2012 Pool: Final Recap!

For those of that weren’t aware or paying attention, the 2012 MLB regular season came to a close last night. Miguel Cabrera won the American League’s triple crown, the Milwaukee Brewers missed the playoffs, Aramis Ramirez somehow finished the season with a .300 batting average, and the Baltimore Orioles nearly won the American League East. Who would have thought?

The conclusion of the season also meant the close to our annual MLB over/under pool. After the dust had settled, Tom Reilly found himself atop our standings with 51 points. The only points that Tom lost involved his incorrect 4-point prediction that Detroit would finish the season with more than 91.5 wins. The Tigers only won 88 games this year. Otherwise, Tom nailed every other pick on his bracket.

As a result of his fine performance, Tom claims our top prize of $900. Congratulations, Tom! I hope you spend the money wisely. Finishing only one point behind was Gary Fritsch, who sat with 50 points for much of the 2nd half of the season. Gary will claim a prize of $600 for his 2nd place finish. Gary finished two points ahead of Brett Endres, who claimed 3rd place with 48 points.

Here’s a quick recap of the top 6 finishers in this year’s pool and their winnings:

1. Tom Reilly – 51 pts ($900)
2. Gary Fritsch – 50 pts ($600)
3. Brett Endres – 48 pts ($420)
4. Matt Storms – 46 pts ($260)
5. Scott Weiss – 45 pts ($160)
6. Jim Peterson 2 – 45 pts ($100)

Scott Weiss came within 7 games of correctly predicting the number of wins that Texas would have this season. Jim Peterson, by contrast, missed Baltimore’s actual number of wins by 21 games. As a result, Scott won the tiebreaker for 5th place.

It’s interesting to note that our top six brackets all correctly predicted that the San Diego Padres would win more than 73.5 games this year. Apparently, that was the shrewd selection that spelled success in our pool.

Rounding out our list of “winners” is Rob Schlicht, who staggered to the finish line with a paltry 4 points – which was good for last place in our pool. The only pick that Rob got correct was that the Cubs would win less than 73.5 games this season. As a result of his awful performance, Rob claimed his $20 entry back and recorded our pool's worst ever score. Nice work, Rob!

I hope that everyone enjoyed the pool. If nothing else, I like to think that this pool offers us an opportunity to stay interested in a sport that we might otherwise lose interest in once our own home team is eliminated.

Congratulations to our winners! When you get the chance, send me a note with your mailing address and I’ll send you a check. Otherwise, I can also send the money via Paypal.