Monthly Archives: July 2019

BGB Fantasy League 2019: Week 16

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The top five in the BaseballGB Fantasy League have reached the 100-win mark but three games separate the team in third to seventh place.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Bunting for Britain

37

15

34

2

.245

.906

4

0

76

0

2.24

0.95

9

Durham Riverkings

31

7

27

1

.267

.780

2

2

29

0

7.84

1.48

2

Whoa Nelly: Cruz (Bunting) 10 R, 7 HR, 13 RBI, 1.657 OPS

Need for speed: Robles (Bunting) 2 SB

Better than average: Devers (Riverkings) .394 AVG

My favourite Bieber: Bieber (Bunting) W, 10 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.22 WHIP

Strikeout machine: Boyd (Bunting) 18 K

Closing time (subject to deadline-day trade) Diaz (Riverkings) SV.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Beckenham A&E Dept

25

8

25

5

.240

.699

3

3

45

2

2.08

1.31

4

Cheshunt Maltsters

41

13

46

3

.295

.901

1

5

71

3

5.03

1.47

8

MVP: Goldschmidt (Maltsters) 9 R, 6 HR, 13 RBI, .345 AVG, 1.353 OPS

Marte party: Marte (Maltstsers) 8 R, 7 RBI, .367 AVG

Wheels of steal: Acuna Jr (A&E Dept) 3 SB

1-2 punch: Verlander (A&E Dept) W, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP; Matz (A&E Dept) W, 0.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP

By way of the K: Sale (Maltsters) 17 K

C-Marty party: Martinez (Maltsters) 2 SV.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Richie’s RBI’s

30

10

30

1

.261

.796

4

1

50

0

7.12

1.51

4

Swindon Devil Rays

38

13

35

0

.296

.956

2

0

18

1

4.50

1.18

8

X Factor: Bogaerts (Devil Rays) 10 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .367 AVG

Big Sunday: Schwarber: 3 HR, 8 RBI

Cheer for Chirinos: Chirinos (Devil Rays) .462 AVG

Unbeatable: Cole (RBIs) 2 W, 18 K; Gonzales (RBIs) 2 W, 12 K.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Orpington Isotopes

25

9

28

1

.214

.719

3

3

62

0

4.14

1.20

3

Mighty Slugs

28

5

25

1

.284

.800

5

3

67

1

4.89

1.19

7

.400 club: Tatis (Slugs) .423 AVG

Safe at home: Martinez (Slugs) 5 R, .387 AVG, 1.245 OPS

Four-homer week: Suarez (isotopes) 4 HR, 9 RBI

Three-homer game left on the bench: DeJong (Isotopes)

True ace: Strasburg (Slugs) 2 W, 17 K, 0.54 WHIP

That’s why the Mets traded for him: Stroman (Isotopes) 1.29 ERA.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Norwich No II

27

7

26

2

.213

.676

3

3

52

1

3.83

1.21

3

The Bath Bombers

31

12

32

2

.320

.973

3

2

32

0

2.52

1.16

7

MVP: Ramirez (Bombers) 7 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI, .400 AVG

Benny and the jetstream: Benintendi (Bombers) 9 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .484 AVG, 1.403 OPS

Eurosmash: Kepler (Bombers) 7 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI

Strikeout machine: Ray (Norwich) 21 K

No runs allowed: Corbin (Bombers) 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP Saving the day: Robles (Norwich) 2 SV.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Newcastle Knights

37

11

36

2

.240

.795

7

5

85

4

3.55

1.07

7

The Cheddar Chasers

36

10

39

8

.303

.939

4

2

48

3

3.50

1.24

5

You better, you better, you Betts: Betts (Knights) 9 R, 3 HR

Butter and egg man: Rendon (Chasers) 9 RBI; Realmuto (Chasers) 7 RBI

Buxton springs forward: Buxton (Chasers) .429 AVG

Prolific basestealer: Villar (Chasers) 5 SB

Unbeatable: Clevinger (Knights) 2 W, 14 K; Rodriguez (Knights) 2 W, 11 K

No runs allowed: Hendricks (Chasers) 0.00 ERA

Closing time: Kennedy (Knights) 3 SV; Hader (Knights) SV, HLD; Miller (Knights) W, SV, HLD.

Standings

Rank

Team

W-L-T

Pct

GB

Last Week

Waiver

Moves

1

 Newcastle Knights

123-60-9

.664

–

7-5-0

9

26

2

 Mighty Slugs

110-71-11

.602

12

7-3-2

6

25

3

 Norwich No II

102-79-11

.560

20

3-7-2

10

20

4

 Orpington Isotopes

101-80-11

.555

21

3-7-2

5

17

5

 Bunting for Britain

100-80-12

.552

21.5

9-2-1

11

34

6

 Beckenham A&E Dept

96-77-19

.549

22

4-8-0

2

12

7

 The Cheddar Chasers

98-81-13

.544

23

5-7-0

4

6

8

 Richie’s RBI’s

81-97-14

.458

39.5

4-8-0

7

17

9

 Cheshunt Maltsters

82-100-10

.453

40.5

8-4-0

12

28

10

 Durham Riverkings

72-109-11

.404

50

2-9-1

1

25

11

 The Bath Bombers

59-124-9

.331

64

7-3-2

3

10

12

 Swindon Devil Rays

57-123-12

.328

64.5

8-4-0

8

4

Week 17 match-ups

Isotopes (4th) v Knights (1st)
Bunting (5th) v Slugs (2nd)
Beckenham (6th) v Riverkings (10th)
Maltsters (9th) v Devil Rays (12th)
No II (3rd) v Chasers (7th)
RBI’s (8th) v Bombers (11th)

British Baseball Beat: Heating up

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Britain is experiencing scorchio weather this week and the action is certainly hotting up in British Baseball too.

