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08/29/2044
What a swing of a week as the Santo Domingo Rum Runners go 7-0 while the Montreal Exports go 1-6. In one fell swoop SDR now leads the Lager by 2.5 games and looks like they might run away with it. The other top week was Phoenix who went 6-1, including a four game sweep of Batavia. Phoenix has risen from the ashes as they went from 10 games under .500 starting off July, to nine games over .500 and second place in the Bock. Some other nice weeks were Baltimore, Windy City, and Syracuse who each went 5-2. Both Syracuse and Windy City have now appeared to lock up their respective divisions, while Baltimore is only 1.5 games back from Washington.
Power Rankings
1) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (130.7, +)
2) Syracuse Snappers (118.3, o)
3) Windy City Blues (109.6, +)
4) Baltimore Bulldogs (108.8, o)
5) Phoenix Roadrunners (108.1, ++)
6) Washington Bats (104.9, +)
7) Montreal Exports (102.5, --)
8) New York Knights (96.0, ++)
9) Dallas Drillers (95.4, --)
10) New Orleans Voodoo (95.4, -)
11) Pittsburgh Millers (93.7, ++)
12) Philadelphia Freedom (91.0, ++)
13) California Kodiaks (90.1, --)
14) Carolina Tobs (87.3, -)
15) Pawtucket Patriots (85.2, ++)
16) Maine Guides (83.3, --)
17) Seattle Pilots (80.6, -)
18) Hartford Whalers (79.2, -)
19) Toronto Canadians (78.8, +)
20) Wilmington Clowns (78.1, +)
21) Los Angeles Dinos (74.8, --)
22) Denver Bulls (67.9, o)
23) Indianapolis Racers (59.9, o)
24) Batavia Red Jackets (43.7, o)
Performance of the Week
CF Tom Stark - The ageless one put up the #5 hitting performance of the season against LAD on August 25th. In four at bats he had three home runs, six RBI's, and also walked twice in a 19-8 Blues victory. To go along with Stark, Peter Moss had the 12th best hitting performance and Sean Sayers had the #22nd best performance...apparently it was a long day for Dinos pitchers. On the season Stark is hitting .253/.315/.581 with 22 HR's and 56 RBI's.
Prospect of the Week
2B Hayden 'Deuce' Cooper - The 22 year old is currently unhappy that he is stuck in AA after finishing second for the A ball Outstanding Hitter Award last season, but he'll get over it. Currently this season he's hitting .279 with 2 HR's, 24 RBI's, and 21 SB's. He's known though for his defensive ability in the infield, but has currently only ever played second base. More than likely he'll be up to AAA soon and moving around the diamond to gain experience at shortstop and third base, since we believe he has the ability to be a DWI fielder at all three positions.
Game of the Week
CF Hayden Wilson
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The Drillers continue to be the surprise team of the BLB as this comeback win against the Whalers on Saturday pushed their August record to 13-12 and their overall record to 72-61. With two outs in the 9th Dusty Schmidl smoked a two run double to tie it up off of Whalers pitcher Joey 'Mushy' Carter, much to the chagrin of Treshawn Cooks who had gone eight innings, allowed no runs, and struck out six. After Drillers reliever Dodge 'Missing' Thornom was able to get out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the top of 13th, Dallas struck again. With Hayden Wilson on first and one out, Halden Berger cracked a double off of Dave Christian and Wilson raced around the bases. Left fielder Alwan Hidalgo threw home but Wilson and his top flight speed (43 steals this year) was able to slide in under the tag for the win.
Five Things We Think We Think
1.With the BLB in the midst of pennant races, that can only mean one thing...the minor league playoffs are beginning. So far the Rookie League is one game into the best of three opening round, while AAA, AA, and A all have just one week remaining in the regular season. Time to see how the future stars of the BLB can handle the postseason pressure.
2. With Baltimore going +22 and having the best record in the league since July 1st that can only mean that JD Rice is cooking again. In those 50 games the slugger is hitting .302/.383/.637 with 19 HR's and 44 RBI's. After starting out with only eight home runs in April and May combined, his total of 32 is now only five off the league lead shared by Kyle Olmsted and Elmer Caceres.
3. Unless the Snappers sit Christian Vines down the stretch it looks like the strikeout record is still as good as his. This last week he pitched one game, a 5-0 victory over Montreal, where he went eight innings, struck out seven, and allowed no runs. He's projected to reach 353 K's as he currently sits at 290, while the 66 year old record held by LAD's Dave Rumsey is 319. Vines got to 305 last season, and Ed Carroll K'd 301 in 2022, but those three are the only players to ever go over the magic 300 mark. Vines also on pace for a 12.4 WAR, which would be the highest pitching total in league history as well. On the year Vines is 16-3 with a 1.49 ERA and 0.80 WHIP.
4. It looks like Wilmington's 28 year old shortstop Chip Martin will win his third straight DWI at that position. This season he leads all players with a +17 ZR and all shortstops with a 1.101 defensive efficiency. Even though the Clowns are in last place in the Ale, thanks to Martin and outfielder Ryan Hubbard they have a team ZR of +43.54 (minus pitchers), good enough for second in the BLB. First place belongs to California who checks in at +52.33. Last place are the New York Knights who sit at -47.47. It's not often you see a team dead last in fielding fighting for a playoff spot, but the Knights are currently 68-65 and only 1.5 games back from the final Import wildcard spot. I suppose when you lead the IL in batting average and slugging percentage you can afford to drop the ball a few dozen times.
5. We are to the final interleague series of the year. Some potential Brewmasters Cup match-ups that we are excited to see: Syracuse at Washington, Montreal at Baltimore, and Santo Domingo at Philadelphia. It's not often you get two first place teams meeting up this late, but the Snappers and Bats will do just that. With Syracuse having a magic number of 15 they might start to rest some players (see #3), while meanwhile Washington is in a dog fight with Baltimore for the division title. Look for the Bats to take the series 2-1.
Stat of the Week
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| Most Wins While Pitching For A Losing Team (Top 25 Players) |
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