BOB CASTRONE
Est. 2003
LAST SEASON
This was simple…there is no way this was going to happen again. There isn’t a world where Bob could miss the playoffs for a second straight year, right? The season began with a win. A low scoring victory over Griff. Yet, the points never came. Bob would lose his next two, beat me and then lose his next two. He was 2-4 with no games scored over 1,400. In week seven, he dispatched his childhood buddy with 1,532 points. That would propel him into a winning way. Bob would win four of six; the final victory being his best of the season (1,757 points). He was 6-6 and sitting inside the playoffs. He just needed to win one of his final two games. That proved to be too much. In week thirteen he faced a Don team that was riding a nine-game losing streak. Bob lost by five. In week fourteen, he was basically in a playoff game against Eric. The winner was in, the loser was out. Bob, couldn’t even hit 900 and lost. He finished 6-8, 10th in points scored and missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his storied career.
CAREER
We all know the number. 16. That’s 16 straight years without missing the playoffs. No one is even close to matching it. Of course, his career didn’t begin with glory. In fact, his first season in this league didn’t even end with a trip to the playoffs. Instead, he became the first team to start a season 5-1 and miss the playoffs. Yet, he rebounded in 2004, become the first team to win a title starting only one running back. He won 10 games and earned the two-seed, despite only finishing 8th in points. Still, he was hot and never cooled off in the playoffs, defeating top-seed Griff in the final seconds of the last game.
The following year, Bob had his worst season to date. He managed just three wins and finished dead last for the only time in his career. 2006 would begin the 16-year run. In that run, Castrone was rarely a fluke. In fact, he produced 13 winning regular seasons in that time frame. He finished first three times and second three more times. He became the first person to earn back-to-back scoring crowns (2014-2015) and he actually did it twice (2020-2021).
During the early years of that run, he struggled to turn regular season success into titles. Between 2006-2009, he went 3-1 in the quarterfinals, but 0-3 in the semifinals. However, between 2010-2014, that all changed. He would win it all in back-to-back seasons (2010, 2011). Then in 2014 he added to his impressive resume. He earned an in-season triple crown with the scoring title, the top seed and an actual championship, beating Neatock by a single point in the finals.
Bob officially took the top spot in my career rankings in 2011. By 2014, there wasn’t anyone even close to him. Yet, while the trips to the postseason would continue, he suddenly struggled to find wins in the playoffs. He fell in the quarterfinals in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2021, he reached the semifinals as the league’s scoring champ, but fell victim to 8-seed Eric. Oddly enough, during this run of no titles, six times in seven years Bob lost to the eventually Champ: Calderon (2016), Matt (2017), Matt (2018), Jeff (2020) and Eric (2021).
Yet, in 2022, the unthinkable happened. Bob, the king of catching breaks and running with them, couldn’t catch a break. Despite finishing 4th in points, he finished 9th in the standings and his playoff run ended at 16. However, he followed that up with one of his worst teams. His 2023 squad finished 10th in points and 10th in the standings and for the first time in his career, he missed the postseason in back-to-back years.
Despite the struggles, Bob’s overall numbers remain untouchable. While someone like Calderon can match him in consistent winning and I can top him in titles, Castrone combines both consistency and titles.
THE DIGITS
Overall, he’s 186-126. His .596 winning percentage is the league’s best. His 1,372 points per game is second only to Michael. He’s first in both average finish in standings (4.86) and finish in points (5.00). In total he has four scoring crowns (2nd most), three top seeds (second most), five trips to the finals (tied for fourth) and four championships (tied for second most).
He has three of the top-nine scoring regular seasons in history, led by his 1,599 points per game in 2021. His 2014 squad is arguable the third best ever. Their 1,594 combined points average for both the regular season and playoffs is second most ever. That 16-year playoff run probably should have been 17 straight if it wasn’t for the fact his 2022 opponents averaged 1,502 points per game that year. That’s the most ever a team has faced from his foes. His team that year averaged 1,391 points per game, which is the most ever scored by a non-playoff team.
