Review of a Decade; Part I

As we look forward towards the Christopher Ramirez & Billy Hernandez sweepstakes, arguably the two best, and most recognizable, players in National League history (although both played for AL squads last season), it's time to take a look back at the first "decade" of Sharkey's World.

Started in February 2007, this world has grown into undeniably the best on WhatIfSports. This much, we can agree on. Everything else upcoming we probably won't agree on. Over the course of this offseason, I'll put up a series of posts covering the teams of the decade, owners of the decade, players, moments, trades, etc.

There are many possible places to begin, many things to take into account when looking back on 10 seasons. But the one thing we can all agree on is that championships are the most important part of Sharkey's World. And because of that, we recognize the past champions.

Our most recent champion, the Charlotte Knights, won their championship with arguably the most fanfare of any team in any season. On the first day of Season X, even before Free Agency began, the Knights made a splash by "renting" Chris Ramirez from Pawtucket. This led to much speculation over whether it would be worth it. We all agreed if Dawgfan got a championship out of it, it was obviously worth it. 85 days later, they got their championship.

In the first 9 years, only four other teams won championships. Those four teams are, in this mans opinion, the four most successful franchises of the first decade.

One of those teams, Texas, won 1 World Series, 3 League Pennants, had 4 LCS appearances, 8 playoff appearances, and 6 division titles. That's the 4th most successful franchise.

One of those teams, Jacksonville, won 2 World Series titles, 3 League Pennants, 3 LCS appearances, 5 playoff appearances and 5 division titles. That's the 3rd most successful franchise.

One of those teams, Pawtucket, won 2 World Series titles, 3 League Pennants, 8 LCS appearances, 9 playoff appearances and 9 division titles. That's the 2nd most successful franchise.

And the mother of all teams, Kansas City, won 4 World Series titles, 5 League Pennants, 7 LCS appearances, 10 playoff appearances and 9 division titles. That, my friends, is a team of the decade.

In season 2, the Texas Tittyballs won their only championship, the first championship won for the National League (which got demolished in this decade, winning only 3 of 10 World Series). The Tittyballs also won the NL Pennant in seasons 6 & 7. A run like that would more than likely make a team the most successful of their league in any decade.

Of course, there is their highly publicized rivalry with Pawtucket to take into account. The teams met in the playoffs 5 times in between seasons 2 & 8, twice in the NLDS and three times in the NLCS. Pawtucket came out on top, winning 3 of the 5, although Texas won 2 of 3 NLCS'. But, the Polythene, like Texas, won 3 National League pennants. The two biggest differences to take into account, the Polythene won 2 World Series titles, not one. And they played in the best World Series of all time, and the most talked about game of all time.

But we'll get to that.

In Pawtucket's World Series VIII victory, they beat the Jacksonville Juggernauts. As it turns out, this victory by Pawtucket prevented Jacksonville from winning back-to-back-to-back World Championships, a feat not yet accomplished in Sharkey's World. A feat that was repeated in World Series VIII, though, was the prevention of the three-peat. By winning World Series IV, the Polythene, who were again sandwiched by another team in championships, prevented the first ever three-peat, which actually would have been a four-peat.

But we'll get to that.

Jacksonville had a craptastic owner in Season one, and was crazily mismanaged. Kalikgod came in in the second season, assessed things, and quickly put his team on a five year plan. He stockpiled draft picks, and Internationals, and within a season was dubbed (by yours truly) as the team of the future. In season 6, the future arrived. Thanks to a less than stellar division, the Juggernauts were able to win their first NL South championship. In season 7, all that hard work finally paid off when the Juggernauts defeated the favored (and at that point second most successful franchise in history) Tittyballs to win their first championship. A loss to Pawtucket followed in World Series VIII, and then a victory over the 81-81 Rochester Rhinos in World Series IX cemented Jacksonville's place among the world elite.

