2018 Ben McDonald Award winner

Hopatcong's Stephen Strasburg, the league's only 20-game winner and the ERA champion in 2018, was a nearly unanimous selection as the Ben McDonald Award.

2018 Ben McDonald candidates

At first glance, it may seem like the 2018 Ben McDonald Award is a runaway. There was only one 20-game winner in the league last season and the same starter also led the league in ERA. But maybe not so fast.

2018 pitching leaders

For the second straight season, only one pitcher was able to win 20 games, which could make Stephen Strasburg the man to beat in the race for the Ben McDonald Award.

One game to decide No. 4 seed

Faced with win-and-they're-in scenarios, few teams were able to secure their own destiny without help from other squads on the final day of the season.

Arkansas, Poovey last 21 innings

Arkansas and Poovey Farms went 21 innings last Tuesday night in the longest game of the season, just one inning short of the longest game in DMBL history.

Pearce nabs MVP as Golden Falcons take title

The 5th-seeded Arkansas Falcons went through a gauntlet of the 4th-seeded Poovey Farms Dairy Cows in 4 games, an epic 7-game series versus the top-seeded Tucson Scorpions, and finally knocked off the No. 2 seed and defending champion San Francisco Experience in five games to claim the 2015 DMBL title.

Arkansas did it behind it's killer P's lineup: Steve Pearce, Jhonnny Peralta, Buster Posey and Martin Prado. And don't forget Anthony Rizzo, along with some great pitching from Alex Wood, Marcus Stroman and a solid bullpen.

Pearce, who started all 16 games in the postseason, led all players in hits with 18 (along with teammate Lorenzo Cain), slashing .310/.412/.552, with a team-high 3 home runs, with 7 RBIs. Leonys Martin and Wood, both picked up from Philly at the trade deadline, also got consideration for postseason MVP honors. Arkansas gave up a 9th rounder for Martin and a 2nd and a 6th for Wood.

Martin only started 10 games in the postseason, including just one in the finals, but led the Falcons with 11 RBIs. He came up with 3 hits and 5 RBIs in a decisive Game 7 win over Tucson in the semi-finals. In a critical Game 3 against San Francisco, Martin propelled the Falcons to a 6-5 with 3 RBIs on 3 hits.

Wood tossed 7 shutout innings in the championship-clinching Game 5 and went 8 2/3 shutout innings in a vital Game 5 win in the semi-finals versus Tucson. Despite leading the league in postseason walks with 12 -- thanks to a 6-walk effort in Game 1 of the finals -- Wood was the Falcons' best pitcher. He was 2-1 with a league-high 27.2 innings, to go with 24 strikeouts (second only to Chris Sale's 32) and 1.30 ERA.

In the finals, Pearce led the Falcons with 8 hits and 17 total bases, slashing .444/.565/.944. Peralta, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft after Zach Duke, had a team-high 6 runs and 3 doubles, slashing .368/.455/.842, and right behind Pearce with 16 total bases in the five games during the finals. Overall, Arkansas hit .273 in the final, .337 on-base and slugged .483. They out-homered San Francisco 9 to 4.

The at-times dominant Sale was handled by the Arkansas lineup. San Francisco's ace made two starts in the finals, lasting only 10 2/3 innings, with a 5.89 ERA and 1.96 WHIP. The Experience saw some of their biggest hitters tamed in the finals, getting most of their offense from an unlikely source in platoon catcher Renee Rivera, who had 5 of San Francisco's 15 RBIs. Thanks to two big swings, he led the team in hits, batting, slugging, on-base, total bases and RBIs. Victor Martinez was just 3-for-21, the only other San Francisco regular to homer, with a 9th inning solo shot in Game 4. The team hit just .222, with an on-base of .287 and slugged a meager .323 in the finals.

It was Rivera's eighth-inning grand slam in Game 5 that proved to be San Fran's last gasp, cutting the Falcons lead to 5-4 at the time. Arkansas would add an insurance run in the 9th before finishing off the Experience for good.

San Francisco's Adam LaRoche led all batters in RBIs in the postseason with 12, and a league-high four home runs, followed by Martin with 11.

It's the 6th DMBL title in franchise history for Arkansas. The Golden Falcons are the first wild card team to advance to the series since Newark in 2010 and the first wild card to win the title since Marietta in 2009. It's also the second year in a row that the defending champion lost in the finals (San Francisco knocked off Hoboken in 6 games in the 2014 series).

ASG candidates: Micro starters

The Micro Conference doesn't seem to have the depth at starting pitcher that the Diamond Conference has, but that doesn't mean there's no all-star quality names to consider for the potential roster.

If no-hitters are a qualification for your all-star ballot, then Vancouver's Johnny Cueto is your man. His no-no in June helped his otherwise to-this-point mediocre stats and fueled an Iron First resurgence after a slow start. He's now 7-5 and lowered his ERA to 3.81 and his WHIP to 1.21. Teammate Matt Latos deserves a look, with a lower ERA (3.05), WHIP (1.18) and better winning percentage, 7-4.

Rookie Tanner Roark is probably the least-heralded name in the Allentown rotation but he leads the squad with a 2.88 ERA (good for 10th in the league) and stands at 7-5. Lefty David Price is the veteran of the rotation, and despite just an 8-7 mark, he's among the league leaders in WHIP (1.01), strikeouts (126), innings (127.1) and complete games (5) to go with 2 shutouts. A couple of other Mules might warrant consideration. Hishahi Iwakuma is 7-3 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.18 WHIP while John Lackey is 8-6 with a 3.81 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Roark and Lackey also have a conference-leading 12 quality starts.

Collin McHugh is the strongest candidate for Poovey Farms. He is second in the conference with a 1.04 WHIP and stands at 9-4 with a 3.07 ERA.

Hoboken is led by an unlikely candidate. Hiroki Kuroda, in his final season, is tops in the conference with 10 wins, to go with 11 quality starts, 3.12  ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Two other Cutters are on opposite sides of the ballot. Despite a 4.59 ERA, Kyle Lohse has been lucky enough to go 9-4 while Clayton Kershaw is just 6-7 despite leading the league virtually all year in strikeouts (150) and among the most innnings pitched (121.7). He's also third in K/BB (6.5) and though his 3.77 ERA isn't all-star like he sports a 1.17 WHIP and 3 complete games.

Corey Kluber is Sardine City's best hope for an all-star starter. Another candidate with a weak record (6-5), the righty is carrying the rotation, with a league-high 5 complete games, in addition to 2 shutouts. He's also among the conferences elite in strikeouts (123) and WHIP (1.14) and innings (118.2).

Blue Ridge dealt its best pitcher, Jon Lester, earlier in the year. He was 6-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 12 starts. Now the Bombers are left with Matt Garza as their best hope. Though he's 5-6, the veteran righty has a 3.64 ERA and among the conference's best in WHIP (1.12) and quality starts (11).

Arkansas ripped off a huge winning streak toward the midway point of the season, thanks mostly to its offense, but Matt Shoemaker and Alex Cobb have been among the beneficiaries. Shoemaker has improved to 8-4 with a 1.14 WHIP though his 4.05 ERA could be a turn-off. Cobb has the better ERA (3.28) but weaker WHIP (1.26) yet he's 7-5 in 10 quality starts. Rookie Marcus Stroman also is 7-5 with a 1.17 WHIP and 3.82 ERA.