Mets Gonna Mets, but that’s a good thing in the NBL

The London Mets (17-1) got straight back to winning ways in the National Baseball League last Sunday, avenging their previous defeat by the Herts Falcons (7-13) in the process.

The Mets beat the Falcons 14-4 as some measure of pay-back for the latter spoiling an attempt at an unbeaten season by the reigning champs. First baseman Rich Minford led the offence with 4 RBI from a 3-for-4 performance, whilst Michael Hoyles (4IP, 2ER) and Fred Mosier (2IP, 2ER) kept the Herts’ hitters in check.

The Mets then jumped on their hosts by defeating the Essex Arrows (5-15) 11-0. Brian Lainoff pitched five score-less frames for London, allowing only one hit and one walk whilst striking out three.

As the Mets continued their dominance and march to a first seed in the play-offs, the Arrows’ victory in the opening game of the day’s action may prove to be more than a mere footnote.

The Arrows beat the Falcons 12-11 to draw within two games of them for third place in the league. Although the current second-placed London Capitals (10-10) are far from an easy opponent, there’s no doubt that both the Falcons and Arrows would prefer to finish third in the standings and avoid the Mets in the semi-final game.

The Arrows still have plenty of work to do to avoid finishing fourth, yet winning the final match-up against the Falcons this season at least helps with the task. They’ll look to build on the win this coming Sunday in a double-header against the Capitals, as the Falcons host the Mets.

Triple-A

In Triple-A, East London Latin Boys (16-4) remain the division leaders following two victories over the Richmond Knights (6-14).

The Latin Boys’ closest rivals, the Essex Redbacks (11-9) and Herts Londoners (9-7), split a double-header in dramatic fashion. The Londoners took the opener 10-4 with Miguel Sarmiento’s home run (and what can only be described as post-home run Superman swag) captured on camera.

However, the Redbacks found some kryptonite for the second game and absolutely demolished the Londoners 27-0.

Whilst those teams stayed where they were in the standings, the big movers were the London Mammoths (9-11). They jumped from 6th to 4th by winning both games against the Oxford Kings (8-10).

This Sunday will see some repeat match-ups as the Redbacks and Londoners renew their rivalry, as will the Mammoths and Kings. Kent Buccaneers will look to jump into the play-off places as the current sixth-placed team host a double-header against Richmond.

Lucky number 13 for Bournemouth

The Bournemouth Bears’ (13-0) 13th game of the season did not prove to be unlucky, as the Double-A Pool A leaders defeated the Guildford Mavericks (6-11) 29-13 to remain unbeaten

Richmond Dragons (5-10) were walk-off winners against Herts Hawks (8-6) in the first game of their double-header, winning 10-8, before the Hawks snapped a six-game losing streak in the second contest with a 12-9 victory, powered by a home run by Double-A debutant Nico Durer.

Bristol Badgers (10-5) stay second in Pool A after being awarded a forfeited 7-0 win over Brighton Jets (1-11), seeing them remaining four games back of the Bears, with the Hawks and further 1.5 games back off the Badgers. The Hawks will be the next team to attempt to thwart the Bears’ perfect regular season on Sunday, whilst the Dragons host the Jets.

Double-A Pool B results and Single-A results were still to be added to the BBF website at time of writing.

South West Baseball League

It was a mixed weekend for Bristol in the SWBL, but their game report on Facebook highlighted the efforts of young pitcher Charlie Taylor who showed composure beyond his years to close out the Buccaneers’ victory over the Brewers.

https://www.facebook.com/173673559428286/posts/2149326388529650?s=684221400&sfns=mo

Galaxy lead the way in Scotland

Leeds Rams ramping up

And finally, some great news to end on. Leeds Rams are working hard to bring baseball back to the city and they had their first game a week ago. Onwards an upwards from here!

BGB Fantasy League 2019: Week 15

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After a break for the All-Star game, the BaseballGB Fantasy League was back in action. Which teams made the most of the rest?

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Newcastle Knights

75

18

52

6

.322

.986

4

9

124

4

2.72

1.21

12

The Bath Bombers

33

9

40

4

.278

.799

1

2

37

1

4.32

1.53

0

Red-hot rookie: Hiura (Knights) 9 R, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 3 SB, .512 AVG, 1.507 OPS

Four-homer club: Muncy and Springer (both Knights) 10 R, 4 HR each

Safe at home: Dozier (Knights) 12 R

Wins still matter: Rodridguez (Knights) 2 W, 2.03 ERA, 0.98 WHIP

By way of the K: Clevinger (Knights) 18 K

Still got it: Bumgarner (Knights) 0.64 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

Saving the day: Kennedy (Knights) 6 SV.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Norwich No II

