BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week Four

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There were many big offensive weeks in the BaseballGB Fantasy League. Which teams reaped the benefits (or who had lots of Nationals) and who avoided damage to their ERAs?

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 30 5 24 2 .222 .669 2 0 41 1 3.50 1.21 0
Richie’s RBI’s 38 8 32 6 .238 .748 4 1 42 4 0.96 0.79 12

What a week for the RBIs, who swept the Knights 12-0. Neither side posted massive offensive numbers but Harper (10 runs), Judge (four homers, .400) and Carpenter (nine RBIs) did most of the damage. The pitchers posted ridiculously good ERA and WHIP stats thanks to Yankees past and present in Nova, Tanaka and Severino. Chapman had the lone save while Benoit had three holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 38 11 28 1 .287 .866 2 1 41 4 5.43 1.66 2
The Bath Bombers 47 10 40 3 .316 .877 4 1 40 4 3.75 1.17 8

The Bombers stay top after defeating the Slugs 8-2. Justin Turner (.538) and Trea Turner (11 runs, 13 RBIs) were the offensive stars while Darvish picked up a win and helped take ERA and WHIP. Zimmerman had a four-homer week for the Slugs while Archer struck out 10.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 24 13 34 3 .286 .901 1 3 38 2 2.60 1.04 8
Iron Men 28 10 33 1 .296 .885 1 4 24 0 3.96 1.12 3

The Isotopes outslugged Iron Men on the way to an 8-3 victory. Owings hit three homers, knocked in 10 and stole three bases while Cruz had a four-homer week. Estrada led the staff with nine strikeouts while Wood’s gem helped take ERA and WHIP. Ronson had two holds. For Iron Men, Sano had a monster week, batting well over .500 and he joined Rendon (eight runs, .440) in driving in 11 as Anthony had a nice month in a day on Sunday. Giles, Johnson, Oh and Kintzler each had a save.

 

eam R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 19 2 14 4 .283 .783 5 1 46 4 2.91 1.41 3
The Cheddar Chasers 35 12 37 4 .311 .980 1 1 49 1 3.60 1.08 7

The Chasers are over .500 after a 7-3 win against Jesmond. Five players had multi-homer weeks while Goldschmidt hit .500 and stole three bases. Quintana struck out 10 while Cole posted miniscule WHIP stats. Triggs and Pineda each picked up a win without allowing earned runs for Jesmond, while Miller had two holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 22 7 28 4 .254 .739 4 7 55 0 5.02 1.54 4
Weston-Super-Sox 32 9 34 2 .285 .801 2 1 28 0 3.08 1.03 7

The Sox picked up a 7-4 win against the A&E Dept. Wil Myers hit three homers and knocked in nine while Adam Jones helped take average and OPS. Keuchel, Iwakuma and Musgrove helped take ERA and WHIP. Greinke had a win and 20 strikeouts for Beckenham, while Allen saved three games and Dyson had a pair of steals.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 29 3 22 9 .269 .702 3 3 41 1 4.43 1.48 5
Cheshunt Maltsters 22 5 21 2 .243 .739 2 5 55 3 3.33 1.34 7

The Maltsters got the better of Batteries Essential 7-5. Abreu had a multi-homer week and made the difference in OPS while Kluber and Sale each struck out 10 and Rodriguez helped take ERA and WHIP. Melancon and Osuna had two saves each. For Batteries Essential, Pollock scored seven and stole seven, teaming with Blackmon (nine RBIs) to take average and OPS.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Durham Riverkings 36 11 44 8 .275 .829 2 3 34 3 4.85 1.58 4
Norwich No II 28 11 41 5 .291 .867 2 4 56 0 4.10 1.12 6

Finally, Norwich got the better of the Riverkings 6-4. Bryant made the difference in average and OPS and joined Reynolds, Freeman and d’Arnaud in hitting two homers. Walker struck out 11 and helped take ERA and WHIP while Diaz had two saves. Inciarte stole five bases for the Riverkings while Kemp knocked in 10 and Murphy 12. Jones had two holds.

Week Five match-ups

Bombers (1st) v Knights (14th)

Norwich (2nd) v Sox (5th)

RBIs (3rd) v Riverkings (8th)

Isotoptes (4th) v Jesmond (13th)

Chasers (6th) v Slugs (1th)

Maltsters (7th) v A&E Dept (10th)

Batteries Essential (9th) v Iron Men (12th)

 

MLB This Week: Early games on Thursday and Friday

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May starts off in a slightly disappointing fashion this working week with only Thursday and Friday offering day-game baseball to watch during the British evening.

There are nine early games on Thursday to make up for the slow start. They should include an enticing match-up between Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer from the D-Backs-Nationals series, as well as Danny Salazar and Michael Fulmer squaring off in the Indians-Tigers game and Yu Darvish taking on the Houston Astros.

Then on Friday, after this past weekend’s exciting series at Fenway against the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs host the New York Yankees in a relatively rare foray to Wrigley Field for the Bronx Bombers.

All times are in BST

Monday 1 May

No early games

Tuesday 2 May

No early games

Wednesday 3 May

No early games

Thursday 4 May

17:35 Pirates at Reds (Nova, Adleman)
18:05 D-Backs at Nationals (Greinke, Scherzer)
18:10 Indians at Tigers (Salazar, Fulmer)
18:10 Athletics at Twins (Cotton, Gibson)
18:45 Brewers at Cardinals (Nelson, Lynn)
19:10 Rangers at Astros (Darvish, Musgrove)
19:15 White Sox at Royals (Holland, Kennedy)
19:20 Phillies at Cubs (Eflin, Lackey)
20:40 Rockies at Padres (Freeland, Perdomo) *BT Sport/ESPN, MLB.com Free Game

Friday 5 May

19:20 Yankees at Cubs (Pineda, Hendricks) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:40 Giants at Reds (Cain, Arroyo) *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.

 

April highlights from MLB

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One month into the MLB regular season and there have already been enough stories to last a year.

Here are some of the key things that have happened.

Early struggles

Any team or player can go through a tricky month, so we should be wary of taking a bad April to always be a sign of things to come. It’s not easy to be pragmatic like that when it’s your team in the stir, though.

