Scandalous League Fantasy Baseball History

The Scandalous League was founded in 1993. The Founding Fathers of the league, as we know it, are Eric Pellerin, Jeff Nassiff, Chris Shea, Mike Wakeley, and Ken Nassiff. Each of these owners had been involved with smaller leagues in previous years. We had decided to expand our league to make it more competitive. A league of 5 or 6 owners meant that our teams consisted primarily of All-Stars and superstars.

2023            {Back to Top}

We returned the same owners in 2023 that we had in 2022. The only rule changes we made involved bumping the bench spots back to four players and changing priority moves so we would use a rolling order rather than always giving the last-place team the first pick. I haven't polled everyone on how they think it worked out, but I think it worked out very well. The new transaction order system didn't scare people away from making transactions. In fact, I think people were using a little more strategy with their pick preferences, and it helped to spread the players around. The pre-season had a flurry of trades. In all, we made 9 trades, with 10 teams participating in the action.

Top 5 Picks of the 2023 Draft

1. Jose Ramirez (Kevin Doyle)

2. Gerrit Cole (Rick Brereton)

3. Trea Turner (Scott Ditto)

4. Kyle Tucker (Mike Wakeley)

5. Mike Trout (Phil Reardon)

Kevin Doyle started with a solid keeper core, but on paper, his team probably wasn't considered a powerhouse entering the draft. He made a huge deal in the pre-season that set his team down the right path by acquiring Spencer Strider from the Non-Smokers for Max Scherzer and George Springer. A 13th-round keeper and likely Cy Young winner, Strider ended up the best player in that deal. Kevin had the #1 pick in the draft and picked Jose Ramirez (who he later dealt six weeks into the season for Zach Wheeler and Shane Bieber). Max Fried, Salvador Perez, and Nick Castellanos were the other foundational pieces added early in the draft. Josh Naylor was a hidden gem that Kevin grabbed in the 14th round. From round 15 on, Kevin drafted a mix of solid contributors and duds. One of the keys to his season was cutting bait with some of those duds for better free agents. Zach Eflin was a gem all season, but players like Jake Burger, Clarke Schmidt, and Mitch Garver made huge contributions. During the season Kevin made trades for J.D. Martinez, Freddie Freeman, Jazz Chisolm, Sandy Alcantara, Kevin Gausman, and Paul Sewald that bolstered his squad.

The final standings show that it was a runaway season for Doyle's Dingers. Kevin won the league with 95 points and out-distanced second place by 22 pts. He took over first place in Week 5 and never looked back. A few times teams were able to get within 10 pts, but no one was able to sustain it and make it a close race. The fight for 2nd and 3rd place was a bit more interesting over the last two months. Eric, Jeff, Rick, and Scott all had stints in the money spots the last two months. With six weeks left, Rick started to fade. It was looking like a battle between Jeff and Eric for 2nd place. With eight weeks left in the season, Scott was at only 54 pts. Scott's ACL Squad got incredibly hot down the stretch and found himself in the mix over the final three weeks. On the penultimate day of the season, Scott was in 2nd place all by himself. On the final day of the season, Eric's pitchers earned 2 wins and edged Scott out for 2nd place based on category tiebreakers. Scott finished in a money spot at 3rd place, and Jeff and Rick finished out of the money. Goes to show you that you should never give up if you have a mathematical chance.

This marked Kevin's' 3rd Scandalous League Baseball Title.

View the 2023 Final Standings

2022            {Back to Top}

We were able to get together in person for the 2022 draft (sans a remote Farrelly) after drafting over Zoom the two prior years. It was good to get together and hear the same old tired jokes and witness everyone's strange behavior. Craig DiBella chose to retire from fantasy baseball, so we welcomed two-time champ Kevin Doyle back to the league. With COVID being less of a factor in 2022, we decided to trim our bench from four spots to three. To accompany this change, we also decided that suspended players and players optioned to the minors will not have their own designated lists. If not active, these players can be placed on the bench. The pre-season had a flurry of trades. In all, we made 11 trades, with 10 teams participating in the action.

Top 5 Picks of the 2022 Draft

1. Juan Soto (Rick Brereton)

2. Ronald Acuna Jr. (Mike Wakeley)

3. Rafael Devers (Phil Reardon)

4. Walker Buehler (Jason Stypolkowski)

5. Ozzie Albies (Jeff Nassiff)

The returning champ, Chris Shea, had a great foundation to start the pre-season with. He kicked off the pre-season with a great trade, acquiring Jose Ramirez for Kris Bryant and his bad back. From there, he traded problem child Fernando Tatis Jr. for Frankie Montas to shore up his pitching staff. Lastly, he traded Salvador Perez for Aaron Judge, who went on to set the AL single-season home run record with 62 bombs and put up exceptional statistics in a pitching-dominated season. Due to early-rounder keepers, Chris didn't take his first player at the draft until round 7, when he selected Pablo Lopez. Triston McKenzie and Eugenio Suarez were probably the best values in his draft. There were some swings and misses, but the original core of Gerrit Cole, Trea Turner, Aaron Nola, Starling Marte, and Wander Franco were enough to give him a solid squad. Aside from adding the occasional closer from the waiver wire, none of Chris' pickups were game-changers. Mid-season, Chris was able to spin Wander Franco and O'Neill Cruz for Pete Alonso and Shane Bieber. A month later, he acquired Jordan Romano for Triston McKenzie. He acquired Liam Hendriks, Bryce Harper, Kyle Tucker, Christian Yelich, Julio Urias, and Jose Abreu for the stretch run at the trade deadline.

While the season was a great success for Chris, it wasn't a complete runaway until the final few weeks. For much of the season, Eric, Scott, and Chris had stints in first place. Up until mid-September, if Chris had a lead, it was usually under 5 pts. We made him sweat a little bit, at least. The race for 2nd and 3rd was quite interesting. We had 7 teams that scored over 54.5 pts for the season and, during mid-summer, envisioned a shot at a money spot. The second biggest story of the season was Jason rising from 59 pts on August 28th to finish with 78.5 pts on the final day and edging Ditto out for 3rd place. I can't remember someone roaring back from 7th place so late in the season to capture a money spot. He may have only been a day or two from grabbing 2nd, but he ran out of season. Goes to show you that you should never give up if you have a mathematical chance.

Thumbs down to Nassiff for finishing with 12.5 pts. That's the second-worst total in the history of the league (Jay Moran, 1997, 7.5 pts).

This marked Chris' 4th baseball title and 5th Scandalous League title overall.

View the 2022 Final Standings

2021            {Back to Top}

2021 still had us in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, so we started our season with a Zoom draft, as we did in 2020. The outlook on the baseball season was much more optimistic this year based on the presence of the vaccine. We were pretty confident that we'd get a full 162-game season in and that there wasn't going to be a stoppage or a season hampered by postponements. To help deal with potential illnesses, we expanded our benches from two to four for the entire season. We played the 2020 season as a "one-off", but the 2021 season was played as a continuation of the 2019 rosters. We all started with 15 players from our 2019 teams and whittled them down to the normal 10 players and 8 players prior to the draft. The pre-season didn't saw a modest amount of trades made - there were 5 trades in all. Teams focused on keeping a mix of later-round players and an abundance of starting pitchers. By the time draft day came, 25 of the top 40 pitchers were already off the board. The first couple weeks of the season also had us in a lively debate about the draft/keeper status of the immortal Sixto Sanchez. Sixto never threw a pitch in the major or minor leagues in 2021, so it was much ado about nothing.

