VOLUME:LII ... 1 Aug 2026
LATEST NEWS
We got everyone at 112 games and just 50 left, so it's pretty clear who's doing what and why stat teams are good at or not... Weird wildcard race with all three in the same division and locking out two second place teams. Just one pennant in doubt and the other two blowouts... The mini trade window at the end of July had 10 trades completed. Almost all involved playoff teams... Paul Koch was at a recent Cardinal game at Busch. He found an El Birdos food sign and that is quite the view from his seat just below the press box.
HARWELL DIV:
Albuquerque said "Turn out the lights" time last month. They posted an 18-9 (9-4h) record last month and now have a 16 game lead. The Horsemen are 15-7-2 (7-3-0h) in series play and are two wins better at home than away. The Horsemen are the only team over 500 in this division. Chasing, no behind them, tied for second is Kentucky & San Luis Obispo. Kentucky has 4 more away wins than home and put up a 13-14 (6-7h) record in July. The Blue Grass Boppers series record stands at 8-11-5 (4-6-2h). San Luis Obispo was 9-18 (5-8h) last month and have 4 more home than away wins. The Stallions series record is 9-13-2 (6-5-1h). Just two games behind that pair is Chesapeake who were 12-15 (5-8h) in July. El Birdos are two better on the road than home and are 8-14-2 (3-9-0h) in series play. Dead last falling far short of pre season expectations is Atlanta. having a dismal season and 22 out of first. The Black Crackers were 11-17 (7-6h) last month and have two more away wins vs home and they show a series record of 6-14-4 (4-8-0h)..... ON-LINE: Albuquerque has 42 wins of 75 games, San Luis Obispo 29 of 58, Kentucky 31 or 67, Chesapeake 37 wins of 85, Atlanta 34 of 85
CARAY DIV:
This group still has Lake Forest on top by three games after an 18-9 (9-5h) month. The Timbers have 2 more road than home wins and have a 16-5-3 (8-2-2h) record in series play. Tied for second we have Syracuse & Philadelphia. Syracuse was 18-9 (9-5h) last month and are one better at home in wins over away and their series marks are 16-6-2 (9-3-0h). Philadelphia moved into the tie with a super duper stunning 23-4 (13-1h) record last month! The Quakers are a big 9 games better at home and 13-9-2 (9-3-0h) series record. Two games behind those two is Rochester after a 14-13 (9-5h) month. The Robins are 15-8-1 (8-3-1h) in series play and 5 games better at home wins than away. Somebody has to be 5th and Laurel Highlands is it and trail FOURTH place by 27 games after going 7-20 (4-10h) in July. The Mustangs are a couple better at home than away and their series record is 5-18-1 (3-8-1h)..... ON-LINE: Lake Forest has won 51 of 84 on-line, Syracuse 39 of 66 games, Rochester 42 of 75, Laurel Highland 14 of 39.
ALLEN DIV:
Ottawa was an impressive 14-4 (7-2h) last month and now have an 11 game lead. The Fat Cats have 7 more home than away wins and in series play they're 15-7-2 (9-2-1h). Yet another tie for second here with Bennett Run and Burnsville. Bennett Run is even up in home v away wins and was a sad 4-14 (2-7h) in July. The Boilermakers are 13-10-1 (7-4-1h) in series play. Burnsville was 6-12 (3-6h) last month and are also even up at home v away wins. The Blaze series marks are 9-10-5 (5-4-3h). Sarasota is 18 games back and last month they went 7-11 (4-5h). The BucO's are 10-12-2 (5-5-2h) in series' and they're one better on the road than at home. Minnesota was 6-12 (2-7h) in July and have fallen to 30 games from first. The Magicians have one more road than home wins and their series marks are an awful 3-17-4 (1-8-3h)..... ON-LINE: Ottawa has won 22 of 45 games, Minnesota 17 of 36.
WILDCARD: 
All three wildcard teams are in the Caray division. Syracuse & Philly tied for top spot and Rochester just two back of them. It sure doesn't look like anybody else has a chance to get a playoff berth. Bennett Run and Burnsville are nine out and it gets far worse after that with only 50 games left. Kentucky & San Luis Obispo 13 out, Chesapeake 15 out, Sarasota 16 away. Laurel Highlands and Minnesota need to win all 50 games which just isn't going to happen. They really are only competing for the #1 draft slot chances.
