2014 Wrap-Up

Exciting.  Disappointing.  Amazing.  Frustrating.  Incredible.  Angering.  Condescending.  Record-setting.  Agonizing.  Elating.   History-making.  Relieving.  I don't have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to sum up this season, but 2014 was all that and more.  We had new rosters.  New rules.  An engagement!  Trades - whoa boy, did we have trades.  Historical streaks.  Improbable victories.  We had Drew.  We had unusual faces making deep playoff runs while post-season stalwarts sat idle.  We had a first time champion in a 13-year old league.  And it was all capped off with the first Commissioner resignation in a decade.  We had some unforgettable moments this season, but here are the wrinkles that you may have a harder time holding onto:

Richie finished in 1st for the 1st time

Jarrett finished in 2nd for the 2nd time

Alex finished in 3rd for the 1st time

Colin finished in 4th for the 1st time

James finished in 5th for the 1st time

Ben finished in 6th for the 3rd time

Kurt finished in 7th for the 2nd time

Adrian finished in 8th place for the 3rd time

TJ finished in 9th place for the 1st time

Drew finished in 10th place for the 5th time

- Drew hit for the triple crown of futility, setting Diamond Dynasty record lows with 70 wins (eclipsing Adrian’s 73 in 2010), 135 losses (eclipsing Adrian’s 134 in 2010) and .352 winning percentage (eclipsing Adrian’s .361 in 2010).

- Before this year’s 9th place finish, TJ had never been worse than 8th.

- TJ’s .418 season winning percentage is his worst in franchise history.

- TJ’s consecutive playoff appearance streak was snapped at seven seasons; Ben is now the active leader with six.

- TJ and Adrian were the only managers to be involved in at least three WWE Belt match-ups without ever defending it.

- Adrian has not won a playoff match since his 2008 championship season.

- Kurt’s .468 season winning percentage was his worst in franchise history.  Everyone else's worst season is no better than .427.  Basically, everyone else’s worst year is way worse than Kurt’s worst year.

- Kurt’s .468 winning percentage is 30 points higher than Drew’s .436 career winning percentage.

- Despite his sub-par regular season, Ben still has the most career regular-season wins (1318), 30 more than the next closest competitor (Alex, 1288).

- In the first half of the season, Ben was in second place with a 64-41-5 (.605) record.  In the second half of the season, Ben slipped all the way down to 6th place behind a 36-63-11 (.377) record and won only one week (week 14).  He then beat an historically good #3 seed (more on that later) and a #2 seed that had only lost once in his last 15 contests to make it to the finals.

- Ben was and will always be the only manager to hold the WWE Belt without beating a current belt holder.

- Ben’s made the post-season for six years running.  In five of those six years, he’s been either the #1 seed or the #6 seed.

- James's 101 wins is the lowest win total by a fifth place team in league history.

- James is the only manager ever to win the shutout pool.

- James has only one playoff win in his last four seasons; he had nine wins in his first eight seasons.

- Colin was 3-1 against WWE belt holders; no one else had more than 1 win.

- Colin spent the entire year between third and sixth place, and spent 14 of the final 18 weeks in fourth place, where he would eventually finish the season.

- Colin made the playoffs for the fourth straight season, a franchise-best.

- Alex never fell below fourth place the entire season.

- Alex's regular season (121 wins, .584 winning percentage) is the best by a #3 seed in Diamond Dynasty history.  In fact, it's a better season than four previous first place teams.

- Alex is the only manager in league history to win at least one playoff match in every post-season he's appeared in.

- Alex appeared in the 5v6 playoff game for the first time in his history.  He made the finals or runner up match in his previous seven post-season appearances.

- Jarrett's 127 wins as a #2 seed is tied for best all time (Richie 2004, James 2013). 

- Jarrett only lost three match-ups from May 6th to September 28th - a span of 20 weeks.  They were: The final week of the season (with WWE Belt in hand), the semi-finals, and the consolation game.

- Richie won the regular season crown for the first time in franchise history. His 128 wins are third best all-time.

- Richie joins Ben as the only managers to have multiple entries into the 600 club (teams with regular season winning percentages at or above .600).  Ben has done it three times; Colin, Adrian, and Alex (as a #2 seed) have done it once.

- Richie won his first Diamond Dynasty Chalice for Fantasy Baseball Excellence.



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Looking forward to autumn greetings and winter meetings,

- The Commissioner