48

14

50

0

.257

.771

5

7

104

1

3.76

1.19

8

Richie’s RBI’s

48

10

37

9

.286

.810

4

3

69

0

4.84

1.34

3

It’s Troutta here: Trout (Norwich) 4 HR, 12 RBI

Need for speed: Mondesi (RBIs) 3 SB

.400 club: A Gordon (RBIs) .429 AVG; K Marte (RBIs) .424 AVG

Wins still matter: Ray (Norwich) 2 W, 15 K, 0.89 WHIP; Baez (Norwich) 2 W

Save me: Hand (Norwich) 4 SV

Berri good: Berrios (Norwich) 2.53 ERA.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Orpington Isotopes

65

22

64

8

.310

.954

7

4

78

2

5.72

1.51

7

Durham Riverkings

45

14

40

8

.262

.794

6

6

78

0

2.40

1.12

3

MVP? Yelich (Isotopes) 10 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 4 SB, .405 AVG, 1.301 OPS

RBI machine: Rizzo (Isotopes) 10 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.271 OPS

All-Star: Brantley (Isotopes) 3 HR, 9 RBI, .400 AVG

Ugly wins: Porcello (Isotopes) 2 W, 8.18 ERA

Prettier wins: German (Riverkings) 2 W, 1.50 ERA, 0.75 WHIP; Snell (Riverkings) W, 0.82 ERA, 0.91 WHIP

Saving the day: Hendriks and Diaz (both Riverkings) 2 SV each.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Beckenham A&E Dept

47

14

40

11

.290

.826

6

3

85

0

3.42

1.14

7

Swindon Devil Rays

31

13

34

1

.280

.880

3

3

48

0

2.06

1.01

3

Home run tear: Gurriel (A&E Dept) 8 R, 4 HR, 10 RBI, .348 AVG

Power and speed: Acuna Jr (A&E Dept) 10 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 8 SB

Happy Chappy: Chapman (A&E Dept) .440 AVG

Ace: Verlander (A&E Dept) 2 W, 19 K

Buehler’s days on: Buehler (Devil Rays) 1.38 ERA, 0.92 WHIP.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Mighty Slugs

37

9

31

8

.220

.655

8

6

133

1

3.77

1.35

5

The Cheddar Chasers

33

11

43

4

.244

.707

3

0

72

4

3.53

1.03

7

Escobar hits it far: Escobar (Chasers) 4 HR, 11 RBI

.400 club: Rendon (Chasers) .417 AVG, 1.056 OPS

Safe at home: Bellinger (Slugs) 9 R

Speedster: Ohtani (Slugs) 3 SB

Unbeatable: Strasburg (Slugs) 2 W

By way of the K: Lynn (Slugs) 29 K

Closing time: Jackson (Slugs) 3 SV

There’s your run: Kershaw (Chasers) 0.75 ERA, 0.75 WHIP.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Bunting for Britain

61

20

53

5

.283

.941

5

0

93

4

4.79

1.39*

6

Cheshunt Maltsters

55

24

67

6

.259

.885

4

9

105

3

5.07

1.39*

6

Run machines: J Turner (Bunting) 12 R; Bregman (Bunting) 12 R

Bat on ball: Merrifield (Bunting) .333 AVG

Bringers of rain: Donaldson (Maltsters) 5 HR, 13 RBI; Pollock (Maltsters) 4 HR, 12 RBI, 2 SB

On fire: Fiers (Bunting) W, 1.93 ERA

Bauer power: Bauer (Maltsters) 21 K

NL Central for saves: Martinez (Maltsters) 4 SV; Kimbrel (Maltsters) 4 SV.

Standings

Rank

Team

W-L-T

Pct

GB

Last Week

Waiver

Moves

1

 Newcastle Knights

116-55-9

.669

–

12-0-0

9

25

2

 Mighty Slugs

103-68-9

.597

13

5-7-0

6

23

3

 Norwich No II

99-72-9

.575

17

8-3-1

10

20

4

 Orpington Isotopes

98-73-9

.569

18

7-3-2

5

17

5

 Beckenham A&E Dept

92-69-19

.564

19

7-3-2

2

11

6

 The Cheddar Chasers

93-74-13

.553

21

7-5-0

4

6

7

 Bunting for Britain

91-78-11

.536

24

6-6-0

11

31

8

 Richie’s RBI’s

77-89-14

.467

36.5

3-8-1

7

16

9

 Cheshunt Maltsters

74-96-10

.439

41.5

6-6-0

12

27

10

 Durham Riverkings

70-100-10

.417

45.5

3-7-2

1

22

11

 The Bath Bombers

52-121-7

.308

65

0-12-0

3

10

12

 Swindon Devil Rays

49-119-12

.306

65.5

3-7-2

8

4

Week 16 match-ups

Isotopes (4th) v Slugs (2nd)
Bunting (7th) v Riverkings (10th)
Beckenham (5th) v Maltsters (9th)
Knights (1st) v Chasers (6th)
No II (3rd) v Bombers (11th)
RBI’s (8th) v Devil Rays (12th)

British Baseball Beat

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The British Baseball Beat continues apace with plenty of action around the leagues, Great Britain U15’s playing in Germany and a successful new tournament in Scotland.

AAU Collegiate win the first Bobby Thomson Invitational Tournament

Up in Scotland, the three main independent leagues in British baseball came together for a new tournament this past weekend in Edinburgh.

The British Baseball League, South West Baseball League and home Scotland Baseball each fielded an All-Star team taking on the touring party of AAU Collegiate.

The collegiate summer team from the States came out on top, winning the final 6-1 against the BBL’s Northern Knights, but reports from the event show that whilst the ‘home’ players didn’t come away with the trophy, they took plenty from the tournament and plan to host it again next year.