The Toronto Blue Jays have been a constant source of worry for their fans during the first month. They’ve picked up a bit of late so they no longer hold the worst record in the Majors, but having the second-worst record (8-17) isn’t much of a consolation.

They’ve been bedevilled by injuries – a common theme as we’ll see – and the return of Jose Bautista, who looked likely to leave as a free agent over the off-season, has not started well.  Bautista has always been the sort of player loved by his own fans but hated by opponents, and it’s fair to say his struggles have not evoked much sympathy. He has the sort of attitude that would use that negativity to spur him on; however at 36 years old it’s possible this may not just be a one-month blip and instead a sign of his decline as a force at the plate.

The team that does hold the worst record is the Kansas City Royals. The tragic death of pitcher Yordano Ventura continues to cast a shadow over the club, as does the looming free agent status of a number of core players (Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain being the main ones).  It looks like this is the end of the line for this World Series-winning group and they may be set for a rebuild, which is a shame for their fans but the memories of their 2015 triumph will sustain them for years to come.

In the National League, it’s the Royals’ World Series opponents from 2014 and 2015 that are getting most of the flak.

The San Francisco Giants have started slowly and whilst there’s enough talent on their roster to get back into the Wild Card race, losing Madison ‘I’m just a crashing dirt bike numpty’ Bumgarner for a couple of months at least is a significant blow. Much as it would be just like the Giants, and especially just like MadBum, to defy the odds and stage a glorious comeback, they’re making things very difficult for themselves.

The same could be said for the New York Mets. Injuries, injuries, injuries is the story here and what’s most concerning is the sense that this isn’t just down to bad luck. Yoenis Cespedes and Noah Syndergaard are the latest two stars to reportedly pull rank and play through fitness concerns, only to make matters worse. You don’t like to criticise players who are desperate to be on the field, but it does raise questions as to who is in charge and looking at the bigger picture of a long season.

10-day DL

The Mets’ management of injury concerns comes at a time when we’re seeing a significant change in the approach of teams towards injuries.

One of the many changes brought about by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed over the off-season was the introduction of a 10-day Disabled List, down from the 15-days that it had been for many years.

The disabled list is something that can confuse Brits new to MLB. The starting point is simply that the players on the DL are injured; however formally placing them on the DL is part of managing the strict limit of 25 players that a team has at their disposal on a given day.

An MLB team’s 25-man roster is part of their overall 40-man roster of players, and this is then part of an organisation-wide group of players throughout their 5 or 6 Minor League teams (‘feeder’ teams, in a sense).

The Disabled List is there so that teams can’t simply game the system by having a large squad of players to mix-and-match from every single day. If a player on your active 25-man roster picks up an injury, you either have to play short-handed while he recovers or place him on the DL so that you can put someone in his place.

With a 15-day DL, teams were more inclined to keep hold of a player for minor niggles rather than have to be without them for a couple of weeks. The Players Association (union) were keen to change this as it tended to mean players were back out on the field earlier than they probably should have been.

The idea of the 10-day DL is that the shorter time period will make teams err on the side of caution and give the player time to recuperate fully. The first month of the new rule has shown this to be the case. More players are going on the DL and this has a knock-effect in ‘real’ baseball (opportunities for other players to get some Major League service time) and in ‘fantasy’ baseball.

Doing well despite the injuries

The Washington Nationals were many people’s favourites for the NL East division this season and they’ve shown why during April by amassing an MLB-leading 17-8 record. That positivity comes with the recent blow of losing off-season recruit Adam Eaton to a knee injury that looks set to see him miss the rest of the season.

The actual impact of his absence on the Nationals’ play-off hopes is lessened by how strong their roster is, although losing a good player like Eaton is always going to be a blow.

You could say the same about the Boston Red Sox and David Price. They’re not pulling up any trees so far, but a 13-11 April keeps them nicely in the running and Chris Sale has been outstanding.

Price is continuing his rehabilitation from an arm injury that many feared could see him miss the entire season and whilst there’s still no firm timetable for his return, currently it looks like he may be back on a Major League mound at the end of May or beginning of June. There’s no need to rush him, despite the competitive nature of the AL East, and if he can be up to speed for the second-half of the season then they’ll have an intimidating front three to their rotation with reigning Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello an impressive ‘number three’ to call on.

The ‘nice’ start for Boston comes with the ominous signs of a young New York Yankees team that doesn’t see 2017 as a rebuilding year. They’ve looked really impressive in April, Aaron Judge in particularly showing off his incredible power at the plate, all whilst being without Didi Gregorious for most of the month and their best young player, Gary Sanchez, heading to the DL. He could be back in the lineup by the end of this week so this could be much more than just a good start.

If they can keep it up, the Yankees will be in a very different position at this year’s trade deadline than they were in 2016. Whilst last year they were shopping veteran players for prospects, this year they may use some of their prospect depth to add a starting pitcher (Jose Quintana would be the obvious one) to make a play-off push.

The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks also shouldn’t be overlooked as they’re the NL West front-runners in the early going.

The Rockies have started well despite their main off-season recruit, Ian Desmond, only just making his debut yesterday due to recovering from a fractured left hand. As for the D-Backs, they’ve suffered the blow of losing pitcher Shelby Miller to an elbow injury that will almost certainly require Tommy John surgery and over a year on the sidelines. It’s a cruel blow considering he’d shown positive signs in his first couple of starts after a miserable 2016 and will add to the case of Arizona signing him being one of the worst trade decisions by a team in recent history.

Other players standing out

Marcus Thames has been the big story of April, swatting 11 home runs for the Milwaukee Brewers in his first month back in the Big Leagues after a three-year stint in the Korean league. Sadly his power surge has prompted the inevitable sniping from some that drugs may be involved, but Thames came back with a great response (“If people keep thinking I’m on stuff, I’ll be here every day. I have a lot of blood and urine”).

The Houston Astros’ Dallas Keuchel beat the Oakland A’s on Sunday to make it a perfect 5-0 record from his first five starts. Painful as it was to watch for this A’s fan in some ways, you have to appreciate a pitcher like Keuchel who doesn’t rely on 95+ mph fastballs to mow down opposing line-ups.