Top 5 Picks of the 2021 Draft

1. Jacob deGrom (Brian Guilmet)

2. Christian Yelich (Scott Ditto)

3. Cody Bellinger (Mike Wakeley)

4. Trevor Bauer (Chris Shea)

5. Aaron Nola (Rick Brereton)

2020            {Back to Top}

2020 brought about some changes for the Scandalous League (and the baseball world). With the international pandemic of COVID-19, the 2020 MLB season ended up starting on July 23rd. The plan was for MLB to play a 60-game season. Expanded rosters were used, the Minor League season was canceled, and players not on the MLB roster could be part of the season's 60 man player pool at an alternate training site. A universal DH was used in both the AL and NL. Extra inning games used a runner on second base to start the extra frames. Doubleheaders were now 7 inning affairs. In addition to these rule changes, there were also canceled games due to social protests and "paused" MLB teams due to positive tests and COVID-19 outbreaks.

The Scandalous League needed to make some changes to make the 2020 season work for us. We decided to mothball rosters from 2019 and select 15 players that could be potential keepers for the 2021 season. We decided that the 2020 season would be played as it's own entity, a one-off. We would hold a full, 23-round draft and not play with any keepers. Players drafted in 2020 would aslo not be able to be kept as keepers for 2021. We held our first ever virtual draft over Zoom video chat. We decided that MLB would need to play a 45-game season for us to consider it an official season. We reduced the entry fee from $100 to $75. We increased the bench from 2 players to 4 players. We allowed pickups to be effective Friday, in addition to Monday, creating two scoring periods in each week. Players needed to appear at a position at least 3 times to be eligible at that position in 2020. The innings pitched minimum threshold was set at 400 IP.

Top 5 Picks of the 2020 Draft (Open Draft)

1. Ronald Acuna Jr. (Brian Farrelly)

2. Christian Yelich (Jason Stypolkowski)

3. Cody Bellinger (Rick Brereton)

4. Mike Trout (Russ Hall)

5. Mookie Betts (Brian Guilmet)

2019            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League lost Kevin Doyle as an owner heading into 2019, but were able to replace him with long-time owner and former Champion, Brian Guilmet. We had the draft at Scandalous League Headquarters in Methuen. There were no major rule changes for the 2019 season.

Top 5 Picks of the 2019 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Mike Trout (Eric Pellerin)

2. Jose Ramirez (Brian Guilmet)

3. Trea Turner (Jason Stypolkowski)

4. Nolan Arenado (Jeff Nassiff)

5. Alex Bregman (Russ Hall)

View the 2019 Final Standings

2018            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League was able to return the same 12 owners as the previous year. We had the draft at Scandalous League Headquarters in Methuen. There were no major rule changes for the 2018 season.

Top 5 Picks of the 2018 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Jose Altuve (Russ Hall)

2. Carlos Correa (Scott Ditto)

3. Mookie Betts (Mike Wakeley)

4. Paul Goldschmidt (Rick Brereton)

5. Manny Machado (Brian Farrelly)

The 2018 pre-season started out the same way as the last few years. There were 5 pre-season deals as most had teams been able to set their teams up with keepers at the trade deadline. Coming out of the draft, Scott was one of the favorites. Scott spent much of the year tweaking his team and brokering players – there were 20 in-season trades this year and Scott was involved in 9 of them. Unlike last year, the contenders were pretty well established early and stayed consistent pretty much all season. There were 6 teams that floated in and out of the money spots this year, but by the last month of the season it was clear that it was going to be a two-team race between Scott and Brian Farrelly. As of September 25th, they were tied for first place. The season came down to the final weekend of the year. Scott had an amazing offensive week to close out the season and his pitching did just enough to fend Brian off.

Scott’s team arguably had the strongest set of keepers coming into the 2018 draft. On top of that, he also was planning to draft in both the first and second rounds. Looking back at the draft, Carlos Correa (1st) and Yu Darvish (2nd) didn’t perform as Scott had hoped. In addition to the strong keeper foundation of Jose Ramirez, Luis Severino, Carlos Carrasco, and Trevor Bauer, Scott’s best draft picks were Travis Shaw, Matt Olson, Blake Treinen, Yasmani Grandal, and Mitch Haniger. A mid-season trade with Mike where Scott received Lorenzo Cain and Edwin Diaz helped transform his team in the direction he wanted to go. Scott made a handful of smaller deals down the stretch to help fortify his roster. Additions of Justin Upton and Cole Hamels helped. A deal for Mike Trout also had mixed results where he gained points in some categories and lost points in other categories. A huge deal in which Scott received Nolan Arenado and others didn’t turn out as Scott had planned. Arenado was a dud down the stretch, but Jameson Taillon pitched like an Ace and was probably his pitching MVP.

**Inside Baseball: Did you know that Nassiff thought that Gary Sanchez was a keeper for next year? If you thought that the Arenado/Severino deal was oddly lopsided, that is why. Paaaaaay attention! Jeff dealt Sanchez to Brian for Sean Newcomb a couple days later.**

Scott made some great waiver-wire pickups over the last few months of the season. Zack Wheeler turned his season around from the minute that Jason cut him. David Murphy was also a solo add. Hyun-Jin Ryu was an April pickup that spent much of the year on the DL, but paid dividends the last month of the season. Adalberto Mondesi was the pick-up that probably won the league for Scott. His final month numbers were .282, 20 R, 8 HR, 17 RBI, and 14 SB. Quite a month! Scott would like to point out that he won the league with “0” points in batting average.

This was Scott's third Fantasy Baseball Title.

View the 2018 Final Standings

2017            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League was able to return the same 12 owners as the previous year. We had the draft at Scandalous League Headquarters in Methuen. There were no major rule changes for the 2017 season.

Top 5 Picks of the 2017 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Madison Bumgarner (Kevin Doyle)

2. Anthony Rizzo (Jeff Nassiff)

3. Corey Kluber (Eric Pellerin)

4. Xander Bogaerts (Rick Brereton)

5. Gregory Polanco (Mike Wakeley)

The 2017 pre-season started out the same way as the last few years. There were 5 pre-season deals as most had teams been able to set their teams up with keepers at the trade deadline. Coming out of the draft there wasn't a clear favorite. The trade activity picked up during the season as 20 deals were agreed upon in 2017. The categories were close all year and it was a very competitive season all around. At the All-Star break, there were 9 teams within 12 points of the lead. By August 29th, there were still 7 teams within 10 points. To win the league, someone's team was going to have to stay hot for a prolonged stretch of time. Over the last few weeks in came down to a two-team race between Rick and Phil. The last weekend of the season saw Rick pull ahead by a wider margin, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion, by any means.

