The 2018 skinz season mirrored the 2018 Major League Baseball season in many ways. April, with it`s record number of rainouts and postponements, felt clunky and disorganized. It had the feeling that perhaps the future of the league may be in jeopardy.
Luckily though, those early worries turned out to be nothing more then worries and the season ended up being one of the more enjoyable ones in years.
Much like the Seattle Mariners, Chris took and early lead and by the time the end of May came about, it seemed like a sure bet that they would both be sitting pretty come the end of September, but if there is one thing we can always count on in baseball, it`s that the summer months bring about an entirely different game.
As June rolled around so did Nick`s eventual come back, a lead that he would hold onto for the majority of the summer. Though unlike the Mariners, whose second half performance was so poor that it knocked them out of the running by the start of September, Chris decided instead to take after another team in the Mariners division.
You see, the Oakland Athletics, who had finished last in their division the three previous seasons, were two games under five hundred in mid June, right around the time Mr. Artrip lost his lead. Nobody expected the Athletics to be not only be in the wild card race but to also be challeging the reigning World Series champs for the division.
Chris, whose last couple of seasons had been lost on the last weekend of the year, may have been feeling like all had been lost once again, but instead of giving up, he, much like those Oakland Athletics, kept on plugging away and by the time September came around, he had not only closed the gap between him and Nick, he took it from him.
September is a wild month of call-ups and roster expansions. In some ways, it is a sister-month to April in the way that you sometimes do not know what is going to happen.
This year was different though.
Unlike most September`s, this year was more like the Biff Tannen`s Sports Almanac where it seemed like most games were already pre-determined.
The disparity in baseball this season was at an all-time high this year, which translated to higher then usual scores for the boys. All of a sudden four and five points were the norm and sometimes the only path to victory was with a perfecto, for which there were many.
September`s lead for Chris was instantly lost by a Nick winning streak and with three weeks to go, Nick lead 81-73, a score that most thought was a foregone conclusion that would lead to another Nick victory. Though much like those Athletic`s once more, Chris toughed it out and not only over came that 8 point deficit, but he took the lead and on the final Saturday night in September, with the score tied 4-4, it all came down, in ironic fashion, to 2018`s most disappointing team, the Seattle Mariners.
With Nick done for the day, losing the Pirates and Braves, Chris already had four points, only losing his gamble pick with the Orioles. With the Mariners up 4-1 in the top of the ninth, only the last place Texas Rangers stood in his way towards the finish line. Those Rangers, so lackluster all season long made Chris sweat all the way till the end, but in the end, he came out on top, not letting a Dee Gordon error or a mid June collapse stand in his way of victory.
So in the end, I congratulate Mr. Artrip on the 2018 skinz championship, one that he truly earned and deserved. May the holidays pass quickly and the winter be kind, because regardless of the coming six months, we both know, that no matter what may transpire, skinz will always be there waiting for us. With our phone`s always on the ready for 2019`s first `Skinz Yo` text not being too far away.