It’s great to see another new event added to the British Baseball calendar and hopefully it will be even bigger and better in twelve months’ time.

NBL: Mets stay top but lose their unbeaten run

The London Mets (15-1), London Capitals (10-10) and Herts Falcons (7-11) shared out the wins at Grovehill Ballpark on Sunday in the National Baseball League.

The Capitals started the day with a 9-1 victory over the Falcons, but were then blanked by the seemingly impenetrable Mets’ pitching staff 8-0. However, Herts were able to beat the odds and secure a 5-4 win over the Mets, in part thanks to a home run by the always-dangerous Jarrod Pretorius.

London Mets still have a healthy lead in the standings and remain favourites to make it three national championships in a row, but the Falcons at least showed an upset against them is possible.

The Mets will have an immediate chance to gain some revenge this Sunday as the two teams meet as part of another trifecta of games, this time hosted by the Essex Arrows.

German Detour

Reading of Pretorius’s latest home run reminded me to check in on the all-time NBL home-run leader Maikel Azcuy. He’s in his second year in Germany playing and coaching for Berlin Flamingos (who sadly don’t play in pink uniforms).

Azcuy wasn’t able to prevent Berlin from being relegated last year, but he’s more than doing his bit to try to get them promoted again.

I’m not sure quite what the mercy rules are in the German leagues, but on 6 July the Flamingos won by the score of 44-1 against Leipzig Wallbreakers (presumably the wall breaking being done by Leipzig’s pitching coach’s head). Azcuy went 5-for-7, with his first 5 plate appearances resulting in a single, three doubles and a home run. This came after he went 4-for-6 with a home run against them in a 35-0 victory earlier in the season.

Berlin had the good grace to bench him for the second half of the double-header, which was called after five innings with the Flamingos up 10-0.

Azcuy went 1-for-5 and 2-for-3 this past Saturday as Berlin defeated Hannover Regents twice. He’s hitting .442 on the season and whilst there’s no official word yet on whether he will be part of Great Britain’s European Championship roster, he’s certainly showing that the hitting conditions in Germany suit him.

Bears Remain Unbeaten

With the Mets losing their proud 0, that leaves Double-A Bournemouth Bears (12-0) as the only team in the BBF leagues yet to taste defeat this season. They defeated the Brighton Jets (1-10) 20-4 to make it 12 wins in a row.

Elsewhere, Richmond Dragons (4-9) earned a 25-15 over Guildford Mavericks (6-10). Twitter updates show London Sidewinders beat London Marauders 14-12 whilst Norwich Iceni picked up a 19-14 win away to the Brentwood Stags, although these are still to be added to the BBF website.

Showing the men how it’s done!

Cambridge is no stranger to being home to historic moments. The city’s baseball teams are doing their best to uphold this reputation by making a bit of history of their own at Coldham’s Common.

Meanwhile Molly Willcox and Tsz Yan Chan of the South West Baseball League’s Bristol Buccaneers will be among the players taking part in the Women’s Baseball UK (WB-UK) event in Bristol on Saturday.

Single-A Central results

The Cambridge Royals’ (4-14) female infield efforts couldn’t hold back the division-leading Leicester Blue Sox (16-4) this time, however, as the visitors took both games of the double-header by scores of 13-7 and 14-1.

Meanwhile the Cambridge Lancers (1-21) also took two defeats at the hands of Northants Centurions (6-12). In fact, it was sweeps all around in A-Central as Birmingham Outlaws (12-4) also picked up two home wins against Long Eaton Storm (13-3). The Outlaws and Bandits will be staging a Birmingham derby double-header this Sunday.

Single-A South: Herts bragging rights for the Eagles

Speaking of derbies, in Single-A South the first Herts derby since 2016 went the way of the Eagles as they earned two victories against the Raptors. The latter are already eyeing the re-match:

South Coast Pirates (12-4) swept a double-header in Guildford against the Millers (7-11).

Great Britain U-15s playing Hardball

Four Herts players are among the Great Britain U15 squad in Germany this week competing in the Hardball City Cup.

The Young Lions are flying so far with a perfect 3-0 record. Follow all the news on the GB Baseball Twitter account.

Tie-breaker brings an end to Great Britain U18’s Euro Qualifier

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Great Britain U18’s bowed out of the European Championship U18 Qualifier in Sundbyberg, Sweden, on Friday.

After Belgium mounted a 5-run final inning comeback to beat Israel, Great Britain entered their game on Friday evening against Sweden knowing that a win would send them through to Saturday’s final, but a defeat would leave their fate in the hands of the CEB’s dreaded Teams Quality Balance equation.

Unfortunately a 6-2 defeat, including a lengthy delay in the bottom of the sixth inning due to a problem with the floodlights, meant the latter did come into play and brought an end to their tournament.

Will Lintern’s team mounted a typically spirited final-inning fightback, plating one run and then having the bases loaded when Sweden were able to get a ground-out to end the threat.

Despite getting the victory, it turned out to be a frustrating night for the home team. Had Israel held onto their lead in the earlier game then Sweden’s 2-0 record against GB and Belgium would have sent them through to the final. Instead, the TQB tie-breaker was needed to separate Sweden, Britain and Israel’s 2-2 records and the Swede’s fell one run short of bettering Israel’s TQB score.