Rick's team was among the weakest coming into the draft. He had maybe 1 or 2 "Top 100" caliber players. Edwin Diaz, Jose Quintana, and a mid-season lottery ticket named Yoan Moncada were his keepers. Yasmani Grandal ended up being a solid keeper and a pre-season deal that brought him Kyle Schwarber also accumulated a few stats. It was the Draft that really set Rick on the path to winning. Xander Bogaerts was his 1st pick, followed by George Springer and Stephen Strasburg. Jonathan Schoop was a bold pick in the 7th round and it paid off, big-time. Jake Lamb, Robbie Ray, and Rasiel Iglesias were his late round gambles that paid off. A mid-draft deal where Evan Longoria was traded to Mike Wakeley for Eric Hosmer ended up being a very shrewd move for the Rooster. Rick added a couple of free-agents in the first week of the season that ended up being among his best contributors - both Avisail Garcia and Steven Souza Jr. were great Waiver Wire finds. As of May 14th, Rick was mired in 11th Place, but he gained 25 points over the next month and ascended to first place at the All-Star break. Mid-season additions of Marwin Gonzalez, Justin Bour, and Eddie Rosario helped get him there. Rick made a big pre-deadline deal where he acquired Brian Dozier for Yoan Moncada. Dozier was red hot the final two months of the season and helped lead the Rooster Resurgence to victory.

This was Rick's first Fantasy Baseball Title and 2nd Scandalous League Title overall.

View the 2017 Final Standings

2016            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League lost David Nassiff as an owner and we replaced him with Russ Hall. We had the draft at the British Club. There were no major rule changes for the 2016 season.

Top 5 Picks of the 2016 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Mike Trout (Phil Reardon)

2. Bryce Harper (Craig DiBella)

3. Josh Donaldson (Brian Farrelly)

4. Nolan Arenado (Russ Hall)

5. David Price (Jeff Nassiff)

The 2016 pre-season starting out even quieter than the preceding year. Only 3 trades were made in the pre-season. Typically there are between 10 and 15 trades each preseason. I think that had to do with teams being able to set their teams up with keepers during Kevin's previous championship run. Once draft day hit, things got a bit more lively, as we saw 3 draft day deals. Coming out of the draft, Brian Farrelly was looked at as the pre-season favorite.

During the regular season, there was only one trade made prior to June 20th (Trumbo for Heyward....uggghhhh). Once June 20th hit, there were six teams that had Championship dreams. A month later, there were four teams that had a legitimate shot - Kevin, Jason, Brian, and Scott. Each team made several trades to improve their chances, but come mid-August Kevin Doyle's lead was double digits. There was no looking back for him, at that point.

Kevin's season started out with a solid core - he was returning with Chris Sale, Zack Greinke, and Corey Kluber for a pitching staff and backing that up with guys like Jose Abreu, Kyle Seager, A.J. Pollock, Buster Posey and Brian Dozier. Kevin's draft was hit-or-miss. He missed with Corey Dickerson, Shawn Tolleson, Michael Conforto, and Patrick Corbin, but he hit big with values like Trea Turner, Ian Desmond, Khris Davis, DJ Lemahieu, and J.T. Realmuto. Contributing to Kevin's success was using free agency to his advantage. Kevin was active on the waiver wire and scored Cy Young candidates like Danny Duffy and J.A. Happ. On the hitting side, Victor Martinez, Eduardo Nunez, and Jonathan Schoop made some big contributions. Kevin was also to make some shrewd trades, with Anthony Rizzo, Nelson Cruz, Aroldys Chapman, and Seung-hwan Oh being his big gets. Trea Turner's promotion and impact on Doyle's Dingers' August and September numbers was an embarrassment of riches down the stretch. Kevin's 98.5 pts is an all-time Scandalous League best and the 15.0 pt margin-of-victory had only been met or topped twice over the last 24 years. This is Kevin's 3rd consecutive "money" finish and second championship in a row. Prior to 2016, back-to-back championships were only achieved twice (both by the Winged Buffalo).

This was Kevin's second consecutive Scandalous League Fantasy Baseball Title.

View the 2016 Final Standings

2015            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League lost Paul DiFilippo and Brian Guilmet as owners and we were able to replace them with Jason Stypolkowski and Phil Reardon. Losing Paul and Brian were big losses as they were both 20+ year owners and had 7 Championships and 16 "Money" finishes between them. Hopefully someday they will have a renewed interest and come back to the league. We had the draft at the British Club. Rule changes included submitting first come, first served transactions on the OnRoto.com website, eliminating the Taxi Squad/Taxi Draft, adding a weighted lottery for picks 2-12 for the minor league draft, and allowing all "Major League" players to be eligible to be drafted, even if they aren't on an active Major League roster.

Top 5 Picks of the 2015 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Clayton Kershaw (Eric Pellerin)

2. Andrew McCutchen (Jeff Nassiff)

3. Paul Goldschmidt (Chris Shea)

4. Robinson Cano (Brian Farrelly)

5. Edwin Encarnacion (Scott Ditto)

View the 2015 Final Standings

2014           {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League lost Steve Williams as an owner and we were able to replace him with Kevin Doyle. We had the draft at the Skybox Restaurant & Sports Bar in Tewksbury. The biggest rule change was a decision to rely on the OnRoto website for priority transactions. Owners will submit their transactions online on Sunday nights and the website will use reverse order of the standings to distribute free agents.

Top 5 Picks of the 2014 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Adam Jones (Brian Farrelly)

2. Jacoby Ellsbury (Paul DiFilippo)

3. Felix Hernandez (Dave Nassiff)

4. Giancarlo Stanton (Mike Wakeley)

5. Stephen Strasburg (Jeff Nassiff)

View the 2014 Final Standings

2013            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League was able to return the same 12 owners as the previous year. We had the draft at the Skybox Restaurant & Sports Bar in Tewksbury. The only rule change involved how we treat our minor league players for keeper purposes. Players that fall under certain playing time criteria can be kept for 3 additional years. All other minor leaguers are subject to the same keeper rules as major league players.

Top 5 Picks of the 2013 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Miguel Cabrera (Rick Brereton)

2. Ryan Braun (Dave Nassiff)

3. Matt Kemp (Paul DiFilippo)

4. Albert Pujols (Brian Farrelly)

5. David Price (Craig DiBella)

The Winged Buffalo went to work early in the 2013 pre-season, swinging the very first deal of the year when they acquired Justin Verlander for Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Hill. From there, the Winged Buffalo set out to trade for Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez, and Cole Hamels. These new players were added to Robinson Cano, Cliff Lee, and Buster Posey, forming a core group of 8 players to build off of.

The Winged Buffalo's draft was solid, but not awe-inspiring. The best picks included injury gambles David Ortiz in round 14 and Brian McCann in round 17 to go along with young contributors like Starling Marte, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Julio Teheran. The biggest miss of the draft is when the Winged Buffalo chose Ichiro over Chris Davis. For much of the season it seemed like that miss-step could be the difference between first and second place. Steve Williams had a solid team and Chris Davis was one of his many good draft picks. Through the end of June it looked like the season was going to be a two team race between Eric and Steve.

The free-agent waiver wire was pretty thin all season, but Kyle Seager and Jarrod Parker were important acquisitions for the Winged Buffalo. Will Venable also pitched-in down the stretch, filling up the boxscores. Key trades included deals for Alfonso Soriano, Adam Wainwright, and Edward Mujica. The Winged Buffalo were dinged up for much of the year. Ultimately Eric was able to live through prolonged stretches of injury to Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, Starling Marte, and Carlos Gonzalez. By the time August hit, the race for first place was basically over and the fight for second place took center stage. Priory of Yawkey Way and the Non-Smokers faded, while The Bigg Doggs, A.C.L., and the BALCO Bombers surged. Second place wasn't decided until the final game of the season (Game 163). Chris Shea was able to outlast Scott Ditto for the runner up spot.

