in Wins and was 1st overall in K, I was as expected only T6th in Losses and 8th in HR allowed.

[Porcello]

114.5 of 120 in mixed keeper league, 2009. Ran the table with pitching, got 10 in RBI (1060, two ahead were 1061 and 1100), and 8.5 in avg (.281, winner was .290). Not much else was close

R 1176 (2nd 1082)
HR 313 (2nd 306)
SB 221 (2nd 185)
W 108 (2nd 95)
SV 164 (2nd 133)
K 1444 (2nd 1314)
ERA 3.27 (2nd 3.61)
WHIP 1.18 (2nd 1.27)

Catalysts were Inge, Mauer, Cruz, Werth, Reynolds, Chris Carpenter, and Vazquez. Studs stayed healthy and were dominant too - Lincecum, Cano, Ellsbury, Hunter, and Granderson - and unlike this year the closers stayed intact - Heath Bell, Brian Wilson, Francisco Cordero, and Huston Street.

[overkill94]

Although it looked like the jinx was in full effect as recently as a couple weeks ago, I'm still working on 100/100 (and now just probably jinxed myself again). Despite Plouffe falling off a cliff and Dunn being hurt recently, I'm 1st in all hitting categories but still have some work to do pitching-wise:

R - 899, 787, 782
HR - 218, 210, 206
RBI - 789, 787, 743
SB - 139, 136, 126
OBP - .345, .343, .338

W - 80, 79, 78, 74, 73
Sv - 72, 66, 63
K - 1070, 1037, 1017
ERA - 3.61, 3.65, 3.70, 3.71
WHIP - 1.19, 1.21, 1.24, 1.25, 1.25

WHIP will probably be the hardest to overcome this late in the year, but at least I've got some of the hottest pitchers in the game (Griffin, Guthrie, Dempster, Shields) as well as a couple studs who have been so-so lately (Verlander and CC) and finally the return of Pettitte.