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09/16/2065
All hail the baseball men riding a Deinonychus into battle. The Dinos this past week swept Philly and Phoenix to open up a three game lead in the Bock. LAD has won eight straight, nine out of their last 10, and 11 of 12 in September. Talk about turning up the heat. Another big week was Pawtucket who went 6-1 to hurt their draft position, while Windy City went a top shelf 5-1 and actually lost a game in the division race. We'd like to welcome the Blues to Lager Life. Other top weeks were Batavia, New York, Toronto, and Baltimore. One of those teams just played themselves back into the postseason picture, and it's the Muckdogs. More about them later though. On the other side Syracuse, California, and Phoenix all went 1-6. The Kodiaks are almost a lock for the postseason but are trying to hold onto that home field in the Wild Card.
Power Rankings
1) Los Angeles Dinos (123.3, +)
2) Dallas Drillers (110.0, o)
3) Windy City Blues (109.5, +)
4) Hartford Whalers (107.2, o)
5) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (105.8, --)
6) Carolina Tobs (99.1, o)
7) Wilmington Wildcats (96.6, +)
8) Batavia Muckdogs (94.8, ++)
9) Montreal Exports (93.6, -)
10) Baltimore Bulldogs (93.3, ++)
11) Toronto Canadians (93.2, ++)
12) Pawtucket Patriots (93.1, ++)
13) California Kodiaks (91.9, -)
14) New Orleans Voodoo (91.9, --)
15) Pittsburgh Millers (89.7, -)
16) Washington Bats (87.3, --)
17) Seattle Pilots (86.3, --)
18) Indianapolis Clowns (83.5, o)
19) Philadelphia Freedom (80.2, -)
20) New York Cyclones (79.8, o)
21) Denver Bulls (74.1, o)
22) Maine Guides (66.1, o)
23) Phoenix Roadrunners (57.8, o)
24) Syracuse Snappers (53.6, o)
Performance of the Week
3B Armond 'Slappy' Chaidez - When 'Slappy' gets good wood it's a bad day for opposing pitchers as the Kodiaks found out on September 10th. On the day he went 4 for 4 with a home run, a double, two singles, and a walk, while scoring three runs and driving in five. With Batavia leading 6-1 in the bottom of the third, Chaidez came up to bat against California pitcher Timothy Doan where he promptly hit a fastball to right for a 3-run home run, his 29th of the season. "Glad to go home with a win," said Chaidez.
Prospect of the Week
2B Lex 'Bolts' de la Cruz - We're not sure how good of a second basemen he'll be, but he looks more than promising behind the plate. The 18 year old from Puerto Rico hit .363/.425/.715 with 18 HR and 41 RBI in his first year in the CCBL, and is only going to get better. Scouts think due to his ability to hit the ball, and hit the ball far, he's an "elite big league second baseman." We agree with everything but the second basemen part. He doesn't have the range to play second, the arm to play third, or the height to play first...but if he hits .300 with 30 home runs he'll find a place in the lineup.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. Here comes the running Muckdogs whose 255 stolen bases lead the league! We counted them out and announced the Import playoff teams were set and the excitement was gone, then they went 5-2 while Washington went 2-4. Throw in Seattle now 10 games under .500 since August 1st (and still holding a +9 PYT) and we now have seven teams for six spots. It looks like LAD and Windy City are locked in, with Carolina and California at around 95%. That means it comes down to Seattle, Batavia, and Washington. After a dreadful 12-18 August, the Muckdogs are 9-3 in September. Pale Ale and Triple Crown favorite Max Kidd is 2-0 this month and Batavia won his other start 5-4 against Baltimore in extras. Kidd is 17-6 with a 2.51 ERA and 5.9 WAR and looks to be the ace they hoped for. This upcoming week they play Philly and Phoenix, and another 5-2 week could send western New York into a frenzy.