This was Eric's 6th Fantasy Baseball Title and 7th Title overall. Eric has officially become the top baseball owner in Scandalous League history and is tied with Mike and Paul for the most combined titles.

View the 2013 Final Standings

2012            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League was able to return the same 12 owners as the previous year. We took the Draft on the road for the 20th Anniversary. We booked a meeting room and stayed overnight in Norwich, CT and enjoyed a night out at Mohegan Sun. There were no rule changes.

Top 5 Picks of the 2012 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Justin Verlander (Brian Guilmet)

2. Troy Tulowitzki (Scott Ditto)

3. Carlos Gonzalez (Brian Farrelly)

4. Clayton Kershaw (Rick Brereton)

5. Hanley Ramirez (Jeff Nassiff)

The 2012 season started ominously for the Iron Men. Team MVP Ryan Braun had allegations of testing positive for HGH and faced the possibility of a 50 game suspension. Once it was announced that he would not be suspended, the vultures were circling, trying to get Mike to deal Braun instead of protecting him as a first rounder. It was a tough decision, but Mike ultimately made the correct decision, as Ryan Braun filled up the categories for his team all season long and led the Iron Men to the 2012 Scandalous League Baseball Championship. To think that the Iron Men were picked to finish in last place during the pre-season power rankings poll!

Aside from Jason Kipnis, Mike's other keepers were just so-so. Mike chose to only keep 5 major league players heading into the draft. Mike's draft was solid with pickups of Andrew McCutchen and Nelson Cruz. I think where Mike really stood out was identifying the "value" guys - grabbing Gio Gonzalez in the 5th, Max Scherzer in the 8th, Colby Lewis in the 14th, Chris Sale in the 18th, and A.J. Pierzynski in the 23rd round. Ultimately it was in-season game management and strategy that won Mike the league. He expertly identified key categories to improve in, while maintaining in others. Mike only had a handful of impactful free-agent pickups - with most pickups just having short term stays to address a specific need. The best pickups for Mike were probably Kris Medlen and Josh Reddick. Medlen pitched like an ace over the final 2 months, while Josh Reddick slugged 20 Homers for the Iron Men and ended up being a key trade piece near the deadline. Jason Hammel, Steve Cishek and 6 weeks of Derek Holland were also key contributors.

While Mike's Nelson Cruz for Aroldis Chapman was a head-scratcher at the time, 35 saves and 78 K's later, Mike is laughing all the way to the bank. His mid-season trade of Chris Sale and Bryce Harper for Clayton Kershaw, Mark Teixiera, and Rafael Betancourt was a good move. He cashed in the minor league keeper value of Harper for a solid major league player. The deal for Adrian Beltre with 6 weeks left in the season is probably the deal that pushing Mike's hitting from the lower middle-of-the-pack to near the top of the charts. Beltre was white hot hitting .363 with 17 bombs in 179 at-bats for the Iron Men.

Mike enjoyed first place for most of September, aside from when Eric grabbed the lead for one day when there were 3 days left in the season. The race was tight right up until the final day of the 2012 season. As of about 3 PM, the Winged Buffalo, Non-Smokers, and Iron Men were separated by just 1.5 pts. The Iron Men had a great day and was able to surge to a 5.5 point lead by the end of the night.

This was Mike's 2nd Fantasy Baseball Title and 7th Title overall.

View the 2012 Final Standings

2011            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League was able to return the same 12 owners as the previous year. We changed the Taxi Rule so that there are two rounds of picks after the transaction deadline and a maximum of 4 additional pickups in September. A max of 4 reserve roster moves in the first week of September, max of 3 moves the second week, max of 2 moves the third week, and 1 move in the fourth week. A maximum of 6 reserve moves for any position may be made after the transaction deadline.

The British Club screwed us over again, so we ended up having the draft at Craig's brother's law office. While it wasn't a bar setting, the accommodations weren't too bad. Next year we have a destination draft!

Top 5 Picks of the 2011 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Roy Halladay (Chris Shea)

2. Felix Hernandez (Paul DiFilippo)

3. Joey Votto (Dave Nassiff)

4. Jon Lester (Rick Brereton)

5. Cliff Lee (Eric Pellerin)

After winning the 2010 Championship, the pressure was on to repeat. Luckily the Winged Buffalo were able to hold onto some decent keepers from the previous season. Brian Guilmet assembled an amazing mix of keepers and seemed to be poised to be the team to beat.

The Winged Buffalo were able to return Carlos Gonzalez, Evan Longoria, Shin-Soo Choo, Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver, and Hunter Pence from the 2010 squad. In the pre-season the Winged Buffalo dealt for Brett Anderson. "Bonus Baby" Mike Stanton was also ready to contribute at the big league level. A key trade on draft day served as the impetus for the 2011 campaign. The Winged Buffalo traded their 1st and 2nd round draft picks to Jeff Nassiff for his 1st and 2nd round picks. This moved the Winged Buffalo early enough to take Cliff Lee in the 1st round, while still early enough to round two to take Ryan Howard. The rest of the draft wasn't all that spectacular. The highlights were grabbing Michael Pineda in the 15th round and Gaby Sanchez in the 16th round. By mid-season the first place Winged Buffalo heavily leaned on their starting pitching, while sitting as middle-of-the-pack in hitting and at the bottom of the saves category. This is where the transformation of the Winged Buffalo began - trades for Robinson Cano, Michael Bourn, Jimmy Rollins, Aramis Ramirez, and a bevy of closers were made. The trading period was very tough because a few teams decided to trade for early round keepers and picked a handful of lower-rung teams clean. Overall, the season was very difficult. The Winged Buffalo endured injuries to key players from draft day, right through to September.

The standings were very tight right through the last weekend of the season. First place flip-flopped daily between the Winged Buffalo, A.C.L., and the Iron Men. Ultimately the Winged Buffalo were able to hang on. This championship was based on unconventional moves and shifting strategy during the season. Special attention was placed on the ten categories, as opposed to collecting a team of super-duper stars.

The Winged Buffalo have won 4 out of the last 6 Championships.

This was Eric's 5th Fantasy Baseball Title and 6th Title overall.

View the 2011 Final Standings

2010            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League was able to return the same 12 owners as the previous year. We decided to move to 6 taxi players for the month of September.

Top 5 Picks of the 2010 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Albert Pujols (Craig DiBella)

2. Tim Lincecum (Steve Williams)

3. Ryan Braun (Jeff Nassiff)

4. Alex Rodriguez (Eric Pellerin)

5. Matt Kemp (Scott Ditto)

The Winged Buffalo began the season with a chip on their shoulder. At the draft, there were multiple cat-calls and snickers with each of the Winged Buffalo draft picks. After 3 weeks the Winged Buffalo were near the bottom of the standings and the insults were still being hurled their way. Early in the season Rick was the overwhelming favorite. Chris and Rick were alternating days in first place until about the 5th week of the season. That's when the Winged Buffalo came alive, and the rest was history in the making!

