Tweet
08/11/2064
Washington, Carolina, Dallas, and Pittsburgh all go 5-1 this week, with three of those teams almost certainly heading to the playoffs. The Millers traded away star pitcher Stephen Gibbs, so the dead cat bounce is alive and well, but for how long? They do have a 56.4% chance to make the postseason according to our friends at Stats+, so we've seen stranger things. On the flip side Maine, Phoenix, and Denver all went 1-5. Some team leaders with everyone play six: Pittsburgh scored 40 runs (DEN 13), Cali and Pitt hit 15 HR (TOR 1), Batavia swiped 16 bases (SDR/DEN 1), Dallas allowed just 11 runs (MAI/PHO 44), and opponents hit .157 off Pittsburgh pitchers (HAR .338).
Power Rankings
1) Washington Bats (133.6, +)
2) Wilmington Wildcats (119.0, +)
3) Windy City Blues (118.8, -)
4) New Orleans Voodoo (110.8, o)
5) Indianapolis Clowns (107.8, o)
6) California Kodiaks (106.1, +)
7) Dallas Drillers (105.5, +)
8) Pittsburgh Millers (99.6, ++)
9) Carolina Tobs (99.3, ++)
10) Los Angeles Dinos (98.5, +)
11) New York Cyclones (98.2, --)
12) Montreal Exports (96.6, --)
13) Hartford Whalers (92.6, --)
14) Toronto Canadians (87.0, ++)
15) Batavia Muckdogs (85.1, --)
16) Pawtucket Patriots (82.7, -)
17) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (82.6, -)
18) Baltimore Bulldogs (81.9, +)
19) Denver Bulls (69.6, -)
20) Seattle Pilots (62.9, o)
21) Syracuse Snappers (59.7, +)
22) Phoenix Roadrunners (56.2, o)
23) Maine Guides (54.6, -)
24) Philadelphia Freedom (51.0, o)
Performance of the Week
2B Brady Hill - The 15th overall pick of the 2059 draft is another hit for the Kodiaks. On August 8th against Maine he turned in the second best performance of the season when he tallied up four hits, smashed two home runs, drove in five, and scored four times as California built a 6-0 lead by the second and ended up winning 10-4. On the season Hill is hitting .279 with 16 HR, 52 RBI and 16 SB while posting a +4.3 ZR at second.
Prospect of the Week
1B Christopher Mellott - The HS junior has played in 114 high school games where he's hit .329/.389/.696 with 41 HR and 136 RBI with a 148 OPS+. Draft eligible next season scouts think that someday he'll challenge for the home run title while being an everyday first baseman for a top-tier team. Sounds like a top five pick to us.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. Apparently the demise of the Washington Bats was much exaggerated as well. Even after Windy City won 17 games in a row, they lost three games this past week and the Bats moved back into the top spot in the Power Rankings. After a 13-12 July, Washington has gone 7-2 so far in August, all while posting one of the most ridiculous stat lines in BLB history. The Bats are 44-7 at home. Yikes...it's just inconceivable! To not let their fan base get too big of a head though, let's look at some team vs team stats. Philly has 37 wins, Maine has 38 wins, Phoenix has 39 wins, Seattle has 43 wins, and Denver has 45 wins. Against those five teams the Bats are 30-4. To be fair great teams win when they are supposed to, and that is why they are the premier franchise in the league, and have been for 75+ seasons. It looks like that reign won't be ending anytime soon.
2. There were 32 pitchers in the history of the league with 3000 or more strikeouts at the beginning of last week. Welcome to number 33 as LaVar Abrudan joined the club on August 5th against Phoenix. How long did it take him during the game to reach the hallowed mark...how about three pitches? Sitting on 2,999 the first batter of the game was Dwight Bell, who at 36 years old has become a shell of his former self. Pitch one was a swinging strike, pitch two was a foul ball, and pitch three Abrudan caught him looking. The game was stopped one minute in and the home crowd gave him a standing ovation. Drafted in the 5th round of the 2045 draft, Abrudan played for Dallas, Indy and Pawtucket, before coming back to Indy in 2063 on a two year contract. Lifetime the 2x Pale Ale winner and 4x All-Star is 136-127 with a 3.72 ERA.
3. It's August and the Import playoff race is almost done. Washington will win the Stout, Windy City has a 94% chance of winning the Bock, and the Wild Card teams will be California, LAD, New York, and Carolina in some sort of order. Where's the September drama! Batavia actually has a 13% chance (are the Muckdogs finally back?), while Baltimore's playoff odds have dwindled down to 5%. In the Domestic only Maine and Syracuse have been eliminated, with Toronto and SDR barely holding on. With Wilmington, New Orleans, and Indy all but in, it appears the final three spots come down to Hartford, Dallas, Montreal, Pittsburgh or Pawtucket.
4. Congrats to Charlie Spence for becoming the BLB All-time leader in strikeouts. With 3,969 he passed Baltimore's Jannero Peter to move into first place. The catch is both Spence and Peter are still active, with the 34 year Spence leading the league with 158 K's on the season, and the 36 year old Peter striking out 129 so far this year. The double catch is that Peter is scheduled to start before Spence this upcoming week, so since he trails by only three strikeouts he could take the lead right back. In the end though Spence will more than likely come out on top, but this is a race between two of the greatest pitchers in history. Combined they have 5 Pale Ale's (3-2 Spence) and 20 All-Star appearance (10-10).
5. What's on tap? How about some divisional match-ups to start the week, followed by some league match-ups to end the week.
.
| 3 games starting with: | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| 3 games starting with: | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| 3 games starting with: | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| 4 games starting with: | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| 4 games starting with: | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Streaks
.
| Levi Lane (HAR) has a 12 game hitting streak |
| Byron Carlton (PIT) hit a HR in 4 straight games |
| Jamal Brown (HAR) has converted 22 straight save opportunities |
| Vince Phaneuf (SYR) has lost 9 straight decisions |
| Martin Bowden (SDR) has lost 9 straight decisions |
| Derian Romary (HAR) hasn't lost in 12 straight starts |
Who's Hot
.
| Hot Batters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| Hot Pitchers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Stat of the Week
.
| Most Stolen Bases in Debut Season (Top 25 Players, Inaugural Season Ignored) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|