Monday, August 20th, 2035
(AP)
The defending champs stay on top with a 5-1 week and a sweep of Toronto while taking two of three against Philly. The Racers have the best record in the league at 77-40 and are 30-12 since the end of June. The other top week belonged to Syracuse who also went 5-1 with a sweep of Pittsburgh and winning two of three against Carolina. They have the second best record overall at 76-41 and will more than likely battle Indy for HFA and a trip to the Brewmasters. On the flip side "We The North" went 2-10 as both Montreal and Toronto went 1-5.
Power Rankings
1) Indianapolis Racers (129.5, o)
2) Syracuse Snappers (121.9, +)
3) Baltimore Bulldogs (109.8, -)
4) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (109.8, +)
5) California Kodiaks (108.7, +)
6) Washington Bats (107.6, ++)
7) Seattle Pilots (103.0, o)
8) Pittsburgh Millers (101.7, o)
9) Carolina Tobs (100.5, +)
10) Wilmington Clowns (99.9, ++)
11) Miami Sharks (99.5, +)
12) Hartford Whalers (98.2, --)
13) Windy City Blues (92.8, -)
14) Phoenix Roadrunners (91.3, +)
15) Philadelphia Freedom (90.2, -)
16) New York Knights (89.0, +)
17) Batavia Red Jackets (88.2, --)
18) New Orleans Dukes (86.1, o)
19) Pawtucket Patriots (74.8, o)
20) Los Angeles Dinos (71.8, o)
21) Maine Guides (55.5, +)
22) Toronto Canadians (51.6, -)
23) Denver BC (46.2, -)
24) Montreal Exports (28.1, o)
Performance of the Week
C Jaden Greggs - Not one player made the top performances of the season this week so we scoured until we found Greggs who had five hits, two RBI's and a home run in a 10-9 loss at Maine on August 19th. At 33 years old this is his first BLB action since 2029 for LAD and so far in 16 games he's hitting .426/.470/.836 with 7 HR's and 11 RBI's.
Injury of the Week
RF Zheng-xin Yang - On August 15th against Indy he made a throw from left field to home and was pulled from the game immediately after. He was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis and will be out for over a month. On the season he's hitting .277/.333/.467 with 17 HR's and 56 RBI's while playing 54 games in left, 53 games in right, and 13 in center.
Prospect of the Week
1B Jayson Buenaventura - The 18 year old entered the league from the Philippines in 2033 and was signed with a $1,000,000 bonus by Miami. He spent last season in the RL and started this year off in A ball before getting called up to AA. Even after playing 24 games in AA he still led A ball in home runs with 29 and hit .337/.392/.644.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. The playoffs are in full swing for all the minor league teams. AAA, AA, and A start this week and the RL is down to the final four teams of Boise, Stillwater, Mobile and Cleveland. The AAA, AA, and A are all best of 3, best of 3 then best of 5 while the RL is best of 3 throughout.
2. JJ Plumley received a nice contract extension this past week. The 27 year old will now making a cool $27,000,000 a year until 2043. He's rated the top pitcher in the league and this season is 9-5 with a 2.44 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 168 ERA+. He's 1st in strikeouts, 2nd in WAR, and 3rd in ERA. He was the 2nd pick in the 2nd round of the 2025 draft out of Blessed Sacrament HS.
3. Outfielder Zack Van den Heuvel of Pawtucket was suspended four games this week after arguing a strike call on August 15th. Unlike Micach Gordon from Pittsburgh who took all his clothes off last week, Zack left his on but just refused to leave the field. Later after his manager finally escorted him off he told reporters "He (the umpire) was blind today. They played 'Three Blind Mice' for him. If he doesn't know the words to the song, I'm sure we can get it in Braille, so he can follow along." Ouch...he's lucky to only get four games.
4. Ron Hutchison hit 11 home runs in July and 11 more in August and now has 42 on the year. He zoomed by Turell 'Two Ton' Morris and kept going as he now leads him and Johnny 'Big Stick' Swope who each have 34. He's projected to reach 58 which would tie him for third highest all-time with Andy Ulloa and Al Kelly who both did it in 2022.
5. The DL wildcard is going to be odd man out as currently Wilmington trails Miami by one game for the final wildcard spot. They have already played all 11 games against each other this season with Miami taking seven of them. It won't just come down to those two teams though as the difference between Wilmington and the top wildcard team Pittsburgh is only seven games. In the IL it's going to be several teams on the outs as Batavia and Philly are only 3 games out of the final wildcard spot, New York is 2.5 games out, and Phoenix is one game out.
Stat of the Week
.
Cumulative Franchise Pythagorean Difference (Using pythagenpat exponent for pythagorean record) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Comment