The foundation of the 2009 team returned for the Winged Buffalo - Carlos Gonzalez, Evan Longoria, Shin-Soo Choo, Elvis Andrus, and Josh Johnson. Justin Verlander was added to the team in a pre-season deal. Hunter Pence, Alfonso Soriano, Jered Weaver, Adam LaRoche, Carlos Marmol, and Phil Hughes were all draft picks that paid big dividends during the season. The Winged Buffalo were keyed in on the free agent market as well, picking up Chris B. Young, Mat Latos, and Ike Davis to name a few of the pickups. Key trades for Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Brian Wilson, and Alexei Ramirez sealed the deal on the Championship. The Winged Buffalo had a 20+ point lead for much of the season and finished with a record-breaking 95.5 pts. Jeff Nassiff was in the mix at mid-season, but ultinmately injuries did him in. Brian Guilmet proved to be the most formidable competition for the Winged Buffalo, but they too fell quite short. Shaggy was fighting to finish as high as he possibly could. 86 points would have earned him first place in 75% of the seasons. Brian Farrelly was able to grab his first money finish. Brian is an annual contender with a 5th, 5th, and 3rd place finish the last 3 years.

Overall the Winged Buffalo ended up with 8 hitters with 20+ HR and 8 hitters with 15+ SB.

Footnote: In 2011, 15 Winged Buffalo players were retained as keepers and another 5 went in the first 3 rounds of the 2011 draft.

The Winged Buffalo have won 3 out of the last 5 Championships.

This was Eric's 4th Fantasy Baseball Title and 5th Title overall.

View the 2010 Final Standings

2009            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League was able to return the same 12 owners as the previous year. No major rule changes were made.

The British Club helped make the 2009 draft experience a memorable one again. For the second consecutive year, they screwed us and double-booked the room for our draft. Again, we didn't find out until an hour beforehand, so we had to send out a scout team to find a new location. Steve Williams bailed us out again by staking claim to a nice room at the Sakowich Campus Center at Merrimack College.

We will be using OnRoto.com for our stats service in 2009. OnRoto.com was founded by the original creators of TQStats.com.

Top 5 Picks of the 2009 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Hanley Ramirez (Brian Guilmet)

2. David Wright (Scott Ditto)

3. Jose Reyes (Jeff Nassiff)

4. Mark Teixeira (Dave Nassiff)

5. Johan Santana (Chris Shea)

Dave Nassiff was leading the pack in the early summer. By the time late summer came, Mike Wakeley and Chris Shea had asserted themselves into the race. Ultimately it came down to a battle between Chris and Mike over the last week of the season. Chris was able to hold on for the championship.

Coming into the season, Chris Shea had a foundation for a great team.The Bigg Doggs had Tim Linceceum, Ryan Braun, Evan Longoria, Joey Votto, Josh Johnson, and Joba Chamberlain all as late round keepers. He didn't really have to make many moves in the pre-season, but he ultimately flipped Chris Carpenter into Clayton Kershaw (another young, late keeper).

As the draft was rolling on, The Bigg Doggs were announcing draft picks - Johan Santana, Cole Hamels. Alex Rios, Magglio Ordonez, and Robinson Cano. It seemed like all the perfect players were falling into his lap. It was at that point in the draft where I announced that Shea had better win the league, because anything short of that would be a failure. After that point he also added Johnny Damon and Andre Ethier. What a great draft......or so we all thought. I need to give credit where credit is due. Chris didn't sit idly by and let his draft day team do all the work. As it turns out, Hamels, Rios, and Ordonez weren't slam dunks. Chris was able to make some deals to cast off the under performers and add some new sparks to his team that would help his quest to rise in multiple categories. Carlos Lee was added to the team for Odonez and Damon. Brian Roberts filled the speed void and was acquired for Josh Johnson. Nyjer Morgan and Rafael Soriano also proved to be astute pickups. Chris was near the top of the standings for most of the year due to the strength of his team, but he felt he needed to leave no doubt.

Albert Pujols, Javier Vazquez, Matt Kemp, Miguel Cabrera, Brian Fuentes, and Trevor Hoffman proved to be huge acquisitions for the stretch run. Future keepers like Evan Longoria, Joey Votto, Elvis Andrus and Clayton Kershaw were dealt. It wasn't only the stud players that helped The Bigg Doggs, but it was also identifying and dumping which players could have hurt his title chances, namely Joba Chamberlain, Matt Capps, and Aubrey Huff. Chris Coghlan turned out to be a huge taxi draft pickup, too.

This was Chris' 2nd Fantasy Baseball Title and 3rd Title overall.

View the 2009 Final Standings

2008            {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League has two new owners in 2008. Tim Beale and Matt George were replaced by Craig DiBella and Dave Nassiff. We were excited to have two Nassiff's in the Scandalous League again, carrying over the legacy of their Dad, Ken Nassiff. This is also Brian Farrelly's first Scandalous League draft - last year Brian managed a team for the majority of the season. He was able to begin architecting his 2008 team last season.

Since we have two new owners, we needed to conduct a roster fulfillment draft to stock their teams. It was also decided that Dave and Craig would only be given two chances each in the pre-season lottery. The chances for Tim (12) and Matt (8) were completely eliminated from the lottery. If Dave or Craig didn't win a lottery spot, they would have the last two picks in the first round and the first two picks of the second round in the 2008 Draft.

Dave and Craig stocked their teams with players from Tim and Matt's rosters and any player not listed as one of the 10 protected from the remaining 10 Scandalous League teams. This allowed them to make trades with the rest of the owners in the time period before the final protected lists were due.

We were set to have the draft at the British Club, but apparently they double-booked the room and we were left to scramble for a new location to draft. Luckily, Steve Williams stepped up and offered us the conference room at his office building for the draft.

The only new rule that was ratified before the season was with regards to the minor league draft. Instead of having a random draft order, we decided that the first round draft order would be in the same order of the previous year's standings, this giving the Champion the # 1 pick in the minor league draft. The logic is that the bottom team's futility is already rewarded with extra lottery chances and the typical Champion's team is usually depleted as they make their championship run.

We decided to use RotoWire.com as our stat provider for 2008.

Top 5 Picks of the 2008 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Ryan Howard (Jeff Nassiff)

2. Erik Bedard (Paul DiFilippo)

3. Matt Holliday (Rick Brereton)

4. Chase Utley (Brian Farrelly)

5. Grady Sizemore (Steve Williams)

Rick Brereton and his Reversal of Fortune franchise were in the lead for the first several months of the season while Brian Farrelly's What Would Elijah Dukes Do? franchise and Eric Pellerin's Winged Buffalo franchise were nipping at his heels. It wasn't until September when the Sultans of Swat were able to take the lead. The final week of the season would be a tossup as to who would come out victorious.

It was a long, tough season and the Sultans of Swat were able to fend off challenges from Reversal of Fortune and the Winged Buffalo over the final weekend to earn the title.

Paul went in with a core of Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Chad Billingsley and Cole Hamels. He added to his core by drafting Roy Halladay, Johnny Damon, Adrian Beltre, Jose Molina, Joakim Soria, and Bobby Jenks.

