Fantasy Baseball: Playoff MVPs

October 8, 3:19 PMBoston Fantasy Sports ExaminerMark Fuery

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Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury helped fantasy owners steal a
championship in head-to-head leagues.

The MLB playoffs are well under way, which means one thing for fantasy baseball players…the season is over.

For many of you in roto leagues, September may have been a mere formality. But for those of you who were in head-to-head leagues, the playoffs started a month ago. Many of you were locked up in tight matchups from Labor Day until this past weekend, all while watching some of your dominant teams fall and your average teams catch fire.

If you had any of these players, you probably did very well in the fantasy playoffs. They are this year’s playoff MVPs.

Javier Vazquez (SP – ATL): Vazquez was Yahoo!’s top ranked player over the final month of the season. He won four games while putting up an ERA of 1.42 in 38 innings. Add 39 strikeouts and a 0.84 WHIP and you’ve got yourself a stud.

Ryan Howard (1B - PHI): The Philadelphia slugger gave his owners the same elite production he had during the regular season. During fantasy playoff time Howard hit 7 home runs and knocked in 25. He also scored 19 runs while hitting a respectable .292

Troy Tulowitzki (SS – COL): The true playoff MVPs are the players like Tulowitzki. These are the guys who were in the second tier of fantasy players for most of the season. They weren’t absolute studs, but they were respectable starters.

Until September comes around. Tulowitzki was the top ranked shortstop over the final month. His .390 batting average and eight home runs were enough to vault team that snuck into the playoffs all the way to a league title.

Jacoby Ellsbury (OF – BOS): Ellsbury had a fantastic final month of the season, as shown by his .311 average. But Ellsbury’s true value comes with his speed. He stole 10 bases, making it hard for any of his opponents to take the category. His 12 RBI were also a nice little bonus for his owners.

Billy Butler (1B – KC): Butler is one of Kansas City’s top young talents, and he showed exactly what he was capable of during the last month. He was named the American League Player of the Month for September after hitting .363 with six home runs and 26 RBI. If you had him you probably went a long way.

Felix Hernandez (SP – SEA): The Mariners didn’t have much to play for during the final month, but King Felix sure did. He found himself right in the Cy Young race and did nothing but help his cause during the final month. He won five games while putting up a 1.79 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP.

Jair Jurrjens (SP – ATL): Vazquez wasn’t the only stud in Atlanta’s rotation over the final month of the season. Jurrjens actually had a better ERA than Vazquez (0.97) and had a dazzling WHIP of 1.04 to go along with four wins. He didn’t put up great strikeout numbers (26 in 37 innings), but his performance still went a long way towards locking up a fantasy title.

Joe Nathan (RP – MIN): A good closer is a must on any championship fantasy team, and Nathan was the best of the best in the month of September. He finished the final month with 10 saves and a 1.35 ERA while striking out 15 in 13.1 innings.

Jake Peavy (SP – CWS): Those of you who held on to Peavy while he was injured saw the benefits during playoff time. Peavy showed no signs of rust when he returned to the mound and made his American League debut.

Peavy picked up three wins with the White Sox with a dominant 1.35 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP. His 18 K’s in 20 innings were just icing on the cake.

If you had a couple of these guys odds are you made a great run in your head-to-head playoffs.

Tomorrow I will take a look at the playoff duds who led you to the playoffs only to go into a slump and cost you a shot at a title.