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09/16/2052
There were unicorns everywhere in the BLB this week as both Syracuse and California went 7-0. The Slammers...er...Snappers swept Pawtucket and Wilmington. Meanwhile the Kodiaks swept Seattle and Batavia. Those mentioned Pilots went 3-4, saw their division lead shrink to 4.5 games, and were replaced by the Snappers who have now won 10 straight. Syracuse is 80-65, 14 games over .500 since August 1st, and only six games out of the Ale lead. Another good week was New Orleans who went 6-1 and pushed their Lager lead to nine games. On the other side of life Hartford and Indy each went 1-6 to severally cripple their wildcard chances.
Power Rankings
1) Syracuse Snappers (119.3, ++)
2) New Orleans Voodoo (116.6, +)
3) Pawtucket Patriots (110.5, ++)
4) California Kodiaks (109.6, ++)
5) Washington Bats (109.5, -)
6) Seattle Pilots (106.3, --)
7) Maine Guides (103.6, --)
8) Philadelphia Freedom (102.6, --)
9) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (91.5, ++)
10) Pittsburgh Millers (91.2, -)
11) Baltimore Bulldogs (89.7, --)
12) Los Angeles Dinos (89.5, ++)
13) Denver Bulls (89.3, ++)
14) Toronto Canadians (88.1, ++)
15) Windy City Blues (84.1, -)
16) Indianapolis Clowns (83.1, --)
17) Batavia Muckdogs (81.6, --)
18) Phoenix Roadrunners (81.1, -)
19) Dallas Drillers (80.1, --)
20) New York Cyclones (78.5, +)
21) Montreal Exports (77.2, -)
22) Hartford Whalers (73.6, --)
23) Wilmington Wildcats (59.8, +)
24) Carolina Tobs (53.3, -)
Player of the Week
P Brendan Linnett - The only player to sneak into the Top Performances of the season this past week was Denver starter Linnett. On September 11th against LAD he tossed a complete game where he allowed just one run on five hits, while striking out 12 and walking none. He's now 8-9 with a 4.43 ERA and 90 ERA+ on the season. There is almost no one in the league who throws as hard as him...there is almost no one in the league who throws as straight as him though either.
Prospect of the Week
P Drew 'Rowdy' Daniels - Drafted in the 3rd round of the 2051 draft he showed glimpses of things to come last season when he went 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA in three starts. He picked it right back up this year when he went 8-0 with a 1.72 ERA and 281 ERA+ in 12 starts. At only 18 years old he has a lot of growth to do, but scouts around the league think he can be a solid number two pitcher, if not more, down the road.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. Time is running out for those teams scampering to make the playoffs. With the divisions nearly all wrapped up (Seattle is the lowest at 92%), we just have some wildcard spots to figure out...and even those are almost settled. In the Domestic it appears Maine and Syracuse are just fighting for the top seed. The final two spots have SDR around 85% and Pittsburgh at 73%, with Dallas and Indy around 20%. In the Import the Freedom, Kodiaks, and Bulldogs are all in. The final spot has Batavia as heavy favorites (80%) with LAD, Denver, and New York as long shots.
2. Can Philly and California catch Washington and Seattle? The Freedom trail the Bats by just four games, but finish the season at Washington (where they have a 6-3 season series lead) for a huge 3-game series. Meanwhile California trails Seattle by 4.5 games, but finishes with Windy City, Washington, Phoenix, Carolina, and Denver. With an opponents win percentage of .454 the Kodiaks have the easiest remaining schedule in the entire league. Their sweep of Seattle this past week pushed their season series to a 6-6 tie, but even with that schedule it's going to take a small miracle.
3. The minor league playoffs are in full swing as all leagues are into the Divisional Series. With every minor league team playing in the same division as their parent club, we get some great match-ups that emulate how things might shake out in the BLB in the near future. In AAA right now we have SDR/Dal, Paw/Mai, Sea/Was, and LAD/Cal. In AA we have SDR/NO, Mai/Har, NY/Was, and Sea/LAD. In A ball we have Wil/SDR, NO/Pit, LAD/Bat, and Phi/Sea. Finally in the Rookie League we have Mon/Pit, Ind/NO, Cal/LAD, and Phi/Was. Looks like some winning organizations in there that aren't just doing their winning in the BLB.
4. Congrats to Pat 'Melody' Nunes who launched his 600th career home run on September 13th against Phoenix. He is the 4th player in the history of the league to reach this accomplishment, joining J.D. Rice, Jamie O'Hearn, and current teammate Robert Jessee. He's now hit 124 home runs since turning 40, and although he shows some signs of slowing down, he's still hitting .278 with 22 HR and 78 RBI on the season. If you call that slowing down at 43 years old, sign us up for whatever vitamins he's taking. The 43 year old Nunes has been angling for another one-year deal from Philly, but only time will tell.
5. What's on tap? We get a few wildcard shuffling match-ups this week as Philly travels to Baltimore and Santo Domingo goes to Syracuse. Streak wise the Snappers have won 10 straight, Cali has won seven straight, New Orleans has won five straight, and Pawtucket has won four straight. Player wise, Cory 'Boy Scout' Petit has now hit safely in 21 straight games and boosted his league leading average to .387. Toronto star Dan Jennings hit .388 in 2050, but before that the BLB hadn't seen a player hit .380 or higher since 2039. That was the year that both Richie 'Powder' van Luik and Johnny Thompson hit over .400...a feat never accomplished before or since.
Stat of the Week
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| Oldest Players To Win The Stout Slugger Award or Pale Ale Pitcher Award (Top 25 Players) |
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