The key pre-season deal of Edgar Renteria for Dan Uggla started the SOS down a path of success. Two key in-season pickups were John Danks and Milton Bradley. Some of the key deals down the stretch included dealing Pedro Martinez for Brian Wilson, Joba Chamberlain for Lance Berkman and Derek Jeter, and Milton Bradley for Jose Valverde. Other big deals included the acquisitions of Jose Reyes and Justin Morneau.

This was Paul's 5th Fantasy Baseball Title and 6th Title overall. Paul has more Titles than any other owner.

View the 2008 Final Standings

2007            {Back to Top}

Technically we returned all 12 owners, but Tedd Lupien turned over ownership of his team to Brian Farrelly. Brian was not able to make the draft, so Tedd drafted the team and then transitioned it over to him. Scott Ditto was also not able to attend the draft, so he gave Craig DiBella a list of players and rankings to fill out his team. Hopefully this is not a trend for the future. Trade activity in the pre-season was minimal, but Chris Shea was able to make a trade that gave him the #1 overall pick, again. This was the 4th time in 7 years that Chris ended up with the #1 overall pick. We also agreed to abandon drafting minor league organizations and began to draft 3 rounds of individual players. The draft order was picked at random.

Top 5 Picks of the 2007 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Albert Pujols (Chris Shea)

2. Alfonso Soriano (Rick Brereton)

3. Alex Rodriguez (Mike Wakeley)

4. David Wright (Scott Ditto)

5. Carl Crawford (Steve Williams)

Brian Guilmet got off to a hot start in 2007, but by mid-summer he had dropped out of the Top 3. The final 10 weeks of the season was a three team race between Eric Pellerin, Chris Shea, and Scott Ditto. Each of those teams rotated days in first place and were able to keep a 10-15 pt. cushion on the 4th place team.

The 2007 edition of the Winged Buffalo was mostly built on a strong draft. Their keepers coming into 2007 were Johan Santana (a legit 1st rounder), Jake Peavy (who was kept where he would have been drafted), Chris Ray (see ya in 2009), Scott Olsen (time for anger management classes, you bum), and Edwin Encarnacion (who salvaged his season after he left the Winged Buffalo). The Winged Buffalo didn't make many blockbuster trades that impacted the season in a positive way. Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez, Billy Wagner, and Chad Cordero were all busts. Brian Roberts, Felix Hernandez, and Magglio Ordonez all made solid contributions (at the expense of Hunter Pence, Francisco Liriano, and Nick Markakis, who will all be kept thru 2009) The biggest additions may have been free agents Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen, and Jeff Francis. Rickie Weeks made a huge impact as a taxi squader.

We didn't think a race could get any tighter than 2004 and 2005. To give an idea of how close the finish was, consider that Scott Ditto was in first place on Friday, Chris Shea was in first place on Saturday, and Eric Pellerin was in first on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The season literally came down to the final at-bats of the 2007 season. Since there was a tie between the Rockie and the Padres for the Wild Card, they had to play a tiebreaker game. The Colorado/San Diego game was a stressful experience for The Bigg Doggs and the Winged Buffalo.  There were 3 categories that hung in the balance on Monday night. After 13 innings, the game was final at 12:15 AM, with the Winged Buffalo maintaining a .00006 pt lead over the Iron Men in batting average. That is exactly a 1 hit difference between finishing in first place by a 1/2 pt, or second place by a 1/2 pt. It's incredible that after 163 games, the season can come down to six one-hundred thousands of a point.

This was Eric's 3rd Fantasy Baseball Title. The Winged Buffalo are the first team to win back-to-back titles in baseball.

View the 2007 Final Standings

2006            {Back to Top}

We returned all 12 owners, but Tedd Lupien was not able to make the draft, so he communicated via email. There weren't any significant rule changes for the 2006 season. Trade activity was very busy to start the season. There were nearly 20 trades made in the pre-season and on Draft Day. More than half of the completed trades involved the Winged Buffalo and the Sultans of Swat.

Top 5 Picks of the 2006 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Johan Santana (Chris Shea)

2. Vladimir Guerrero (Tedd Lupien)

3. Mark Teixeira (Scott Ditto)

4. Jake Peavy (Rick Brereton)

5. David Ortiz (Brian Guilmet)

2006 ended up being a two horse race for the final 4 months of the season, as the Sultans of Swat and the Winged Buffalo were neck-and-neck the whole way. The Sultans of Swat actually led for the majority of the time. Was this going to be a similar scenario as to what had happened in 1995, 2002 and 2004 ? Were the Winged Buffalo going to be the Red Sox to the Sultans of Swat's Yankee dynasty ? Or were the Winged Buffalo ready to conquer their demons in the same way that the 2004 World Championship Boston Red Sox conquered their's ? The last three years were very difficult for the Winged Buffalo franchise. Statistically, the team was dominating, but they just didn't have the Championships to show for it.

The race came right down to the last week of the season, but the Winged Buffalo ended up on top. In fact, the Winged Buffalo ended up winning by 10.5 pts before it was all said and done. Coming into the 2006 season, the Winged Buffalo had an abundance of late round, young talent. Ownership made the decision to trade this young talent for proven players. Pre-season deals for Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Roy Oswalt, Randy Johnson, Paul Konerko, and Billy Wagner were completed, and these 8 new players were the foundation for the 2006 squad. At the draft, key additions of Francisco Liriano, Chris Ray, Josh Barfield and Brad Penny made the Winged Buffalo a front-runner for the title. Mid-season trade acquisitions for Ichiro, Johan Santana, Jake Peavy, and Jimmy Rollins helped propel the Winged Buffalo from 2nd place, all the way up to 1st place. In the end, Eric Pellerin was able to fend off his arch nemesis, Paul DiFilippo, to capture the 2006 Scandalous League Title.

This was Eric's 2nd Fantasy Baseball Title.

View the 2006 Final Standings

2005            {Back to Top}

2004's finish was the tightest finish in history ; and with so many teams in contention during the final 2 months of the 2004 season, I think we all realized that 2005 may be the same. Nearly half the league ended up keeping all their "early" picks and there were very few late round bargains being protected. Things were shaping up to be so competitive that only a half dozen pre-season trades were made. We were fortunate enough to have all 12 owners return for the 2005 campaign. This season marked the first full season for Tedd Lupien. The first two rounds of the draft ended up being the most lackluster two rounds in league history. I don't believe any of the players drafted lived up to full expectations.

Top 5 Picks of the 2005 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Randy Johnson (Mike Wakeley)

2. Tim Hudson (Jeff Nassiff)

3. Mark Prior (Scott Ditto)

4. Jim Thome (Tedd Lupien)

5. Eric Gagne (Steve Williams)

2005 ended up being even more competitive than 2004. As of August 1st, there were 8 teams within 10 pts of first place. The race was so tight that there were only 14 trades over the final five weeks leading up to the trade deadline.

The 2005 season came down to the final weekend again to determine the winner. This time, there were three owners in the hunt over the final weekend - Eric, Mike, and Scott. The ERA and WHIP categories were so close that several teams could have potentially leap-frogged each other in the final weekend. In the end it was Scott Ditto that proved to be the best owner in 2005. Scott really didn't have an impressive draft. He had a solid foundation of players and added Roy Halladay and Kevin Millwood to the mix. Scott was able to make adjustments all season long to keep his team in contention. Key trades for Derek Jeter, John Lackey, Brandon Webb, and Armando Benitez to go along with free agent acquisitions like Ryan Howard, Dan Haren, Felipe Lopez, and Shawn Chacon bolstered his team for the title run.

