2012 H2H Playoff Stories

[Pengwin7]

Post your 2012 H2H stories of woe or joy, here.

[horrorfan]

I'll bet you're not surprised that I will post here!

In one Dobber league with Pengwin, I was seeded 2nd (no bye unfortunately) and faced the 7th seed in the quarterfinals. Our season record was 10-9-1 for him (though both matchups were blowouts - 9-1 for him, 8-1-1 for me), so I had to beat him outright to advance.

It was a really close matchup the whole way - both of us trading leads multiple times. In the end, I lost 6-3 but it was much closer than the score suggested. We were even in RBI, he beat me by one run, one stolen base and one save. The other close category I had one more HR. Not surprisingly it was decided by yesterday's final games.

Oh well - that's the nature of the H2H beast.

Your turn.

[Pengwin7]

Fortunately, all 3 of my 3 H2H teams advanced in their quarter-final match-ups.
But I really did NOT deserve to win one.

In the DobberHockeyBB league, my match went back & forth all yesterday.
To start the day, I was down 6-4 with key categories:

BA: Winning (.244 to .228)
W: Losing (4 to 5)
WHIP: Losing (1.17 to 1.15)

My day started fantastic, with a Huroki Kuroda pitching a nice game.
It was good for a WIN and a WHIP reduction.

I was up 5-4-1.

I had Andrew Werner (SD) and decided to let him go in search of a WIN.
My opponent had Gio Gonzalez (WAS) at 8pm and those would be good stats.

Werner got shelled, giving up 5 runs in the first 3 innings.
My WHIP lead was gone, down 4-5-1, day already seemingly over.

Werner is pulled after his top of 5.
He pitched 5 IP, but SD is down 5-3 after the 5th inning.

Miraculously, San Diego puts up 8 runs in the bottom of the 5th.
San Diego is up 11-5. SIX RUN LEAD. Noooobody blows a 6 run lead after 5 IP, right?!
This will be a win for Werner, the match will swing to 5-5-0 (and I have tie-breaker.
Oh joy!

I go back & forth from watching football to checking the game score.
Top of the 7th... Colorado mounting a few runs, then *BOOM*, Josh Rutledge of COL parks a grand slam and the game is tied 11-11.

Once again, disaster strikes.
The win is gone, the WHIP lead is gone.
Down 4-5-1.

The league has a funky same-day transaction allowance.
So, I use my last transaction on Johnny Venters, on a hopeless prayer that the Atlanta-Washington game might be a tie at some point with Venters the pitcher of record and perhaps Atlanta can then win. A shot in the dark.

As the game starts, I'm noticing that my team's 2/28 night (combined with a 4/31 Saturday night) has dwindled my BA lead to .239 to .232.

I do a calculation on Uggla.
If I bench Uggla, I'll win BA as long as Desmond doesn't go 2/3.
Not likely, eh. I should bench Uggla.

But I have this Karma in me that tells me I shouldn't bench him, because my opponent is still throwing Gio Gonzalez with a thin 1.13 to 1.16 WHIP lead.
So I keep Uggla in.

Gio Gonzalez goes out and gives up several hits & walks.
Nice job Atlanta, around the 6th inning Gio gets pulled.
I check the computer, I'm winning WHIP!!!
I'm winning... 5-4-1.

At this point, I'm super happy.

Washington comes up in the top of the inning.
I watched and Ian Desmond gets a flare-single.
I'm thinking... oh, totally forgot about Uggla and BA issue. I go & check.
BA is tied .236 to .236.
The match is now tied 4-4-2... at least I still have the tie-breaker.
But I also have Uggla.

Uggla comes up in the bottom of the 6th and pops out.
Why did I start this guy? Why... stupid Pengwin.
4-5-1 (down in BA .235 to .236. I have now blown a 30+ pt BA lead in two days, with my team being a combined 6/60 over Saturday and Sunday).

At this point, I'm once again preparing my congratulations line on the H2H chat board.
And the game is raining, will it be called?

The Braves mount a run in the bottom of the 7th and Uggla comes up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th. He swing... good contact... base hit, left side!

