Today we're taking a quick flashback to 2008, the year of the global financial crisis, Obama's first presidential election, and the high school graduation of 75% of the league. This was also the first year of the Franchise, where I gathered together 11 of the biggest sports nerds I knew to start a real keeper league.
Mark had the first overall pick of the first Franchise draft, and rightfully took the monster that was Alex Rodriguez. He followed it up with Carlos Beltran and Brandon Webb, and later bolstered his lineup with Carlos Pena, Roy Halladay, and Jason Bay.
He then orchestrated a trade with Pflanz to acquire the '07 rookie of the year Ryan Braun, a threat who anchored his lineup for the duiration of the season and still holds a spot in Mark's lineup today.
After a mere 14-16 start, Mark went 112 and 63 the rest of the way (a .640 win %) to capture the #2 bye week spot in the playoffs.
He tore through the number 3 seed Perk in the semi final by a score of 8-1, which pinned him up against Russ, the #1 team in the final. Despite having the MVP (Pujols) and the ROY (Longoria), Mark was able to overcome and win 7-3 to claim his first title.
See below for the championship roster:
