08/13/2040
Interleague was back and better than ever as the IL met the DL for another two series battle this past week. The winners were Syracuse, Windy City, and Pittsburgh who went 5-1. The losers were Carolina, Toronto, Hartford, and Washington who all went 1-5. No one is a loser in the DK though so keep your chin up fans, better days are ahead. More losses just equal better draft picks! Since everyone played six here are some team leaders: Denver and Pitt had 12 HR's, Windy City swiped 13 bases, Pittsburgh scored 40 runs, Phoenix posted a 2.21 ERA and only allowed 13 runs, Denver K'd 58 opposing batters, and opposing teams batted .189 against Montreal.
Power Rankings
1) Seattle Pilots (123.0, o)
2) Pittsburgh Millers (117.3, ++)
3) Montreal Exports (114.9, -)
4) Windy City Blues (108.1, +)
5) Maine Guides (104.6, +)
6) Washington Bats (102.7, -)
7) Syracuse Snappers (102.0, ++)
8) Batavia Red Jackets (101.8, --)
9) California Kodiaks (99.4, --)
10) Philadelphia Freedom (97.4, ++)
11) Wilmington Clowns (95.8, ++)
12) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (92.8, --)
13) Denver Bulls (89.0, -)
14) New Orleans Voodoo (87.0, --)
15) Phoenix Roadrunners (85.8, +)
16) Indianapolis Racers (82.1, -)
17) Pawtucket Patriots (80.5, ++)
18) Baltimore Bulldogs (78.3, ++)
19) Hartford Whalers (75.7, --)
20) New York Knights (72.6, +)
21) Toronto Canadians (69.9, -)
22) Carolina Tobs (69.6, --)
23) Los Angeles Dinos (67.5, o)
24) Dallas Drillers (46.9, o)
Performance of the Week
SS Takuyuki Nishimura - The only player to register a Top Performance of the season this week comes in as the 20th best hitting performance of the year. On August 10th against Indy he registered two hits, both of which were home runs, five RBI's, and scored three times in a 11-3 victory. On the season the 28 year old is hitting .228/276/.375 with 11 HR's and 46 RBI's with a +2.6 ZR at short stop.
Injury of the Week
CF Mike Cortez - The starting center fielder for the Freedom went down in the 8th inning of the August 10th game against Santo Domingo making a defensive play. He was diagnosed with a strained hamstring and will miss the next month of action. On the season he's hitting .253/.338/.389 with 9 HRs, 30 RBI's, 25 SB's, and a +1.5 ZR in 91 games in center field.
Prospect of the Week
P Eddie Watson - The #22 overall prospect was a Roadrunners 6th round pick in the 2039 draft out of UNLV and is one of the hardest throwers in the minors. With a 101 mph fastball to go with a curve and cutter he has a chance to be a beast if he can improve his control. So far this year in A ball he's 3-6 with a 4.57 ERA and 1.38 WHIP with 98 K's and 47 BB's.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. In what probably won't jinx him at all Washington's Pat Nunes has the longest hitting streak of the season and he's still going strong at 26 games. The 31 year old got a hit July 11th against Santo Domingo and hasn't been 'no-hit' since. He went from batting .316 to .340 and has 18 HR's and 76 RBI's on the season to go with it. He was the 2nd overall pick of the 2026 draft and was traded to Washington during the 2037 season. Since then he's been an All-Star three of the last four seasons.
2. Robby Brooksher hit three home runs this past week in a single game...too bad it was in AAA. He was signed this off-season by Syracuse and was hitting .254/.333/.439 with 5 HR's and 19 RBI's in 37 games, but was sent down to AAA July 29th. He played in six AAA games last season, and the previous time he played in the minors before that was 2023 when he was 20 years old. The now 38 year old is on his last leg but what a career it was. He was a 9x All-Star, 5x Designated Driver, 5x DWI winner, and won the Stout Slugger in 2026.
3. Denver continues to live and die with Cy Rocha and Saul Wang. Rocha has now lost nine straight games, while Wang has won six in a row. The Bull are 57-57 and their playoff odds are back to 16%. They do not have the toughest remaining schedule anymore though which should help. Rocha is now 0-7 with a 6.62 ERA after winning 24 games over the previous two seasons. In other out of the ordinary news Trey McCaffery finally got his first win of the season...too bad it was in AAA. In two starts there he's 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. Meanwhile his BLB replacement Robby Popescu made his first BLB starts since 2032 when he was playing in Baltimore. Against Philly on August 7th he went 5.0 innings, allowed two runs, struck out six and picked up a win.
4. Congrats to Millers closer Zack Coffey who notched his 300th career save on August 7th against Denver in a 4-2 victory. A lifetime New York Knight who was traded to Pittsburgh last season he has a career record of 62-77 with 301 saves while posting a 3.58 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. He's a 4x All-Star, won the Last Call award in 2033, and was a 2029 BLB champion with the Knights. He's now 48th all-time for career saves and is projected to reach 40th overall by the end of the season. At 34 years old he should reach 400 saves by the end of his career with a little luck, which would only put him 362 behind Hall of Fame closer Reynaldo 'Stinger' Jimenez.
5. With about 1/3 of the season remaining the current playoff seeding would be Syracuse at Santo Domingo and Wilmington at Maine in the DL, with Pittsburgh and Montreal getting a bye. In the IL there would be Philadelphia at Batavia and California at Windy City, with Washington and Seattle getting the bye. Expect quite a shakeup though from those match-ups considering Batavia is only a half game back from Washington while the entire DL wildcard race is three games apart with New Orleans and Hartford lurking.
Stat of the Week
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Most Career Wins Without Being An All-Star (Top 25 Players, Wins Since First All-Star Game in 1978) |
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