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06/03/2058
No one circles the wagons like the...California Kodiaks. After being in a trading frenzy the last two seasons, and posting only 68 wins last year, the Kodiaks end May and start June by going 6-0 with sweeps of Washington and Windy City. They have won eight straight, and are now 27-26 while in third place in the Bock. Next up was the New Orleans Voodoo who went 5-1, and are now atop the Power Rankings. They lead the Lager by four games and have the best record in the league at 34-18. Finally we have two of their Lager mates in Santo Domingo and Toronto who each went 5-2, joined by Bock leader Phoenix who also went 5-2. On the flip side Indy and Hartford went 1-5 as the Ale continues to embarrass themselves.
Power Rankings
1) New Orleans Voodoo (126.7, ++)
2) New York Cyclones (115.5, o)
3) Wilmington Wildcats (110.9, o)
4) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (109.8, ++)
5) Toronto Canadians (109.4, ++)
6) Phoenix Roadrunners (107.9, ++)
7) California Kodiaks (105.7, ++)
8) Washington Bats (105.3, --)
9) Baltimore Bulldogs (102.9, ++)
10) Dallas Drillers (101.4, --)
11) Montreal Exports (97.3, --)
12) Seattle Pilots (97.0, +)
13) Los Angeles Dinos (90.5, --)
14) Carolina Tobs (90.3, --)
15) Batavia Muckdogs (83.3, ++)
16) Maine Guides (81.7, +)
17) Indianapolis Clowns (81.3, --)
18) Syracuse Snappers (76.1, ++)
19) Hartford Whalers (72.1, --)
20) Denver Bulls (70.2, -)
21) Pawtucket Patriots (64.7, -)
22) Pittsburgh Millers (63.9, -)
23) Philadelphia Freedom (55.8, o)
24) Windy City Blues (49.9, o)
Performance of the Week
1B Sayon 'The Brick' Castillo - It may be a young mans game but the 31 year old Castillo put up a 117 game score against Indy on May 27th. He was 4 for 5 with a home run, a triple, and 2 doubles, while scoring 4 runs and driving in 8 as Syracuse whooped the Clowns 14-3. On the season he's now hitting .325 with 3 HR, 24 RBI and a 130 OPS+.
Prospect of the Week
P Evan 'Kangaroo' Browning - The 21 year old was a first round pick by LAD last season and is playing for their A ball team, the Rockville Redhawks. In nine starts this season he's 6-0 with a 3.54 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 128 ERA+. He can hit 98 mph with his fastball, and coaches love his work ethic and intelligence.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. May is over and the best of the month were the defending champion Wilmington Wildcats. With a 20-10 record they shook off their 9-13 April, and are currently seven games over .500. Dallas was second at 19-10, California went 19-11, while New Orleans and New York were 18-11. Meanwhile Philly went 9-20 while Windy City went 9-19. Some team leaders: Santo Domingo scored 163 runs (WC 88), Batavia blasted 42 home runs (WC 14), and Baltimore swiped 51 bases (PHI 13). Meanwhile LAD allowed only 93 runs (PHI 177), while opponents hit just .226 off of Seattle (PHI .304). It doesn't look like a good month for the Freedom on either side of the plate.
2. Chase 'Havoc' Calhoun might be having the most remarkable rookie season in the history of the BLB. He's currently on an 18 game hitting streak and overall is batting .410 with 7 HR, 41 RBI, and 38 SB...and it's June 3rd. He's on pace to break the single season record for stolen bases (Elias Owen - 115), and his batting average is 44 points higher than second place. He's also putting up a +1.2 ZR while starting 49 games at second base. No wonder he was both the Rookie of the Month and Batter of the Month for the Domestic League. Not bad for a guy who won't be 22 until October, which is when he might be leading the Canadians to playoff series victories.
3. How does the last place team in the Lager (Montreal 27-24), have a better record than the first place team in the Ale (Indy 26-27)? We can't remember a time this late in the season that every single team from one division had a winning record, and every single team from the other division had a losing record. Look at Wilmington who is 4-0 against Indy and Maine, 3-0 against Hartford, 3-1 against Pawtucket, and somehow 1-3 against Pittsburgh. New Orleans doesn't have a losing record against the Ale, and Dallas has only lost one series so far (to Indy) as well. At least the Ale could be interesting as the top five teams are all within 4.5 games of each other.
4. Seattle starter B.B. Trynkov is having quite the remarkable season. In 10 starts he's 8-2 with a 1.46 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 272 ERA+. That's quite a jump from the last two seasons where his ERA+ was 83 and 79 respectively. It seems like Seattle has a pitcher who goes off the rails (in a good way) every season. Last season Cayden Wittmeyer went 18-7 and won the Pale Ale, in 2056 Rahjon Anderson was 18-5 with a 2.96 ERA, in 2055 it was Norm Aouita who was 15-8 with a 1.85 ERA, and in 2054 it was Paycen Bemis who went 18-2 with a 1.88 ERA. We could probably keep going on and on if we wanted. No wonder since 2050 the Pilots are second only to Washington in total wins. Anyways back to B.B. Scooped up out of Georgia (not the state) in 2048, he went on to make his BLB debut in 2056. Showing no real promise in the minors, or in his first two seasons in the bigs, he suddenly found his way. With the help of his pitching coach his movement on the ball, combined with his velocity going up 10 mph from the time he was discovered, have turned him into a legit starter. The Import is full of stud pitchers, and it looks like B.B. might be adding his name to the list.
5. What's on tap? This week we get to see Indy at Hartford in 'The Battle of the Wet Paper Napkin'. For those not interested in that though we get a great series as New York travels to Phoenix. Both teams are first in their divisions, and the Roadrunners are looking for a little payback after the Cyclones swept them in their first meeting. We also get some Lager love as Wilmington heads down to Santo Domingo. The Wildcats are only a half game behind the Rum Runners as SDR took two of three the first time they met. Streak wise Calhoun has his 18 game hitting streak, Elias Owen (IND) has a 15 game hitting streak, B.B. has won eight straight decisions, and Dave Hunt (DEN) has now lost 12 straight going back to last season.
Stat of the Week
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