2. Another 31 year old reaches 400 home runs as Stan Sikes did it on September 8th in a 4-3 loss to Windy City. "It's great to get that many homers, but I don't play for homers -- I play to win. That's the name of the game." In his milestone-making game Sikes went 1 for 4, scored a run and collected one RBI. He's now the 71st player in the history of league to reach 400. Drafted by California with the 18th pick of the 2051 draft, Sikes is in his 12th season with the Kodiaks. The 2x All-Star and 2062 Stout Slugger winner has a lifetime line of .255/.311/.508 with 400 HR, 401 doubles, 1069 RBI, and 228 stolen bases.
3. Olin 'Chief' Keele swiped four bases on Thursday against Syracuse, and eight total in the four-game series to give him a league leading 65 on the season. At only 27 years old he now has 519 stolen bases for his career, putting him 12th (and the youngest) among active players. Drafted with the ninth pick of the 2055 draft, he's a 2x All-Star and helped Toronto win the 2059 Brewmasters when he put up a 5.0 WAR during the regular season and then hit .287/.364/.414 with 11 RBI, 13 runs, and 15 stolen bases during the postseason. In 2062 he once again went bananas in the playoffs and was the Wild Card and Championship Series MVP. Over 22 games he hit .400/.431/.568 with 15 RBI, 21 runs, and 14 stolen bases, but Toronto lost 4-2 to the Denver Bulls in the Brewmasters Cup. Keele is set to make $11.2m next season in the final year of a three-year contract and sources say he would love to stay with the team.
4. We talked about the running Muckdogs earlier, as their +11.78 wSB is second in the league. California is first at +12.90, with Dallas coming in third at +8.03. On the other end is Pawtucket at -16.26, the only team in the double digits on the negative side. Their main issue is they have 63 stolen bases in 114 attempts, for a shockingly low 55.3% success rate. Windy City is tops at 80.9%, but 17 teams in the league are at 70% or higher. We're not sure who's giving Isaac Murphy the run signal, but going 1 for 8 isn't helping out the team. He's not the only offender though. Considering Pawtucket is 16-16 in one-run games, those 16 runs they've lost might have turned a 69-77 team into a 77-69 team.
5. What's on tap? Carolina runs the gauntlet with three at Washington then welcomes Windy City to town. A big week will all but lock up the Stout while potentially knocking Washington out of the postseason. After the Bats tangle with Carolina, they welcome California to town, so they don't exactly have an easy road either. Montreal and Wilmington are another great match-up over in the Domestic. The Wildcats hold the season series advantage and have a 1.5 game lead over Montreal for home field in the Wild Card. After going 21-9 last month, the Exports are 4-7 this month and need to right the ship.
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Streaking
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| Team Streaks |
| Baltimore visits New York on a 4-game win streak |
| Los Angeles visits Denver on a 8-game win streak |
| Philadelphia hosts Batavia on a 4-game losing streak |
| Seattle hosts Windy City on a 4-game losing streak |
| Player Streaks |
| Chase Wright (CAR) has a 15 game hitting streak |
| Keon Pryor (BAT) has a 15 game hitting streak |
| Braxton Price (SDR) scored in 8 straight games |
| Blake Bateman (HAR) scored in 8 straight games |
| Dakota Wakil (SYR) hit a HR in 3 straight games |
| Stephen Gibbs (MON) has converted 13 straight save opportunities |
| Jonah Gower (LAD) has won 11 straight decisions |
| Holden Ritchey (PHI) has lost 8 straight decisions |
| Evan Baker (IND) hasn't lost in 11 straight starts |
Who's Hot
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Stat of the Week
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| Longest Postseason Drought Team |
Drought | |
| Batavia Muckdogs | 13 | |
| Philadelphia Freedom | 13 | |
| Santo Domingo Rum Runners | 5 | |
| Syracuse Snappers | 5 | |
| Baltimore Bulldogs | 4 | |
| Maine Guides | 4 | |
| Phoenix Roadrunners | 4 | |
| Seattle Pilots | 4 | |
| Pawtucket Patriots | 3 | |
| Denver Bulls | 2 | |
| Pittsburgh Millers | 2 | |
| Toronto Canadians | 2 |