Monthly Archives: September 2017

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Play-offs Week 2

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The final week of the BaseballGB Fantasy League is here. But which teams have made the final? Read on to find out if the top seeds survived.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Norwich No II 33 9 33 6 .280 .819 6 4 42 1 1.85 1.01 9
The Cheddar Chasers 38 11 32 5 .262 .853 3 2 40 0 3.83 1.18 3

Norwich have booked their Championship final place after beating the Chasers 9-3. There were contributions across the roster as Stroman won twice, Nola and Giolito each struck out eight and Gausman helped take ERA and WHIP. Kimbrel and Hand had two saves each while Devenski picked up the lone hold to complete a pitching sweep.

Bellinger knocked in six runs and Reyes (.500) and Marte (.571) each had two steals. Dozier scored eight runs for the Chasers while Upton belted four homers and teamed with Fowler to take OPS.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 19 3 21 5 .249 .685 5 3 59 0 6.88 1.42 3
Cheshunt Maltsters 21 7 26 3 .244 .757 5 1 66 4 2.63 1.02 8

The Maltsters continue their fine season as the top seeds made it through to the Championship final with an 8-3 win against the A&E Dept. Ozuna was the star hitter with six runs, three homers and seven RBIs. Kluber, Sale (13 strikeouts) and Rodriguez all piked up wins without allowing any earned runs and helped take WHIP.

Another Boston pitcher, Reed, had two holds.Anderson hit .375 for Beckenham while Merrifield stole three bases. Scherzer won twice and Rodney, Allen and Davis had a save each.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 32 15 31 0 .257 .896 1 3 44 3 2.25 1.00 8
Richie’s RBI’s 24 8 16 4 .274 .823 1 4 30 0 5.35 1.42 3

Batteries Essential are through to the consolation final after defeating the RBIs 8-3. Kinsler led the team with five runs, four homers and seven RBIs while Pollock and JD Martinez each hit three dingers. Neris notched three saves and struck out eight, as did Corbin.

Neshek had two holds and Richards made the difference in ERA and WHIP. Gardner stole three bases for the RBIs and Carpenter hit .467 while Judge had a five-homer week. Chapman had two holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 25 12 25 1 .275 .850 1 1 47 0 3.83 1.23 5
Mighty Slugs 27 12 22 6 .243 .820 2 5 48 3 5.07 1.59 6

Finally, the Slugs advanced to the 5th place playoff with a 6-5 win against the Isotopes. Souza Jr scored six runs and stole two bases for the Slugs, while Domingo Santana had a three-homer week. Berrios picked up a win and struck out 10, while Treinen and Yates took care of saves and holds. Cruz belted four homers for the Isotopes and joined Gennett in knocking in five. Realmuto hit .353 for the week. Teheran helped take ERA and WHIP.

Who will be crowned champions?

Just one week of the 2017 fantasy season remains and it is fitting that the top two teams will meet in the Championship final. The Maltsters and Norwich played once during the regular season, with Cheshunt taking that matchup 9-3 in week 12.But can the Maltsters do the business in the final?

Week 25 matchups:

Championship final:

Maltsters (1st) v Norwich (2nd)

3rd place game:

Chasers (3rd) v A&E Dep (4th)

Consolation playoffs:

5th place game:

Slugs (7th) v Batteries Essential (8th)

7th place game:

RBIs (5th) v Isotopes (6th)

MLB Sleepyhead Summary: The Final Week

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The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs lived up to their top billing over this past weekend by producing a thrilling four-game series at Miller Park.

The first three games all went into extra innings, with the Cubs prevailing in the first two and the Brewers fighting back in the third by getting the better of Cubs closer Wade Davis. However, Jose Quintana was outstanding on Sunday to lead the Cubs to a 5-0 victory and a 3-1 series win that puts them on the verge of clinching the NL Central division title.

The Cubs lead the Brewers by 5.5 games, and the Cardinals by 6 after they lost two of three against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and just need a combination of two wins by them or two losses by Milwaukee to make sure.

Arizona punched their ticket for the post-season by winning the finale of their 3-game series against the Miami Marlins on Sunday. J.D. Martinez has been an inspired mid-season pick-up and he hit a walk-off single to win the series 2-1 and clinch a Wild Card spot for the D-Backs.

