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Once again the DK takes a month of August off and forgets to assign a replacement writer. Then we come back and find the Dino's are the #1 team in the BLB. I guess when you win...(double checks paper)...12 in a row and haven't lost since August 29th you deserve it. Meanwhile looking over August it looks like Washington was the winner with 23 wins while the Rum Runners won 22. On the flip side the Daily Keg's surprise playoff team of the year Kodiak's went an astounding 6-23 with a league worst 4.73 ERA and league worst .234 team average. Some random team stats from last week: LAD led the entire league in average (.323), OBP (.373), SLG (.582), and OPS (.955), Washington allowed six earned runs in six games and nine total runs overall, Pawtucket swiped 8 bases, and Windy City pitchers threw two complete games.
Power Rankings
1) Los Angeles Dinos (125.2, +)
2) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (123.0, -)
3) Washington Bats (117.0, o)
4) Maine Guides (112.0, +)
5) Pittsburgh Millers (106.9, -)
6) Seattle Pilots (106.7, o)
7) Miami Sharks (100.6, +)
8) Hartford Whalers (97.7, -)
9) New York Knights (93.5, -)
10) Batavia Red Jackets (91.7, ++)
11) Syracuse Snappers (91.5, o)
12) Indianapolis Racers (89.3, +)
13) California Kodiaks (85.9, ++)
14) Pawtucket Patriots (85.8, --)
15) New Orleans Dukes (83.7, ++)
16) Philadelphia Freedom (83.3, -)
17) Denver BC (81.9, o)
18) Baltimore Bulldogs (79.6, -)
19) Wilmington Wildcats (77.8, +)
20) Carolina Tobs (77.4, -)
21) Phoenix Roadrunners (76.9, --)
22) Windy City Blues (68.7, +)
23) Montreal Exports (55.9, +)
24) Toronto Canadians (52.8, -)
Performance of the Week
3B Chris Pineda - We'll count this even though it was two weeks ago. On August 31st against Phoenix he registered a 122 game score, #1 overall this season, when he hit three home, drove in six, and scored four times in four at bats. On the season the 26 year old is hitting .259 with 28 HR's, 62 RBI's, and a 3.5 WAR.
Injury of the Week
P Josh Robinson - The 26 year old had to leave the game on September 10th against Denver due to shoulder pain and was diagnosed with a partially torn labrum and will miss the rest of the season. On the year he was 3-8 with 32 saves and a 2.76 ERA and was selected to his first All-Star game this summer.
Prospect of the Week
P Baldassario Iuliano - The 20 year old from Italy was signed in 2028 by Hartford and is currently playing for their A ball team the Fresno Chili's. On the year he's 12-6 with a 3.14 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Scouts love his intangibles as his latest report stated "Iuliano has good leadership skills and is an extremely hard worker. He is well-respected by his teammates." Can't ask for much more than that.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. We mentioned California's fall from grace during August earlier but didn't mention they are currently just one game out of the last wildcard spot in the Import with a 67-75 record. The current debacle in the IL has Batavia with a 70-72 record currently in 3rd while Philly has climbed into 4th with a 69-75 record. LAD is solidly in the top spot with a 13.5 game lead but due to their big run are now only 3.5 games behind Seattle for the Bock lead.
2. While gone we had a vision that we would return and Turell 'Two Ton' Morris would be challenged in the home run race, giving the writers plenty to expand upon down the stretch. Then we look and he currently sits at 46, nine more than 2nd place Zach Bradley in Santo Domingo. Morris hit three last week after only hitting six in August and is now on pace to hit 52, 10 more than Bradley. To make his week even better on September 10th he signed a 4 year/$80m contract extension that will keep him in Maine until he's 33 years old.
3. After last season it looked like 6x All-Star CJ Stripling was getting close to the end. He played in 82 games for California and hit .236 with 5 HR's and after becoming a free agent wasn't shown a lot of interest. He ended up signing in Los Angeles for $500k and so far this season in 131 games has hit .283 with 25 HR's and a 2.4 WAR. On 9/12 against Phoenix he hit a solo home run in the 2nd that went 408 feet and moved him into the 300 career home run club. The lefty slugger, who was the 2025 Stout Slugger, now sits 79th overall on the career home run leader board.
4. For someone who's end might really be upon them we look no further than Denver's Jamie O'Hearn. This season he is hitting .236 with 14 HR's in 69 games. He missed over a month due a fractured cheekbone and the 38 year old free agent to be might find getting work next year a challenging task. The last time O'Hearn hit less than 20 home runs was 2015 when he hit 13 in his rookie year. His 605 career home runs now has him solidly in 1st place by 33 over Dani Alvarez and 113 more than the next active player, Tom Lewis.
5. The BLB said no to Canada this week as both Montreal and Toronto were eliminated from the playoff race. They are both in the race for first though...as in first pick in the 2033 draft! Montreal currently sits at 50-93 and "trails" Toronto by 1.5 games as the Canadians are 48-94. These two face off in a big three game series starting September 24th that more than a few top high school and college prospects will be keeping an eye on.
Stat of the Week
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| Largest Number of Games Behind In Season Prior To Winning Division (Top 25 Teams) |
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