Positives to take

Every tournament gives players the opportunity to develop and there were plenty of signs of that on display for Great Britain.

Jack Seppings went 6-for-14, led the team in runs scored (7) and stolen bases (4 from 4 attempts, including 3 in the game against Switzerland) whilst also pitching 6.1 innings across three appearances.

Michael Flaherty went 6-for-13 with 3 doubles and James Warren proved to be an RBI machine, leading the team with 8 runs batted in.

William Baranello will surely learn a lot from his two starts in the event, showing a real ability to miss bats with 12 strike-outs over 8 innings pitched. If he can pair that with developing his control (11 walks and 3 wild pitches) then he could prove to be an exciting prospect.

Aside from what shows up in the stats, every inning pitched, every inning in the field and every plate appearance would have been valuable learning experience for the young Lions. The future looks bright even though the team didn’t quite go as far as they might have hoped this time around.

Full tournament details can be found on the CEB website.

Up next …

Great Britain’s U23 team are in tournament action next, heading to Prague in the Czech Republic for the U23 Euros. The competition begins on 7 August.

Great Britain U18s look to secure qualification for the 2020 U18 European Championships

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UPDATE: I’ve updated this post to correct it (rather than leave it up and post a new one that might get overlooked). The CEB competition rules state two teams go through but I overlooked that there are two qualifying pools! So, only the first placed-team will advance.

Great Britain U18’s staged a sensational comeback against Israel in Sundyberg, Sweden, on Thursday to give themselves a great chance of qualifying for the U18 European Championships next year.

Will Lintern’s team conceded 4 runs in the bottom of the first inning to be in an early hole against an Israel team that had won its first two games of the tournament. However this just set the stage for the Young Lions to roar back later on. They trailed 6-4 heading into the top of the sixth inning (the games here only lasting 7 innings rather than the usual 9) before turning the game on its head.

Great Britain scored 2 two-out runs in the sixth inning to draw level and then took the lead in the top of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by catcher Aidan Pearce that brought home Nathan Simmons. Jack Seppings had minimal margin for error in the bottom of the seventh inning but a 1-run lead was all he needed as he pitched around a hit-by-pitch to close the game out.

Where does that leave us?

Friday is the last day of the preliminary round before the qualifier final on Saturday.

Here are the standings heading into the final day.

PosTeamWL
1Belgium21
2Great Britain21
3Israel21
4Sweden12
5Switzerland13

Belgium and Israel will face each other at 13.00 UK time before Great Britain take to the field against Sweden at 17.30 UK time.

If Great Britain win their game they will be guaranteed a spot in the Qualifier final on Saturday. If Sweden win it then they alongside GB and the loser of the Belgium-Israel game will all be tied on 2-2 (the winner of that game will move to a 3-1 record and make the final). How that plays out depends on which of Belgium or Israel are left in the tie-breaker conundrum.

If Israel defeat Belgium

In this scenario the Great Britain and Sweden game will essentially become a semi-final. If GB win they go through with Israel, both on 3-1 records. If Sweden win then they would come out on top on the first tie-breaker rule, results between the teams tied, as they would hold a win against both of the teams they are tied with (whereas Belgium and Great Britain would both be 1-1).

If Belgium defeat Israel

It becomes more complicated in this scenario as Great Britain, Israel and Sweden would all be 1-1 in results against each other. That means it would go on to the second tie-breaker, CEB’s dreaded Teams Quality Balance (TQB) equation.

Teams Quality Balance (TQB) is the sum of runs scored divided by the number of innings played on offense minus the number of runs allowed divided by the number of innings played on defense. (RS/IPO)-(RA/IPD)=TQB.


The TQB is calculated with four decimal places. The fifth decimal place is used to round up or down

Currently, if my sums are correct (warning: that is not a given!), Israel have a decent lead (0.43095) ahead of GB (0.05) and then Sweden (-0.23333); however those figures could change substantially depending on the results of the final games. And it won’t just be a simple calculation either: a 1-run loss for GB would affect things differently depending on it being 0-1 or 5-6 etc.

So, what result do we want from the Belgium-Israel game?

From an odds point of view I guess Belgium winning is preferable because that would at least give Great Britain a second chance even if they lost against Sweden; however the clear-cut, winner-goes-through scenario that would follow an Israel victory in the opening game would be less of a brain-scrambler.

Of course, the best result would be for Great Britain to beat Sweden and make the earlier Belgium-Israel result irrelevant (other than in deciding who GB will face in the final). That would make everyone happy.

Other than Sweden.

But then they gave us Abba which ultimately led to the film Mamma Mia (and Mamma Mia 2), so they’d just have to accept that karma was on our side.

How to follow the games

You can follow along either by using the classic CEB ‘Gameday’ scoring system on their website or watch via the Sundbyberg Heat YouTube channel.

British Baseball Beat: Back to it

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“Hey, Matt, why haven’t you been writing about the British leagues much this year?”.

I was asked variations of this question quite a few times over the MLB London Series weekend and I have to say I was flattered that people had noticed!

The truth is I’ve been busy with other projects and have always worked on the basis of wanting to write things I had put time into rather than just quickly putting stuff up on the website for the sake of regular content.

One of the ongoing projects is a redesign for this site, as I look to focus it much more on covering the British leagues and British baseball history and related video content, and I was going to wait until that was done before getting going again. However, striking whilst the (West Ham?) iron is hot, let’s get back into the swing of things by casting a glance around the British scene.

