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Big Daddy Baseball League

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slant.gif (102 bytes) From the Desk of the Commish

Commish

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June, 2020

Chapter Three Recap

Players of the Chapter

I call them the Brothers Gray, even though they aren't related. It's always difficult to pick a favorite child, so I will choose both of them as the OL Pitcher of the Chapter. Sonny went 3-1 last chapter, with a 1.97 ERA and a .145/.223/.227 opponents average. Jon went 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA, and a slash line of .196/.257/.289.

Lance Lynn is pretty much dominating the Eck League at this point. Pitching in the final year of his three-year deal with the Buckingham Sovereigns, Lynn is now 8-4 on the season with a league-leading 1.84 ERA. He currently owns the Triple Crown in the triple-slash categories with a line of .181/.231/.316. That's almost Pedro-esque! The EL Pitcher of Chapter Three went 3-1 last chapter, with a microscopic 1.31 ERA and a slash of .179/.252/.290.

Salem's own Rafael Devers led the OL with a .361 batting average in Chapter Three. He slugged .722, tied for the lead with 9 home runs, and ranked #2 with 28.8 runs created. It would be boring to give him the HOC award again, so let's give it to Ravenswood's Marcus Semien instead. Semien carried the Infidels on his back in Chapter Three, hitting .348/.440/.641, with 23 ribbies and 25.1 runs created.

Christian Yelich of Great Lakes is having himself a season. He is earning every penny of the $18 million that Scott Romonosky threw at him last winter. He already has 39 home runs and we still have half a season left to play! Overall, he's hitting .327/.409/.745. For the chapter, he hit .344/.422/.833, with 14 homers and 34.1 runs created.

Top Stories of the Chapter

Story #1: Ravenswood/Akron Battle Royale

Last chapter on this page, I implied that it didn't seem as though any team in the Benes Division actually wanted to win. They were all clustered together with no clear champion among them. Man, did that change in a hurry. The Ravenswood Infidels (16-8 in Chapter Three) and Akron Ryche (15-9) have separated themselves from that pack in a big way. South Loop and Las Vegas now trail in the division by double-digits. The division now looks like a two-team race to the finish.

Akron GM D.J. Shepard made two big trades last chapter to shore up his roster for the second half. The biggest acquisition was ace Patrick Corbin, who was just named to the EL all-star team. He was enjoying an excellent season with the Buckingham Sovereigns. He ranks #3 in the EL in ERA (3.16), #5 in opponents batting average (.227), #5 in OBP (.282), and #3 in lowest slugging (.367). He will now take the place of Robbie Ray, who was sporting a 6.75 ERA for Akron. He also has enough usage to steal a few starts from Jose Quintana (6.25 ERA) and/or Marcus Stroman (6.03).

In addition to Corbin, Akron also received Scott Oberg from Buckingham. Oberg was leading the Sovereigns with 11 saves, and has compiled a 3.06 ERA in 32+ innings on the season. He has been highly effective against both lefties (.173/.279/.308) and righties (.177/.261/.290).

As if that weren't enough of a bounty for one chapter, the Ryche also acquired Tommy Edman from the Niagara Locks. Edman is hitting .274/.305/.467 overall this season, which is a far cry from the .304/.350/.500 line he posted in MLB '19. He is particularly good against left-handers (.321/.380/.583 in MLB), and is rated at four different positions.

Akron and Ravenswood ranked #1 and #2, respectively, in runs scored last chapter, but with a significant 16-run gap between them. Akron's pitching staff posted a 3.74 ERA on the chapter, while Ravenswood struggled with a 5.01 team ERA.

The Ryche have a fairly easy schedule in Chapter Four, with 16 games against Darien, Allentown, North Carolina, and Joplin. Ravenswood will also face North Carolina and Allentown, but will face Kansas City and Bear Country instead. It could be a bumpy ride for Infidels fans over the next 24 games.

Story #2: Eck League Prevails

The Eck League managed to out-play the Ozzie League in interleague play for the first time since 2017, and the ninth time in the past twelve seasons.

Year OL W EL W OL W Pct.
2009 86 106 .448
2010 91 101 .474
2011 93 99 .484
2012 81 111 .422
2013 82 110 .427
2014 88 104 .458
2015 93 99 .484
2016 104 88 .542
2017 94 98 .490
2018 97 95 .505
2019 97 95 .505
2020 92 100 .479
  1,098 1,206 .477

Akron (13-3), Salem (11-5), Ravenswood (11-5), and Los Altos (10-6) all dominated the Eck League, while Great Lakes (11-5), Chicago (10-6), Southern Cal (10-6), Charlotte (10-6), and Buckingham (10-6) all laid the smack-down on the Ozzie.

The teams that got their asses handed to them in interleague play are the same ones who have gotten their asses handed to them all season: Myrtle Beach (3-13), North Carolina (3-13), Darien (4-12), Las Vegas (4-12), Niagara (6-10), Kansas City (6-10), and South Loop (6-10).

Story #3: Pitching, Schmitching, Redux

The league's total ERA improved from last chapter, from 4.85 all the way down to...4.82. Myrtle Beach finally brought their ERA below 7.00...to 6.96. They are on pace to lose 128 games this season, by the way, which would blow away the current record of 120.