This was Scott's 2nd Fantasy Baseball Title.

View the 2005 Final Standings

2004            {Back to Top}

We had looked forward to 2004 as a season with anticipated parity. All of our owners had had at least 2 years of Fantasy Baseball ownership under their belts. Only three teams "stacked" early rounders, while the other nine teams were prepared for the early rounds of the draft. This was the first year that we would experiment with a "reserve rule" for healthy players. Unfortunately we were forced to make an ownership change after 10 weeks. We had never needed to replace an owner mid-season before, but we had to seize Dan Stull's team due to his inactivity. Luckily, Tedd Lupien agreed to take over the team in Week 12, and managed to stabilize the team towards a 4th place finish.

Top 5 Picks of the 2004 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Albert Pujols (Matt George)

2. Alex Rodriguez (Tim Beale)

3. Curt Schilling (Rick Brereton)

4. Alfonso Soriano (Dan Stull)

5. Carlos Beltran (Eric Pellerin)

This was the most competitive season that the Scandalous League had ever experienced. As late as August 1st, there were eight teams within 15 points of first place.

2004 will also go down in history as having the closest race for first place we have ever seen. The whole season literally came down to the performance of players in the very last hour of baseball's regular season. One hit, one more inning pitched, or one less earned run could have changed the fortunes of Paul and Eric's season. When the dust settled, Paul prevailed victorious, adding to his legacy as the winningest owner in Scandalous League history. Boosted by the draft day trade for Randy Johnson, the Sultans of Swat enjoyed solid pitching and a well-rounded hitting attack. Mid season pickups of Lew Ford, Tony Batista, Jeff Suppan, and Bronson Arroyo may have given the Sultans of Swat the edge in the photo finish.

This was Paul's 4th Fantasy Baseball Title and 5th Title overall.

View the 2004 Final Standings

2003            {Back to Top}

We were lucky to return the same 12 owners for this season. Overall it was a very competitive season. All of our owners were active, to some degree. The hot stove league talk for the much anticipated season, began in January. By the time draft day came around, a few owners were making key trades that would define their seasons. A pre-season trade between Chris and Matt G. netted Chris a 1st round pick for Derek Lowe. In a very complicated deal, Chris traded that pick to Jeff for the first overall pick in the draft.....

Top 5 Picks of the 2003 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Vladimir Guerrero (Chris Shea)

2. Pedro Martinez (Brian Guilmet)

3. Sammy Sosa (Tim Beale)

4. Barry Zito (Jeff Nassiff)

5. Matt Morris (Dan Stull)

Chris Shea's pre-season plan was to keep 8 top players and fill out the rest of his roster from the 8th round on. The Derek Lowe trade, which was made after the protected lists were due, enabled Chris to pick up a 1st round pick, which was spun for Vladimir Guerrero. Chris' team was stacked pitching-wise, so Guerrero was the perfect compliment. Chris' top 8 players were 4 of the top hitters and 4 of the top pitchers in the game. With an eye on fielding a well-rounded team, The Bigg Doggs' greatest strength was the 2003 draft. He was able to fill out his roster with solid players, rather than focusing on the "sexy" names, which has been his style in the past. Realistically only a couple of his picks were clunkers, but those players were promptly released for the best free agents available. For much of the year, Chris battled Brian Guilmet and Jeff Nassiff. Ultimately it was Brian Guilmet that gave Chris the toughest fight, up to the 2nd-to-last week of the season. The Non-Smokers turned out to be no match for the stacked Bigg Doggs.

This was Chris Shea's first Fantasy Baseball Title.

View the 2003 Final Standings

2002            {Back to Top}

We decided to return the Scandalous League to a 12 team league. Brian Smith decided to relinquish his ownership. The 11th and 12th slots were filled with two owners, Matt George and Tim Beale. The two new franchises were able to stock their teams with players from Brian Smith's defunct team and any players that were not kept when we narrowed our protected lists from 10 down to 8.

Top 5 Picks of the 2002 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Randy Johnson (Eric Pellerin)

2. Mike Mussina (Dan Stull)

3. Greg Maddux  (Chris Shea)

4. Tim Hudson (Brian Guilmet)

5. Freddy Garcia (Paul DiFilippo)

Paul DiFilippo was able to jump start his 2002 season with a lopsided pre-season deal with Jeff Nassiff. Paul was able to swindle Albert Pujols and Richie Sexson for Rich Aurilia and Russ Ortiz after the protected lists were due, thereby acquiring his two new players without losing earlier draft positions. Paul also benefited from Barry Bonds dropping into his lap in the 2nd round. A very solid draft proved to be the impetus for the Sultans of Swat. They were dominating right out of the gate and only spent two weeks of the season out of 1st place. Paul was chased all season long by a very good Winged Buffalo team that would have won the league in most years, but the Sultans of Swat proved that this wasn't "most years".

Paul DiFilippo now has 3 Fantasy Baseball Titles and 1 Fantasy Football Title, tying Jeff Nassiff as the winningest owner.

View the 2002 Final Standings

2001            {Back to Top}

Due to the untimely passing of our beloved Founding Father, Ken Nassiff, we chose to play the season with only 11 teams. The season was definitely not as fun without the Big Guy. I'm sure he was with us the whole way enjoying how the season turned out. Rest in Peace, Kenny. We miss you.

Top 5 Picks of the 2001 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Alex Rodriguez (Chris Shea)

2. Todd Helton (Brian Smith)

3. Carlos Delgado (Dan Stull)

4. Manny Ramirez (Jeff Nassiff)

5. Bartolo Colon (Scott Ditto)

Jeff Nassiff decided to play the 2001 season in memory of his father, Ken. Boy did he ever ! Jeff put together a nearly unstoppable squad to cruise to the Championship. Jeff was wise enough not to draft Mark McGwire and traded his rights for Derek Jeter, he drafted Ichiro, made shrewd pickup moves with Bret Boone, Mark Mulder, and Mark Buerhle, managed to shore up potential weaknesses with a few trade deadline deals, and most importantly: Had a great pitching staff for the first time in a very long time. Jeff only spent 5 weeks out of 1st Place and never dropped below 75 points. I'm sure Kenny is very proud. The Nassiffs were able to claim their first baseball championship.

Jeff now has 4 Fantasy Titles between baseball and football - that's the best out of anyone.

View the 2001 Final Standings

2000            {Back to Top}

We replaced Matt Fillmore with Dan Stull as an expansion team. Dan was able to build his team's core by picking a maximum of 4 players from Matt's team and an additional 4 players that weren't kept when we narrowed our protected lists from 10 down to 8.

Top 5 Picks of the 2000 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Pedro Martinez (Ken Nassiff)

2. Nomar Garciaparra (Brian Smith)

3. Sammy Sosa (Rick Brereton)

4. Vladimir Guerrero (Chris Shea)

5. Chipper Jones (Steve Williams)

What a year for Brian Guilmet ! After taking the 1999 Scandalous League Fantasy Football championship, he also manages to win the fantasy baseball championship. Like usual, his wild ride was accompanied by a leprechaun and a lucky horseshoe. He made a shrewd trade with Shea to kick off the 2000 campaign (traded Reynolds/Everett/Kendall for Randy Johnson/Bagwell). Brian also made several other key free agent acquisitions and a few other trades to strengthen his team. He went for the "names" for once, and it worked.