The Colorado Rockies still look like being the team they will face at Chase Field in the NL Wild Card game, although the Rockies are crawling over the line. They split a 4-game series with the San Diego Padres this weekend which was enough to keep them ahead by 2.5 games due to the Brewers’ losses.

NL Central and NL Wildcard

We may as well consider these two in one go and it promises to be an enthralling final week. The remaining fixtures are as follows:

  • The Cubs are in St Louis for a 4-game series, then home to Cincinnati for 3 to end the season.
  • St Louis follow their Cubs series with a 3-game home series against Milwaukee.
  • Milwaukee have a day off on Monday, then a 3-game home series against Cincinnati before heading to St Louis.
  • Colorado are at home all week, with a 3-game series against Miami, a day off on Thursday and then a 3-game series against the Dodgers.

Everything goes through St Louis this week. They’ve got seven games at Busch Stadium and all of them give them a chance not only to put wins on their board, but also losses against their NL Central rivals’. The Cardinals also have an extra game compared with the Brewers and Rockies and given how tight the Wild Card is, that could prove significant. If they win it, of course.

It’s simple for the Rockies: they have to take advantage of their three-game series against the Marlins to start the week well. If they sweep it, the Cubs win a couple in St Louis and Cincinnati take one or two against the Brewers then both the Wild Card and NL Central will probably be sorted, or very close to it, before we get to Friday’s games.

Verdict: I can see the Cubs going at least 4-3 and that will be more than enough to clinch the Central; however I’ve got a feeling that the Marlins could avenge their 3-game sweep at the hands of the Rockies in August and make it interesting. If the Brewers had a make-up game to win this week then I might just give them the edge, but as it is I’ll still take the Rockies to hold on by their fingernails thanks to the Cards-Brew Crew series ending 2-1 one way or the other.

American League

The Minnesota Twins have the second AL Wild Card within touching distance after they took advantage of a demoralised Detroit team by sweeping a 4-game series. The Twins had an 8-run eighth inning in the third game on the way to a 10-4 victory and completed the sweep on Sunday by winning by the same emphatic scoreline. The Tigers have lost seven in a row and confirmed over the weekend that manager Brad Ausmus will finish with the team at the end of the season.

The Twins’ closest Wild Card opponents all faltered over the weekend. The Texas Rangers were swept 3-0 by the rampant Oakland A’s (winners of their last 7, and 14 of their last 17 – not quite up to Cleveland’s standards, but a positive end to the season at the least), whilst Kansas City lost 2 of 3 against the Chicago White Sox.

The LA Angels were able to get a consolation victory over the Houston Astros in the ESPN Sunday Night game, but that snapped a 6-game losing streak for the Halos and still leaves them 4.5 games behind the Twins. The Rangers and Royals are 5.5 games back.

The Boston Red Sox have all-but clinched the AL East division after sweeping a 3-game inter-league series against Cincinnati to make it six wins in a row. They lead the New York Yankees by 5 games in the standings after the Bronx Bombers lost 2 of 3 in Toronto; however, the Yankees’ sole victory ensured they couldn’t be caught for a Wild Card spot and Aaron Judge belted two more home runs on Sunday to make it 48 for the season with one week to go.

The closest race now is for the AL’s best record and home-field advantage in the Division and Championship series stages. Corey Kluber got his 18th pitching win of the season on Sunday as Cleveland won 2 of 3 against Seattle, whilst the Houston Astros also won 2 of 3 against the Angels. That leaves Cleveland on a win-loss record of 98-58, 2.5 games ahead of the Astros on 95-60.

AL East

Boston will have home-field advantage all week, with a 3-game series against Toronto and then a 4-game series against Houston.

The New York Yankees are also at home all week. They have one make-up game against Kansas City on Monday before a 3-game series against Tampa Bay and then a 3-game series against Toronto.

Verdict: As both teams face Toronto three times, when you look at the other games marginally you could give the edge to the Yankees in facing the Royals and Rays rather than the Astros. However, the Yankees are so far behind that it’s unlikely the division will still be up for grabs by the time the Blue Jays head to the Bronx.

Wild Card

Minnesota have one hand on an unlikely Wild Card. They have Monday off before a tough 3-game series in Cleveland and given the way the Indians have been reeling off wins for fun, that does offer the potential that the Twins will not have clinched before their final 3-game home series against Detroit.