A few gems from this season:

  • Jose Berrios, CLT: 5-10, 8.21 ERA in 103 IP, 143 H, 32 HR, 902/1075 splits
  • Homer Bailey, NIA: 3-9, 7.39 ERA in 102+ IP, 135 H, 25 HR, 828/913 splits
  • Chris Archer, STL: 1-6, 7.09 ERA in 85 IP, 89 H, 30 HR, 915/949 splits
  • Ivan Nova, ISP: 4-7, 6.85 ERA in 89+ IP, 126 H, 18 HR, 875/983 splits
  • Adam Wainwright, BKS: 3-8, 6.60 ERA in 87+ IP, 109 H, 13 HR, 984/754 splits
  • JA Happ, DBW: 5-6, 6.30 ERA in 90 IP, 116 H, 22 HR, 743/956 splits

Story #4: Worst. Draft. Ever.

For the first time ever, our Midseason Draft was conducted without the benefit of any new information. No games were played since the Winter Draft. No scouting was allowed, for the most part. There were no breakout performances to consider, no new injuries, no new pitches developed or changes in swings or workout routines. Nothing. But the show must go on, and so it did.

The Myrtle Beach Hitmen kicked it off by selecting Zac Veen (the #9 pick in last week's MLB draft) with the #1 pick. He was predictably followed by a streak of early first-round picks from last week's MLB draft, including Max Meyer (#3), Heston Kjerstad (#2), Reid Detmers (#10), Jared Shuster (#25), and Bryce Jarvis (#18). The lone two exceptions to that streak were the Kansas City Boulevards, who decided to punt the entire draft, and the Joplin Miners, who chose a 24-year-old outfielder named Jared Oliva for some reason. Of the 30 players selected in the first round of the MLB draft, only four remain untaken by the BDBL.

A few teams loaded up on teenage international talent. Los Altos picked up a pair of 15-year-olds: Rodrick Arias and Christian Vaquero. Both are considered to be at the top of the 2021 J2 class. Salem added the top pick from the Class of 2022, Felnin Celesten. St. Louis added top 2020 prospect Carlos Colmenarez. Joplin took a gamble on Yoenis Cespedes' little brother. Even Cleveland got into the act by snagging Cuban refugee Pedro Leon.

A few teams also loaded up on players with favorable stats on the projection disk, in the now-likely event that it will be used for our 2021 season. Charlotte (Sam Selman, Daniel Zamora, Dennis Santana, David Peterson) went all-in on this strategy. North Carolina (Cory Gearrin, Colten Brewer) snagged a couple useful bullpen arms for 2021. Salem (Hoby Milner, David Bednar, Taylor Guilbeau) added a few bullpen arms as well as a couple bats (Yadiel Hernandez, Jose Pirela.)

Story #5: Eck's Wild

The Eck League wildcard race is becoming very interesting as teams cluster near the top of the pack. Only six games separate SEVEN teams in the EL. Any one of those six could make a big move to the top over the course of the next three chapters. Compare that with the Ozzie League, where the Bear Country Jamboree own a comfortable five-game lead over the Akron Ryche, and the next-closest team is the Allentown Ridgebacks at ELEVEN games behind the current leader.

As it stands, the Cleveland Rocks and Great Lakes Sphinx are tied atop the EL wildcard standing. Great Lakes has achieved their success by beating the crap out of the ball. They lead the entire BDBL with 165 home runs. Which is good, because they rank among the bottom of the league with a .318 team OBP. Cleveland ranks among the lowest-scoring teams in the EL. The two teams own virtually identical pitching stats. The difference is that Cleveland has somehow managed to win the same number of games as Great Lakes despite outscoring their opponents by only two runs. (Great Lakes has outscored theirs by 32.)

The EL defending champion Charlotte Mustangs are creeping up in the standings, slowly but surely. They went 14-10 in Chapter Three, and now sit just one game behind the leaders. The Buckingham Sovereigns -- who just traded their ace last chapter -- sit three games behind the leaders. Then, there are the South Carolina Sea Cats (5 GB), Niagara Locks (6), and St. Louis Apostles (6), who have all seemed to pack it up.

When it all shakes out, it looks as though this will be a three-team race between Great Lakes, Cleveland, and Charlotte. Remember: unlike last year, only one of those teams will have a chance to play November baseball.

Story #6: Projecting the Projection Disk

Major League Baseball and their feckless commissioner have shit the bed once again. They wasted a golden opportunity to grow their fan base by becoming the only game in town over the summer, and it now looks like the 2020 season may not happen at all. If it does, there would only be enough time for an extremely-abbreviated season of possibly 50 games, plus the expanded postseason. Which means, by league vote, we will almost-certainly play the 2021 season using the projection disk.

This is not an ideal solution, and no one is happy about it. However, it does not have to be the end of the league or the game as we know it. We could find out that something positive comes from it. Regardless of what happens in the outside world, we will always have baseball to play here in our fantasy world.

We have several tough decisions to make going forward. I'm sure that we will spend the next several months hashing out the details. We will need to decide what to do with our in-season trading VORP cap. We'll need to come up with a new way to determine the players who will be in the auction. We'll need to decide what to do about our farm systems, and how to define farm eligibility going forward. These are all tough decisions, but they are not impossible. And hopefully, they're temporary.