National teams making us proud

Firstly, Great Britain U-12s recently qualified for the 2020 European Championships by finishing second in their qualifying tournament in Trebic, Czech Republic.

The Young Lions fought back from 4-1 down against Austria to earn a crucial win 5-4 with Erik Gustafson starring, driving in two runs and then pitching 2.2 score-less relief innings. The final game against Slovakia didn’t go GB’s way, but even in this contest they showed great heart by making it close (13-9 final score) despite their opponents scoring eight runs in the second inning. All in all, a great achievement for Eric Anderson and his team.

Next up are Will Lintern’s U18 squad. They started their Euro qualifier in Sundbyberg, Sweden today with a 10-8 victory over Switzerland. Jack Seppings was doing it all for the team, going 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in 4 runs, stealing 3 bases and pitching two innings in relief.

The team have an off-day on Tuesday before getting back to it on Wednesday with a game against Belgium. First pitch will be at 13.00 BST. Coverage is available on the good-old CEB website ‘Gameday live’ system and streamed live on the Sundbyberg Heat YouTube channel.

National Baseball League

In the top-tier, the London Mets were clearly inspired by the recent visit of some New York Yankee legends to Finsbury Park. They improved their season win-loss record to 14-0 with two victories over the London Capitals (9-9) by scores of 8-1 and 5-1. The Mets’ pitching staff is completely handcuffing the rest of the NBL, with the team having allowed only 25 runs across their 14 games played.

Herts Falcons were looking for two wins to separate themselves from the Essex Arrows in the standings.

They got them, only not quite in the way they would have wanted. The Falcons were awarded two forfeit wins, improving their record to 6-10.

Double-A

Bournemouth Bears (11-0) continued their unbeaten start to the season by picking up wins 10 and 11 against the Herts Hawks (7-5), whilst Bristol Badgers (8-5) kept their good form up with two wins against Richmond Dragons (3-9).

In Pool B, London Marauders (11-2) swept a double-header against Cambridge Monarchs (5-7). In the opener, Billy Atkinson Warne gave up just 3 hits across seven innings of one-run ball, striking out 11 Monarchs in the process as the Marauders prevailed 9-1. The second game then quickly got out of hand for Cambridge as London put nine runs on the board in the first inning, with the game eventually being called 12-0 after four innings.

In Norwich, the Iceni (5-6) split a double-header with London Sidewinders (8-5).

Single-A

In the Central, Long Eaton Storm and Birmingham Outlaws are the form teams.

Long Eaton swept a double-header over Cambridge Lancers on Sunday to make it a perfect 10 wins in a row, improving their season record to 13-1. As for the Outlaws, since they lost two games against Long Eaton on 19 May they have won eight straight, the most recent successes being two wins against Northants Centurians.

Meanwhile in Single-A Pool B the Kent Buccaneers collected two wins at the expense of Tonbridge.

Baseball Scotland

North of the border, there were inter-city derbies to enjoy (or endure, depending on which end you were on). Glasgow Galaxy got the better of Glasgow Comets 16-5, whilst Edinburgh Cannons defeated the Edinburgh Diamond Devils 5-1.

This coming weekend is going to be a big one in Scotland as the Bobby Thomson Invitational event will be staged in Edinburgh. Talent from the three main independent leagues – Scotland, British Baseball League and South West Baseball League – will be joined by the AAU USA International Collegiate Baseball Team. If you’re in the area, make sure to head along.

BGB Fantasy League 2019: Week 14

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The end of week 14 means we have reached the All-Star break, so the BaseballGB managers can catch their breath. Who is looking good for a playoff place and who needs to make a charge in the second half?

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Newcastle Knights

32

5

17

4

.267

.769

3

1

55

4

4.82

1.32

10

Richie’s RBI’s

27

3

20

1

.254

.684

2

3

40

1

4.83

1.54

2

Run machine: Betts (Knights) 11 R, SB, .435 AVG

Multi-homer weeks: Muncy and Hiura (both Knights), Judge (RBIs) 2 HR each

Butter and egg man: Mondesi (RBIs) 4 RBI

No runs allowed: Clevinger (Knights) W, 9 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP

What we have, we hold: Hader and Miller (both Knights) 2 HLD each

Closing time: Colome (RBIs) 2 SV.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Mighty Slugs

36

18

41

2

.237

.860

6

5

62

1

2.35

1.03

10

The Bath Bombers

17

2

13

1

.207

.547

2

0

34

0

0.87

0.87

2

Ring your Bell: Bell (Slugs) 8 R, 5 HR, 14 RBI, .308 AVG, 1.298 OPS

I remember his dad: Tatis Jr (Slugs) 6 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, SB

Ace: Strasburg (Slugs) W, 14 K

Save me: Rogers and Smith (both Slugs) 2 SV each

Stingy stats: Nola (Bombers) 0.61 ERA, 0.89 WHIP; Corbin (Bombers) 0.64 ERA, 0.79 WHIP.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Norwich No II

39

17

38

1

.264

.874

1

1

41

0

3.40

1.03

9

Swindon Devil Rays

16

3

20

0

.188

.610

1

1

31

2

5.81

1.37

1

Hey now, you’re an All-Star: Trout (Norwich) 8 R, 6 HR, 10 RBI, .348 AVG, 1.597 OPS