Among the chasing pack, Texas are at home all week with a 3-game series against Houston and then a 4-game series against Oakland. Kansas City will also be at home after the make-up game against the Yankees on Monday, playing three against Detroit and then an inter-league 3-game series against Arizona. The LA Angels start on the road with a 4-game series against the Chicago White Sox before ending with a 3-game home series against Seattle.

Verdict: Given the Twins’ lead, someone’s going to need to go at least 6-1, if not 7-0, to have a chance.

The Rangers look like being in a difficult position with their remaining games (the A’s are playing well of late), whilst the Royals’ season finale against Arizona could depend on how the D-Backs approach it as they concentrate on setting themselves up for the NL Wild Card game.

The major scenario here is in the Angels sweeping the White Sox, which is certainly possibly, whilst the Twins get swept by Cleveland (ditto). You would still back the Twins to keep hold of the Wild Card even if that happened, though.

MLB This Week: Lots to watch

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It’s always with a bit of sadness that we approach the final week of the MLB regular season. The play-offs should make for an entertaining October, yet it’s still not quite the same as the daily routine of 14 or 15 games to devour.

We should make the most of this week and, thankfully, there are quite a few opportunities to catch some live baseball at a convenient time in the UK.

The Yankees are in early action on Monday and Friday, looking to have a big final week to try to overhaul their gap to the Red Sox in the AL East.

The Rockies are desperately trying to hold onto their NL Wild Card and they have an early game on Wednesday in the finale of their series against the Marlins. Meanwhile the Minnesota Twins are also looking for a few more wins to make sure of their play-off place and they finish their series against Cleveland in Thursday with an early start.

Add on a game from Wrigley Field on Friday for the Cubs against the Reds and it should be a great week. It’s worth noting that all of the games from Friday through Sunday are available to watch free online via MLB.com.

All times are in BST.

Monday 25 September

18:05 Royals at Yankees (Junis, Sabathia (12-5)) *BT Sport/ESPN
21:10 Braves at Mets (Sims (2-5), Lugo (6-5))

Tuesday 26 September

No early games

Wednesday 27 September

19:05 Astros at Rangers (Verlander (14-8), Martinez (3-7))
20:10 Marlins at Rockies (Conley (7-7), Gray)
20:35 Mariners at Athletics (Ramirez (5-6), Graveman (6-4)) *MLB.com Free Game
20:40 Giants at D-backs (Samardzija (9-15), Greinke (17-6))

Thursday 28 September

17:10 Twins at Indians (Gibson, Bauer)
21:10 Reds at Brewers (Romano, Suter (3-2))

Friday 29 September

18:05 Blue Jays at Yankees (Biagini, Garcia) *BT Sport/ESPN, MLB.com Free Game
19:20 Reds at Cubs (Stephenson, Quintana) *MLB.com Free Game

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Play-offs Week 1

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The first round of the BaseballGB playoffs began last week. Would the top seeds make it through or would there be some early surprise results?

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 22 6 26 2 .246 .735 1 1 32 4 5.52 1.32 2
Cheshunt Maltsters 34 12 38 1 .297 .911 4 1 64 2 2.25 1.06 9

The Maltsters have been the team to beat all season long and they started their playoff campaign with a convincing 9-2 win against Batteries Essential. Jose Ramirez hit .593 for the week while Gregorius hit three homers and knocked in nine and McCutchen also went deep three times. Kluber was the star pitcher with two wins, 17 strikeouts, no earned runs allowed and a miniscule WHIP.

JD Martinez hit .435 with three homers and stole a base for Batteries Essential while Neshek had three holds. They may regret not starting Bauer what with the Indians’ long winning streak.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 26 9 32 3 .237 .733 2 3 29 1 4.37 1.66 3
Norwich No II 33 12 35 3 .232 .771 2 2 60 0 3.00 1.15 7

Norwich, who finished second in the standings, are also safely through to the semi-finals after beating the Slugs 7-3. Neither side hit for much average but there was plenty of power. Four Norwich hitters had multi-homer weeks, including Bryant (who scored nine runs and knocked in eight) and Bellinger, who helped take OPS.

