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VOLUME:XLV ... August 1, 2019

21plateLATEST NEWS

 

It's down to the final 50 games and so far no one has run away from their pack. It should be pretty interesting in August & September with three very close pennant races and a six team wildcard fight for those three slots..... For the 3rd year in a row, Homestead pitchers hurled a no-hitter. This time it was Carlos Carrasco with the 100th no-hitter or perfect game (including combined) in league history..... We had our newly placed trade window open and shut with 5 trades. PSL going for some bullpen, WNY going for offense.... Each manager has received the league's official stats for your team. We've already had two guys overused this year. Don't become the third one and lose that player to free agency. Pay attention to your players availability..... I want to note that several have complained to me about instructions not being followed. It's just one page and not complicated either. Take the time to read rather than risk replaying a game because you were too lazy to do so

 

wny2HARWELL DIV: Western NY remains on top by two after going 6-3 home & 6-3 away last month. They still haven't lost at home this year in series play with a 10-0-2 mark. They're riding that pitching staff which continues to lead the league in ERA and coming up they'll face Syracuse and Miami this month. Albuquerque holding onto 2nd after a terrific 8-1 away record in July to cover for the dismal 4-5 home mark. They have the best away series record of 7-5-0. Their run differential on the plus side is way over 100. In third Cincinnati is six back of the Horsemen and they too had a very strong away record last month at 7-2 with a lousy 4-5 at home. The bullpen is running out of A* innings, so we'll see how long they can hang in there. In 4th Ottawa is six back of the Redlegs after a 4-5h/5-4 away July. The Fat Cats get Homestead and Knob Noster this month which isn't going to make it easy to improve. Kentucky was 3-6h/3-6a last month and remain in the basement and now 21 out of first, trailing Ottawa by 7 with a difficult Port St Lucie and Bennett Run coming to see them in August.

 

syr2CARAY DIV: What we have here is a very valid three team fight for the pennant. Syracuse took over the lead by two games, with a stellar 9-5 home 9-4 away month. Their pitching continues to be strong and the offense is either impressive or hiding in the corner. The Blues square off against WNY and Etiwanda in August. Homestead slips down to second with an 8-6/6-7 month. Their pitching is covering for the bad hitting in July. Bennett Run was 10-4/8-5 last month and is in third just 4 behind the Blues. The rotation can be quite strong and they can hit. They'll need to make the most of playing Miami and Kentucky in August. In a fourth place tie, 18 out of first, is Laurel Highlands and Centralia. The Mustangs were 5-9 at home and a stunk it up on the road at 2-11. The offense is covering up pitching woes. Centrali was 6-8/4-9 last month and with Cinci plus Knob Noster coming in this month it's going to make matters worse.

 

knobnos2ALLEN DIV: Knob Noster moved into first place, with a three game lead on an impressive 11-2 home and 8-6 away July. They've got Ottawa & Centralia coming up in August and the powerful offense is looking forward to those matchups. Post St Lucie now in second was 9-4/6-8a last month. The bullpen continues to shine. Miami Beach up to third and 18 out of first was 5-8h/8-6a in July. The Bears August has WNY and Bennett Run coming in so just holding onto third isn't going to be easy and having the worst series home mark of 1-7-4 won't help either. Two games back of them in fourth is Etiwanda who were 7-6 at home and a bad 3-11 on the road. They'll be looking at Albuquerque and Syracuse in August which isn't boding well for catching the Bears. At the bottom of the heap is Burnsville after their dismal 3-10h/3-11a month to fall 27 behind the Knob Noster. They have a league worst 1-9-2 series road record. They'll face Laurel Highlands plus Cinci.

 

WILDCARD: This is quite a battle. Right now Albuquerque has the top dog #4 seed with Port St Lucie four behind them in the #5 slot. Just one game behind them in the six slot is Homestead. On the outside looking in is Cincinnati just a game out. Bennett Run is just two out and even Ottawa is in the discussion being only 7 off Homestead's pace. The August schedule shows this: ALB (LHi+Eti), PSL (Ken+Hom), HOM (Ott+PSL), Cin (Cen+Bur), Ben (Ken+Mia), Ott (Hom+Kno)

 

TEAM STATS: I've added Run Differential +/- to the Standings Page on our website. Albuquerque has an enormous +143 run differential and Burnsville sports the worst at -134... Only two teams have scored 600 runs, Albuquerque and Knob Noster. Etiwanda hasn't got to 400 yet... Only Albuquerque, Port St Lucie and Burnsville (?) have over 250 doubles... The Knobbies have almost 40 triples, something Centralia hitters rarely even think about... Only the Horsemen have 200+ Big Al's. Centralia and Etiwanda barely over 100... Knob Nos, Syracuse & Homestead have over 400 walks. Miami Beach is low man there with just over 250... That breeze you feel is coming from Ottawa and Burnsville hitters striking out with over 1000. WNY just a bit over 800 in that one... Knob Noster is only team with over 100 steals while the Horsemen plod along with not even 30 yet... Maybe the Horsemen don't run because the pain slows them down from getting drilled over 80 times. Cinci & Laurel Highlands at 20 there... Bennett Run and Cincinnati have into over 90 doubleplays. Laurel Highlands and Western NY don't do that very much... Western NY and Burnsville defense has made less than 40 errors while the Horsemen pitchers have sadly watch their defense double that total... Total bases you ask? Albuquerque has over 1800, Etiwanda less than 1400... Knob Noster has nearly 500 extra base hits, Etiwanda just a bit over 300... Three teams have an ISO of plus 200. Knobbies, Horsemen, Mustangs and Blues. Centralia and LHi barely over 150... Albuquerque has put 1373 runners on base. Burnsville just a touch over 1100...... Western NY still tops in ERA by a bunch but now in the three's. Even so they are a half run better than anyone else. They also are the only team allowing under 700 hits, under 300 walks and one of two with over 1100 k's... Syracuse the other one with 1100+ k's. The Blues really show how much they don't want contact with almost 400 walks allowed. Laurel Highlands the league worst in ERA which is probably due to allowing almost 1000 hits... Albuquerque has given up 170 dingers. LHi Mustangs just 143... Burnsville a stellar 30+ complete games! Etiwanda and LHI have none. The North Stars have over 40 saves, Burnsville just 15.

