In the weeks between the years we are doing a small series about the statistics leaders in European Baseball Leagues. We started with the Switzerland on Saturday. Today we look at Sweden.
The Karlskoga Bats won the Championship defeating Sundbyberg Heat in four games in the finals. Both teams were also on top of the standings after the regular season. Karlskoga led nearly every major category. The team had a batting average of .321. This is almost twenty points higher then the runner-up Leksand Lumberjacks. The difference in the pitching rankings was much bigger. Karlskoga hat an ERA of 3.04. The second placed Tranas got an ERA of 4.45.
Top 5 Team Batting Average:
Karlskoga Bats .321
Leksand Lumberjacks .303
Stockholm .299
Sundbyberg Heat .292
Tranas .268
Top 5 Team Earned Run Average:
Karlskoga Bats 3.04
Tranas 4.45
Sundbyberg Heat 4.58
Leksand Lumberjacks 5.51
Stockholm 5.52
Obviously players of the best teams, especially by the Bats, dominated the individual rankings. Joe ROVIROSA of the Swedish champion was the most effective batter in 2007. He hit .442 with seven homeruns, 58 runs scored and 41 RBI. His Runs Created factor (by Bill James) of 23.24 was nearly ten points higher then the one of the players right behind him Magnus PILEGARD and Dean LINDBERG (both Stockholm). The batting title went to ROVIROSA’s teammate Shawn VANCE with a .445 batting average. He led the league in the RBI-Ranking too.
Top 5 Individual Batting Average:
Shawn VANCE (Karlskoga Bats) .445 (3 HR, 37 R, 52 RBI)
Joe ROVIROSA (Karlskoga Bats) .442 (7 HR, 58 R, 41 RBI)
Magnus PILEGARD (Stockholm) .405 (1 HR, 32 R, 27 RBI)
Rickard LJUNG (Sundbyberg Heat) .387 (37 R, 18 RBI)
Bjoern JOHANNESEN (Stockholm) .386 (3 HR, 29 R, 23 RBI)
The MVP of the season and future pitcher of the Dutch Major League Team HCAW Mr. Cocker dominated the pitching department. The American Adam SOWELL posted a perfect 14-0 record with an ERA of 1.78 for the Bats. He was the only pitcher with an ERA under two. He missed the Triple Crown, finishing second in the strikeout rankings. Nicklas MELIN (6-2, ERA 2.86) of the Lumberjacks struck out 111 in just 88 innings pitched.
Top 5 Individual Earned Run Average:
Adam SOWELL (Karlskoga Bats) 1.78 (14-0, 78 SO, 101 IP)
Kent KARLSON (Karlskoga Bats) 2.58 (11-5, 45 SO, 122 IP)
Ryan LEAKE (Tranas) 2.63 (7-3, 73 SO, 75.1 IP)
Nicklas MELIN (Leksand Lumberjacks) 2.86 (6-2, 111 SO, 88 IP)
Nick SOUBIEA (Sundbyberg Heat) 3.44 (6-5, 26 SO, 83.2 IP)