Nola struck out 11 and helped take ERA and WHIP. Domingo Santana hit .400 for the Slugs while Colome had two saves and Kela notched the lone hold.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 31 11 37 5 .310 .942 4 7 56 0 2.75 1.06 7
Richie’s RBI’s 34 8 31 4 .260 .824 4 2 38 2 1.66 0.90 4

The A&E Dept’s championship hopes are still alive after a 7-4 win against the RBIs. CarGo and Todd Frazier each hit three homers while Garcia knocked in 10 while batting .500 for the week. Rizzo and Merrifield had two steals each. On the mound, Greinke struck out 14 while Rodney, Davis, Allen and Iglesias combined for seven saves.

The RBIs put up a good fight as Judge scored nine runs and Brach had two holds. Porcello didn’t allow an earned run and helped take WHIP in a strong week for the pitching staff.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 27 8 21 2 .218 .666 4 2 57 2 3.12 1.22 5
The Cheddar Chasers 39 10 38 3 .285 .880 3 1 57 1 5.36 1.44 6

Finally the Chasers are the final team to book a championship semi-final place after defeating the Isotopes 6-5. In a matchup of two halves, the Chasers swept the offensive categories as Lindor hit .393 for the week, stole a base and joined Seager (who homered three times and knocked in 10) in scoring seven runs. Doolittle’s strikeout of Austin Barnes in the Sunday night game snapped a tie in strikeouts and helped the Chasers progress.

Had the matchup ended 6-6, the Isotopes would have advanced due to their regular season win against the Chasers. But it all came down to that one strikeout. That’s head-to-head for you. The Isotopes took all the remaining pitching categories as Wood helped take ERA and WHIP and Teheran also picked up a win and struck out 12. Holland had a save and Hunter notched two holds.

Week 24 matchups:

Championship semi-finals:

Maltsters (1st) v A&E Dep (4th)

Norwich (2nd) v Chasers (3rd)

Consolation semi-finals:

RBIs (5th) v Batteries Essential (8th)

Isotopes (6th) v Slugs (7th)

MLB Sleepyhead Summary: Cubs Sweep Cards, Astros and Cleveland celebrate

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The Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals got the weekend of MLB action underway in a day-game on Friday, shown live on the BT Sport/ESPN channel in the UK.

It proved to be a wild one, with the always-prone-to-moan John Lackey losing his temper with the home plate umpire (admittedly after the ump made a bad mistake by not calling what should have been strike three, only for opposing pitcher Carlos Martinez to drive in a run on the next pitch) and catcher Wilson Contreras quickly joining him by being tossed from the game.

The Cubs recovered with a seven-run sixth inning to win the series opener and went on to win the next two games, sweeping the Cardinals out of Wrigley after doing the same to the New York Mets earlier in the week.

The six-game winning streak has given the Cubs a four-game lead in the NL Central over the Milwaukee Brewers, who won two of three against Miami in an away series played in Milwaukee (due to the effects of Hurricane Irma), and a six-game lead over the Red Birds. Whilst we all know better than to call anything over until it’s truly over, that looks like being a decisive lead with games beginning to run out.

Elsewhere in the National League, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies both won their weekend series 2-1 (over the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres respectively) so that the D-Backs maintain a five-game lead for the first NL Wild Card and the Rockies have a 2.5 game lead over Milwaukee for the second. The LA Dodgers took two of three in Washington with the Nationals salvaging the finale and getting Bryce Harper back out of the field pre-game to take some batting practice as he works his way back from injury.

NL This Week

It’s a homecoming of sorts for the Chicago Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon as his team takes on the Tampa Bay Rays for a two-game series at Tropicana Field. Milwaukee are in Pittsburgh for three games against the slumping Pirates, with St Louis in Cincinnati taking on the Reds. Colorado have a two-game series against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.

Cleveland end one run, start another

The Kansas City Royals finally became the team to stop Cleveland on Friday night as their 4-3 victory brought the Tribe’s winning streak to an end at an incredible 22 games. Cleveland haven’t exactly sulked about it, winning the two games that followed and celebrating another AL Central title.

The Houston Astros were also celebrating on Sunday as Justin Verlander helped to pitch his new team to their first AL West division crown. The Astros swept the Seattle Mariners across three games in a series that puts the M’s on the back-foot in their hopes of clawing their way into a Wild Card position.

