Ever since that fateful day, September 11th, I was prepared to do some revisionist history and see what would have happened without the stat correction to end all stat corrections. And the results? Huge mother flippin' shifts in the 2015 playoffs. I will never forget this year for like 2 weeks.
After crunching the numbers in the non-stat corrected world, Richie would have advanced to face Colin in the semi-finals thanks to his tie breaker over Kurt and Jarrett would have lost to Tim to set up a Tim-TJ match on the other side of the bracket.
"But Richie, I would have made completely different moves if I had a scoreboard to watch."
I know Jarrett, but you probably would have spent your moves on probable pitchers meaning you still would have lost the offensive categories 3-2. Your WHIP was unsalvageable (1.48 to Tim's 1.26). That gives Tim 4 categories. You tied saves and that wouldn't have changed. So it comes down to K, ERA, and W. You tied in Wins and were down 13 in K. You likely would have won Wins by spot starting, but K's was not a guarantee. And who knows, with all those spot starts, your 0.22 lead in ERA could have flipped the entire match to a 5-4-1 deficit to the rookie. So Tim, welcome to the Diamond Dynasty. Your asshole has been appropriately re-sized by Yahoo! Any way you slice it, the match ups came down to razor thin margins and it's a shame someone had to lose. Especially because I was one of them.
Deep breaths, Richie, deep breaths. You have a blog to write and hundreds dozens tens three fans looking forward to your work.
Jarrett (#2) vs TJ (#3)
TJ and Jarrett don't have much playoff history; this is only the fourth post-season that they've both made it, and the first time since 2009. Yahoo! records indicate just one post-season showdown between the two managers, a double consolation game in 2008 which TJ won.
The offenses are pretty even, falling within the same general totals across the board. But TJ's bats were offensively bad last week and they seem to be slumping at a bad time. As of Tuesday night, Jarrett has 5 hitters in the top 39 over the last 7 days. With the tie-breaker in hand, Jarrett's bats have an outside shot to make the pitching categories obsolete.
As with last week, TJ has the edge on the mound by a good margin. A two-start week from Arrieta might be the difference, but with the Mets jerking around Matt Harvey it's hard to say that TJ can do enough damage from the mound. With Jarrett only needing 5 categories to advance, I think this is the season he breaks through for his first finals appearance.
Colin (#1) vs Kurt (#4)
Kurt and Colin have a much deeper playoff history and are embarking on their 6th September Standoff, most of them meaningful.
| Year | Round | Result |
| 2004 | semi-finals | Colin (1) def. Kurt (5) 5-5 |
| 2008 | consolation | Kurt (1) def. Colin (3) 6-3 |
| 2011 | quarter-finals | Kurt (4) def. Colin (5) 6-4 |
| 2012 | semi-finals | Kurt (1) def. Colin (5) 5-5 |
| 2013 | dbl consolation | Kurt (6) def. Colin (5) 7-3 |
Kurt has had Colin's number in recent years but this is the first time Colin is coming into the semi-finals with the stronger team since 2004.
Offensively, it's hard to cram any more stars into these lineups than there already are. Trout vs Harper. Altuve vs Gordon. Cabrera vs Donaldson. Braun vs CarGo. These teams boast elite level talent at multiple positions and each of them are capable of winning categories nearly by themselves. Trout is starting to turn the corner after a slow August but Harper has been on an absolute tear, ranked first overall in the last 7, 14, and 30 days. He must have slumped prior to that as he is only ranked second overall for the season. Hard to imagine either of these teams dominating on this side of the ball.
Colin has an edge defensively based on the season totals. He trails slightly in wins and WHIP but has big leads in saves and K's. Kurt gets to throw Kuechel out there twice but Colin counters with a Chris Archer double feature. It looks like Colin's guys have been a little sharper recently and based on his season totals I'd lean toward Colin nabbing at least 2 of the pitching categories at minimum.
My scorned heart hopes for Colin to win this thing. Colin's got a wedding coming up and the guy needs this check. But I said that the winner of the Kurt-Richie matchup would take it all, and I'm a man of my word. Kurt wins, 2-1-7, setting up a first-ever Kurt-Jarrett finals.
The legend of the stat correction grows.
9/11. Never Forget.
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