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.
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