Like Texas, that resume most decades would be enough to lay claim to the title of best team in your league. Like Texas, there was somebody better. Unlike Texas, this one was never a rivalry. While Texas-Pawtucket is widely regarded as the best there ever was, Jacksonville-Kansas City never happened, unless you count in the trade market (numerous star players were traded between these franchises over the years). From Seasons 1-6, Kansas City was as good as there was. In the last four seasons of the decade, the Shuffle didn't make an ALCS appearance, while Jacksonville went on their run.

But, that takes nothing away from Kansas City. The Shuffle won 9 division championships in 10 years, tying Pawtucket for the decade high. The Shuffle won 5 league pennants, 2 more than Jacksonville, Texas & Pawtucket each won. Before we get to Kansas City though, a little recognition for the teams that won the 6 Pennants not won by the Big Four this decade.

Charlotte's Season 10 championship was already mentioned. In that World Series, they defeated Colorado Springs, an early front-runner for the best of the next decade. We also mentioned Rochester's amazing run in season 9. Seasons 4-8 all featured some combination of Jacksonville/Kansas City vs Texas/Pawtucket, with both AL teams playing both NL teams at least once. In Season 3, the Salt Lake City Dodgers, then the Salem Dodgers, in their first year under the control of Benny, won the NL Pennant. In Season 2, Hall of Famer mhoffa1382 lead the Iowa City Kaysons (currently the Trenton Terror) to their only AL pennant. And in the inaugural World Series, johnderasmo led the San Francisco Sourdoughs to their only NL pennant.

San Francisco & Salt Lake City both lost to Kansas City. Pawtucket lost to Kansas City. Texas lost to Kansas City. In the decade, everybody lost to Kansas City. The Shuffle, led by future Hall of Famers Dennys Shin, Nicholas Bryant, Bret Kubenka, Tomas Hernandez, and Ricardo Gongora, epitomized the word dynasty. In a 6 season stretch, they won 5 pennants and 4 world championships. The Shuffle, led by pvc4twenty, led the decade in championships, pennants, hall of famers, division titles, playoff appearances, MVPs, allstars, regular season victories, and playoff victories.

Their loss in season 2 ALCS was shocking. Their loss in World Series IV was equally shocking, and set up a huge interleague rivalry, which set up the best world series to date.

In World Series V, the Shuffle made their fourth appearance, and for the second straight year played the Pawtucket Polythene. The previous year, the Polythene beat the Shuffle in 6 games. This year, the Shuffle were heavily favored. With home field advantage yet again, they seemed destined to regain the championship. Then the Polythene exploded offensively, and in the first two games Kansas City looked more like Detroit (sorry peteskin). The Polythene went home for games 3-5, lost a heartbreaker in game 3, and easily won game 4. A 3-1 lead, and a near sweep, made their second straight world championship (tying them with Kansas City) a near certainty.

A funny thing happened, though, and suddenly KC remembered how to win. They won game 5, forcing the series back to KC, and won game 6. Game 7 featured that seasons Cy Young winners, Dennys Shin and Christopher Ramirez. Those two pitchers had combined to win 5 of the 10 Cy Youngs up to that point, in the decade combined to win 12 Cy Young Awards, 419 games, and 44 post-season games, are both first ballot hall of famers, and are arguably the two best pitchers of all time (Ramirez is better :). And through 7 innings, the 7th game was a pitchers battle. In the bottom of the 8th, though KC, led by Bryants bat, exploded for 6 runs, and took an 8-3 lead. The Polythene whimpered, went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th, and took 3 seasons to recover. Kansas City meanwhile won its 3rd championship in 5 years, would win its 4th the following season (still only franchise to ever win back-to-back), and made it impossible for anybody else to argue that they had the best franchise of the decade.

So that's that.

Over the next few days, I'll try to get up a post a day, and it'll all culminate with the announcement of the All-Decade Team. Enjoy.

Good luck in decade 2!