TEAM STATS:
Of our 840 games played so far this year, 358 of them have been played on-line or face to face. Syracuse continuing to sport the best team batting average and Sarasota made it to 200, so everyone is over the Mendoza line. The Blue are the best of 5 teams with over 500 runs scored while SLO is trying to get up to 400. Ottawa and Syracuse are over 200 dingers with Minnesota shooting for 100. The Blue & Fat Cats tied for most extra base hits with almost 450 and the Magicians are trying for 300. As for total bases only Syracuse & Ottawa are over 1700 and Minnesota just reaching 1300. I guess you'd have to say those two teams can hit and Minnesota isn't so good at the plate. Atlanta gets a LOT of walks and is the only team with over 100 steals. Ottawa whiffs a ton! Albuquerque gets hit by a lot of pitches. Ottawa doesn't hit into many GiDPs but the Horsemen sure do and they make a lot of errors but in Rochester, pretty good gloves..... On mound only Lake Forest is under 3.00 while Minnesota is very close to 5.00.Ottawa has allowed 60 unearned runs. Three teams with over 1000 k's. Lake Forest & Albuquerque WHIPs under 1.00. Just Laurel Highlands have handed out over 400 walks. Minnesota hurlers have given up 199 big flies. Philadelphia and Burnsville pitchers have allowed 50 less runs at home vs away runs while Ottawa hurlers have given up 45 more at home than away. Albuquerque has 49 more extra base hits on the road vs home.
All the team stats, home and overall, are below the Top 10's on the Stat Page.
PLAYER STATS:
Aaron Judge (Syr) still the man but Kyle Schwarber (Ken) has something to say about MVP races. Judge way out in front in AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS it's Schwarbs in ribbies and dingers. Pretty good year for George Springer (Roc) too. He's top three in hitting, on base, slugging. Nice year from Michael Busch (Ott). It seems Freddie Freeman (Phi) isn't over the hill or even close. Excellent battle going on for Stolen Base crown. Jarren Duran (Alb) really racking up a bunch of triples. Juan Soto (Lak) just one up on Corbin Carroll (Atl) & Jose Ramirez (Che). Eugenio Suarez (Ott) at 230 estimate is very close to a record for season whiffs. What a terrible year for Spencer Torkelson (Ben) hitting under 150..... On the bump, Paul Skenes (Bur) making it real hard to look beyond him for CY award. He's the only one with and ERA under 2.00 and over 200 k's and 15 wins. Carlos Rodon (Che/Ott) is second in ERA while leading WHIP and H/9. Sonny Gray (Atl) has a nasty looking ERA and his lost total isn't pretty either.
PLAYERS PAGE TWO: 
Michael Busch (Ott) has 506 plate appearances and Raffy Devers (Syr) 501, Juan Soto (Lak) 500 while thirty-two have zero. Aaron Judge has 294 total bases and in 2nd it's Kyle Schwarber (Ken) with 256. Gavin Lux (Min) has never had an extra base hit after 43 AB's. Bryson Stot (Phi) with 1250 OPS on a homer with four AB's while Victor Scott (Che) has a 000 OPS with 13 AB's. Elly De La Cruz (LHi) has made 23 errors. Pete Alonso (Roc) has hit into 18 GiDPs which has never happened to Jonathan Aranda (Slo) after 246 PA's. Xavier Edwards (Min) has laid down 3 good bunts of the 23 league wide total. Tyler Soderstrom (Min/LHi) and Jose Ramirez (Che) have 7 sac flies. Randy Arozarena (Bur) has been hit 22 times and not once for Ian Happ (Sar) after 486 PA's. Geraldo Perdomo (Phi) has been caught stealing 10 of 26 attempts and at the other end Gunner Henderson (Sar) 0 on 23 attempts. Michael Busch (Ott) & Aaron Judge (Syr) have scored 85 runs. Edgar Quero (Alb) is hitting a league best 500 (1 for 2) while Kyle Higashioka (Che) is at 043 (2 for 46)..... Jacob deGrom (Roc) has 20 decisions (13-7). Zach Eflin (Sar/54.7ip) plus Bryan Baker (Ott/24.7ip) have 12.8 H/9 rates and Randy Rodriguez (Ott/8.0ip) is at 1.1. Justin Martinez (Phi) had a 1.96 WHIP on 9.7ip with Randy Rodriguez (Ott) at 050. Mason Miller (Bur) has a 16.5 K/9 rate on 33.3ip. Jose Soriano (LHi) has handed out 68 walks. Merrill Kelly (Roc) has been touched up for 34 bombs in 141.7ip. Mitch Keller (Sar), Drew Rasmussen (Lak) & Ryan Pepiot (Ken) have tossed 3 shutouts. Walker Buehler (LHi) has completed 7 games of his 8 starts. Luke Weaver (Bur) has been in 59 games. Joey Cantillo (Lak) has a 7-0 WL record while Walker Buehler (LHi) is 0-8. Andrew Saalfrank (Che) after 9 innings has a league wide worst 8.00 ERA and Manuel Rodriguez (Lak) 0.71 after 12.7ip
... DOWNLOAD PAGE: You can enter it via Main Page (bottom) or Team page (upper left)
... IMPORTANT DATES ...