Woohoo, I run to the computer.
Back up in BA .239 to .236
5-4-1... I'm winning.

One last chance for my opponent.
Ian Desmond comes up in the top of the 9th and fouls out to Freddie Freeman.

Unbelievable, I pulled it off.
That was a rollercoaster, if I've ever been one.

I also realize... that maybe I'm a little too into fantasy baseball.
Damn lockout.

[dmvincent]

Wow, those are pretty intense moments there buddy!

I won my 24 team dynasty $ CBS league matchup by 0.17 points, I can't help but feel bad for the guy who lost.

At the same time, I was the number one seed and I want to win it all.

I had some pretty awful hitting performances in my yahoo leagues, despite great pitching, which usually helps you win in the playoffs. None of them are money leagues, just leagues I play in for fun.

[Clutch]

I have a story of triumph and woe. After missing the playoffs last year I tied for the best record in the league this year and made it all the way to the semi's. It started off well enough but in the end I lost.

Looking on the bright side I did have a great season and looking forward to making it further next year!

[hockeyrobot]

I begin mine this week so I hope to add to it soon. Intense stories so far though.

A buddy of mine had a good run though. Down early in the week as bad as 11-3.....then mid way through Sunday finally caught up to actually take the lead...only to lose by one walk. Heartbreaking.

[Pengwin7]

Good luck in the finals of the readers league hr!

I lost 2 of 3 semi-final match-ups this week.
Didn't deserve to win either, completely outmatched in both.

In the other semi-final, I won the most crazy nailbiter I've ever been in.
Through Wed/Thurs I was down by scores of 11-1, 10-2, etc.

This included:
*Missing Ichiro's 7/8, 4SB, 2XBH day
*Seeing a Carpenter win blown in the bottom of the 9th
*Seeing a Marmol save blown in the bottom of the 9th

End of Saturday I thought I was toast.
I was going to need to:
*Win HITS. Tied at end of day.
*Win SB. Tied at end of day.
*Win SV. Up by 1 at end of day.

The fantasy baseball gods screwed with me all day long.
1st) My hitters were AWFUL early in the day and I got behind in hits.
2nd) The other team gets a SB... I'm basically screwed.
3rd) The other team gets a SV... Balfour (OAK) over the Yanks.
I'm basically hosed.

But three little fantasy baseball miracles happened.
1st) Ichiro stole a bag late in the OAK/NYY game, and I retook the SB lead.
2nd) With the Reds clinching their division they sat Phillips & Bruce! Two key last-game-of-the-day players on my opponents' team!
3rd)... and this is the crazy one.

Score would have been 6-6.

Arizona was up 7-4 in the top 8th.
I'm thinking "This is great, JJ Putz save and I get the SV back!"
Then, Arizona goes & scores 3 to go up 10-4 after the 8th.
I practically cried. Match over.

Then the miracle happens.
Arizona gives up THREE runs in the bottom of the 9th.
10-7
Putz comes in with 2 outs in the 9th, man on, man up, man on-deck.
SAVE.

Final score: 7-6 Pengwin (and I did NOT have the tie-break)

What a rollercoaster.
Onto the finals!

[ruckus1717]

I lost in my "big money pool" last week. I had the best team all year but got seeded 2nd because the team I tied with had the h2h against me. I easily won the 1st round but last week I played the 3rd place team without my strausburg, kershaw, chapman, cargo or street! I put on an amazing comeback on Saturday from how much I was down all week but then was up against lees 11k performance, kurodas, schertzer and aj burnett also had an 11k game. Alls I had was ww pitchers going. I got thumped and I'm not to happy because he had a shifty trade at the deadline that easily gave him the league. It was basically Harper for c Santana, butler and josh Johnson.

[djkiang]

I hate H2H in general, but really hate Yahoo for changing it to allowing 8 teams into the playoffs. I see why they did it, but to see a team that dominates the regular season and lose in the first round to a team squeezed into the playoffs without making any transactions is wrong. Now first place guy all regular season's best position is seventh? eighth? Wrong.

Not taking home any championships this year, but I've also not been able to pay as much attention to my pools the last two months as I usually do.