Once again, the feast is mine!

Last Wednesday was a pretty good night in baseball world. My home team, the O's, knocked the Red Sox out of the playoffs and I won the "Thank God The Steelers Lost" fantasy baseball championship. Talk about payback innuendos. It may be the first time that I've ever been this interested in baseball late in the season. For a fantasy sports fanatic and O's fan, this is about as good as it gets.

Thanks to James who was commissioner of TGTSL. He did a pretty good job setting up the league and recruiting. It was a fun and challenging season.

Here are a few of the major components that contributed to my champoinship.

Landing first pick in the randomized draft order
I took Albert Pujols #1 overall and it paid off. he started off the season on the cold side but heated up in September when it really counted. Albert finished in 9th place for batters in the TGTSL.

Adding Strasburg in August
It was assumed that Stephen Strasburg would miss the entire season for Tommy John Surgery. But news reports informed that he was looking good, participated in minor league baseball and was available for the Nationals in September. Strasburg pitched on the last game of the season and scored 35 points. He basically solidified my win on the last day.

Here is my fantasy squad.

• Carlos Santana, Cle C, 1B   
• Albert Pujols, StL 1B   
• Dustin Pedroia, Bos 2B  
• Mark Reynolds, Bal 3B, 1B    
• J.J. Hardy, Bal SS    
• Lance Berkman, StL 1B, LF, RF, DH    
• Josh Hamilton, Tex CF, LF 
• Nelson Cruz, Tex RF, LF
• Adam Jones, Bal CF 
• Alfonso Soriano, ChC LF  
• Derek Jeter, NYY SS, DH 
• Curtis Granderson, NYY CF
• Jered Weaver, LAA SP 
• Stephen Strasburg, Wsh SP  
• Rick Porcello, Det SP  
• Clayton Kershaw, LAD SP    
• Ubaldo Jimenez, Cle SP   
• James Shields, TB SP  
• Daniel Hudson, Ari SP   
• Kyle Lohse, StL SP
• Heath Bell, SD RP    
• Joel Hanrahan, Pit RP  
• Neftali Feliz