View the 2000 Final Standings

1999            {Back to Top}

It was the first year in a long while that we returned all owners and didn't need to worry about expansion. The season was kicked of with Brian Guilmet's shining of the lucky horseshoe - he won the # 1 in the lottery for the third straight season. He then turned around and and traded it to Jeff Nassiff, who selected.......

Top 5 Picks of the 1999 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Ken Griffey Jr. (Jeff Nassiff)

2. Mark McGwire (Steve Williams)

3. Albert Belle (Ken Nassiff)

4. Mike Piazza (Brian Smith)

5. Juan Gonzalez (Paul DiFilippo)

Who would have thunk it ? Scott Ditto is beginning to prove his mettle as a fantasy baseball powerhouse. He assembled a very well rounded team with some key pre-season additions (Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, and Chipper Jones, too name a few) Those players, along with Sammy Sosa made him a contender. What put Scott over the top was his astute free agent rookie pickups of Carlos Beltran and Scott Williamson. Those two Rookie of the Year winners added the missing ingredients to his excellent team.

View the 1999 Final Standings

1998             {Back to Top}

The Winged Buffalo were ready and willing to defend their title. We replaced Jay Moran's team with Brian Smith. Brian made Rusty Greer his first expansion pick. Brian was also lucky enough to have the last pick in the 1st and 2nd rounds.

Top 5 Picks of the 1998 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Alex Rodriguez (Brian Guilmet)

2. Larry Walker (Steve Williams)

3. Tino Martinez (Rick Brereton)

4. Vinny Castilla (Jeff Nassiff)

5. Ken Caminiti (Brian Smith)

Is it possible for an expansion team from 1 year ago to rise to the top and win our league ? We didn't think so, but Steve Williams proved us wrong. Steve's inspirational leader was Big Mac himself, and he rode his 70 HR all the way to a Championship. (Steve made one of the shrewdest trades ever at the end of the 1997 season - he traded Raul Mondesi, Shawn Estes, and Ramon Martinez to Matt Fillmore for Matt Stairs, Mel Rojas, and Mark McGwire)

View the 1998 Final Standings

1997             {Back to Top}

A magical season. The Scandalous League made an ownership change for the 4th straight season. Jeff Whitman was replaced by Steve Williams. Steve's 1st pick of the expansion draft was Todd Stottlemyre. Like usual, he was awarded the last pick in the 1st and 2nd rounds. 1997 was also the first year that we started to draft minor league players. Each team was able to pick 2 players to keep in their "Farm system" for the season.

Top 5 Picks of the 1997 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Gary Sheffield (Scott Ditto)

2. Sammy Sosa (Rick Brereton)

3. Dante Bichette (Jay Moran)

4. Chipper Jones (Ken Nassiff)

5. Jon Smoltz (Brian Guilmet)

It was no surprise to anyone that Eric Pellerin won the 1997 Scandalous League Championship. He battled back and forth with Jeff Nassiff all season long. It was only a matter of time before Eric's storied Winged Buffalo team won their first trophy. (Just to prove that history repeats itself, Jeff Nassiff lost by a 1/2 point - he needed 1win and 1 save to win it all)

View the 1997 Final Standings

1996             {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League has now developed into a very competitive league. As many as 8 teams had potential to grab the 1996 Championship. We diluted the talent pool and added an additional team to our league, Jay Moran. Jay's 1st pick of the expansion draft was Sandy Alomar (15th rounder). We also awarded Jay with the last pick in the 1st and 2nd rounds.

Top 5 Picks of the 1996 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Ken Griffey Jr. (Paul DiFilippo)

2. Frank Thomas (Jeff Whitman)

3. Barry Bonds (Scott Ditto)

4. Jeff Bagwell (Rick Brereton)

5. Greg Maddux (Matt Fillmore)

The season did not finish in a disappointing fashion. Matt Fillmore and Scott Ditto had led for the majority of the season, but Mike Wakeley finished victorious. Mike's team was solid all year and then got hot when he needed it to, as he only led the final 2 weeks of the season. Mike was also the lucky guy that got to keep the brand new traveling trophy throughout the following season.

View the 1996 Final Standings 

1995             {Back to Top}

The 1995 season also was effected by the players' strike. The season started a month late. The Scandalous League made some important changes in 1995 that made our league more competitive and fun. Jay Beal dropped out of the league. We replaced his team with 2 additional teams to bring our league total to 11 teams. Matt Fillmore and Rick Brereton were added to our league. They initially stocked their teams from our first ever "expansion draft". Rick made the first pick and selected Juan Gonzalez (a 1st rounder). Matt had the second pick and took Kent Mercker ( a 13th rounder). These two teams were also awarded the last 2 picks of the 1st and 2nd rounds.

Top 5 Picks of the 1995 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Kirby Puckett (Jeff Whitman)

2. Larry Walker (Paul DiFilippo)

3. Jimmy Key (Ken Nassiff)

4. Tim Salmon (Brian Guilmet)

5. Will Clark (Matt Fillmore)

The 1995 Scandalous League champion was again, Paul DiFilippo. Paul was able to back up his endless taunting during the season. This was Paul's 2nd title in 3 years. He fended off a late season comeback by Eric Pellerin (The Bridesmaid).

View the 1995 Final Standings

1994             {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League replaced Elliott + Alex's team with Scott Ditto. Elliott and Alex had finished in last place the year before, so we awarded Scott the # 1 pick of the 1994 draft. Scott selected Rickey Henderson.

Top 5 Picks of the 1994 Draft (not including protected players)

1. Rickey Henderson (Scott Ditto)

2. Cecil Fielder (Jeff Whitman)

3. Darren Daulton (Jay Beal)

4. Lee Smith (Ken Nassiff)

5. Kirby Puckett (Paul DiFilippo)

The 1994 season will be forever remembered as a strike shortened season that ended in August. Brian Guilmet, even though his team was on the edge of destruction, was declared the winner in this shortened campaign. (* Strike shortened season winner)

View the 1994 Final Standings 

1993             {Back to Top}

The Scandalous League expanded to 10 teams in 1993. The teams were stocked with players from both the American and National Leagues. In addition to the Founding Fathers, Paul DiFilippo, Jeff Whitman, Jay Beal, Brian Guilmet, and Elliot Pena + Alex Valdez were added to our league.

The 1st pick of the 1993 Draft was made by Jay Beal, who selected Barry Bonds (and promptly traded him away to Jeff Nassiff for Greg Vaughn, Reggie Sanders, and Dennis Martinez).

Top 5 Picks of the 1993 Draft

1. Barry Bonds (Jay Beal)

2. Frank Thomas (Mike Wakeley)

3. Kirby Puckett (Ken Nassiff)

4. Fred McGriff (Brian Guilmet)

5. Ken Griffey Jr. (Eric Pellerin)   What a pick !

Paul DiFilippo was the inaugural winner after going wire to wire in 1st Place (Jeff Nassiff was runner up - by a 1/2 point - he needed 1 steal and 1 win to finish in first place)

View the 1993 Final Standings