VOLUME:XLVI ... October 1, 2020
LATEST NEWS
The 46th regular season is complete & the playoffs are underway. We will be realigning some for next year as follows. As of today Western NY is moving to the Caray division. Port St Lucie is going to the Harwell division. At his request Ken Brand is moving to the Harwell division. To accommodate those moves Ottawa and Bennett Run are moving to the Allen division.
Players becoming free agents: Robert Stephenson (Ken) 1ip over his 64 limit. Tommy Kahnle (Bur) 13ip over his 61 limit. Brandon Kintzler (Bur) 2ip over his 57 limit.
We all know that several managers have been working on trades well before the end of September so let me draw your attention to four items. (1) APBA has stated the 2020 sets will be slightly delayed which almost certainly says they will not pass up the money from baseball cards, APBA Go and BBW data. (2) Some discussion has been going on about how to address the stats for the 60 game MLB season. That being suggestions to water down game limits. I decided against doing that and followed what has been in our Constitution for decades regarding shortened MLB seasons. I will pro-rate everyone into a 162 game season using 2.7 as the multiplying factor or 37% which is about what 60 games represents of a normal season. Anything that normally was set at 5, will be set at 2. Yes there are going to be lots of double one cards and a few triple ones along with numerous silly reliever ratings. I don't like it much but it's the only season we have and we need to accept it. (3) In a related matter, when I asked if we should do anything special about COVID 19 opt-outs it was rejected and the most used comment was that was there is no reason to treat them any different than normal injuries or non-carded players. That means we will not expand roster size beyond 36 for our 2021 season. (4) As for active rosters we use MLB rules so besides the coming three batter pitcher rule we will also use 28 man active rosters and limiting rosters to a 13 pitcher max was postponed by MLB for 2020 and also postponed by us..... Time to look back at our season.
MVP/CY - You have all the stats and they are posted on the STAT page. Time to vote for 3 MVP and CY winners. Three. That's two more than one & one more than two but four or five is totally not good.
HARWELL DIV:
What was a close race became a runaway over the last month. OTTAWA blew the competition away with a 25-7 (12h/13a wins) month and took the pennant by 15 games. The Fat Cats won 26 series (18h/8a) of 36. Their won-lost margins was +42 overall (+11 online of 65g/+31 solo) and +14 overall in home v away wins... WESTERN NY finished second despite a very poor 14-18 (7h/7a wins) month. The North Stars won 20 series (13h/7a) with a +12 overall won-lost record (-14 online of 44g/+26 solo) and +9 at home v away... ALBUQUERQUE ended up third, one game back of WNY after a 19-13 (8h/11a wins) September. The Horsemen won 19 series (11h/8a) and had a +10 won-lost overall (+4 on-line of 108g/+6 solo) and +6 at home v away... Kentucky grabbed 4th place, eight back of the Horsemen. The Bourbons were 14-18 (8h/6a wins) last month & ended up with 12 series wins (10h/2a) for a -6 overall won-lost (-1 online of 63g/-5 solo) and were a whopping +22 at home... HAVRE DE GRACE at the bottom a dozen out of fourth after a horrible 8-24 (4h/4a wins) month. The Bucs had 11 series wins (5h/6a), their overall won-lost of -30 and -2 at home v away wins was all solo.
CARAY DIV: 
This one went right down to the wire for the flag. SYRACUSE takes it by just two games after a 22-10 (10h/12a wins) September. The Blues won 22 series (9h/13a) of 36 and were +38 overall won-lost (+19h of 99g/+19 solo) and -8 on home vs away wins overall... HOMESTEAD ends in second after a blah 18-14 (8h/10a wins) final month but the 3-5 series result against Syracuse last month cost them a pennant. The Grays did win 23 series (10h/13a), overall +34 (+7 online of 99g/+27 solo) and +0 overall home v away... LAUREL HIGHLANDS shocked our world with a 3rd place finish, ten games out of 2nd after their 17-15 (8h/9a wins) month. The Mustangs had 17 series wins (10h/7a), +14 overall won-lost (-4 online of 84g/+18 solo) and -2 at home v away wins. It's weird to talk about Mustang wins isn't it?.. BENNETT RUN took last years pennant but this time it's fourth, 23 behind LHI and ended with an 11-23 month. The Boilermakers had 9 series wins (6h/3a), -32 overall in won-lost, all solo and +5 home v away wins... CENTRALIA ended up in the basement, six games out of 4th after a 12-20 final month. The Minefires won 4 series (0h/4a), all solo and -3 home v away wins overall.