The New York Yankees have a four-game cushion on Minnesota for the first AL Wild Card after they won three of four in the Bronx against Baltimore, with the Twins splitting a four-game series against Toronto. The Twins have a two-game lead over the LA Angels for the second Wild Card after the Halos took two of three at home against the Texas Rangers. The Boston Red Sox also won two of three over the Tampa Bay Rays to stay three games ahead of the Yankees at the top of the AL East.

AL this week

The big match-up comes from the Bronx where the New York Yankees host the Minnesota Twins for three games starting on Monday. The Angels host the Cleveland Indians, the Rangers and Mariners meet again and the Boston Red Sox are in Baltimore.

MLB This Week: Two weeks to go

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There are only two weeks of the MLB regular season left to play, which is a shame both due to the season soon coming to an end and the fact that this time of year always results in more games being played at night.

Consequently the early game line-up for this working week only offers Wednesday and Thursday as evenings to watch live baseball at a convenient time for us in the UK.

There are some good games among them though.

The Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees currently hold the two AL Wild Card spots and they meet in the Bronx for a three-game series, with the finale on Wedneday being an early start.

The LA Angels are the closest challengers to the Twins and they have a tough home series against the Cleveland Indians over the first part of this week. The game on Thursday is a 21.07 start.

All times are in BST.

Monday 18 September

No early games

Tuesday 19 September

No early games

Wednesday 20 September

18:05 Twins at Yankees (Colon (6-13), Tanaka (12-11))
18:10 Mets at Marlins (Montero, Urena (13-6)) *MLB.com Free Game
18:10 Athletics at Tigers (Mengden (1-1), Sanchez (3-4))
20:45 Rockies at Giants (Chatwood (8-12), Moore (5-14))

Thursday 21 September

18:05 Dodgers at Phillies (Maeda (12-6), Leiter (3-6)) *BT Sport/ESPN
21:07 Indians at Angels (Bauer, Pridwell) *BT Sport2

Friday 22 September

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

MLB Sleepyhead Summary: 22 And Counting for Cleveland

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This is not a lazy copy-and-paste job; the Cleveland Indians really have carried on winning.

Their winning streak is now at 22 after completing a three-game sweep of Detroit and then coming from behind to walk-off against Kansas City on Thursday night.

Cleveland’s run has had baseball historians looking at the record books and confirming that the all-time MLB record is actually 26, held by the 1916 New York Giants. So there’s still a way to go for Cleveland to beat that, but they have the American League record already and have achieved something quite remarkable regardless of whenever it eventually comes to an end.

Although the Seattle Mariners have only won three in a row, they can still be considered big winners this week as those wins came against Wild Card rivals the Texas Rangers. The Rangers won the opener of their four-game series, but the Mariners took the rest with the added benefit of Felix Hernandez looking sharp on his return from the Disabled List on Thursday night. James Paxton returns from the DL on Friday night too, so whilst they are still on the outside in the Wild Card race, they are certainly in with a shout.

The LA Angels and Baltimore Orioles didn’t enjoy their weeks as much, with the Angels losing two of three against the Houston Astros and the Orioles doing the same against the Blue Jays before then losing again last night to the New York Yankees. Baltimore have now lost seven of their last eight games.

The Yankees won their series opener against the Orioles 13-5, Aaron Judge going deep twice to take his season tally to 43, to go 3-1 on the week so far and gain half-a-game on Boston in the process after the Red Sox went 2-1 in a series against Oakland.

Boston’s lead over New York is now at three games and the Yankees then have a three-game cushion over Minnesota for the first AL Wild Card. The Twins had an exciting week, setting an MLB record on Tuesday by homering in each of the first seven innings in a 16-0 thumping of the San Diego Padres and then winning their next two games (Padres first, then against Toronto on Thursday night) on walk-offs.

The Twins now have a three-game lead over the Angels, 3.5 over Seattle, 5 on Kansas City and Texas and 5.5 on Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

This weekend in the AL

Seattle look to continue their winning ways as they take on Houston, the Rangers and Angels meet in a crucial series, whilst Tampa Bay are back at Tropicana Field as they host the Red Sox.