Unexpected power: Narvaez (Norwich) 3 HR, 7 RBI, .368 AVG, 1.242 OPS

.400 club: D Santana (Nowich) .409 AVG

By way of the K: Musgrove (Norwich) 9 K, 0.78 WHIP; Ray (Norwich) 8 K, 1.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP

Whip it: Maeda (Norwich) 0.65 WHIP

Hold this: Workman (Devil Rays) 2 HLD.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Orpington Isotopes

31

12

27

1

.324

.976

7

5

54

3

3.10

1.11

8

Cheshunt Maltsters

34

10

34

6

.322

.980

4

2

43

1

5.48

1.45

4

Safe at home: Donaldson (Maltsters) 5 R, 3 HR, 6 RBI

Red-hot Reds: Puig and Suarez (both Isotopes) 3 HR, Puig .500 AVG

.500 club: Brantley (Isotopes) .529 AVG

Uncle Charlie: Morton (Isotopes) 2 W, 22 K, 1.42 ERA, 0.87 WHIP

Game over: Osuna and Iglesias (both Isotopes) 2 SV each

Holding on: Strop (Isotopes) 2 HLD.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Durham Riverkings

28

9

28

2

.282

.857

1

6

52

0

2.63

1.05

5

The Cheddar Chasers

37

5

30

7

.286

.797

2

1

70

1

4.47

1.33

7

Behind the plate: Realmuto (Chasers) 6 R, 5 RBI, SB, .360 AVG

Home run derby: Devers (Riverkings) 4 HR, 12 RBI, 1.241 OPS

Wins still matter; Gray (Chasers) W, 12 K; Scherzer (Chasers) W, 11 K

By way of the K: Marquez (Chasers) 12 K

Young aces: Paddack (Riverkings) 0.00 ERA, 0.71 WHIP; Yamamoto (Riverkings) 0.00ERA, 0.83 WHIP

Hat-trick of saves: Yates (Riverkings) 3 SV.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Bunting for Britain

26

7

24

6

.311

.934

3

0

55

2

4.53

1.26

6

Beckenham A&E Dept

27

9

24

5

.274

.846

5

2

40

0

3.56

1.42

5

Wheels of steal: Merrifield (Bunting) 2 SB, .367 AVG

Star of the Josh Field s trade: Alvarez (Bunting) .462 AVG, 1.154 OPS

It’s outta here: Gurriel (A&E Dept) 6 R, 4 HR

Doolittle does lots: Doolittle (A&E Dept) 2 W, SV

All-Star starter: Ryu (A&E Dept) 0.00 ERA

By way of the K: Wheeler (Bunting) 15 K

The Bieber it’s OK to like: Bieber (Bunting) 0.50 WHIP.

Standings

Rank

Team

W-L-T

Pct

GB

Last Week

Waiver

Moves

1

 Newcastle Knights

104-55-9

.646

–

10-2-0

9

24

2

 Mighty Slugs

98-61-9

.610

6

10-2-0

6

22

3

 Norwich No II

91-69-8

.565

13.5

9-1-2

10

19

4

 Orpington Isotopes

91-70-7

.563

14

8-4-0

5

15

5

 Beckenham A&E Dept

85-66-17

.557

15

5-6-1

2

11

6

 The Cheddar Chasers

86-69-13

.551

16

7-5-0

4

6

7

 Bunting for Britain

85-72-11

.539

18

6-5-1

11

28

8

 Richie’s RBI’s

74-81-13

.479

28

2-10-0

7

12

9

 Cheshunt Maltsters

68-90-10

.435

35.5

4-8-0

12

24

10

 Durham Riverkings

67-93-8

.423

37.5

5-7-0

1

18

11

 The Bath Bombers

52-109-7

.330

53

2-10-0

3

10

12

 Swindon Devil Rays

46-112-10

.304

57.5

1-9-2

8

4

Week 15 match-ups

Matchups will run from now until July 21 due to the All-Star break. Roster deadlines, innings-pitched minimums, and weekly transaction limits won’t change during this fantasy week.

Isotopes (4th) v Riverkings (10th)
Bunting (7th) v Maltsters (9th)
Beckenham (5th) v Devil Rays (12th)
Slugs (2nd) v Chasers (6th)
Knights (1st) v Bombers (11th)
No II (3rd) v RBI’s (8th)

Ideas for 2020 London Series

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After the amazing success of last week’s 2019 London Series, it’s impossible not to look ahead to next year’s event and wonder what more might be done.

MLB got so many things right for the Yankees-Red Sox series, but there are always things to learn and to improve upon.

On our Oakland A’s UK YouTube channel, I talked about some of my ideas for making the Cubs-Cardinals event even better than this year’s edition.

BGB Fantasy League 2019: Week 13

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Major League Baseball came to London as the Yankees and Red Sox played in a couple of slugfests. How did the high-scoring games affect matters in the BaseballGB Fantasy League? Clue: If you had Porcello, like I did, your ERA may never recover.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Cheshunt Maltsters

26

6

18

3

.204

.654

4

2

63

3

4.69

1.33

1

The Cheddar Chasers

38

11

31

4

.297

.865

8

1

71

4

4.06

1.19

11

MVP: Segura (Chasers) 6 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .303 AVG

.400 club: Escobar (Chasers) 6 R, HR, 5 RBI, SB, .417 AVG

Finally an All Star: Rendon (Chasers) 6 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI, .320 AVG