ALLEN DIV:
Miami Beach took the pennant by seven games with a stellar 24-8 (14h/10a wins) final month. The Bears won 25 series (16h/9a) of 36 series, a +36 overall won-lost (+8 online of 72g/+28 solo) and +15 on home vs away wins on the season... BURNSVILLE in second after their dismal 14-18 (10h/4a wins) September. The Blaze won 21 series (16h/5a) resulting in +22 overall won-lost, all solo and a majestic +24 overall on home vs away wins... KNOB NOSTER took third, 19 out of second after their 17-15 (9h/8a wins) final month. The Knuckleheads won 10 series (5h/5a) and they had a -20 overall won-lost (-14 on line of 54g/-6 solo) and +1 overall home v away... ETIWANDA ends in 4th, six back of the Knobbies. The Anteaters were 16-16 (7h/9a) in September finishing with 8 series wins (6h/2a), all solo and they were +5 at home v away overall... PORT ST LUCIE at the bottom six out of 4th after a 9-23 (3h/6a) September. The Legends won 5 series (3h/2a), a -44 overall won-lost (-16 online of 54g/-28 solo) and -5 overall home v away wins.
WILDCARD: 
Homestead grabbed the fourth seed by six games. Burnsville took the fifth one by four games. Quite a fight for the last slot into the playoffs. Laurel Highlands returns to the playoffs for the first time this century by a single game. Western NY just missed out by that game and Albuquerque was just two out. Kentucky was 10 back and it got a lot worse after them.
TEAM STATS: On line which is really detailed in the division comments above was sensational! We had 371 games on line. Albuquerque 108 of them followed by 99 by Syracuse and Homestead. Laurel Highlands with 84, Miami Beach 72, Ottawa 65, Kentucky 63, Knob Noster & Port St Lucie 54, Western NY 44..... HITTING: What is quite clear on this side of the ledger, Ottawa was a step above everyone else. They were the only team over 250 in AVG, 500 SLG, the best of two over 800 OPS, plated 80 runs more than anyone else and the only one with 1400+ hits. They also had 80 more total bases than next best, the only team with over 700 extra base hits, the best of two over 250 ISO%, the only team with 2100+ runners on base. Not to be boring but continuing on, they had the best average, on base pct, slugging, OPS, total bases, extra base hits, ISO %, runners on base, runs, hits and blah, blah, blah you get the idea... Moving on did any other team do much hitting? We had six teams with 300+ homers. Albuquerque with 340, Ottawa 339, Syracuse 332 and Burnsville, Laurel Highlands plus Port St Lucie topped 300. Etiwanda was the only one under 200 and it wasn't close. Only Western NY didn't get 300 doubles. Albuquerque just a dozen triples. Homestead and Ottawa got over 600 walks with Bennett Run low man there. Port St Lucie came pretty close to whiffing 1600 times. Four teams hit double figures in steals with Port St Lucie the best which clearly something Albuquerque couldn't care less about with barely over 30. Port St Lucie also was far better at getting hit by pitchers and that was not a thing in Burnsville. Nobody was better than Homestead in hitting into double plays but Miami Beach was pretty good at it. Laurel Highlands hitter didn't have any 24s. Centralia may have matched Ottawa's batting average but their OPS was awful and they sure didn't score many runs. Etiwanda was even worse and scoring runs and to boot they made the most errors. The Anteaters also were the only team under 400 in slugging, under 700 in OPS, the only team under 2300 under total bases, in fact under 2200, barely over 500 extra base hits and the lowest ISO%. Whew Dowrick needs new dice!... Pretty much home hitting matched the overall excepting Syracuse who stunk at hitting at home.....PITCHING: Syracuse was the only team with an ERA in the threes, gave up the fewest hits, the best of two under 700 runs allowed, tops in K/9 by a full K, best WHIP and the only one with over 1600k's. Lots of shutouts by Ottawa, not so much by Centralia or Ben Run. Havre de Grace & Ben Run gave up over 300 dingers. Ottawa was best at no free passes. Not a thing for Ben Run or PSL. Centralia pitchers all must have had "R" ratings... Home pitching was clearly way better for Burnsville. Home ERA under 3 and road over 5. Western NY about a 3.8 ERA at home and 4.5 on the road. Port St Lucie home or away pitching. Stunk at both!
