The 2005 Benchwarmer Bash

For the 2005 season, with 8 teams in the Bash, we begin with the Quarterfinal Round - with each series a best-of-seven match up.  Teams with the higher seeds earned home field advantage.

Our Seeding:

1. Boar's Nest (Hall of Fame) - Power Index: 2

2. Asia (K Street) - PI: 6

3. TRB (Shadowball) - PI: 10

4. Carlisle (Beatleball) - PI: 17

5. Rainy City (Longball) - PI: 31

6. Milford (Hall of Fame) - Wild Card - PI: 1

7. South Hill (Longball) - Wild Card - PI: 3

8. NJ (Shadowball) - Wild Card - PI: 4

Bash Semifinals and Finals

Last year's Bash

BENCHWARMER BASH QUARTERFINALS :

NJ (94-56, Shadowball) vs. Boar's Nest (85-65, Hall of Fame).  NJ won the Pittsburgh Crawfords Division easily in 2005, by 17 games, but was swept by TRB in the Homestead Grays Conference finals.  They qualified for the Bash by having the fourth best Power Index in BWB.  Boar's Nest is the first ever 2-time BWB Champion, winning the Hall of Fame League this year after winning it the first time in 2003 (the first of their 3 consecutive division championships.

Result: NJ wins series 4 games to 1

South Hill (90-60, Longball) vs. Asia (91-59, K Street).  South Hill enters the Bash because they held the 3rd best Power Index rating in all of BWB.  They easily won the Killebrew Division by 16 games in Longball, but were defeated in the Ruth Conference finals by Nokomis.  Asia is the first K Street League Champion, easily winning the Blyleven Division, knocking off New Jersey for the Ryan Conference, and beating Dawns in the league finals.

Result: Asia wins series 4 games to 3

Milford (107-43, Hall of Fame) vs. TRB (99-51, Shadowball).  A tough draw for TRB, as Milford comes into the Bash trying to avenge their playoff misfortune.  No Carlislead ever won 100 games in a season, until 2 teams did that in Hall of Fame this season.  Milford, with 107 wins, was not surprisingly the top scorer in the BWB Power Index.  However, upstart Oaxaca beat the Ruth Division champs in the Johnson Conference finals.  TRB, meanwhile, despite 99 wins, had a tough race to win the Chicago American Giants Division, but knocked off NJ (our 8th seed) in the conference finals and gritted out a 7-game win over Tombstone to become the first Shadowball champion.  Note: The owner of TRB has left Benchwarmer Baseball.  In 2006, this team has been changed to McCool's.

Result: Milford wins series 4 games to 3

Rainy City (85-65, Longball) vs. Carlisle (94-56, Beatleball).  Rainy City comes into the Bash as the lowest-rated team - only ranked 31st in overall Power Index, but they earned their trip by a tough Mays Division race, a 4-3 victory over Smoky Mountains in the Aaron Conference, and another 7-game series win over Nokomis in the Longball Finals (including a Game 7 extra-inning win).  Carlisle is a two-time champion in both the Harrison Division and Martin Conference.  In 2005, they were able to go one step further with a 4-1 series win over London in the league finals.

Result: Carlisle wins series 4 games to 3