Dodgers win again at last

The Los Angeles Dodgers finally broke their losing sequence this week, although not without suffering one more particularly painful defeat.

They lost 8-6 to the San Francisco Giants on Monday in a game that was initially delayed by 42 minutes due to rain and then halted again for nearly three hours partway through. It finally ended at 2.11 am local time. Whilst we’re used to enjoying some #BonusBreakfastBaseball from the west coast every once in a while, that’s normally when looking at the scores at 6.30am or so BST. This one ended at 10.11 UK time!

The Dodgers recovered with two wins to end their losing streak at eleven.

Elsewhere in the NL, the Chicago Cubs swept a three-game series over the New York Mets to slightly increase their NL Central lead despite Milwaukee and St Louis keeping the pressure on by winning their series (against Philadelphia and Cincinnati respectively) 2-1.

The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks split their series 2-2, a slight disappointment for the Rockies after they took the first two games.  The Philadelphia Phillies swept a three-game set over the Miami Marlins with Rhys Hoskins creating some MLB history by homering in the final two games to become the fastest player to reach 18 MLB home runs in only 33 games.

This weekend in the NL

It’s always a treat to start the weekend with a day-game from Wrigley Field. It’s all the more exciting when the Cardinals are in town for a three-game series trailing their fierce rivals by three games in the standings.

The Brewers will hope to take advantage of those two fighting each other by taking advantage of the Miami Marlins, who have lost 15 of their last 17 games.

Arizona are in San Francisco this weekend, Colorado host the Padres, and there’s a potential NLCS preview in Washington as the Nationals take on the Dodgers.

Thank You For The A’s: Future plans

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I’ve always thought it a bit heartless that MLB publishes the provisional schedule for the following season in mid-September.

Some teams can merrily ignore it, smug in the knowledge that they’ve still got plenty to focus on this year.

For others, it’s yet another reminder that ‘next year’ is already on the mind.

And, yes, the Oakland A’s are in the latter camp.

We’ve known for a long time that 2017 wasn’t going to be our year, to the point that I didn’t even notice when our division Elimination Number on the MLB.com standings changed from a number to a letter (it happened on 4 September, courtesy of the A’s losing to Angels and the Astros beating Seattle).

The provisional MLB schedules for 2018 were published on Tuesday and whilst I feel a bit guilty to look ahead that far, a quick glance is surely okay.

The A’s are not starting against Seattle

It’s four years since we started against the Mariners, but the four-year run from 2010 to 2013 when we did host them every time (albeit in 2012 the first two were played in Japan) has it stuck in my mind that we always start against Seattle. Not so, once again, in 2018.

2017 Opening Series repeat

We start at home against the Angels instead. It’s a repeat of the 2017 opening series and the ninth consecutive season in which the A’s have started at home.

No need to wait for April

The season begins on 29 March as the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has stretched out the season slightly to increase the number of off-days. Baseball beginning earlier is always a good thing and everyone will start on the same day as opposed to the staggered start we’ve had for many years.

Starting right at the end of March may also work nicely for some if your annual leave pattern at your work goes from April to March and you can plan to use two days at the end, rather than dipping into your 2018/19 allocation straight away.

Day-game!!!

The biggest news of all: the first game of the season is a day-game! You don’t need me to tell you how great that is for us in the UK. Getting up for a 3.05 am Opening ‘Night’ start has become something of a tradition, but one I’ll gladly forsake in favour of a 21.05 UK first pitch.

Free game

The headline on the 2018 schedule announcement for the A’s is that their home game against the Chicago White Sox on 17 April will be free to attend. The date marks the 50th anniversary of the A’s first game in Oakland and will be part of many festivities over the course of the year to honour this half-century.

(Comments from fans of opposing teams about the A’s needing to give away tickets to a game against the White Sox are uncalled for, thank you!).

Other News: Laney College here we come?

Tuesday was a day of even more important news for the A’s future plans in the form of the San Francisco Chronicle reporting that the team has chosen its preferred site on which to build a new ballpark in Oakland.

Excitement is tempered by the many obstacles that need to be navigated before permission is granted and work can begin. Even with things going smoothly, it would be 2023 before the A’s home opener took place somewhere other than the Coliseum, so it’s a bit early to booking hotels for a visit just yet.

