09/11/2056
The Clowns are the champions...of the week at least. Not only did they go 6-0 with sweeps of Batavia and California, they took over the Ale lead as well. The second best week belonged to LAD who went 5-1 as they took two against Wilmington and swept Syracuse. On the other side of interleague life Phoenix, Batavia, and California all went 1-5 as they all hail their new Domestic League overlords. Some team leaders: Indy scored 47 runs (Bat 11), Indy smacked 10 home runs (Har/Was 2), Indy hit .371 (Car .200), Hartford allowed just 13 runs (Cal 41), and opponents hit .194 off of Toronto (Phi/Bat .327).
Power Rankings
1) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (123.7, o)
2) Seattle Pilots (114.1, o)
3) Washington Bats (112.5, o)
4) Indianapolis Clowns (111.1, ++)
5) Dallas Drillers (102.9, -)
6) Carolina Tobs (101.3, -)
7) Hartford Whalers (100.5, +)
8) Los Angeles Dinos (99.5, +)
9) Wilmington Wildcats (94.9, o)
10) Baltimore Bulldogs (94.7, --)
11) Pittsburgh Millers (92.3, ++)
12) Windy City Blues (92.2, o)
13) New Orleans Voodoo (90.9, -)
14) Pawtucket Patriots (90.1, ++)
15) Phoenix Roadrunners (86.9, +)
16) Denver Bulls (85.8, -)
17) Syracuse Snappers (85.4, +)
18) New York Cyclones (79.0, -)
19) California Kodiaks (77.6, --)
20) Maine Guides (76.4, +)
21) Toronto Canadians (75.3, -)
22) Batavia Muckdogs (69.9, -)
23) Philadelphia Freedom (54.6, o)
24) Montreal Exports (52.3, o)
Performance of the Week
3B Neall Rabah - We go back in time (okay only two weeks) to August 28th, since we missed Rabah turning in the top performance of the season against Batavia. On the day he only had three hits, two of which were home runs, but he drove in an amazing nine runs during the 20-2 beat down. He ended up tying the Import single game record of RBI's and he's now hitting .282 with 30 HR's, 81 RBI's and a 128 OPS+ on the season.
Prospect of the Week
1B Harry Fischer - You won't find him on any top prospect lists, but the 24 year old played in 119 games this season for the Lexington Distillers (SDR) and hit .311/.397/.708 with 53 HRs and 119 RBIs. Originally a 9th round pick by the Rum Runners in 2049, he was second in the 2053 Rookie League Outstanding Hitter Award, and second in the 2055 A Outstanding Hitter Award. We don't think he'll be second this season.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. Speaking of the minor leagues, the playoffs begin for all four levels today. In AAA the division winners were Monterrey (DAL), Portsmouth (MAI), Flushing (LAD), and Richmond (WAS). In AA it was Miramar (SDR), Bar Harbor (MAI), Washington (SEA), and Newark (NYC). The A ball division champs were Reading (PIT), Kingsville (MON), Moose Jaw (CAL), and Orlando (BAL). Finally in the Rookie League it was Niagara Falls (TOR), Delmont (PIT), Austin (CAL), and Rocky Mountain (NYC). Good luck to all as we look forward to watching some future BLB stars light up the postseason.
2. Congrats to Karson 'Super' Blair who hit his 400th BLB home run this past week. On September 5th against Denver he took Wyatt Current deep in the top of the 5th to put the Wildcats on the board. The one day Hall of Fame member is the 64th player in the history of the league to accomplish the feat. Drafted 7th overall by Toronto in 2037, he is currently in his 18th season in the majors. During that time he has been a 9x All-Star, 7x DWI winner, and won championships with both Montreal and Washington. In his 2450-game career, Blair has hit at a .268 clip and collected 2461 hits with 472 doubles, 25 triples, 400 homers, and 1327 RBIs.
3. The Domestic Ale division and Wild Card races seem to be far from over. The Clowns have moved to the top spot of the Ale, but Hartford is only a half game behind and still has the easiest remaining schedule in the league. In the Wild Card the Millers (.5), Snappers (3.5) and Patriots (4.5) are all on the outside looking in. The Millers have the toughest remaining schedule, but their -6 PYT has put them at 68.9% per the playoff odds makers of making the postseason. In the Import the Pilots have taken a six game lead over LAD in the Bock, while Washington has had the Stout sealed up for a month. The Roadrunners meanwhile are on a tailspin after a superb August. They are now 2-7 in September, and sit in the final Wild Card position with a four game lead over Denver. Their playoff odds are still at 91.6% though, while Denver sits at a 4.6% chance of snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat.
4. Zeke Lebron is still on pace for 42 home runs and 57 stolen bases, which would give him a 40/40 season an amazing three times in his career. The hollowed club only has four total players in it, and it's only been accomplished six times. Ryan Hubbard did it for Wilmington first in 2042, followed by Colby 'Mirror' Hullinger in 2045 and 2047. Stuart Beale also did it in 2047 while playing for Dallas, then Lebron did it in 2051 and 2052.
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The 40/40 Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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5. What's on tap? The first series of the week happens to be Phoenix at Denver. The Roadrunners hold a 5-4 advantage this season, and this is the final series they will play. With Denver only four behind Phoenix for the final Wild Card spot this is a huge series. We also get the round-robin of Domestic Wild Card teams as Indy travels to Syracuse, Pawtucket hosts Hartford, and Pittsburgh heads down to New Orleans. Finally we get to see the two Domestic leaders square off as Santo Domingo hops a flight to Indy. The Clowns are 0-7 against the Rum Runners this season, and have been outscored 47-10 over those games. Ouch.
Stat of the Week
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Most Runs by Age (Earliest Occurrence Shown) |
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