Speaking of playoffs, Bob has made it to the playoffs in 17 of his 21 seasons. His 81% success rate is tied with Calderon for highest percentage. He has a .618 postseason winning percentage (21-13), which is third best behind me and Matt. He averages 1,434 points per game in the playoffs, which is third most ever. Overall, he’s 9-5 in the quarterfinals, 6-3 in the semifinals and 4-1 in the finals.
He owns four of the top-20 scoring games in the postseason, led by his 2,333 in the 2014 quarterfinals. Bob is one of three people to score over 2,000 in two playoff games for his career (Rob M and Matt are the others). Among the top-40 ass-kickings in league history, Bob has been on the right side of seven of them, while being on the wrong side just once. His largest was in the 2014 quarterfinals, when he beat Calderon by 1,162 points. Bob’s worst playoff game was in 2021, when he scored just 955 in a defeat to Eric in the semifinals.
Bob has been involved in four of the top-25 combined score playoff games. The best on his resume was a win over Calderon in 2014. They combined for 3,504 points (7th most), but Castrone contributed 2,333 of the points). When it comes to total postseason points, only one of Bob’s title teams has landed among the top-25. His 2014 squad scored 5,340 points in their three games; the fourth most in playoff history.
In total, Bob has played 312 games. He has scored over 1,500 in 32.69% of those games, which is the second most in league history. Meanwhile, his foes have done it just 24.36% of the time, which is the second least. As for failing to hit a grand, Bob has only failed in 9.94% of his contest (2nd least), while his opponents have done it 18.59% of the time, which is the second most.
Castrone has delivered a weekly high score in 9.35% of his games, which is the third most. His foes have done it 6.83% of his games, which is the 9th most. On the flip side, Bob has produced the weekly low score in 5.40% of his games (2nd lowest to only Calderon), while his opponents have done so 8.27% (7th most).
Speaking of highs and lows. Bob went 79 weeks without a weekly low score (beginning in 2018), but earned one on the final week of this past’s season, leaving him one short of Calderon’s record. His longest streak without a weekly high is 34 weeks (2003-2005), which is the 17th longest streak in league history. He also went 22 weeks without scoring 1,500 (2006-2007), which is tied for 10th longest.
In 2017, Bob won 14 straight games, which tied the record for longest winning streak. Only enough, both teams that won 14 straight in one season failed to win the title. Anyhow, Bob also has an 11-game winning streak in 2014-2015, which is tied for 5th longest. For his career, he has a pair of six-game slides (2003, 2022); both are tied for 22nd longest.
Bob is the only person in league history to score over 1,000 in thirty straight games three times. His longest 1,000-pt game streak was 56 straight games (2018-2021), which is the second longest ever. He’s also the only person to score over 1,250 in 16 straight games three times. He once did it 25 straight games (2014-2015), which is the longest streak in league history.
Speaking of league history, Bob also produced the highest single game score in league history when he scored 2,507 points in a week five, 2019 win over Masterson (the man who had the highest scoring game for 16 years). In that contest, Masterson scored 2,105 points, which began the most points ever scored in a defeat. Bob and Rob’s combined 4,612 points remains the most combined points ever scored in a game by 406 points.
While Bob has six career 2,000-pt games, he also has nine of the top-53 point totals scored in a defeat, including two of the top four. His worst was when he scored 2,089 in 2014, but lost to Burrier, who scored 2,117. It is one of only two games where both teams scored over 2,000.
In 2014, Bob beat Calderon 2,179 – 650. The 1,529 margin of victory is the second largest in league history. On the flip side, Bob is one of four current members to win a game by a single point. He is the only one to do it in the finals (over Matt).
Bob has taken part in two games that are among the top-20 lowest combined scoring games in league history. In both cases, he won. In 2008, he beat David, 922 – 643. Their combined 1,565 points is the 19th lowest scoring game ever. Four years earlier, Bob defeated Don, 781 – 751. Their 1,532 combined points is the 14th lowest scoring game ever.
And finally, when it comes to the highest combined scoring games, I’ve already mentioned the Bob/Rob M match up in 2019 that produced 4,612 points, but Bob was actually involved with three of the top four. Besides that game against Masterson, in 2022, Bob lost to Colby, 1,991 – 1,934. The 3,925 points are 4th most. And in 2014, Bob and Burrier combined for 4,206 points, which is second most.