Looking at the draft day standings coming out of last winter’s slow draft, Vlad Sedler and Brad Johnson looked like the league’s best. At midseason Sedler had opened up a sizeable lead, but Johnson chippped away in the second half causing Vlad agita, and he ultimately held on for victory. It is Sedler’s second Tout championship. The previous was in 2017 in the Head-to-Head league.
At the All Star Break, Tout Wars newbie Matt Truss held a slim lead over Jeff Boggis and Sara Sanchez, but he turned on the jets in the second half and won with a healthy lead over Sanchez.
Make it two years in a row. Frank Stampfl, the H2H champ in 2021, caught up to Greg Jewett at the wire to win the H2H finals this year. He will no doubt choose to play with the CBS Sports scoring system again in 2023.
Derek VanRiper is now a three-time champion in Tout Wars Mixed Auction, previously winning in 2014 and 2020. He was in second place at the All Star Break, trailing Scott Engel, but broke away from the pack in the second half, benefitting from trades that landed him Shohei Ohtani (pitcher), Gerrit Cole, and Framber Valdez. He traded away Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt, and Alex Bregman!
At midseason, Mike Gianella had a four-point lead over perennial challenger and frequent champion Adam Ronis. The former Tout NL champion made it hold up (though he was challenged by Rudy Gamble, another perennial challenger and former champ in this league). He tells the story of how in a free post at Baseball Prospectus.
It no doubt came as a relief to Doug Dennis to win Tout Wars AL this year with no starting pitchers. Taking advantage of the Tout rules not specifying minimum innings, Dennis dumped out of Wins and Strikeouts and won his league easily. He scored every point possible in the eight categories he played, minus one in WHIP.
Dennis took much the same approach in 2021 and finished 1oth.
Phil Hertz and Scott Wilderman/Tim Prior stayed in the hunt til the final weeks, but Ian Kahn, who led at the All Star Break, held on.