Maximum effort: Scherzer (Chasers) 2 W, 24 K, 1.13 ERA, 0.56 WHIP

A pitcher who went to London and lowered his ERA: Ottavino (Chasers) W, 2 HLD, 0.00 ERA

Welcome back: Kimbrel (Maltsters) SV.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Bunting for Britain

36

14

39

2

.270

.919

3

1

59

3

3.57

1.25

11

Swindon Devil Rays

16

8

21

1

.283

.897

1

1

17

0

5.82

1.71

1

Swindon forfeited all of the pitching categories after failing to meet the 20-inning minimum

Cruz control: Cruz (Bunting) 5 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 1.413 OPS

Red power: Turner (Bunting) 9 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI

Way above average: Bogaerts (Devil Rays) .389 AVG

The Bieber it’s OK to like: Bieber (Bunting) W, 17 K, 1.35 ERA, 0.83 WHIP Great Britton in Britain: Britton (Bunting) W, 2 HLD

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Newcastle Knights

34

12

37

0

.267

.842

5

4

60

0

3.71

1.12

10

Norwich No II

27

6

24

3

.266

.763

4

2

54

2

4.83

1.45

2

Good-time Charlie: Blackmon (Knights) 11 R, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .393 AVG

Go get it out of the ocean: Muncy (Knights) 4 R, 3 HR, 12 RBI

.400 club: Alfaro and Sogard (Knights) .400 AVG each

Trade bait: Bumgarner (Knights) 2 W, 20 K, 2.08 ERA, 0.77 WHIP

Trade bait?: Minor (Knights) W, 1.00 ERA, 0.78 WHIP

Closing time: Hader and Kennedy (both Knights) 2 SV each.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Orpington Isotopes

28

6

22

5

.269

.765

2

1

47

1

6.70

1.41

2

Beckenham A&E Dept

40

11

34

6

.285

.876

4

4

53

0

4.36

1.45

10

MVP: Acuna (A&E Dept) 11 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 4 SB, .393 AVG

Hey now, you’re an All-Star: Chapman (A&E Dept) 6 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .318 AVG, 1.264 OPS

Hicks hits them to the sticks: Hicks (A&E Dept) 6 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .300 AVG

Fifty shades of Gray: Gray (A&E Dept) 2 W, 14 K, 1.42 ERA

Lockdown closers: Chapman and Doolittle (both A&E Dept) 2 SV each Thanks for that: Porcello (Isotopes) 162.00 ERA, 18.00 WHIP.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Durham Riverkings

33

7

27

4

.280

.786

2

3

51

0

4.99

1.26

10

The Bath Bombers

15

4

22

2

.328

.902

1

3

21

0

2.50

0.61

2

Bath forfeited all of the pitching categories after failing to meet the 20-inning minimum

Safe at home: Devers (Riverkings) 8 R

Great pair of Sox: Abreu (Riverkings) 4 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI; Moncada (Riverkings) 4 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI

Need for speed: T Turner (Riverkings) 4 SB

Eddie’s ready: Rosario (Bombers) .857 AVG, 1.857 OPS

Young aces: Snell (Riverkings) W, 12 K, 3.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP; Paddack (Riverkings) W, 8 K, 1.50 ERA, 0.50 WHIP.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OPS

W

SV

K

HLD

ERA

WHIP

Score

Mighty Slugs

44

21

40

4

.306

1.052

2

4

42

1

4.86

1.32

6

Richie’s RBI’s

37

11

42

0

.326

.926

5

3

37

1

3.75

1.06

5

Tatis taters: Tatis Jr (Slugs) 8 R, 3 HR, 3 SB, 1.492 OPS

Good Lourdes: Gurriel Jr (Slugs) 7 R, 5 HR, .440 AVG, 1.542 OPS

RBI machines: LeMahieu (RBIs) 10 RBI, .625 AVG; Dahl (RBIs) 14 RBI

Cole train: Cole (RBIs) 2 W, 1.38 ERA, 1.15 WHIP

Closing time: Jackson (Slugs) 2 SV.

Standings

Rank

Team

W-L-T

Pct

GB

Last Week

Waiver

Moves

1

 Newcastle Knights

94-53-9

.631

–

10-2-0

9

23

2

 Mighty Slugs

88-59-9

.593

6

6-5-1

6

21

3

 Beckenham A&E Dept

80-60-16

.564

10.5

10-2-0

2

11

4

 Orpington Isotopes

83-66-7

.554

12

2-10-0

5

15

5

 The Cheddar Chasers

79-64-13

.548

13

11-1-0

4

6

6

 Norwich No II

82-68-6

.545

13.5

2-10-0

10

18

7

 Bunting for Britain

79-67-10

.538

14.5

11-1-0

11

27

8

 Richie’s RBI’s

72-71-13

.503

20

5-6-1

7

11

9

 Cheshunt Maltsters

64-82-10

.442

29.5

1-11-0

12

21

10

 Durham Riverkings

62-86-8

.423

32.5

10-2-0

1

18

11

 The Bath Bombers

50-99-7

.343

45

2-10-0

3

10

12

 Swindon Devil Rays

45-103-8

.314

49.5

1-11-0

8

4

Week 14 match-ups

Isotopes (4th) v Maltsters (9th)
Bunting (7th) v Beckenham (3rd)
Riverkings (10th) v Chasers (5th)
Slugs (2nd) v Bombers (11th)
Knights (1st) v RBI’s (8th)
No II (6th) v Devil Rays (12th)