September, 2017

Chapter Five Recap

Players of the Chapter

Quick: who is the second baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays? Take a minute to think about it. Give up? I'll give you a hint. He's currently batting .195 in the 2017 MLB season. He owns an OPS of .655. He was selected in the third round of the midseason farm draft way back in 2012 by the Ravenswood Infidels and he is still with the team today. Give up? It's Brad Miller, and he is our OL Hitter of the Chapter. He led the OL in OBP (.461) and slugging (.877), and finished second to his teammate J.T. Realmuto in batting (.384). In fact, three Ravenswood hitters topped the league in batting average and runs created. (Danny Valencia was the third.)

In the EL, let's just give Mike Trout the permanent Hitter of the Chapter award, okay? The Buckingham superstar led the EL in all three triple-slash categories (.417/.515/.816). He also led the league in hits, RBI's, doubles, extra base hits, walks, and runs created.

On the pitching side, three New Milford Blazers topped the ERA leader board for Chapter Five: Carlos Quintana (1.29), Matt Moore (1.65), and Clayton Kershaw (1.98). Quintana went a perfect 5-0 on the chapter, and held opponents to a .167/.235/.217 batting line, so let's give the award to him.

Over in the EL, Great Lakes starter Jeff Samardzija went 4-0 with a ridiculous 1.01 ERA. He held opponents to a .172/.201/.289 line, which is good enough to merit a Pitcher of the Chapter award.

Top Stories of the Chapter

Story #1: Checking In on the Super Teams

With a full chapter left to play, the Los Altos Undertakers already have more than 100 wins this season. Their ridiculous 101-31 record puts them on pace for 122 wins this season. Absolutely fucking ridiculous. But wait. It gets even more ridiculous.

New Milford sits on 99 wins with a full chapter remaining. That puts them on pace for 120 wins. We went seventeen seasons without a 120-win team in the BDBL, and now we may have two in the same season, and three in the past two seasons. Are we having fun yet?

Both New Milford and Los Altos are already outscoring their opponents by more than 300 runs. The next highest runs differential is Ravenswood at 173 -- almost half the differential of Los Altos.

Last chapter, I mentioned the Blazers' completely ridiculous, record-setting, ERA of 2.56. Well, they managed to LOWER that ERA last chapter. They now sit at 2.54. The next lowest ERA belongs to Los Altos at 3.19 -- over 25 percent higher. The New Milford pitching staff has allowed just 107 home runs this season (17 less than the next lowest total.) Their balls-in-play average is just .260, which is the lowest figure since the 2012 Allentown Ridgebacks. They have allowed an OPS of .600, which is -- by far -- the lowest figure of all time.

A.J. Schugel, who was acquired by New Milford two chapters ago in exchange for Shane Greene, has amassed a 0.72 ERA in 25 innings so far for his new team. He has allowed EIGHT hits and three walks in those 25 innings. Household names Buddy Boshers, Matt Bowman, and Jerry Blevins are all sporting ERA's below 2.00. Masahiro Tanaka owns the highest ERA (3.42) in the starting rotation, and the Blazers still own a 2.54 team ERA. This is, quite possibly, the most ridiculous thing to happen in this league in nineteen seasons -- and that is saying quite a lot.

Story #2: One Race Remaining

As we head into the final stretch, only one true pennant race remains: the Eck League wild card. The Chicago Black Sox picked up an enormous amount of momentum in that race by going 19-9 in Chapter Five. They now trail by only two games behind the Kansas Law Dogs. The Buckingham Sovereigns (18-10 last chapter) also trail by two games.

Since the all-star break, the Black Sox and Great Lakes Sphinx own the best record in the EL at 33-19 (.635). The Law Dogs (30-22) have hardly slowed in the second half, but have not been able to gain any ground in the division race. Despite being outscored by their opponents (by one run) this season, the Sphinx hold a six game lead over Kansas in the division. They are all but certain to face the wild card winners in the Division Series -- whoever that may be.

Story #3: BDBL Weekend

During the first week of August, the BDBL held our second BDBL Weekend of the year in Atlanta, Georgia. Counting friends, relatives, and former league members, thirteen of us gathered together to share some memories and laughs, and to visit the brand-spanking-new home of the Braves.

We stayed at a hotel within walking distance of both the ballpark and a shopping mall. Ryan and I arrived on Friday afternoon and met with the rest of the group at a Buffalo Wild Wings in the mall. We watched the Braves host the Miami Marlins that evening, and then headed back to the restaurant for a nightcap or two.

The following day, we split up. Ryan and I met with my brother Dave, my nephew, and his fiancé at the Atlanta aquarium. If you ever find yourself in downtown Atlanta with a few hours to kill, it is highly recommended. Later, we met Tony DeCastro and his son, Dylan, at a dive bar near the ballpark. It was the first BDBL Weekend for DeCastro since the very first was held way back in 2000.

That evening, we met with the rest of the group: Mike Stein, Matt Clemm, Scot Zook, Tony Chamra, and mystery guest Gene Patterson. It was great to meet Gene for the first time, Tony D. for the second, and to reconnect with all of my friends and family from inside and outside of the BDBL.