Ervin Santana will look to equal Keuchel’s record 5-0 record on Tuesday night starting against, of course, the A’s (Sonny Gray will make his much-anticipated first start of the season for Oakland in that game too). Santana’s strong start for the Minnesota Twins has been a great surprise for his team and, as is the way, puts him in the shop window for a potential trade later in the season.

Finally, Chris Coghlan deserves a mention for what he did against Yadi Molina and the St Louis Cardinals. Dives in football are rightly condemned; in baseball, they can be a thing of wonder.

What could Bryce Harper’s April lead to?

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As we head into the games on Saturday, the Washington Nationals hold the best record in the Majors at 16-7 (.696).

Whilst Ryan Zimmermann’s outstanding April catches the eye after a poor 2016 season, the figurehead for the Nationals’ great start once again has been Bryce Harper.

He’s hitting .405 /.519/.786 with 8 home runs through the first 23 games and if you had him down as your prediction to be the National League MVP this season, there’s reason to be confident that he’ll prove you right.

However, when I saw him at the top of FanGraphs’ WAR position player leaderboard, my first though was ‘didn’t he does this last year?’

This is Harper’s monthly breakdown from 2016:

Month BA OBP SLG OPS HR
April/March 0.290 0.410 0.710 1.120 9
May 0.200 0.420 0.360 0.790 4
June 0.280 0.380 0.420 0.800 3
July 0.180 0.300 0.320 0.620 4
August 0.310 0.400 0.540 0.930 3
Sept/Oct 0.210 0.330 0.320 0.650 1

In a sense the answer is ‘yes’ as he launched a load of home runs, but his strong batting line in April 2016 pales in comparison to the ridiculous numbers he has this year.

Looking at that table though, what stands out is how April was his best month. There was plenty of talk of potential injuries that Harper was playing through last season, so the next question to ask is whether last year was just a one-off?

The following provides Harper’s batting lines over his career so far per month (I’ve left out HR’s as April would understandably be boosted by his 2017 total compared with the other months).

Month BA OBP SLG OPS
April/March 0.324 0.431 0.638 1.069
May 0.264 0.405 0.545 0.950
June 0.304 0.387 0.505 0.892
July 0.236 0.344 0.393 0.737
August 0.286 0.376 0.482 0.858
Sept/Oct 0.290 0.384 0.518 0.901

The first thing to note is that he doesn’t exactly get into a slump at any point, although he looks mortal in July for some reason, but the stats show that April has been his best month and that he hasn’t matched his start the rest of the year. His 2017 numbers boost the April line too, of course, but the trend is there regardless.

The MLB season is a 162 marathon and we hear a lot about how the games, and heat, catch up with everyday players as the season goes on, so it’s worth considering if this is a more general trend. Firstly, we can look at the other great young position player in the Majors, Mike Trout.

Month BA OBP SLG OPS
April/March 0.305 0.391 0.558 0.948
May 0.306 0.386 0.568 0.955
June 0.349 0.431 0.605 1.036
July 0.319 0.413 0.610 1.022
August 0.289 0.401 0.525 0.926
Sept/Oct 0.280 0.413 0.511 0.924

Although his batting average goes down in August and September (again, down is relative here), his on-base percentage is higher and there’s certainly not the clear difference we see with Harper’s numbers.

Trout and Harper may be linked as the two great players of their generation, yet they’re not identical hitters so let’s complete the research by looking at batting lines across the whole of the Majors in 2016.

Month BA OBP SLG OPS
April/March 0.249 0.319 0.405 0.724
May 0.255 0.319 0.414 0.733
June 0.263 0.328 0.432 0.760
July 0.252 0.318 0.413 0.730
August 0.259 0.323 0.428 0.751
Sept/Oct 0.253 0.322 0.411 0.733

We’re bringing together a total of 184,580 plate appearances here and the averages, by their nature, will smooth out the exceptions, so this doesn’t show that Harper is unique in hitting better in April, but it does show there isn’t a wider trend that this is part of.

However, there has been one notable season from Harper in which he didn’t peak in April: 2015.

Month BA OBP SLG OPS HR
April/March 0.286 0.440 0.545 0.985 5
May 0.360 0.495 0.884 1.379 13
June 0.370 0.452 0.691 1.143 6
July 0.300 0.440 0.575 1.015 5
August 0.327 0.460 0.449 0.909 2
Sept/Oct 0.333 0.469 0.747 1.216 11
Season 0.330 0.460 0.649 1.109 42

There was no drop-off from April there, in fact he went bananas in May with 13 homers. Harper does tend to get into home run grooves – as do most power hitters – but when you can hit two homers in a month and still put up an OPS of .900, as he did in August, it goes to show that he is much more than ‘just’ a home-run hitter.

Harper’s 2015 season won him an MVP award. He’s going to have a post-April tail-off this year because he’s hit .405 /.519/.786 in April (with a couple of games to go) and you can tail off quite a bit and still put together a great season.

Yet his other-worldly start does make me excited for what numbers Harper could put up this season and what that could mean for the promotion of baseball.

Harper is exactly the sort of player who could grab the attention of sports fans in countries that don’t currently concentrate much on baseball.

Even if his performances on the field don’t quite manage that, the contract he signs when he becomes a free agent at the end of next season certainly will.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week Three

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It’s time to look back at week three of the BaseballGB fantasy league, which featured a large number of very close matchups. Which teams are still off to a flying start and which unlucky managers had MadBum and Starling Marte?

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 29 6 20 1 .269 .786 2 2 45 5 2.05 0.98 2
The Bath Bombers 32 6 27 5 .274 .789 6 1 51 6 2.25 0.95 9

The Bombers are top after their impressive 9-2 win against Jesmond. The hitters fell a homer shy of an offensive sweep as Eric Thames and Michael Brantley did most of the damage.

The Bombers lost Miggy to the DL but at least Trea Turner and Kipnis returned. Darvish was one of six pitchers with a win, led the staff with 12 strikeouts and teamed with Carrasco and Wacha to take WHIP. Votto had a three-homer week for Jesmond while McCullers helped take ERA and Casilla had two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 24 7 29 4 .253 .749 0 5 44 1 6.30 1.45 4
Cheshunt Maltsters 23 7 26 6 .244 .732 2 6 60 1 2.36 1.05 6

It was a pretty poor week for the Isotopes as they suffered a 6-4 defeat to the Maltsters and had the small matter of a massive ban for Marte to deal with as well. Fair play to Cheshunt who deserved the victory.

Altuve and Jose Ramirez each hit two homers and had two steals while Kluber, Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez took care of wins, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP in a very impressive week for the pitchers. Brach had three saves. Arenado and Cruz helped my team salvage four offensive categories but it was a pretty miserable week for the pitchers.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Durham Riverkings 21 9 27 3 .259 .748 3 1 37 2 2.57 1.11 6
Weston-Super-Sox 27 7 27 7 .300 .808 1 3 31 0 4.10 1.21 5

The Riverkings edged past the Sox 6-5. Shaw had three homers and knocked in eight while Leake won again and Eickhoff and Santana helped take ERA and WHIP. The pitching staff has been hit by injuries to Gray and MadBum though.

The Sox had the better of the offense as Betts scored four runs, drove in nine, swiped three bases and teamed with Braun to take average and OPS. Maurer had two saves on a pitching staff riddled by injuries.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 41 15 43 2 .311 .980 1 1 50 2 6.17 1.58 6
Richie’s RBI’s 43 11 32 1 .299 .885 2 1 40 3 1.63 0.89 5

The Slugs hit their way to a 6-5 win over the RBIs in a matchup full of power. Story hit three homers and knocked in eight while Trout stole two bases and teamed with Souza to take average and OPS. Archer led the staff with nine strikeouts.

The RBIs were unlucky not to win more offensive categories given the impressive numbers – particularly a 10-run, three-homer, 7 RBI, .550 week for Harper. Benoit had two holds while Tanaka and Nova took care of wins, ERA and WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 21 8 26 0 .271 .789 4 4 69 1 5.31 1.45 4
Norwich No II 36 11 26 4 .245 .750 3 4 45 1 4.39 1.36 5

Norwich squeezed past the Knights 5-4 in another closely-fought matchup. Freeman hit four homers and scored seven times while Tomas went deep three times and drove in eight. Duffy made the difference in ERA and WHIP. Stanton hit .400 with four homers for the Knights while Salazar picked up a win and led the staff with 16 strikeouts.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 25 6 23 2 .268 .798 3 7 35 0 3.23 1.14 6
The Cheddar Chasers 26 7 31 3 .251 .776 1 2 50 3 6.27 1.63 6

The Chasers and Iron Men couldn’t be separated, drawing 6-6. Polanco and Haniger helped Iron Men take average and OPS while Oh and Giles had three saves and Manaea picked up a win and helped take ERA and WHIP. Goldschmidt scored six runs while Duvall and Fowler hit two homers each for the Chasers. Ray struck out 16 and Wilson had two holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 26 7 26 9 .255 .751 2 3 42 1 4.43 1.38 6
Beckenham A&E Dept 23 8 25 6 .238 .707 4 4 52 0 2.52 1.00 6

Another matchup, another tie. This time Batteries Essential and the A&E Dept finished all square. Pollock and Blackmon did most of the offensive damage for Batteries Essential while Glover had the lone hold.

Beckenham had the edge in homers thanks to three from Rizzo and two each for Bruce and Schoop. Scherzer picked up a win and helped take ERA and WHIP while Wainwright struck out nine and Davis had two saves.

Close matchups

I’m not sure we’ve ever had so many close matchups in a single week, with five out of seven being decided by one category or ending in a tie. That bodes well for a very competitive league this year. What with a number of injuries this past week, it might not be a bad idea to make sure you use your DL spots and either scour the free agent pool for help or have a look at the other rosters in case there are any trade possibilities.

Week four matchups:

Bombers (1st) v Slugs (9th)

Norwich (2nd) v Riverkings (5th)

Sox (3rd) v A&E Dept (11th)

Isotopes (4th) v Iron Men (13th)

RBIs (6th) v Knights (12th)

Maltsters (7th) v Batteries Essential (10th)

Chasers (8th) v Jesmond (14th)

MLB This Week: Astros-Indians, Nats-Rockies, Dodgers-Giants

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Tuesday to Thursday are the days to watch some live baseball at a convenient time this working week.

The Astros-Indians series will all be pre-midnight starts, although at 23.10 they are certainly the later end of the scale.

Elsewhere, the Royals versus White Sox should be an interesting match-up on Wednesday with Jose Quintana set to take the mound.

It’s been a sketchy start to the season for Quintana after spending the off-season wondering which team he would be playing for. He’s still with Chicago for now and, as is the way for a rebuilding team, they will hope he can get back to top form to keep his trade value high.

There are seven early games on Thursday including a potential Bartolo Colon start against the New York Mets and games from series between the Nationals and Rockies, and the Dodgers and Giants.

All times are in BST.

Monday 24 April

No early games

Tuesday 25 April

23:10    Astros at Indians (Keuchel (3-0), Tomlin (1-2)) *MLB.com Free Game

Wednesday 26 April

18:40    Reds at Brewers (Adleman (0-0), Peralta (3-1))
19:10    Royals at White Sox (Karns (0-1), Quintana (0-4)) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:10    Astros at Indians (McCullers Jr. (2-0), Bauer (1-2))

Thursday 27 April

18:05    Marlins at Phillies (Conley (1-1), Hellickson (3-0))
18:10    Braves at Mets (Colon (1-2), TBD)
18:10    Mariners at Tigers (Iwakuma (0-2), Verlander (1-2))
18:45    Blue Jays at Cardinals (TBD, Wainwright (1-3)) *MLB.com Free Game
20:10    Nationals at Rockies (TBD, TBD)
20:45    Dodgers at Giants (TBD, TBD) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:10    Astros at Indians (Fiers (0-1), Kluber (2-1))

Friday 28 April

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.

Thank you for the A’s: More fun when you win

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Four wins out of four certainly makes the baseball world seem a better place.

The Oakland A’s have turned on the style this week, buoyed by being at home in a city that the team looks set to call home for years to come.

The A’s marketing slogan this year, ‘Rooted in Oakland’, is a clear message of intent while the other sport teams in the area (Golden State Warriors in the NBA, and the Oakland Raiders in the NFL) get ready to move away in the next few years.

It’s not as though the A’s have been immune from the attraction of relocation, as the dalliances with Fremont and San Jose over the past 10 years prove, but through design or default it is they who are the last team standing.

This year has seen a complete change of tone from the club thanks to the arrival of new President Dave Kaval. He has made it his mission to be accessible and open with the fans and whilst undoubtedly there is a ‘good PR’ business aspect behind this, there still seems to be a genuine intent to reconnect with the fans after strained relations in recent years.

Kaval joined the A’s broadcasting crew during Friday night’s game against the Seattle Mariners to confirm that the team will announce the chosen site for the new ballpark this year, so there’s every reason to be happy as an Oakland fan and the team have even managed to put together a winning streak to enjoy.

Wins keep on coming

Two wins against the Texas Rangers and then two more against the Seattle Mariners have put the team on a 9-8 record.

The second win against Texas was the series finale on Wednesday and a day-game to enjoy during the British evening. The A’s jumped on Texas’ starting pitcher Martin Perez by scoring four runs in the first inning on their way to a comfortable 9-1 victory.

Khris Davis continued his home-run-hitting ways and once again spoke about his connection with the team and city, something you don’t hear much of from A’s players.

“I like coming to this ballpark,” Davis said. “It’s a grungy stadium, but I don’t need the fancy art, high-tech stadium to perform. I just go out there and play”.

You’ll find most comments about Oakland (either the current ballpark or the city in general) have a certain back-handed compliment feel to them and it often seems like the A’s almost treat that as a badge of honour.

Still, I expect players and fans alike will quite enjoy a “fancy art, high-tech stadium” once we finally have one.

Valdez faces the M’s

After the two wins against Texas to take that series 2-1, the A’s began a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.

The big story in the opener was Cesar Valdez getting the start for Oakland. If your reaction to that name is ‘who?’ you’d be saying the same word as most A’s fans when it became clear he would make the spot-start in place of injured Kendall Graveman (the A’s nominal ace in place of the injured Sonny Gray).

Valdez is no rookie, he’s 32 years old and prior to Thursday his last Major League start came in June 2010. His Big League return didn’t last long, he pitched four innings and was optioned back to the Minors after the game, but he did all you could ask of him by keeping the team in the game and it’s a great story for him to have made it back to the big-time at all.

The weekend

The final two games of the series on Saturday and Sunday are both 21.05 BST starts, which will be particularly welcome as the A’s next series in Anaheim is the first of the season so far in which none of the contests are day-games.

Marcus Semien won’t be involved as the only real blow from the week has been him heading to the DL, likely for a couple of months, due to a wrist injury.

There were no dirt-bikes involved though, so that’s something.

MadBum indeed.

A History of Norwich baseball

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It’s always encouraging to see new clubs joining the British baseball leagues.

One of the new entrants to the BBF in 2017 are Norwich Iceni, particularly exciting for me as they are based in my home city.

As shown by BaseballSoftballUK’s Team Finder map, the area has a number of softball teams as part of the Norfolk Softball Association, but there’s plenty of space for baseball too.

The two nearest baseball blue flags belong to the Cambridge Royals/ Monarchs in Cambridgeshire, who brought baseball back to the city in 2011, and the Haverhill Blackjacks in Suffolk.

Norwich Iceni will be the first league team in the city since the Norwich Wanderers of the early 1990s, joining the UEA (University of East Anglia) Blue Sox who compete in the university leagues.

UEA, alongside Nottingham and Southampton, were one of the key places that helped get the University Baseball scene up and running again 10 years or so ago, and UEA graduates are part of the group that have formed Norwich Iceni.

Norwich baseball history

Thanks to the Iceni club being born, a local newspaper clip was uncovered and published on their website about the Norwich Wanderers being founded in 1991.

It explains that the team was formed in 1991 and that, as known at the time (and yet to be disproved) they were the first baseball team in the city’s history (outside of the UEA team).

The team was based in Heartsease, an estate to the north-east of the city centre, and the article includes several photos of the team, showing their red and white uniform.

Inspired by the newspaper clip and Norwich Iceni’s 2017 debut this coming Sunday, I’ve undertaken some research in the records we have digitised and available online as part of Project Cobb to put together what we know about the Norwich Wanderers.

If you have any further details, please do get in contact.

1991 – Friendlies?

Norwich Wanderers were formed in 1991. Whether they played in a league in their debut year, or played friendly games as and when they could, is not confirmed. The newspaper article states that they were expecting to play Mildenhall in 1991 and the Old Timers website notes that they played Norwich in this period so it’s possible they had a game or two that year.

1992 – BBF Anglia League

Norwich competed in a BBF Anglia League alongside Bury Saints B, Stevenage Knights, Tiptree Hotsports Rays and UEA Anglians.

The UEA Anglians were part of the university in Norwich and the press article states that the UEA had been running a baseball team for a couple of years prior to the Wanderers starting out in 1991.

The press article also shows an interesting link with Tiptree Hotsports Rays. Norwich were able to gain sponsorship from the local Hot Sports shop and so presumably the branch in Tiptree supported their local team for several years too.

Further details about the 1992 season have not been uncovered to this point. If you can fill in any blanks, please get in contact.

1993 – BBF Midlands Division One

In 1993, Norwich Wanderers competed in the BBF Midlands Division One (details from the Brit-Ball series). The teams were as follows:

  • Derby Crowns
  • Leicester Hawks
  • Long Eaton Sluggers
  • Newark Giants
  • Norwich Wanderers
  • Nottingham Pirates

The season started on 9 May and Norwich took an 18-14 defeat at the hands of Nottingham, with Newark Giants crushing Derby 44-2 (no ‘mercy’ rules in effect in this league, by the looks of it!).

One week later and Norwich took another loss, this time a heart-breaker against those Newark Giants. Newark got a 26-25 walk-off victory to send the Wanderers to an 0-2 start.

By 13 June Norwich had a 1-2 record, with the other results recorded and league table showing that the win must have come against either Derby or Long Eaton.

However, that’s where the Brit-Ball records end. A league table and results from the Midlands League are conspicuous by their absence from August onwards and the record of 1993 champions in Issue 7 doesn’t include a winner from the Midlands League.

That would all suggest that the League petered out for some reason during the course of the season and wasn’t completed.

1994 – BBF Division Three South

Norwich Wanderers were one of five new teams that joined the 10-team BBF Division Three South in 1994 (details from the Brit-Ball series and the Line Drive series)

The regular season standings were split into a North and South league, with Norwich being in the North, although teams faced each other over the two leagues.

North South
Cambridge Fellows Brighton Buccaneers B
Fulham Flames Burgess Hill Red Hats
Milton Keynes Truckers Eastbourne Aces
Norwich Wanderers Gloster Meteors B
Waltham Abbey Cardinals Guildford Mudcats

Thanks to the Brit-Ball records, we’re able to piece together Norwich’s entire season, with just one educated guess along the way.

Norwich started off their season on 8 May with a 24-14 victory over Fulham before splitting a double-header with Milton Keynes on 15 May. A comfortable 29-0 win over Waltham Abbey on 22 May gave the Wanderers a 3-1 start to the season before a rest weekend for the Spring Bank Holiday.

Norwich resumed their campaign on 5 June. Comparing against the published standings shows that they must have lost that day. The Brit-Ball records don’t show that result but they do show part of a 9-0 victory for Milton Keynes (presumably a forfeit) with their opponent obscured by the way the page has been scanned. It’s likely, if not 100% certain, that it was Norwich who forfeited that game.

The Wanderers then won six games in a row before facing off once again against Milton Keynes on 31 July. The Truckers won 13-4 and, with a couple of assumptions built in (the possible earlier forfeit loss to MK and guessing the likely tie-breaker), that would prove decisive in terms of splitting the teams in the final standings.

Norwich were handed a forfeit win on 7 August against Waltham Abbey and then edged a one-run contest with Brighton (17-16) on 14 August to put them on an 11-3 record for the season to that point.

A chastening 30-1 loss at the hands of Burgess Hill followed on 21 August and that proved to be Norwich’s last action of the season, as their final game against Guildford was forfeited by their opponents.

That all meant that Norwich had compiled a 12-4 record; however during the course of the season Cambridge Fellows and Eastbourne Aces withdrew from the league and results against those teams were removed from the standings. Three of Norwich’s wins came against Cambridge (two by way of forfeit) so their record in the final standings was 9-4 (Norwich didn’t play against Eastbourne).

Norwich ended the season with the same record as Milton Keynes, but the Truckers were crowned as the North division champions, with Norwich in second place. Burgress Hill won the South division, with Brighton coming second.

Issue 16 (July/August) of Brit-Ball includes batting and pitching leaders and there are three Norwich names in there: Wightman and Bond on the batting side, and Nock on the pitching side.

Listed below are Norwich’s full results and the final standings.

8 May. Fulham 14 – Norwich 24 (Nch Win-loss record: 1-0)
15 May (Double-header). Norwich 11 – Milton Keynes 26 (1-1)
15 May (DH). Norwich 16 – Milton Keynes 3 (2-1)
22 May. Waltham 0 – Norwich 29 (3-1)
29 May. No game
5 June. Norwich played and lost, possibly a 9-0 forfeit to Milton Keynes (3-2)
12 June. Gloster 11 – Norwich 16 (4-2)
19 June. No game 
26 June. Norwich 24 – Waltham 11 (5-2)
3 July. No game 
10 July. Fulham 15 – Norwich 26 (6-2)
17 July. Cambridge 0 – Norwich 9 (F)    (7-2)
24 July (DH). Cambridge 0 – Norwich 9 (F)    (8-2)
24 July (DH). Cambridge 3 – Norwich 45 (9-2)
31 July. Norwich 4 – Milton Keynes 13 (9-3)
7 August. Norwich 9 – Waltham 0 (F) (10-3)
14 August. Norwich 17 – Brighton 16 (11-3)
21 August. Burgess Hill 30 – Norwich 1    (11-4)
28 August. Norwich 9 – Guildford 0 (F)    (12-4)

North W L W% GB
Milton Keynes Truckers 9 4 0.692
Norwich Wanderers 9 4 0.692
Fulham Flames 5 8 0.385 4
Waltham Abbey Cardinals 4 9 0.308 5

 

South W L W% GB
Burgess Hill Red Hats 12 1 0.923
Brighton Buccaneers B 10 3 0.769 2
Gloster Meteors B 3 10 0.231 9
Guildford Mudcats 0 13 0 12

1995 – Wanderers off into the sunset

Norwich Wanderers were listed as being entrants in the BBF South – Division Two North league for 1995 in the March 1995 edition of Brit-Ball, showing that there finish in 1994 was enough to earn them promotion.

However the standings for the league in future editions do not include the Wanderers.

It would seem that they were unable to get a team together for that year, and so didn’t take to the field, and that is where the Wanderers’ story comes to an end.

Other notes

Back in November 2008, an article here on BaseballGB about Southern top-tier baseball prompted Herts Baseball’s Paul Auchterlounie to pass on some anecdotes and details from his time in Norwich in the comments section.

Paul joined the Wanderers in 1994 and confirmed that after that season “the departure of several key players (some of whom were US forces personnel)” resulted in the club folding, although he also noted that some social baseball / softball continued for a few years afterwards.

Paul’s comments are copied below:

“Matt – I was interested to read where you live.

I’m from Norwich originally and indeed that is where I first started playing baseball. Having picked up the game whilst in the States on a uni exchange program, I returned to Norwich and found out there was a team – Norwich Wanderers. I joined up and had a mediocre start to the game, competing in the then division 3 south (I think) within the BBF.

The club overall were successful, winning the division, but like so many teams followed success with the departure of several key players (some of whom were US forces personnel) and the club folded.

A few years of social baseball / softball with some of the old guys and some new guys followed, before I moved to Herts in 1999 and found that there was a team here too! Been involved ever since. Is there any likelihood of a team (other than UEA) being started again up in Norwich?”

…

The diamond was on a council field in the Heartsease estate – behind three tall tower blocks. I have no idea whether it’s still there or not (chances are probably not).

The social softball / baseball was mainly played in Eaton Park (big wide open spaces) but with no proper diamond or anything.

One thing I do remember about the diamond is this (it seemed quite funny at the time, but wasn’t when you look back on it): There was a car park around the back of one of the tower blocks. This would be so far into foul territory down the left field line as to be out of sight, and almost in line with where our HR line was.

One of our hitters stepped up to the plate. Big bloke – worked as a bouncer in the city. He absolutely crushed the ball but was way out in front of it and it just kept on carrying into foul territory – right into the car park and smashed the quarter light (I think it’s called) on the back on window of his mates car!! Incredible shot – probably never to be repeated!

…

Also – we had a quite incredible 3rd baseman. Nicknamed Hoover – cos he seemed to field absolutely everything that came his way. Worked on the farms, so was built like the proverbial brick out house and had a bullet of an arm (still don’t think I’ve seen one as good). I was playing 1st base in a training session, and he picked one up to fire over to 1st. I just put my glove out and prayed he’d hit it cos it was travelling about 8 inches above the ground at about 90 mph!!!!

 

The Heartsease diamond is long gone, although baseball and softball has continued to be played intermittently on Eaton Park over the years. Indeed, that’s where Norwich Iceni trained last year.

2017 and beyond

Norwich Iceni are now writing a new chapter in the baseball history of the city. The team will be based at Locksley School, just to the south of the city centre.

It’s possible there will be a home for the team on the university site in the future. Norwich Rugby Club are selling up their current land to housing developers and hope to move to a new sports facility at the UEA. The potential impact on wildlife on the site has prompted plenty of controversy locally and although planning permission was granted in November last year, this decision reportedly is now out for judicial review.

If the move does go ahead, the current plans include space for a baseball field, albeit one that will cut across football, cricket and training areas (see the site plan at the bottom of this Eastern Daily Press news article).

If you’re wondering where the Iceni name comes from, it was the name given to the Celtic tribe that settled in what is now Norfolk (plus parts of north-western Suffolk and eastern Cambridgeshire) in the Late Iron Age. It’s a common name for clubs and organisations in the county (and also a Wetherspoons pub!) and makes for a unique nickname in the British baseball leagues.

Norwich Iceni’s first BBF game takes place on Sunday (23rd) at home against Kent Mariners. Further info about the club can be found on their website, http://www.norwichbaseball.co.uk/, and related social media accounts.

Here’s hoping it’s the start of a successful new club in British baseball and one that will bring the sport to Norwich for years to come.

Thank you for the A’s: Two weeks into 2017

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Unfortunately, it’s probably been a fitting start to this new column.

The original plan was to write up my thoughts on the Oakland A’s opening two weeks on Easter Sunday.

Then Game Two of the A’s series against the Houston Astros happened on Saturday night and I thought I might wait a day for a more positive start.

Sunday’s game was then rained-out, the first postponement of an A’s home game for three years.

So, the omems don’t bode well …

A sign of things to come?

One thing you learn quickly when you jump on board with an MLB team is that in a 162-game season, most individual games don’t count for much. A gut-wrenching loss doesn’t have to hurt too much because chances are you’ll be playing again the next day, then the day after that, and the day after that etc.

I’ll be honest, I’ve always struggled a bit with that. I shouldn’t care too much about the A’s throwing away a 5-0 lead in a mid-April game, but I do.

In this case, there’s some justification in that it probably does serve as an accurate guide to the A’s in 2017. We have some good parts, yet the bad parts keep surfacing at inopportune moments and revealing the limitations of the team this year.

Keeping score and keeping awake

It didn’t help that I’d chosen the game as the first one I would be keeping score of this season. I’ve always enjoyed keeping score of games, irrespective of the fact that every detail you could ever wish for about a game is available at your fingertips online nowadays.

Whenever I’m emailed by Brits who have started getting into baseball and want to learn more about the game, I always recommend they learn to keep score.

Unlike in the States, most of us Brits don’t get into baseball by playing it as kids. Learning to keep score of games is the perfect way to fill the knowledge gap this creates. Quite simply, you have to pay attention to everything that goes on and therefore you pick up on all the little details that otherwise might pass you by.

It also matches up with my love of making things. You either enjoy spending a few hours with a clipboard on your lap, switching between different coloured pens and fastidiously jotting things down on a bit of paper, or the thought of it makes you wonder why anyone would want to do it.

I’m in the former camp, as you’ll see more of in future posts with some of the other things I do in following the A’s season.

A nightmare game

Here’s a scan of my completed scorecard of Saturday’s game, one that tested my commitment to always finishing a started scorecard.

It was the type of slow-paced game that apparently keeps MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred up at night, even to the point of the A’s TV announcers (Mark Mulder filling in for Ray Fosse) picking up on the Astros’ infielders struggling to stay focused in between pitches.

It was all going so well for Oakland after five innings. Trevor Plouffe and Khris Davis had both hit solo home runs in the bottom of the fifth (having both homered the night before) to make it 5-0 to the A’s and Sean Manaea had pitched five no-hit innings.

Then it all went to pot.

Three walks to load the bases and a couple of errors (the A’s have taken an early MLB lead in errors with 15 from their first 12 games) sent Manaea out of the game and started an Astros comeback that resulted in them scoring 10 runs across the 6th to 9th innings.

The game took just under four hours, finishing at 1am UK time. Not the most fun way to spend Saturday night/Sunday morning, it has to be said, but you have to go through the bad games to enjoy the good ones even more.

The good points?

Khris ‘Krush’ Davis has been the main positive story over the first two weeks. He’s a masher, plain and simple, and when you’ve got a few of those guys in your lineup you always feel you have a chance. The A’s really only have one of those guys, but one’s better than none.

It’s wonderful to read how Davis has taken to Oakland since joining the team in the 2015/16 off-season in Jeff Passan’s recent article and that he hopes to be here for years to come.

It’s not so nice to read – and know from previous experience – that Davis is unlikely to be on the A’s for much beyond this season.

Seeing former A’s favourite Josh Reddick serenaded with Careless Whisper on Friday night on his return to the Coliseum with the Astros put that into perspective.

Sometimes it does make sense not to extend a player’s contract and get some players back in a trade before they hit free agency. Jharel Cotton – a poor team’s Pedro Martinez? – has been another bright spot so far and he was part of the package we got back for Reddick and ‘Blistering’ Rich Hill last summer.

However the A’s have struggled for years in attracting free agents to Oakland (as Passan’s article notes). When you’ve got a player that’s quite good and wants to be here, why not spend a bit of money keeping him rather than blowing it on mediocre free agents (yes, the Billy Butler deal comes to mind).

We’re never going to be able to compete with the big spenders, but you know what, it’s nice to have a few players that are quite good, rather than just a collection of players that possibly might be quite good one day and players that are just okay (Jed Lowrie, Yonder Alonso etc).

Coming up

The A’s were 5-5 heading into the weekend series, which was the start of a 10-game home-stand (now a 9-game home-stand), so the two losses against Houston have put us back into sub .500 territory.

Three games against the Texas Rangers, then four against the Seattle Mariners, are what faces us over the next seven days.  Three of them are day-games so are convenient to watch in the British evening.

As for the title (the column, not the World Series)

The column title came about from a typical random thought process:

Easter weekend breakfast consisted of tea and hot cross buns. That reminded me of the lyrics from Autumn Almanac (“Tea and toasted buttered current buns, are to compensate for lack of sun …”) by the Kinks, which got me thinking of other Kinks songs, including Days.

So, Thank you for the A’s (Days) it is.

Although based on how I felt after Saturday’s game, it could have been Stop Your Sobbing instead, or Where Have All The Good Times Gone.

And as for Dead End Street, well things aren’t quite that bad. Yet.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week Two

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Which teams would continue their good starts and which were out to prove opening week defeats were not the norm? It’s time to look at the scores from week two of the BaseballGB Fantasy League.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 26 2 24 8 .289 .781 2 3 36 2 4.06 1.19 3
The Bath Bombers 31 12 34 2 .278 .864 3 5 64 1 1.88 1.11 9

The Bombers were the biggest winners of the week, defeating iron Men 9-3. Eric Thames led the team with eight runs and RBIs, launched five homers and unsurprisingly helped take OPS too. Bundy and Taillon each picked up wins on Sunday, teaming with Darvish and Carrasco to take ERA and WHIP while Robertson had three saves. Bogaerts and Cain hit .435 or better for Iron Men while Polanco stole three bases and Giles had a hold.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 23 5 17 2 .189 .614 4 0 51 6 3.20 1.24 3
Norwich No II 27 5 22 5 .216 .624 3 4 42 1 2.25 0.98 8

Norwich go top with their 8-3 win against the Slugs. It wasn’t a matchup packed with offense, but Yelich scored eight runs, homered, knocked in six and stole a base. Cotton and Duffy helped take ERA and WHIP while Kimbrel had three saves. Paxton was the star performer for the Slugs, winning twice, striking out 17 and not yet allowing any earned runs this season. Ottavino had three holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 33 11 42 4 .328 .982 5 3 78 2 3.90 1.19 7
The Cheddar Chasers 37 8 24 5 .284 .825 4 7 50 2 2.82 1.31 4

The Maltsters outslugged the Chasers on the way to a 7-4 win. Ozuna hit four homers and knocked in 12 while Altuve, Jose Ramirez and Avisail Garcia all batted well over .500 for the week. Sale had a win, 22 strikeouts and helped take WHIP. Lindor scored six runs for the Chasers while Dozier swiped two bases. K-Rod had four saves while Ray made the difference in ERA.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 27 11 36 1 .274 .870 2 0 64 2 4.87 1.25 7
Richie’s RBI’s 29 8 30 6 .250 .792 3 4 37 3 5.71 1.39 5

Jesmond picked up their first win of the year by defeating the RBIs 7-5. Cespedes hit five homers and drove in nine while Piscotty knocked in eight and Kepler batted .400. In an up and down week for the pitchers, Pineda won twice and struck out 17, one more than de Grom, as both New York starters helped take ERA and WHIP. Villar swiped three bases for the RBIs while Harper scored eight runs. Chapman had three saves, Rivero three holds and Tanaka and Severino each picked up wins.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 21 8 26 2 .256 .723 4 7 65 0 2.78 1.18 6
Beckenham A&E Dept 21 7 21 2 .272 .792 4 3 55 0 4.16 1.29 2

The Isotopes made it back-to-back wins to start the year but had to dig themselves out of an early hole to defeat Beckenham 6-2. Khris Davis and Cruz made the difference in homers and RBIs while Holland had three saves, Samardzija struck out 15 and Estrada helped take ERA and WHIP. Rizzo and Schoop both hit .409 for the A&E Dept and helped take OPS while Davis and Iglesias picked up wins out of the pen.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 24 8 21 5 .220 .655 4 0 27 0 3.10 1.22 5
Weston-Super-Sox 29 7 26 4 .307 .862 3 0 29 0 5.25 1.42 5

Batteries Essential and the Sox finished in a 5-5 tie. Franco, Blackmon and Andrus each hit two homers for Batteries Essential while Hamilton stole three bases. King Felix and Gio Gonzalez each picked up wins and helped take ERA and WHIP. Myers helped take average and OPS for the Sox, while Gordon and Springer scored five times and McCann knocked in five. Harvey struck out 11.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 25 7 21 2 .231 .739 2 1 49 2 4.65 1.45 5
Durham Riverkings 21 7 20 0 .223 .680 2 2 50 6 2.40 0.97 5

Finally, there was another 5-5 tie as the Knights and Riverkings couldn’t be separated. Stanton hit three homers and knocked in six for the Knights while Chris Davis scored six runs and teamed with Seager and LeMahieu to take average. Renfroe had a multi-homer week for the Riverkings while Santana helped take ERA and whip with his complete game gem, Eickhoff struck out 12, Jansen had two saves and Jones, Dunn and Betances each had two holds.

Week Three matchups:

Norwich (1st) v Knights (12th)

Bombers (2nd) v Jesmond (11th)

Isotopes (3rd) v Maltsters (8th)

Sox (4th) v Riverkings (6th)

RBIs (5th) v Slugs (10th)

Chasers (7th) v Iron Men (14th)

Batteries Essential (9th) v A&E Dept (13th)