However, after so many years of uncertainty about the team’s future in Oakland, it does feel that this is an important step and one that is hugely encouraging.

The appointment of Dave Kaval as the A’s President in November last year has led to a sea-change both in terms of how the A’s have approached the search for a new site in Oakland and, just as importantly, relations between the club and the fans.  There’s a long way to go as yet, but the early signs are good.

A new ballpark will be great news for fans in the East Bay and another great excuse for fans based elsewhere in the world to pay a visit.

Nearer to now

There are still games to be played in 2017 and even in a losing season it’s easy to enjoy a four-game sweep over a division rival, as we dished out to the Astros over the past weekend. Last night’s shellacking by the Red Sox wasn’t so much fun, but if there’s one (sort of) good thing about a losing season it’s that another one on the pile really doesn’t matter all that much.

Matt Olson has been in fine form of late, with FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron writing a positive piece about him on Monday to follow up on his article about Matt Chapman from August.

The seven runs Sean Manaea gave up on Tuesday were another point of concern about whether the young arms (Kendall Graveman, Jharel Cotton et al) will ever come around in the end or not, but there’s definitely the makings of a good line-up taking shape and also turning around what has been a pretty dismal showing in the field for much of this season.

In fact, thinking about the future doesn’t have to mean writing off the present. If anything it’s what makes it worthwhile following the action the rest of the way.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week 22

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The regular season is over in the BaseballGB Fantasy League. Four playoff places were still up for grabs at the start of week 22 but which teams made it through?

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 36 16 38 1 .296 .943 3 2 59 3 2.00 0.96 10
Mighty Slugs 26 3 12 3 .225 .637 1 2 54 2 4.88 1.40 1

The Maltsters could have been forgiven for taking their foot off the gas, but instead they secured top spot in the standings with a 10-1 win against the Slugs. Abreu had a three-homer week for the Maltsters, while Santana hit .500 and Gregorius knocked in 10. Kluber had a win and 13 strikeouts while Sale helped take ERA and WHIP and Smith notched three holds.

Trout stole three bases for the Slugs and Colome had two saves. They won’t like the result, but at least the Slugs did enough to secure a playoff place.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Richie’s RBI’s 28 7 26 1 .239 .777 1 1 48 0 6.65 1.43 2
The Cheddar Chasers 30 9 32 3 .225 .725 2 3 63 2 2.25 1.04 10

The Chasers secured their playoff place in style, shooting up to third with a 10-2 win against the RBIs. Lindor was the star hitter with seven runs, three homers and four steals while Kyle Seager also hi three dingers. Ray was the star of the pitching sweep with two wins and 26 strikeouts while Quintana and Cole helped take ERA and WHIP. Reddick and Judge helped the RBIs salvage average and OPS.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 37 18 35 2 .268 .943 5 1 26 4 0.67 0.96 9
Durham Riverkings 30 10 31 1 .293 .872 4 1 28 2 5.04 1.36 2

Batteries Essential picked a good time for a big win, as the 9-2 victory against the Riverkings saw them finish eighth – in the final playoff place. JD Martinez was the pick of the hitters in a great offensive week, scoring seven runs, hitting six homers and knocking in nine. Blackmon scored eight runs and Kinsler launched three homers.

Bedrosian won twice out of the pen while Neshek had three holds. The rotation didn’t pitch much, but Gray and Gio Gonzalez helped take ERA and WHIP. Murphy hit .450 for the Riverkings and Betances struck out six but their playoff hopes are over.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 18 5 18 1 .250 .729 1 1 33 2 3.38 1.13 9
Jesmond Dennings 14 3 23 2 .228 .599 0 2 24 0 5.31 1.52 3

Iron Men finished the regular season on a winning note, defeating Jesmond 9-3. Encarnacion hit two homers and Rendon and Cain helped take average and OPS. Carlos Martinez picked up a win, struck out 18 and helped take ERA and WHIP while Kintzler had two holds. Molina knocked in 10 for Jesmond while Desmond and Correa each had a steal and Knebel picked up two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 29 7 27 5 .304 .881 4 8 54 0 3.26 1.23 8
Newcastle Knights 18 6 15 4 .215 .660 5 3 56 2 4.13 1.22 4