PLAYER STATS: 
PITCHING: Jacob deGrom (WNY) won his second straight ERA title holding off Hyun-Jin Ryu (Ott). They were the only two qualifiers with sub three ERA's. Justin Verlander (Mia) was 18-11 in win/lost & Gerrit Cole (Syr) also won 18 games with 8 losses. In the K list, Gerrit Cole (Syr) was the only one topping 300 k's and nobody else was close. He also was best at K/9 by a lot, dah. Hyun-Jin Ryu (Ott) easily won the K/BB board and edged out deGrom for WHIP. Those two plus Verlander were the only one's under 1. It was Domingo Herman (Hom) with the best WL% 813, on his 13-3 record. Clayton Kershaw (Ott) also over 800 at 16-4. In the bullpen Liam Hendriks (WNY) took the Save title. Do WNY relievers always win the Save crown? He along with Josh Hader (Syr) & Hansel Robles (Eti) all topped 40. Ryan Pressly (Syr) won what amounts to the relievers ERA crown by almost getting under 2 for the year... So we see deGrom (WNY) 1st in ERA, 4th in wins, 2nd WHIP. Cole (Syr) tied 1st wins, 1st k's, 4th WHIP. Ryu (Ott) was 2nd ERA, 3rd wins, 4th WL%, 1st WHIP. Verlander (Mia) was 3rd ERA, tied 1st wins, 2nd k's, 3rd WHIP... It was not a good year for Trevor Bauer (PSL). He was the worst and it was ugly. No one else had an ERA in the 7's, that's s-e-v-e-n! He lost more than games than anyone else. He also was the only guy with over 100 walks and he didn't have a "w"!. Mike Minor gave up 55 homers in 32 starts. Eighteen of those in his 10 Homestead starts. Merrill Kelly (Ben) was 3-18 in his 26 starts. At least Bauer was worse in this one.
HITTING:
Ketal Marte (Ott) was the best of the six players hitting 300 and one of two collecting 180+ hits. Ronald Acuna (PSL) was top man in hits and way on top of the stealing list. We had two with 380+ OBP and Mike Trout (Alb) was just barely better than Marcus Semien (Ott). There were six with over 600 slugging pct. Austin Meadows (Bur) on top just a bit ahead of Christian Yelich (Syr). Yelich was the top dog in OPS as he and Meadows topped 1000. It was Nolan Arenado (Alb) winning the RBI crown holding off Charlie Blackmon (Hom) & Clay Bellinger (Ott). Long ball title goes to rookie Peter Alonso (WNY) who almost got to 60 four baggers. Arenado and Eugenio Suarez (Mia) also topped 50. Xander Bogaerts (Hom) just a bit better than Bryce Harper (Ott) in doubles. Dead heat for triples. Eduardo Escobar (LHi) and Whit Merrifield (Ben) tied. In extra base hits, Charlie Blackmon (Hom) was the best with a 51/9/38 slash. Arenado (Alb) just beat out Blackmon (Hom) in total bases. Alex Bregman (Ott) was the best of three with over 100 bases on balls. Bregman also scored more runs than anyone else. Anthony Rizzo (Ben) drilled by pitchers more than others but Mike Chapman (PSL) & Victor Robles (Syr) have lots of red marks too. Luis Arraez (PSL) won the short-timers AVG title as he and Shohei Ohtani (Ben) both topped 300... If you want some overall mentions let's see. Yelich (Syr) was 6th in AVG, 5th in OBP, 2nd SLG, 1st OPS, 4th HR, 5th SB. Meadows (Bur) was 4th in AVG, 1st in SLG, 2nd OPS. Marte (Ott) 1st in AVG, 4th OPS, 2nd hits. Arenado (Alb) was 1st in RBI, 2nd HR, 1st total bases. Blackmon (Hom) was 2nd AVG, 3rd SLG, 3rd OPS, 2nd RBI, 4th hits, 1st XBH, 2nd total bases... On the dark side nobody was worse at hitting than Marcus Thames (Ott). He was one of four under 200 in hitting. Bryce Harper (Ott) was the best at whiffing. Freddie Freeman (Hom) was the pitchers best friend at hitting into DP's. Xander Bogaerts (Hom) either needs a new glove, a better infield or more practice at fielding...