- October 1 - Playoffs
- February 6, 2027 (Sat) Next draft
THE SHOW
"There used to be a ballpark" - Frank Sinatra
And there used to be a ballpark, where the field was warm and green. And the people played their crazy game with a joy I'd never seen. And the air was such a wonder from the hot dogs and the beer. Yes, there used a ballpark right here.
Now the children try to find it and they can't believe their eyes. Cause the old team just isn't playing and the new team hardly tries. And the sky has got so cloudy when it used to be so clear and the summer went so quickly this year
Yes, there used to be a ballpark, right here
Whatever happened to ballparks that had character. Today only a few have it. Fenway Park in Boston has it's Green Monster and the metal hand operated 
scoreboard,
Morse Code and tons of dents in the wall. 
Chicago's Wrigley Field is covered in the famous ivy to hide baseballs and a gigantic scoreboard over centerfield. Baltimore has Camden Yards with a 21 ft wall in RF, no lines. If you want a homer hit it over the fence. It has a moveable wall in LF and now an indent in center field. Also the B & O Railroad Warehouse is a right field target. PNC Park is another one with a 21 ft high wall in right. A nice notch in center field. No lines on the wall and the Allegheny River waiting for splashdowns and a stunning view of their downtown. Oracle park in San Francisco has McCovey Cove, the huge baseball mitt in left center, 421 ft to CF and the bricks along the RF wall that sends balls rocketing away. Target Field in Minneapolis has a 23 ft wall, with a little homer porch over it. Minute Maid, ah Daikin Field, in Houston has the homer railroad track and the Crawford Boxes in leftfield with all kinds of wall angles and dents. They even had a hill in CF for a while.
It's pretty boring after those parks. Sure you can say all the variations of domed stadiums are cool but how much character is in a roof and plastic turf mats of bouncing rubber pieces covering the field? Most of them remind you of the "cookie cutter" stadiums back in the last century. No nooks or angles. No big walls. No indents. All about 330 down the lines, about 400 in CF. Some with great scenery beyond the walls, like Busch Stadium in St Louis or Kauffman Stadium in KC waterfalls in centerfield, but it's not in the park. The new Yankee Stadium is a yawn. Citi Field's apple is laughable and there are even lines on the walls because it wasn't designed right. Yellow lines a lot of walls because the original design flopped.
It used to be in New York city, 
you had three with character. The old Yankee Stadium had a flagpole and three very large monuments in the playing field in center just in front of the 463 feet sign in CF. It was 402 feet in left center. Even after the remodel in the 70's "The Black" in CF gave it a special look. The Polo Grounds distances were 279-483-257 feet and they left the batting cage on the field in center. Ebbets Field had an incline for a warning track and in RF it was 297 down the RF line with a 38 feet wall that tilted out. Forbes Field in Pittsburgh it was 376-472-376 and later redone to 335-457-300 with a flagpole and light tower on the field near the 457 sign and they too left the batting cage on the field during games.
Tiger Stadium was 440 in center with a flagpole on the field. In Philadelphia Baker Bowl was 342-412-281 with a 60 foot tin wall in RF and at Shibe Park it was 379-509-340 originally, then 334-471-331 with a 31 ft wall in right and the zero water fountains for the fans. Cincinnati's Crosley Field had an incline up to the walls as a warning track. In Washington Griffith Stadium was 388-438-320 with a 31 foot wall in RF and in CF the wall went in all kinds of directions because they had to build around 5 homes that the owners wouldn't sell.
That was then