The A&E Dept ended the Knights’ bid for a playoff place with an 8-4 win. CarGo hit .526 with two homers and seven runs and Merrifield drove in six in an offensive sweep, while Nunez stole three bases. Greinke helped make the difference in ERA and Allen led the staff with three saves. For the Knights, Cobb won twice and struck out 12 while Peacock helped take WHIP and Bradley had two holds but they fell just short of the top eight.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
The Bath Bombers 38 12 34 4 .254 .823 7 0 53 4 1.35 0.77 8
Weston-Super-Sox 26 11 26 6 .279 .864 2 1 48 1 2.93 1.12 4

The Bombers finish the year in 10th after defeating the Sox 8-4. Mazara and Salvador Perez each hit three homers, with Salvy leading the team with six RBIs. Turner also knocked in six and joined Kendrick in scoring seven runs. Strasburg was the star pitcher with two wins, 18 strikeouts and no earned runs allowed, while Wacha also won twice. Shaw had three holds. Dee Gordon and Myers helped take average for the Sox and also stole two bases each, while Madson had the lone save.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 28 8 35 1 .328 .878 4 3 40 0 5.30 1.46 5
Norwich No II 33 8 29 3 .311 .932 1 3 45 0 9.08 1.85 4

The Isotopes secured a playoff place with a 5-4 win against Norwich, who finish the regular season in second place. Khris Davis and Arenado each hit two homers, batted over .400 and knocked in nine and eight runs respectively. Luke Weaver picked up a win and helped take ERA and WHIP in what was a rough week for both pitching staffs. Hosmer scored six runs and joined Gary Sanchez and Beckham in hitting two homers for Norwich while Yelich swiped two bases. Nola struck out eight.

THE PLAYOFFS BEGIN

Here are the matchups for the first round. Will they go according to the standings or will some of the top seeds fall at the first hurdle?

Maltsters (1st) v Batteries Essential (8th)

Norwich (2nd) v Slugs (7th)

Chasers (3rd) v Isotopes (6th)

A&E Dept (4th) v RBIs (5th)

MLB This Week: History beckons (maybe)

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We’ve potentially got some history in the offing this week among the MLB day-games (pre-midnight starts for us in the UK).

The Cleveland Indians enter the week having won 18 games consecutively. If they win the first two games of their series against the Detroit Tigers, their early game on Wednesday would be their chance to win 21 and match the all-time record.

Something tells me that might have played into the decision to make that the MLB.com Free Game for Wednesday.

Of course, alternatively the Tigers could win on Monday night and end it all. Still it should be a good chance to catch the Indians without missing any sleep.

Across the rest of the week, Monday is the only day that doesn’t offer any early contests. There are two games from the White Sox-Royals series in which Kansas City will be looking to keep in the AL Wild Card hunt.

The same goes for the Tampa Bay Rays. Wednesday’s game against the New York Yankees will be a strange one to watch, with the Rays at home but the teams playing in New York (at the Mets’ Citi Field) due to Hurricane Irna. This would be Chris Archer’s turn in the rotation but it’s still to be determined if he will definitely start following his recent arm injury concerns.

Thursday’s games include the finale from the four-game series between the current NL Wild Card spot holders, the D-Backs and Rockies, and the St Louis Cardinals are also in day-game action taking on the Reds. They’ll then head  to Chicago to start a huge series against the Cubs as the NL Central remains up for grabs.

All times are in BST.

Monday 11 September

No early games

Tuesday 12 September

18:15 White Sox at Royals (Covey (0-4), Gaviglio (3-5))

Wednesday 13 September

17:10 Tigers at Indians (Farmer (4-2), Clevinger (9-5)) *MLB.com Free Game
18:10 Yankees at Rays (Garcia (5-9), Archer (9-9))
19:15 White Sox at Royals (Giolito (2-2), Kennedy)

Thursday 14 September

18:10 White Sox at Tigers (Shields (3-6), Bell)
18:35 Athletics at Red Sox (Gossett (4-8), Pomeranz (15-5))
18:45 Reds at Cardinals (Garrett (3-7), Weaver (5-1))
20:40 Rockies at D-backs (Bettis (1-2), Godley (7-7)) *BT Sport1

Friday 15 September

19:20 Cardinals at Cubs (Martinez (11-10), Lackey (11-11)) *BT Sport/ESPN

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.