PAGE TWO: 
Not much to look at with all expanded leader lists but I can find some things. Stephen Piscotty (Bur) never did get another AB and finished hitting 1000 on 1 for 1. Rowdy Tellez (PSL) hit 412 (7/17). Eight guys hit 000. Gavin Lux (Alb) topped em at 0/5 but hats off to Chris Iannetta (WNY) was 4 for 61 or 066... Nick Solak (Ben) never once homered during 101 plate appearances... Ryan McMahon (Kno) never got an extra base hit in 18 pa... Whit Merrifield (Ben) was caught stealing 7 or 21 attempts. Mallex Smith (Ken) a perfect 24/24... Jose Abreu (Kno) had 8 sac flies... Seven players got one bunt down... Nomar Mazara (LHi) never hit into a DP over 332 pa's... Bryce Harper (Ott) had 762 pa's and 24 players never got one... Sam Tuivailala (Ben) finished up with 1.45 ERA on 18.7ip. Cody Stashak (Mia) was 10.99 on his 19.7ip... Sixteen with 1000 WL% and Tyler Glasnow (Bur) the best at 6-0. Twenty had 000 WL% and Chris Devenski (PSL) was the worst at 0-6... Zach Davies (Ott) had 9 complete games... Mitch Keller (Cen) had a 2.00 WHIP in 24.0ip to go along with his 10.13 ERA. Hansel Robles (Eti) was 0.60 in 56.7ip... Tommy Kahnle (Bur) was in 73 games which got him in some deep do-do. Twelve pitchers never saw the mound.
... IMPORTANT DATES ...
- January 27 (Wed): Cut down date and end of Draft Pick deals
- Jan 30, 2021 (Sat): Free Agent Draft on ROLZ
THE SHOW
They almost all made it to the finish line of 60 games for everyone. Detroit & St Louis missed two games. The NHL style playoffs of everybody parties and having the best record in a league meant nothing is underway. After that opening round it's off the Southern California and Texas for the next rounds and Texas gets the World Series. I would guess we may be looking at a Dodgers-Tampa Bay finale with Los Angeles finally winning a trophy. Hopefully the double header seven inning games and a runner on 2nd base beginning in 10th inning never happen again. Nobody wants to see pitchers hit ever again the big brain double switch strategy is gone forever. Please MLB don't ever use this playoff format again.
Will Charlie Blackmon (Col) hit 400? He ended up at 308. DJ LeMahieu (NYY) is the first player ever to win a batting title in AL and NL. Yadier Molina (StL) now has more than 2000 hits. Mitch Keller (Pit) finished up the year with 11 consecutive no-hit innings. First NL since Vander Meer to do that. Joey Votto now has more walks than Pete Rose as a Redleg. Cavan Biggio (Tor) joins Junior Gilliam as the only guys with 100 runs, walks and 20 steals in first 154 games. The Red Sox after 50+ years in Pawtucket are moving their AAA team to Worcester.
MVP AL should be a Jose Abreu (Csx), D.J. LeMahieu (NYY) and Luke Voit (NYY) battle. I give it to Voit.
CY AL is Justin Beiber (Clv) period.
ROOKIE list of Kyle Lewis (Sea), Ryan Mountcastle (Bal), Randy Dobnak (Min). I take Kyle Lewis
MVP NL is either Mookie Betts (LAD) or Juan Soto (Was). I'm going with Soto
CY NL is between Trevor Bauer (Cin) and Yu Darvish (ChC). I'll pick Bauer
ROOKIE people are Ke'Bryan Hayes (Pit), Alec Bohm (Phi), Devin Williams (Mlw), Tony Gonsolin (LAD).. I take Hayes