 

PLAYER STATS:bettsdegrom Mookie Betts (Kno) is our lone 300 hitter, 400+ OBP, OPS over 1000 and tops in slugging too. Betts is also 4th in RBI, 8th in HR, 6th in hits and can be found on just about any other top 5/10 list you want to check. Francisco Lindor (Ott) lead the league in homers, extra base hits, 2nd in slugging, 3rd in OPS and is also all over the other stat lists. Christian Yelich (Syr) is 3rd in average and OBP on of the top five in slugging and OPS. Paul Goldschmidt (Alb) leads everyone in RBI and can be found on the AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS and hit lists. Nick Markakis (Cen) leads the hit list, with Freddie Freeman (Hom) and Alex Bregman (Alb) tied for the doubles lead. Mallex Smith (Ken) still out front in triples. Carlos Santana (Hom) tops in drawing walks and Adalberto Mondesi (LHi) our top base stealer. Nobody lacks contact better than Trevor Story (Kno) and tops the struckout list. Max Kepler (Bur) now wearing the dunce cap of worst hitter in the league..... There are only four pitchers with ERA under 3 and Jacob deGrom (WNY) leads that one at 2.13 plus tops in Wins (14), WHIP (0.76), hits/9 (4.3), k's and probably snot rockets too. The other AC starter Blake Snell (Ben) is 2nd in ERA but a half run worse at 2.75. He's also 6th in WHIP at 0.98 and 3rd in H/9 at 5.3. Chris Sale (WNY) is having nice year too. He's third in ERA and tied with deGrom in for WHIP lead, tops in K/9 and K/bb ratios. You can find a Max Scherzer (Syr), Jason Verlander (WNY), Corey Kluber (Hom) here and there on most of the lists. Ivan Nova (Mia) with a horrible almost 6 and a half ERA is worst of everyone of the 44 qualifiers. Luis Castillo (Cin) is best at being on the losing end of games.

 

PAGE TWO: seguraJose Castillo (Bur) has a 0.00 ERA but it's only 1.7ip so let's give Richard "Rocky" Bleier (Ott) a nod with his 0.40 ERA in 22.7ip. Andrew Miller (Hom) is at the other end of that with his 13.49 ERA in 11.3ip... Bleier (Ott) is also the top undefeated pitcher with a 5-0 record. Bud Norris (Cen) is 0-5 in WL... Matt Harvey (LHi) has been in 61 games on the hill. There are 21 who haven't pitched yet... Dylan Bundy (Bur) has completed 11 of his 12 starts which gives him a 2-10 WL, 7.18 ERA and 158 hits allowed in 104 innings. Ugh!... Mike Minor (Ott), Derek Holland (Eti) and Zack Greinke (Alb) have allowed 31 homers. A.J. Minter (Ott) hasn't allowed one over 30 innings... Zack Greinke (Alb) and Zack Godley (LHi) have walked 58 batters. Must be a Zack thing. Oliver Perez (PSL) hasn't walked anyone in 9.7ip... Kyle Barraclough (Eti) has a 2.40 WHIP, a 12.3 hits per 9, walked 19 and given up 25 hits in 18.3 innings and has a 2-0 WL record!..... Dansby Swanson is 24 for 70 which is a 343 average and nobody, anywhere is better. Adam Duvall (Cin) may be 0 for 7 but how about Roman Quinn (Hom) who's 3 for 36 which is 083... Austin Meadows (Bur) has 4 singles in 21 at bats and Jake Marisnick (Ott) has 1 xbh in 62 at bats which went over the fence... Bryce Harper (LHi) has scored 96 runs, Adam Duvall (Cin) has been in 24 games without scoring. Jean Segura (Mia) has been caught 6 of 16 stolen base attempts. Adalbeto Mondesi (LHi) a perfect 44 for 44 stealing. Stephen Piscotty (Bur) has never tried stealing during his 112 games... Kris Bryant (Ott) has been hit 20 times and that's never happened to Trea Turner (WNY) in 492 plate appearances... Scooter Gennett (Alb) has 9 sac flies, David Peralta (Ken) and Yadier Molina (Hom) have 2 sacrifice hits... Jose Ramirez (Kno) has hit into 16 doubleplays. Buster Posey (Eti) has 0 after 238 pa's... Not only is Jean Segura (Mia) lousy at stealing bases he's committed a league worst 25 errors... There are 33 hitters yet to appear in a game... Homestead pitchers have made 9 errors, Laurel Highland and Ottawa staffs haven't made any.

 

You can check all the top tens and team stats on our STAT page which is updated on the 1st and 15th each month.

 

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THE SHOW

 

It's Not All Fun and Games

 

To date, there have been 99 players who passed away while still on an active MLB roster. Players have fallen off bridges, slashed their own throats, were shot chasing burglars, stabbed trying to break up bar fights, died of cancer, and by a variety of other means, 28 in car crashes, 3 in boating accidents, 7 in plane crashes, 6 murdered, 10 of heart attacks, 6 drowned, 4 by suicide.

 

Some notable active roster MLB deaths during the off season:

 

During the MLB season while on active MLB roster: