VOLUME:XLIV ... October 1, 2018
LATEST NEWS
Regular season is over but before I get to that... The proposal about relievers being exempt from our six out equals grade D if they average over 2.0 ip per game has passed unanimously. What I will do is show those guys on your rosters with a box around their innings limit.
DIVISION RACES
Harwell Div: It went down to wire and the deciding games were Albuquerque winning 6 of 8 from Ottawa in September. The Horsemen went 13-3 at home overall last month and 9-7 on the road. They ended with 101 wins, 46 within their division with 51 coming at home. Ottawa ended up three back of the Horsemen after their 11-5h/5-11a record last month. The Fat Cats collected 98 wins and got 52 at home. Armada with took third 8 out of first with their 93 wins. They had 51 home wins after their 11-5h/8-8a September. A distant fourth was Western NY 19, back of the Horsemen with 82 wins to stay over 500. They had 46 home wins after a 9-7h/6-10a September. Firmly in the basement was Cinci some 37 games out of first with only 64 wins . The had 36 home wins after going 6-10h/2-14a last month. ..... In series play Albuquerque ended up 12-6-0 home and 9-4-5 away. Ottawa was 12-2-4 at home and 10-5-3 away. The Ciders 12-2-4 home but stumbled to 7-7-4 on road. Western NY a solid 10-3-5 at home but only 5-11-2 away. Cinci has tidy 9-8-1 at home mark but horrible 4-12-2 away.
Caray Div: Syracuse totally ran away and hid in this race winning by 31 games. They won 98 with 56 coming at home after going 11-5 home and away last month. They picked up 44 wins in their division. It was heck of a fight for second place. Bennett Run's hot 9-7h/10-6a September pushed them into the second with 67 wins and 37 came at home. Just one slim game back were both Laurel Highlands and Kentucky. The Mustangs were 8-8h/7-9 away in September to get 66 wins, 35 at home. Kentucky closed with dismal 6-10 both home and away to get 66 wins. They had 39 home wins. Havre de Grace ended up 7-9 home/5-11 away last month giving them 62 wins and 34 of them came at home..... Series play shows Syracuse 11-2-5 at home but a lousy 7-6-5 on the road. The Blues beat Havre de Grace 14 times. Bennett Run was 4-10-4 at home & 4-12-2 away. Kentucky was 7-7-4 at home and a disgusting 1-14-3 on the road, winning their last series of the year. The Mustangs were 4-9-5 at home with a 5-10-4 away. The Bucs were 7-9-2 at home and 2-14-2 away
Allen Div: Knob Noster coasted to this pennant and winning 46 games in their division certainly helped. The Knuckleheads were a decent 9-7 at home in September but a terrific 14-2 on the road to finish with a league best 105 wins and only 49 were at home. The K'heads beat up Etiwanda 14 times. Fifteen games back of them was Homestead. The Grays 7-9h/11-5a month got them to 90 wins despite just 40 coming at home. They found joy against Burnsville with 15 wins of the 18. Burnsville checked in with just a 5-11 home record and 7-9 away last month to finish 23 out of first. That gave them 82 wins with 43 at home. Etiwanda ended up in fourth 34 games behind the K'heads with 34 home wins and 71 total after their 6-10h/9-7a month. Miami Beach finished one back of the Anteaters with 70 wins on 32 home wins. They were a horrible 3-13 at home in September but 9-7 away..... In series match ups Knob Noster was 11-5-2 at home and a
today 13-4-1 away. Homestead just 7-8-3 at home and fine 12-3-3 away. Burnsville was 9-5-4 at home mark and 6-8-4 on the road. Miami Beach ended up 5-10-3 at home and 6-8-4 away.
Wildcard: Ottawa took the top berth by five games over Armada who took the second slot. Three games behind them getting the third slot was Homestead. Falling out of contention last month was Burnville who finished 8 back of Homestead and Western NY tied them. All the others finished under 500 and way back of those guys.
TEAM STATS
There were no new team records set this year... We had three teams Ottawa, Albuquerque and Syracuse, hit over 300 homers this year. We had two teams Etiwanda and Havre de Grace hit less than 200 homers... Armada and Albuquerque had more than 1400 hits. Havre de Grace and Western NY were under 1200... Armada, Knob Noster & Albuquerque hit over 250 as a team... Albuquerque almost hit 700 extra base hits. Havre de Grace had less than 500... Three teams, Albuquerque, Syracuse & Knob Noster put over 2000 runners on base. Western NY and Havre de Grace didn't get to 1700... Syracuse and Albuquerque collected over 600 walks... Kentucky & Miami Beach had over 150 steals. Burnsville only got 26... Bennett Run plus Knob Noster had their guys hit by pitchers over 80 times. Armada just barely made it to 30... Kentucky had almost 40 sac flies. Burnsville under 20... Knob Noster & Homestead hit into over 130 double plays. Western NY and Havre de Grace under 100... Laurel Highlands and Havre de Grace over 100 errors. Armada and Burnsville under 60..... Five teams had ERA's under 4.00. Five teams had ERA's over 4.00... Cincinnati had over 20 complete games. Armada under 5... Western NY and Homestead hit 50 saves. Laurel Highlands or Kentucky didn't get to 30... Etiwanda & Kentucky gave up over 270 homers. Syracuse, Armada plus Homestead under 230... Bennett Run and Kentucky issued over 630 walks. Ottawa barely got over 400... Only Burnsville passed 1500 whiffs. Cinci didn't reach 1200... Albuquerque played over 80 of it's games on-line. I got in a touch over 70 and Bob Fenili the same. Three other teams had over 40 games on-line... All of the team stats are on the STATS page.
PLAYER HITTING STATS
Joey Gallo (Ken) set a brand new K record by whiffing 237 times... Jose Altuve (Ken) won the batting title (338), the OBP crown (407) and tied for the most hits (206). Hosmer also had 206 hits... Giancarlo Stanton (Syr) was our best with SLG (649), OPS(1025), RBI (150), Home Runs (63), Runs Scored (125) and Total Bases (400) and 2nd in XB Hits (99)... Eric Hosmer (Arm) tied for 1st in hits (206), 2nd in AVG (313), 3rd in RBI (124)... Jose Ramirez (Kno) was 4th in AVG (304), 3rd in hits (190), 1st in doubles (64), 3rd in XB hits 98 and in the top 10 in steals (34)... Marwin Gonzalez (Arm) was one of the four with +300 Batting Average (306) & 2nd in SLG (603)... Nolan Arenado (Alb) was tied for fifth in RBI (113), second in doubles (60) and tops in Extra Base hits (100)... Jumping around to different lists, Mike Moustakas (Cin) was 2nd in RBI (126) and made top ten in HR (41)... The Dinger list has Aaron Judge (Syr) second with (52) and Justin Smoak (Bur) third with (50)... Billy Hamilton (Ken) was by far the best in steals (74), Dee Gordon (Mia) a distant second (51)... Joey Votto (Ott) topped the BB list (127). Three others got over 100... Jose Abreu (Kno) was the best at getting in front of pitches. He was hit 25 times... Jose Alfaro (Syr) was best of those over 100 PA and under 502 in Average (372)... It wasn't a good year for Lucas Duda (Hav) with a 173 average wish just a hair worse than teammate Todd Frazier's 174... As noted Joey Gallo (Ken) set a new mark for whiffs but Aaron Judge (Syr) also topped 200 with 207... Jose Abreu not only was good at getting hit by a pitch but he was also best at hitting into DP's with 27... Jose
Polanco (LHi) easily won the Dr Stoneglove award with 38 errors..... Find out more on the STATS page.
PLAYER PITCHING STATS
Stephen Strasburg (Hom) won the ERA title (2.47) but only got a 14-10 WL record. He also had the best WHIP (0.81).. Luis Severino (Syr) had the most wins (17) and was fourth in WL% (739)... Patrick Corbin (Syr) who holds the record for the worst ERA ever turned it around this year for a league leading (800) WL% on his 16-4 mark. He was tied for best in Shutouts (4) and got lots of run support with a rather blah 4.62 ERA... Max Scherzer (Bur) was best in racking up K's (298), K/9 rate (13.3), K/BB ratio (5.5) and second in WHIP (0.90)... Archie Bradley (WNY) won the Save title (50) and had the best ERA of those over 50ip (1.05)... Chris Sale (Bur) was 2nd in ERA (2.69) and in K's (273) and in K/9 (11.9) plus K/BB (4.9)... On the ERA list there were four with ERA's under 3.00. A bunch of guys with 16 or 15 wins. Alex Cobb (Hom) was second in WL% (762) with C.C. Sabathia (Kno) third with 750... There were six relievers with 50ip and ERA under 2.00... No qualifier was worse than Ivan Nova's (Hav) ERA and his league best allowing HR (46) helped him achieve that mark... Chris Archer (LHi) joined him with ERA's in the 6's and over 162ip and was the best at losing games (18) and putting just 4 wins with that gave him the worst WL% in the league 182... Jon Lester (Hav) was best at handing out walks (91)... More can be found on STATS page.
THEN THERE'S THIS
Not much left to discover with the expanded Stat Leaders... D.J. LeMahieu (Arm) had the most At Bats, 661. Joey Votto (Ott) had most plate appearances, 760. Lorenzo Cain (Arm) was thrown out 17 times in 51 attempts. No one else was even in double digits. There were five players with 7 sac flies. There were 10 bunts this year from seven players. Wilmer Difo (Hom) never homered with 128 at bats. Jose Peraza (Hom) had 3 extra base hits during his 121 at bats. Jorge Alfaro (Syr) never hit into a DP with 121 at bats and had best BAVG of anyone appearing in at least 1 game at 372. Mike Napoli (WNY) never got a hit in 10 at bats. There were 19 players who never appeared in a game and 243 with at least a game..... There were 15 undefeated pitchers. Cole Hamels (Alb) was best at 6-0. Juan Minaya (Ken) and Ryan Tepera (Ken) were both 0-3 of the thirteen winless pitchers. Reynaldo Lopez (Hom) was the worst pitcher in the league with a 10.81 ERA over 3.3ip. Archie Bradley (WNY) was the very best (1.05). There were 247 pitchers this year and Nick Vincent (Ben) was in 73 games with 12 never getting in a game. Craig Kimbrel (Alb) & Mike Minor (Bur) were the toughest in allowing hits per 9 at 3.6
... IMPORTANT DATES ...
- October 1st - Playoffs
THE SHOW
My thoughts in awards for MLB are this. AL MVP: Mookie Betts, NL MVP: Christian Yelich. AL CY: Blake Snell, NL CY: Jacob deGrom. AL ROOKIE: Miguel Andujar, NL ROOKIE: Ronald Acuna. AL MGR: Bob Melvin, NL MGR: Brian Snitker... Tampa Bay Rays: 17 starting pitchers, 2 with over 100 innings... Khris Davis (Oak) hit 247 in 2015. He hit 247 in 2016. He hit 247 in 2017. Yep! He hit 247 in 2018 too... The Yankees broke the MLB homer record with 267. This without 70 games where Judge or Gregorius did not play and Gary Sanchez sucked the hairy nah-nah. They also became the first team to get 20 or more homers from all nine spots in the lineup... Buck Showalter & Mike Scoiscia won't be back in 2019... Players considering retirement: Joe Mauer, David Wright, Future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre, Victor Martinez and Hunter Pence
Big League Advance: The 32-year-old former Phillies reliever runs Big League Advance, a two-year-old company that has raised over $150 million from private investors to fund its novel business model: the company offers baseball players lump-sum payments now in exchange for an agreed-upon share of any future MLB salary. Players pick the percentage of their MLB paychecks to sign away—the model spits out only a nonnegotiable price per percentage point. To date the company has signed 123 players with an average payment in the neighborhood of $350,000, and it plans to sign hundreds more. BLA’s predictive model, which Schwimer built on his own before adding some heavyweights from the sports-statistics world, uses a number of data points to forecast minor leaguers’ big-league careers and salaries. At its best, the model spots prospects before the prospect pundits do; 75% of BLA’s signees were not ranked within baseball’s top 300 when they signed. Ten percent of future earnings is a common arrangement, though some players sign away less. The company has done only a small handful of deals larger than 10%, just by a point or two, when players have needed a specific sum of money larger than the payout generated by the 10% offer. After taxes and clubhouse dues (what players chip in for team meals and payment to the clubhouse attendants), many players will continue to clear less than $1,100 a month (Class A) or $10,000 a month (Class AAA) in-season only, while working 10-hour days in a $10 billion business. They also have created an injury forecaster that has been 80% accurate on those minor league pitchers or position players, it predicts will or won't have significant injures.